# Research Questions for 1920s adventure novel set on a freighter



## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Hello:

I'm an award-winning fiction writer researching my next novel, a suspense tale set on a tramp cargo freighter (with a passenger component) sailing from San Francisco to Honolulu (and points beyond). It will be set in the Spring of 1923.

This will not be not a Tom Clancy-style book, where I explain everything down to the last detail; but whatever details I do use, they need to be as accurate as possible! I hope you folks can help me in that regard (and you'll be credited in the acknowledgments!)

I've read a few books around the subject matter, including IDA WAS A TRAMP, SPARKS AT SEA, CARGOES (about the Mattson Line), and the recent THE GREAT RESCUE (plus several more recent accounts and several novels, none, unfortunately, set during my time period). 

I've also visited the San Francisco Maritime Museum on several occasions and have found them very helpful. I've also visited the Jeremiah O'Brien, the Liberty ship docked at San Francisco. 

It would be really helpful if you folks could point me to any books or other materials regarding cargo freighters during the first part of the 20th Century, especially up through the 1920s.

I'll have quite a few more questions as my research continues.

More about my other books can be found at: http://amblerhouse.blogspot.com/

Thank you very much for your help!

Thomas Burchfield


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## kewl dude (Jun 1, 2008)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Dumaru

The Wreck of the Dumaru by Lowell Thomas published 1930

Greg Hayden


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

Thanks, Greg! I know a bit about Lowell Thomas, having grown up watching him on TV and recently visiting his boyhood home in Victor, CO. I'll be looking forward to that one!

Cheers!


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

You could do worse than try In Hazard, by Richard Hughes. Fiction based on fact as to how a conventional freighter survived a hurricane, having lost her funnel overboard - and subsequently all power. Published in 1938, the facts occurred earlier in that decade.

Google has plenty of information.


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

*Research Question....*

Thanks, Barrie! Sounds good!


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Howard Pease wrote many poplur novels set on tramp steamers in roughly that time frame. I first read them in the 1940's, I think. Until recently, I could get them at my public library in Vancouver, Canada. Amazon still has them.


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## slick (Mar 31, 2006)

Tom,
Although not of the period and not a of a Tramp, but nevertheless a good pointer to many aspects of seagoing pre - war is "The Last Grain Race by Eric Newby"...
Yours aye,

slick


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## Lurch (Jul 29, 2011)

You can see the SS Ionian on Youtube

http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/120.html






ABS have done a history of Liberty ships including its origin from British tramp Steamers:

https://ww2.eagle.org/content/dam/eagle/publications/2013/WorkhorseOfTheFleet.pdf


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## jg grant (Nov 22, 2007)

Hello from NZ. Many years ago I read a book about the US Merchant marine in that time frame.' The eternal voyagers', if you can find it.


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## Barrie Youde (May 29, 2006)

Also, "The Ocean Tramp" by Shalimar (?? Hendry).

A wonderful collection of short stories from the right era.


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## IDH (Nov 28, 2006)

Finding something for the period is difficult but some ideas and authors to consider Jan de Hartog a Dutch author translated into English, Joseph Conrad. Voyage East Richard Woodman

Film clips on You Tube The Sea Chase, The long voyage Home


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

Ditto IDH's recommended books. Voyage East is a recent favourite, and I got it from the public library.


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## Andrew Craig-Bennett (Mar 13, 2007)

Lurch said:


> You can see the SS Ionian on Youtube
> 
> http://uboat.net/allies/merchants/120.html
> 
> ...


That was wonderful. Thank you. It is hard now to think of the Mediterranean as a British lake.

It struck home with me because my late father spent most of WW2 in the Med in the RN and then became a British Council representative, spending much of my early youth in the Middle East.


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## Andrew Craig-Bennett (Mar 13, 2007)

*1,700 Miles in Open Boats.*

The account of the sinking of the Hains' tramp "TREVESSA"(7,000 dwt, 10 knots) in the Indian Ocean in 1923, with the loss of 11 of her crew of 44, and the really remarkable feat of survival of the remaining crew, as told by her Master, Cecil Foster, in a book published in 1924.

