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Merchant vessels   /mˈərtʃənt vˈɛsəlz/   Listen
Merchant vessels

noun
1.
Conveyance provided by the ships belonging to one country or industry.  Synonyms: cargo ships, merchant marine, shipping.






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"Merchant vessels" Quotes from Famous Books



... have now only a historical interest. Section 2172, recognizing the citizenship of the children of naturalized parents, is ambiguous in its terms and partly obsolete. There are special provisions of law favoring the naturalization of those who serve in the Army or in merchant vessels, while no similar privileges are granted those who serve in the ...
— A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Section 2 (of 2) of Volume 8: Chester A. Arthur • James D. Richardson

... them told me to shut up. I shut up; but while I remained shut up, I was busy creating, busy sketching the scenario of the next act. I had learned enough to go on with. He was a Frenchman. He had sailed always on French merchant vessels, with the one exception of a voyage on a "lime-juicer." And last of all—blessed fact!—he had not been on the ...
— The Road • Jack London

... inconsiderate to a degree that would make you think that his heart was really bad. One of his greatest pleasures was that of placing people in awkward and ludicrous situations. He very soon discovered the fattest men among the masters of the merchant vessels; and, when we had run far enough to the southward to make sitting in an open boat very unpleasant, he would in light winds, make a signal for one of his jolly friends to come on board, the more especially if he happened to be far astern. Then began ...
— Rattlin the Reefer • Edward Howard

... beginning of June, 1841, the BEAGLE, now in charge of Captain Stokes, Captain Wickharn having gone home on sick leave, left Sydney for another northern cruise. On the way up the ship fell in with four merchant vessels, which she convoyed as far as Booby Island, she herself pursuing her way down the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their first stay of any length was at Sweer's Island, and all the coastal inlets in the neighbourhood were well ...
— The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 • Ernest Favenc

... was distinctly visible from the deck. The Surprise, running before a fresh breeze, soon neared the land, so that the objects on it might be perceived with a glass. At noon they were well in for the bay, and before three o'clock the Surprise was brought to an anchor between two other merchant vessels, which were filling up ...
— The Mission • Frederick Marryat

... his efforts to the expedition undertaken by the dispatch-boat "Telegraph." On the contrary, he was resolved to multiply the chances of finding some trace of the missing "Viking." Would it not be possible to excite a spirit of emulation in the captains of merchant vessels and fishing-smacks that navigated the waters of Iceland and the Faroe Islands? Unquestionably. So a reward of two thousand marks was promised in the name of the government to any vessel that would furnish any information in regard to the missing "Viking," and one of ...
— Ticket No. "9672" • Jules Verne

... friendship as surely as the black slaves of the South. He was able to temper his indignation for their oppression with a humorous perception of what was droll in its agents and circumstances; and I wish I could recall all that he said once about sea-etiquette on merchant vessels, where the chief mate might no more speak to the captain at table without being addressed by him than a subject might put a question to his sovereign. He was amusing in his stories of the Pacific trade in which he said it was very noble to deal in furs from the Northwest, ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... and the city, and had seized the United States mails. His steamboats, laden with war material to be used in erecting batteries against us, were allowed to pass and repass Fort Sumter, not only without opposition, but without even a protest. Worse than all, he had commenced imprisoning the crews of merchant vessels for contumacy in refusing to acknowledge his authority as the head of an independent nation. In vain did these vessels reverse their flags in a mute appeal to us to use our guns in their defense. Anderson would do nothing—not even send a communication to the governor on the subject, although ...
— Reminiscences of Forts Sumter and Moultrie in 1860-'61 • Abner Doubleday

... Immediately after the declaration of war, the militia had to do military duty and neglect their farms. British troops passed through Port Ryerse, on their way to Amherstburg and Sandwich, and every available building was used as barracks. All merchant vessels were converted into ships of war, and they, with one or two small ships belonging to the Provincial Navy, were placed under the command of Captain Barclay, of the Royal Navy; Captain Finnes, R.N., was second in command. His ships were all of light tonnage; there were several transports, ...
— The Loyalists of America and Their Times, Vol. 2 of 2 - From 1620-1816 • Edgerton Ryerson

