TheShipsList-L Archives

From: (Harry Dodsworth)
Subject: [TSL] Were Cattlemen passengers or crew?
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 2002 15:53:33 -0500 (EST)

,

After the introduction of steamships made transatlantic travel fairly
quick, a trade soon developed shipping live cattle from Canada and the
United States to Britain, where they were killed on arrival. Some
cattle and other animals were shipped westward, but these were mainly
for breeding purposes rather than for slaughter.
Cattlemen were employed on the ships to feed and water the livestock.
Returning cattlemen are often noted in Canadian passenger lists.
I had never thought about the status of cattlemen, although I believe
that some were employed by the cattle shippers rather than the
shipping line.
The New York Times for May 10, 1883 (page 2) had a story bearing on
this. The U.S. government had introduced a scheme requiring certain
facilities on passenger ships. They claimed that cattlemen were
passengers and therefore the ships carrying them were passenger ships
and liable to inspection. The shipping company was arguing that they
were crew and their ships were exempt from inspection. I didn't follow
this up but the article made me think about their status.
The trade dropped off after the introduction of refrigeration but some
livestock was still imported into Britain, I believe until the start
of WWII in 1939. Fresh meat sold at a higher price than frozen.

--
Harry Dodsworth Ottawa Ontario Canada
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• [TSL] Were Cattlemen passengers or crew? by (Harry Dodsworth)