It gives a real flavour of the time.

a short version of the book is here:

http://www.studygroup.org.uk/Archives/41/THE TREVESSA LIFEBOAT AT WEMBLEY.htm

but the real flavour of life aboard an ordinary British tramp of the day is found in the first four chapters of the book.

https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-sea...trevessa-in-indian-ocean/author/foster-cecil/

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/210290/title/port-pirie/cat/510


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

*Research...*

Thanks everyone! For a minute there, I though I was going to run out of stuff to read!

I'll be back with more!

Thom Burchfield


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## oceanmariner (May 23, 2016)

Much of my family was in the Pacific Coast Maritime trade. My father, WWI navy vet was a chief engineer, eventually. There was a huge trade between the West Coast ports and Hawaii, Alaska and other nations' Pacific ports.
In 1923 it was faster to travel from Seattle to Los Angeles by fast passenger ship than express train. The H.F. Alexander was one. It could cruise at 25 knots. Know as "The Galloping Ghost of the Pacific Coast". Shipping and Railroad companies often had rate wars. Also, about 1923, many ships were still wood, and there was still a sailing cargo fleet. Even steel ships of the time were trimmed in wood, had wood doors, floors and interior walls. Most ships were small. A WWII Liberty is about 5-10 times smaller than a typical bulk cargo ship today. And that Liberty is about 3 times bigger than most cargo ships of 1923. Loaded, a Liberty steams at about 10 knots. Overloaded in WWII about 6-7 knots. Empty, half the propeller is out of the water. It was common for freighters of WWI to have a top speed under 10 knots. Almost everything on the ship was run by steam, the engine - reciprocating pistons, pumps, the cargo and anchor winches, the steering gear, steam radiators for heat but coal stoves for cooking. Boilers were usually coal fired. Even employing stoakers, coal was a much cheaper fuel. Coal fired ships have taller stacks. Open boiler furnaces were natural draft. Taller stacks mean more air drawn thru the fire, hotter fire, more steam. Coal stacks always smoke. Properly run oil fired boilers don't give off smoke. Coal ash had to be cleaned out. New ships of the time had ash ejectors. Old ships hauled the ashes up on deck with buckets. Sailors going ashore to visit port ladies we said to be "going to get their ashes hauled". Many warships were just switching from coal to oil in the early 1920s. Refrigeration on ships was still new, AC was rare and food was kept cool with block ice. In my family I grew up calling the refrigerator the ice box because they did.
Many old ships still had oil lamps and no sanitary plumbing or even fresh water plumbing. An engine room power plant might only light the engine room, officer and passenger quarters and supply power for the wireless. If you look at pictures of ships built after 1900, some, even with water plumbed to the staterooms, had a bucket under the sink or sometimes a combination chamber pot/bucket for drain water. Coastal passenger ships often didn't have bathing facilities because it wasn't assumed necessary to bathe for a few day passage. Fresh water at sea usually was brought aboard in port, not made. Sea water distillers were expensive to run (steam powered pumps, and heat meant more coal to the boilers) and had to be manually cleaned of ac***ulated salt.
Some ship owners could be very frugal. Not long before 1923, most mariners carried their own survival packets and a private lifejacket. Some ships supplied cheap tulle filled lifejackets that provided little buoyancy and sometimes would sink on their own. Lifeboats were wood. In some cases, rotting away. Ships of all nations carried books of international flag signals. Each in their owners language. That way two ships, speaking different languages could communicate, in detail, with flags or morse code. Sometimes a boarding officer would bring his code book if speech could be a problem. He would open to the page that served, point to a flag sequence, the other person would open his book to the same flags and read the message in his language. 
Just some thoughts on the life that used to be... hope it helps.
Another thought. Radar in commercial ships was unknown until after WWII. Fog obscured other vessels and land. Navigation at sea was lucky to be within a mile.