... defends are never threatened, and the commerce which trusts to its protection comes and goes with practically no thought of danger. For several months during the submarine campaign against commerce, something like one-half of one per cent of the merchant vessels bound to and from the ports of England were sunk. But no industry was crippled for a moment, and neither the necessities nor the luxuries of life were appreciably curtailed. Even at the height of the submarine operations, great transports ...
— The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) - Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers • Various

... long lists of merchant vessels sunk by U-boats, and while the Admiralty's reticence on the progress of the anti-submarine campaign is legitimate and necessary, the withholding of statistics of new construction does not make for optimism. Victory will be ours, but not without effort. The great crisis of the War ...
— Mr. Punch's History of the Great War • Punch

... was often contention between the commanders of the Continental and those of the States' service. The Continentals, when in need of men, often impressed the seamen of the States' fleet and also those of merchant vessels. On Captain Barry's return to the Delaware River the Continental frigate "Confederacy" lay at Chester. She had been impressing the crews of merchant vessels coming up the river. The pilot gave this information to the crew of the "Delaware." It alarmed them very much and many desired to be put on ...
— The Story of Commodore John Barry • Martin Griffin

... sea. It was difficult to man her navy, the pay being small, and the penalties for misconduct or venial errors terribly severe. Therefore, when on the ocean, British ships of war in want of men were in the habit of impressing sailors from merchant vessels, and often without regard to national character. American ships were fired at, brought to, and strictly searched by these tyrants of the ocean; and when foreigners were found on board, whether British, Swedes, Dutch, Russians, Norwegians, or Spaniards, they were liable to be claimed as fit persons ...
— Jack in the Forecastle • John Sherburne Sleeper

... and Spanish fleets were menacing the English coasts, a dreadful sea-fight took place between the British and the Dutch. On returning from the Baltic with a convoy of merchant vessels, Rear Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, in the beginning of August, fell in with Admiral Zouttman, with a convoy of Dutch traders, off Dogger Bank. Parker's fleet consisted of six line-of-battle ships and several frigates; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... door closed for privacy there was not room to stand. To enter the user backed in, crouching. Such cabinets are not shown by Marestier, so probably the crew used the headrails, as then was usual in merchant vessels. ...
— The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model - United States National Museum Bulletin 228, 1961, pages 61-80 • Howard I. Chapelle

... words, cheered their captain, and from that day forth he had no cause to complain of the general conduct of the ship's company. They were continually on the look-out for an enemy's cruiser. Several merchant vessels were taken and sent into port, and a small brig-of-war was captured, without having fired a shot in her own defence. The midshipmen were always encouraged by their captain to exercise themselves by running aloft over the masthead, and sliding down ...
— The Heir of Kilfinnan - A Tale of the Shore and Ocean • W.H.G. Kingston

... the army four months, and commanded the batteries at the sieges of Basti and Calvi: he had assisted at the capture of seven sail of the line, six frigates, four corvettes, and eleven privateers: taken and destroyed near fifty sail of merchant vessels, and actually been engaged against the enemy upwards of a hundred and twenty times, in which service he had lost his right eye and right arm, and been severely wounded and bruised in ...
— The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson • Robert Southey

... induced him to call so frequently at Cumberland street.... James was unexpectedly ordered to join the U. S. schooner Grampus at Norfolk, Va., for a winter cruise on the Southern coast for relief of distressed merchant vessels. The cruise continued for some weeks without entering any port, but about the 20th of March, 1843, the Grampus appeared off the bar of Charleston, S. C., and sent in a letter-bag for mailing. That night there came on ...
— The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss • George L. Prentiss

... ordinary trireme carried two hundred men, including the crew and marines. These last ([Greek: epibatai]) were usually ten for each ship, but the number was often increased. The transports and vessels of burden, whether merchant vessels or boats for the carriage of military stores, were round-bottomed, more bulky in construction, and moved rather with sails than oars. Hence the fighting ship is called [Greek: tacheia], swift. It carried a sail, to be used upon occasion, though it was mainly worked with oars.] and ...
— The Olynthiacs and the Phillippics of Demosthenes • Demosthenes

... Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany; all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those ports are to be returned and German materials as specified in Clause ...
— World's War Events, Volume III • Various

