Born March 24, 1781 in Simsbury, Connecticut. Died November 30, 1853 (aged 72) New York City, New York
Known for Founder Phelps Dodge Mining Corporation. Beginning with a saddlery business, he founded Phelps, Dodge & Co. in 1833 as an export-import steam shipping business with his sons-in-laws William E. Dodge and Daniel James based as partners in Liverpool, England. His third son-in-law, James Boulter Stokes, became a partner some years later. He founded the Charleston Line.
Later in the 19th century after the senior Phelps’ death, Phelps Dodge acquired mining interests and companies in the American West, and became known primarily as a mining company.
To continue the issue of the growth of the shipping subsidy and steam ship development: (again from Bacon)
“All the contracts thus provided for were concluded the same year. Each was to run for ten years. The first executed was that with Mr. Sloo. It called for five steamships of not less than 1500 tons, and a semi-monthly service. The line was to touch at Charleston, if practicable, and at Savannah. The ships were to have engines by direct action; and each ship was to be sheathed with copper.
“The subsidy was fixed at two hundred and ninety thousand dollars a year, a rate of $1.83-1/2 per mile, the distance to be sailed out and back being 158,000 miles. Mr. Sloo immediately set over his contract to George Law, Marshall O. Roberts, and Bowes McIlvaine, of New York. The second contract was for the Pacific service, connecting with the mail by the Sloo line across the Isthmus. This was made with Arnold Harris of Arkansas. It provided for a monthly service between Panama and Astoria, Oregon, calling at San Diego, Monterey, and San Francisco, with a subsidy of one hundred and ninety-nine thousand dollars per annum.
“Three steamers were to be furnished, two of not less than a thousand tons each. Upon receiving the contract Mr. Harris immediately transferred it to W.H. Aspinwall of New York, representing the newly formed Pacific Mail Steamship Company.
“The third was the Collins contract. This stipulated for a semi-monthly service between New York and Liverpool during the eight open months of the year, and a monthly service through the four winter months, with five steamers, each of not less than 2000 tons and engines of a thousand horsepower. The first ship was to be ready for service in eighteen months after the date of the contract, November 1, 1847. The subsidy was fixed at $19,250 per twenty round trips, or three hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars a year, a rate of $3.11 a mile for sailing about 124,000 miles.
“By subsequent acts the secretary of the navy was authorized to advance twenty-five thousand dollars a month on each of the ships called for by these several contracts from the time of their launching to their finish; and the date of the completion of the first Collins steamer and the opening of the New York and Liverpool service was extended to June 1, 1850.
“At the same time that the secretary of the navy was executing these contracts the postmaster-general under the authority of an act “to establish certain Post Routes and for other purposes,” also approved March 3, 1847, was contracting for a steamship mail-service between Charleston and Havana, with a subsidy of forty-five thousand dollars per annum. This contract was entered into with M.C. Mordecai of Charleston, who agreed to furnish steamships suitable for war purposes, and to perform a monthly service. Several other propositions for steamship service to various foreign countries were made to the postmaster-general at this time, but none was accepted.
The pioneer Bremen-Havre line began its service on the first day of June 1847, with two steamers. These were the Washington and the Hermann, built in New York, strong and large, of 1640 tons and 1734 tons, respectively, side-wheelers, bark-rigged. At first they made the run to Bremen in from twelve to seventeen days, much better time than the average clipper. But up to 1851 they had no regular schedule of sailings, and, their speed being unsatisfactory, few mails were sent by them. The subsidy payments, therefore, were made for each voyage separately.
“They had also ceased to command the patronage of travellers. Nevertheless, as a committee of the Senate in 1850 reported, they were believed to have been “profitable to their owners as freight vessels, and of essential service in promoting the interests of American commerce.” The full service, with twelve trips to Bremen and twelve to Havre, was finally begun in 1851, when two more, and larger ships,—the Franklin and the Humboldt, each of 2184 tons, were added to the Havre line.
During this time, conversion from sail and side paddle to screw for intercontinental shipping was rapidly occurring, largely in the U.S. due to Federal subsidies that heavily encouraged and financed ship building.
Of course, this business, as shown, went to the North either to established shipping companies, or to those that were well connected and directly financed in New York.
It also appears that anyone connected to overseas trade accepted this government-private business relationship in the beginning due to the advantages to be gained over the English competitors.
It is also very clear that the relationship between the ship owner and the Southern grower became much more remote due to the intervention of factors and intermediary shippers. Thus , many growers just accepted the slowly increasing costs of getting product to buyer due to inability to manage costs directly.
This set the state for Northern shipping interests to gain a large measure of control when the warehousing act was passed.
The posts that were filled with rhetoric and photographs of the a coastal ship owned by a Southern shipper that attempted to make a point about Southern shipping development not being excluded by law were neither true nor applicable to the premise you presented.
The Navigation Law did, in fact, prohibit any American interest from buying a fully rigged sailing ship from a foreign builder. Therefore, anyone interesting in building that type of company would have to deal with American shipbuilders located in the North or build from scratch.
The argument that was continually being made was that Southern ship building was not prohibited, but the other side of the issue was never raised...and that being that just because a law does not exist does not mean that other factors did not weigh against Southern ship building.
As you saw in Bacon's descriptions, New York banking was the source of some revenue in shipbuilding, with Federal subsidies essentially being the collateral for loans. I can name only one ship owner in the South that had that type of relationship with banking in 1840.
Nevertheless, Southern interests became involved in the Coastal and River trade which grew New Orleans, Galveston, Mobile, and Charleston.
It was initially, and not by design, more of a free market symbiotic relationship, until the speed of the British ships forced the industry into government hands.
That was the beginning of the decline of Southern profits as control moved away from the growers.