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

OceanMaster, thanks so much! You got a little ahead of me there, but your info provides a terrific perspective on shipping at that time. My next question will deal with exactly what kind of tramp steamer I'm trying to imagine!

Cheers,

Thomas B.


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## MWD (Aug 15, 2005)

Sounds not unlike my first ship as a first trip junior engineer, built 1934
MWD.


oceanmariner said:


> Much of my family was in the Pacific Coast Maritime trade. My father, WWI navy vet was a chief engineer, eventually. There was a huge trade between the West Coast ports and Hawaii, Alaska and other nations' Pacific ports.
> In 1923 it was faster to travel from Seattle to Los Angeles by fast passenger ship than express train. The H.F. Alexander was one. It could cruise at 25 knots. Know as "The Galloping Ghost of the Pacific Coast". Shipping and Railroad companies often had rate wars. Also, about 1923, many ships were still wood, and there was still a sailing cargo fleet. Even steel ships of the time were trimmed in wood, had wood doors, floors and interior walls. Most ships were small. A WWII Liberty is about 5-10 times smaller than a typical bulk cargo ship today. And that Liberty is about 3 times bigger than most cargo ships of 1923. Loaded, a Liberty steams at about 10 knots. Overloaded in WWII about 6-7 knots. Empty, half the propeller is out of the water. It was common for freighters of WWI to have a top speed under 10 knots. Almost everything on the ship was run by steam, the engine - reciprocating pistons, pumps, the cargo and anchor winches, the steering gear, steam radiators for heat but coal stoves for cooking. Boilers were usually coal fired. Even employing stoakers, coal was a much cheaper fuel. Coal fired ships have taller stacks. Open boiler furnaces were natural draft. Taller stacks mean more air drawn thru the fire, hotter fire, more steam. Coal stacks always smoke. Properly run oil fired boilers don't give off smoke. Coal ash had to be cleaned out. New ships of the time had ash ejectors. Old ships hauled the ashes up on deck with buckets. Sailors going ashore to visit port ladies we said to be "going to get their ashes hauled". Many warships were just switching from coal to oil in the early 1920s. Refrigeration on ships was still new, AC was rare and food was kept cool with block ice. In my family I grew up calling the refrigerator the ice box because they did.
> Many old ships still had oil lamps and no sanitary plumbing or even fresh water plumbing. An engine room power plant might only light the engine room, officer and passenger quarters and supply power for the wireless. If you look at pictures of ships built after 1900, some, even with water plumbed to the staterooms, had a bucket under the sink or sometimes a combination chamber pot/bucket for drain water. Coastal passenger ships often didn't have bathing facilities because it wasn't assumed necessary to bathe for a few day passage. Fresh water at sea usually was brought aboard in port, not made. Sea water distillers were expensive to run (steam powered pumps, and heat meant more coal to the boilers) and had to be manually cleaned of ac***ulated salt.
> Some ship owners could be very frugal. Not long before 1923, most mariners carried their own survival packets and a private lifejacket. Some ships supplied cheap tulle filled lifejackets that provided little buoyancy and sometimes would sink on their own. Lifeboats were wood. In some cases, rotting away. Ships of all nations carried books of international flag signals. Each in their owners language. That way two ships, speaking different languages could communicate, in detail, with flags or morse code. Sometimes a boarding officer would bring his code book if speech could be a problem. He would open to the page that served, point to a flag sequence, the other person would open his book to the same flags and read the message in his language.
> ...


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## MWD (Aug 15, 2005)

Sounds not unlike my first ship as a junior engineer, built 1934.
MWD.


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## thomburchfield (Jun 25, 2015)

*Research Questions for 1920s adventure novel set on a freighter: Exactly what type of*

Hey Everyone:

Thanks for all your help so far! My next question regarding my 1920s thriller has to do with the character of the freighter itself.