... and ceaseless exertions of the Clyde Navigation Trustees, vessels of the largest tonnage can now come up to the Broomielaw; and the port of Glasgow can lay claim to some of the largest and most magnificent merchant vessels afloat. A rare conjunction of private and public enterprise brought about these results. From the time that Henry Bell's Comet appeared on the scene in 1812, until the present, the Clyde has occupied a pre-eminent position in the records of the ...
— Western Worthies - A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West - of Scotland Celebrities • J. Stephen Jeans

... that Savary de Mauleon's ships commanded the Bay of Biscay, and rendered communication between Bordeaux and England very difficult.[1] Once more the men of the Cinque Ports came to the king's aid, and there was severe fighting at sea, involving much plunder of merchant vessels and dislocation ...
— The History of England - From the Accession of Henry III. to the Death of Edward III. (1216-1377) • T.F. Tout

... 1815 he was at Cork, and had collected a large fleet of transports and merchant vessels bound for America. The fleet was ready to sail, but was detained at Cove by a succession of strong westerly winds. Before the wind changed the news came that Napoleon had ...
— The Surrender of Napoleon • Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland

... account of the facility of access, and for the purpose of destroying the powerful fleet of gunboats which had taken refuge in its creeks. This object was successfully accomplished on the 20th of August— thirteen of the gunboats being destroyed and one captured, together with fourteen merchant vessels. The army, under the command of General Ross, on the following day disembarked. It numbered, including some marines, three thousand five hundred men, with two hundred sailors to drag ...
— Neville Trueman the Pioneer Preacher • William Henry Withrow

... committed on the ocean by others, those on our own part should not be omitted nor left unprovided for. Complaints have been received that persons residing within the United States have taken on themselves to arm merchant vessels and to force a commerce into certain ports and countries in defiance of the laws of those countries. That individuals should undertake to wage private war, independently of the authority of their country, can not be permitted in a well-ordered society. Its tendency to ...
— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

... destroy the German menace in the Pacific. Before she delivered her ultimatum the Germans had been active; ignoring the rights of Japan while she was still neutral they had captured a Russian steamer within Japanese jurisdiction, as well as a number of British merchant vessels, and even a few Japanese ships had been intercepted by German cruisers. This was the disturbance to general peace in the Far East, which had prompted England to ...
— History of the World War - An Authentic Narrative of the World's Greatest War • Francis A. March and Richard J. Beamish

... cause.[10] But in 1136 Paul defeated Frakark's ships in a sea fight off Tankerness in Deer Sound in Orkney, and immediately afterwards seized Jarl Ragnvald's fleet in Yell Sound in Shetland, though Ragnvald and his men escaped to Norway in merchant vessels, to ...
— Sutherland and Caithness in Saga-Time - or, The Jarls and The Freskyns • James Gray

... as his uncle walked to the door and called Jem; and as he waited he looked at the map of an estate in the West Indies, all fly-specked and yellow, then at the portraits of three merchant vessels in full sail, all as yellow and fly-specked as the map, and showing the peculiarity emphasised by the ingenious artist, of their sails blown out one way ...
— The Adventures of Don Lavington - Nolens Volens • George Manville Fenn

... I put my friends into one of the boats, which were lying alongside of the schooner, gave their wet chests into the care of their black servants, and let them find a lodging as well as they could. Then the wounded, and afterwards the rest of the crew were put on board a couple of merchant vessels lying near us, and as their captains were obliging fellows, I easily persuaded them to take the schooner between them, at ebb-tide, and raise it with the flood. When it was pumped out, and afloat again, I took it into port, where it received a thorough overhauling. As there remained nothing more ...
— Hair Breadth Escapes - Perilous incidents in the lives of sailors and travelers - in Japan, Cuba, East Indies, etc., etc. • T. S. Arthur

... The French admiral Desherbiers de l'Etenduere made a very gallant resistance, and the fine quality of his ships enabled him to counteract to some extent the superior numbers of Sir Edward Hawke, the British admiral. While the war-ships were engaged, the merchant vessels, with the small protection which Desherbiers could spare them, continued on their way to the West Indies. Most of them were, however, intercepted and captured in those waters. This disaster convinced the French government ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 - "Austria, Lower" to "Bacon" • Various