I'll give some of the back story I've come up with so far, based on my reading:

Right now, I'm calling it the Hoya Luau--strictly a placeholder name until I find the right one. I'm imagining it as a former passenger liner that was impounded and used as a troop carrier during World War I--like the Leviathan, but nowhere near as large, though I'd like it to be as big as possible.

After the war, by my thinking, it got lost in the postwar chaos and finally wound up in say, Portland or Seattle. There, just before it was about to be sold for scrap, it was purchased by a mysterious gentleman--a Tong member from China--who is using it for smuggling, while hiring the most corrupt captain in the world to pilot it.

I'm wondering--if this may be possible during the early 1920s--if the owner would be able to convert the ship's engine from coal to oil. I understand that transition was underway with a lot of ships. Would the ship go faster after the change? The Tong gang the owner works for is very powerful, so I don't think cost would be an object.

My reasoning is that I'm dealing with, among other things, pirates who are seeking a new mother ship. So, I would like the ship to be a treasure in itself, one worth stealing by this gang who sneak on board, as passengers (an idea I took from PASSAGE PERILOUS, a true story about an ocean liner hijacking in 1959.)

It strikes me that a new engine would make the ship valuable to them.

Another question: what would be the ship's top speed? And how long would it take to get from San Francisco to Honolulu? (Per what Oceanmariner said, it might take awhile.)

And how many members in the crew? I'm imaging most of them are Pacific Islanders, Asians or Australians.

That's all for now. I really look forward to your information and insights.

Cheers,

Thom Burchfield


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## mary75 (Mar 7, 2014)

It sounds like a fascinating story. I don't know the answers, but I'm sure many others do. They'll be along shortly.


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## IAN M (Jan 17, 2009)

I recommend 'A SLICE OF LIFE AT SEA' by George W. Robinson who went to sea in 1924 when he was 14.


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## oceanmariner (May 23, 2016)

The transition from coal to oil was for several reasons, smaller boiler room crew (no stoakers), cleaner (no coal dust when loading and no ash removal), shorter smoke stack (easier maintenance, possibly needed for bridge clearance). Warships doing this change usually got newer style boilers, same engines. Civilian ships usually retained the same boilers with the furnace grates removed. Sometimes force draft was added. Forced draft is large blowers push air into the furnaces. More air supports more fuel - hotter fire, more steam.
It was common for Asian countries to buy older European or American ships. Especially Japan. These ships often traveled between the US and Canadian West Coast ports and Hawaii. 
A ship old enough in 1923 to be a scrap candidate would probably be a coal burner, could be wood not steel, not likely to have a newer engine. 10 knots would be a good speed, but could be as slow as 6 knots. SF to Hawaii is about 2200 miles. 2200 miles @ 10 knots = 220 hours = 9.2 days plus several hours entering and leaving port.
To be large and fast, the ship should have been a fast war transport. A liner purchased by the War Shipping Admin. or possibly a former German Atlantic liner seized at the war start and converted as a transport. The H. F. Alexander I mentioned before was such a ship. Could cruise at 23 knots. That would make the Hawaii trip about 4.5 days. A valuable ship at the time with modern machinery. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Northern_(1914) a plausible history for your ship.
Crews on a US owned ship would have US officers and most of the crew would be US citizens. Civilian steamships were unionized. There would have been small numbers of Pacific islanders, but at the time the Philippines were a territory of the US and many Filipinos served in the US military and on ships, but usually in menial positions - cooks, stewards, maids and so on. The British Empire was a major trading partner and US crews could include members from the empire, ie Australia, India and so on... the sun never set on the British Empire. Britain controlled almost all of the oceans and half of the land.