... considerable length, would far exceed the room that could be afforded, in a vessel of properly regulated tonnage. A supply of coals, moreover, could be had at all the places to be brought into notice by care, and foresight, at moderate rates, and at the rates taken in the subsequent calculations. Merchant vessels, bound to all quarters, so soon as they perceived that they were sure of a market, would take a proportion of coals as ballast; and others would be glad to take a portion even beyond that, to aid them in completing their cargoes, instead of remaining, ...
— A General Plan for a Mail Communication by Steam, Between Great Britain and the Eastern and Western Parts of the World • James MacQueen

... been made to him in his youth. Shortly afterward, when they were near to Minturnae, they descried a party of horsemen galloping toward them. In great haste they hurried down to the sea, and swam off to two merchant vessels, which received them on board. The horsemen bade the crew bring the ship to land or throw Marius overboard; but, moved by his tears and entreaties, they refused to surrender him. The sailors soon changed their ...
— A Smaller History of Rome • William Smith and Eugene Lawrence

... midst of such foreign surroundings it was delightful to hear English spoken in the streets, to see the familiar figure of a policeman, and to know that the great warships in the harbor were part of the British Fleet, and were ready at any time to protect our merchant vessels. ...
— The Princess of the School • Angela Brazil

... now at once begun. Washington accepted the chief command on condition that Hamilton should have the second place. There were already a few vessels in the navy. A Navy Department was now organized. The building of more warships was begun, and merchant vessels were bought and converted into cruisers. French privateers sailed along the American coasts and captured American vessels off the entrances of the principal harbors. But this did not last long. For ...
— A Short History of the United States • Edward Channing

... and knew how to present his case forcibly and with dignity. He laboured with energy and discretion to prevent the sailing of the "Alabama''; and, when unsuccessful in this, he persistently urged upon the British government its responsibility for the destruction of American merchant vessels by the privateer. In his own diary he shows that underneath his calm exterior were serious trouble and keen anxiety; and, in fact, the strain which he underwent during the Civil War made itself felt in later years. Adams was instrumental in getting Lord John ...
— Project Gutenberg Encyclopedia

... was, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the central point of the whole commerce of Europe, and the great market of all nations. In the year 1468 a hundred and fifty merchant vessels were counted entering the harbor of Sluys it one time. Besides the rich factories of the Hanseatic League, there were here fifteen trading companies, with their countinghouses, and many factories and merchants' families from every European country. Here was established the market ...
— The Works of Frederich Schiller in English • Frederich Schiller

... had to be something of an enthusiast, something of an orator, some one subtly persuasive. Against all the disagreeables of the strenuous life of the corsair he had to hold before the dazzled eyes of Selim, Ali, or Mahomet the promise of fat captures of the merchant vessels of the foe; when they had but to slit a few throats and to return with their brigantines laden to the gunwale with desirable plunder. Again he had to hearten them for possible encounters with Spaniards, with the terrible ...
— Sea-Wolves of the Mediterranean • E. Hamilton Currey

... called also Sesostris, fitted out not only war ships but merchant vessels for the purpose of trading with India, in B.C. 1235, and Wilkinson in his book on the Ancient Egyptians, tells us that in 2000 B.C. there were no less than 400 ships trading to the Persian Gulf. There is, after all, nothing ...
— On the Antiquity of the Chemical Art • James Mactear

... charming. The picturesque Gothic buttresses and gables of Kronborg rose above the zigzag of its turfed outworks; beyond were the houses and gardens of Helsingor (Elsinore)—while on the glassy breast of the Sound a fleet of merchant vessels lay at anchor, and beyond, the fields and towns of Sweden gleamed in the light of the setting sun. Yet here, again, I must find fault with Campbell, splendid lyrist as he is. We should ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... debility") to hospital, but not one of cholera; neither did any case occur on board during her stay there, at anchor a mile and a half from shore, and constantly communicating with shore,[5] while a considerable number of deaths took place from cholera in the merchant vessels anchored near shore. ...
— Letters on the Cholera Morbus. • James Gillkrest

... the American point of view, was the British Right of Search, which meant the right of searching neutral merchant vessels either in British waters or on the high seas for deserters from the Royal Navy. Every other people whose navy could enforce it had always claimed a similar right. But other peoples' rights had never clashed with American interests in at all the same way. ...
— The War With the United States - A Chronicle of 1812 - Volume 14 (of 32) in the series Chronicles of Canada • William Wood



Words linked to "Merchant vessels" :   conveyance, transport



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