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

It may be of interest to add an old post of mine on this subject,
Quote


COAL FIRED STEAMSHIP DAYS

The South Wales Deep Duffryn Pit opened in 1850 and by 1896, 1285 men were employed there.
By 1918, following the huge demands of British Navy for high grade Welsh steaming coal throughout the First World War; the work force was almost 3000 men. Many a Naval battle was claimed to of been won due to the superior heating value and steaming qualities of Welsh coal which allowed the British ships to raise steam more rapidly to out manoeuvre and out run the German fleets.
Then the downturn in demand for coal came brought on by the peace, the post war recession, and by the advent of oil as an alternative fuel. For both Naval and Mercantile, shipping oil was a huge break through as its high heat value to volume ratio compared with coal provided greater steaming ranges, higher payloads of cargo and a huge saving in the amount of labour required to bunker the ships (load the coal) and to feed the fires under the ship’s steam boilers. 
The task of being a coal fuelled ship’s fireman or stoker was one of the world’s worst jobs. British Shipping Companies often resorted to employing Lascar labour from Goa and other Asiatic regions as coal shovelling firemen for the tropical climates due to their tolerance of the boiler room temperatures but fuel oil availability changed the continual shovelling in 40 to 50 degree centigrade heat to the task of regulating the oil flow with a tap.
To illustrate the change in demand from coal to oil, consider the SS Titanic, which sunk in 1912. She was bunkered with up to eight thousand of tons of Welsh coal to feed the fires of her 29 triple furnace, double ended Scotch Marine steam boilers during the voyage across the Atlantic, 174 furnaces in all. More than 200 firemen and trimmers were employed to barrow the coal from the bunkers or storage holds to the firing platforms and to shovel it into the insatiable fires. 
With three watches every 12 hours there would have been about 70 men in the boiler rooms at any one time but a similar size and equipped ship fired by oil fuel would have only needed a total ship’s fireman crew of about 30 men, proportionally less accommodation and feeding costs and huge space savings in the way of coal storage. 
This change in fuel preference saw many mines closed as the deep mined Welsh coal, although of the best quality, was one of the most expensive to recover and the mine owners responded to this by asking the miners to accept wage cuts and to work longer hours in order to keep operating. The miners refused as they considered that even the existing conditions approached slavery so initially the Government intervened by paying the owners a subsidy to balance their losses but in the end wages were cut and the 1926 strike began. On the 30th of April, the British Trade Union Council called for all trade unionists to strike and for a while, Britain was paralysed as most of the British work force came out on strike to support the miners. The general strike only lasted for a couple of weeks and the other unions returned to work but the coal miners carried on their strike until the end of the year when starvation sent them back to work in an industry that continued its decline and thousands of miners left the Welsh valleys for whatever employment they could find elsewhere. It was estimated that more than 50,000 plus their families emigrated to the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Today, almost 100 years on, the Welsh coal mines are virtually non existent and a great deal of Britain’s coal requirements are imported from Eastern Europe’s open cast mines where cost of extraction are far below that of deep pit seam mining.
Meanwhile the shipping industry has virtually abandoned steam ships in favour of diesel power for propulsion and there are some vessels using compressed natural gas as engine fuel while rumours of electric battery power are raising eyebrows 

Bob


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## Split (Jun 25, 2006)

oceanmariner said:


> Much of my family was in the Pacific Coast Maritime trade. My father, WWI navy vet was a chief engineer, eventually. There was a huge trade between the West Coast ports and Hawaii, Alaska and other nations' Pacific ports.


You, certainly, bring me back some old memories, forgotten years ago. I went to sea in 1948, on a 1943 Canadian Liberty---know as Forts.

I can assure you that little had changed from what you say. She was a coal burner until 1949, then converted to oil in Italy. 

I always remember the steam whistle, operated by pulling a lanyard. The the first blast was a fizzling sound, which lasted for several seconds as the condensed water was blown out of it. then there was a long sigh,converting into a moaning noise which, gradually, built up to a satisfactory blast. Quite a process!


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## oceanmariner (May 23, 2016)

In the 60s I served aboard a WWII built destroyer with a similar whistle. It moaned and groaned, blew hot water and eventually sounded normally. It never was fixed. We just warned the signalmen and others in the area before sounding the whistle.


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