Alfred Holt, born on the 13th June, 1829, was the third son
of Mr. George Holt, of Liverpool. After being privately educated he was apprenticed in 1846 to
the late Mr. Edward Woods, Past- President, under whom he gained a varied and
extensive experience of railway surveying and construction and locomotive
building.
He later turned his attention to marine engineering, and
after a short time with Messrs. Lamport and Holt, of Liverpool, he engaged in business
on his own account in 1852 as a consulting marine engineer. To this he later
added the commercial management of steamship lines, in which he showed
considerable enterprise, and became very successful.
In 1855 he commenced the first unsubsidised line to the West
Indies, which formed the nucleus of the West India and Pacific Steamship
Company. He also assisted in the establishment of Messrs. Lamport and Holt’s
line to South America, and accompanied their first vessel, the 'Kepler,' in
1864 as volunteer supercargo and engineer, the vessel having been built to his
design.
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The Colombian, belonging to the West India
and Pacific Steam-ship company |
Up to this period all steamship engines were of the
low-pressure (generally under 20 lbs.) wet-condensing type, good specimens
burning perhaps 5 lbs. of coal per IHP. per hour, but it was becoming daily
clearer that less fuel must be burned if longer voyages were to be undertaken.
Cornish engines were the school for fuel economy, and Mr. Holt made a complete
study of these engines, applying his knowledge to marine engines. Of course the
crux of the question was the employment of high-pressure steam, and Mr. Holt
was probably the first to use high-pressure steam successfully at sea.
In 1864 he fitted the 'Cleator' with a boiler carrying 60
lbs. steam, and the resulting economy in coal consumption proved it was possible
for a vessel of 400 tons to undertake long voyages. The engine was a compound
one with a single crank. Compound engines
had always been used in conjunction with low pressures, The 'Cleator'
gave him confidence to build three vessels of about 2,300 ton4 each, with which
his blue-funnel China line, known as the Ocean Steam Ship Company, began in
1866. The route had to be via the Cape of Good Hope, the Suez Canal not being
open till the end of 1869, and the unbroken run between England and Mauritius was
at that date a rather exceptional performance. The venture, though thought
doubtful by many, was successful, and
became a large well-known steamship undertaking. Throughout, he was
associated with his brother, Mr. Philip H. Holt.
In the early eighteen seventies, Messrs. Butterfield and
Swire, his China agents, conceived the project of running steamers on the
Chinese rivers, mainly on the Yangtsze. Mr. Holt secured financial support for
the venture and advised as to the hulls and machinery.
After an exhaustive study of American river-boats in 1872,
Mr. Holt recommended the construction by Messrs. Inglis of Glasgow of four
vessels based on the American type. The wooden hulls,however, were replaced by
iron, and the walking-beam engine was retained though somewhat modified, they
were a complete success and competition soon ceased. This was the nucleus of
the China Navigation Company. His practice in connection with the machinery of
steamboats involved his becoming acquainted with the subject of hull-construction,
he conducted extensive studies and became somewhat of an expert.
Mr. Holt was for over 25 years a member of the Mersey Docks
and Harbour Board, and,
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| Click to enlarge |
having been chairman of several of the committees, was
elected in 1891 and 1892 chairman of the Board. He took a great interest in the
general business of the Board, and especially in the works and marine
departments. He originally suggested the construction of an overhead railway on
the line of docks, along which passenger traffic had become almost impossible.
By 1887 the overall level of competition between British
rival companies led to a freight rate war and a complete breakdown of the
Conference system. The profits of the major British rivals: P & O,
Ocean Steam Ship Company, Glen Line, Castle Line,
Shire Line and the China Mutual were all affected to the
extent that, finally, agreements were made that led to a new Conference system
being introduced in the 1890s. This was undoubtedly a turning point for Alfred
and Philip Holt who now became firmly wedded to the Conference system and the
principle that equalisation of freight rates would eliminate wasteful
competition. They were, nevertheless, determined to maintain competition in the
provision of quality of service whereby the most efficient company was sure of
receiving the largest reward.
The 1890s also saw a change in trading patterns and in the
types of cargo required to be carried in the China trade. Light measurement
cargos such as textiles from Yorkshire, for example, were being replaced by
heavier, dead-weight cargos such as machinery from the Midlands, and the Holts
took the decision to build new vessels designed to accommodate these changes.
In 1891, the Holts created two new shipping companies in order to strengthen
their competitive position against Dutch shipping lines. The first,
Nederlandsche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Oceaan was founded in Amsterdam, and its
fleet consisted of a number of older Blue Funnel ships but now under the Dutch
flag. The second, the East India Ocean Steam Ship Company comprised a part of
the Bogaardt fleet together with other vessels already purchased by the Holts
for the East Indies trade. This latter company was to be operated from
Singapore but under the control of the Ocean Steam Ship Company Managers.
In 1895, Richard Durning Holt, Maurice Llewelyn Davies and
George Holt junior joined Alfred and Philip Holt and Albert Crompton as
Managers of the Ocean Steam Ship Company. Albert Crompton had become a Manager
in 1882. The new Managers undoubtedly made a major contribution to the
improvements in the profitability of the Ocean Steam Ship Company. Significant
operating economies were made, even to the extent of reducing salaries and
wages of Ocean Steam Ship Company employees by 15%. New markets were
identified, and operating practices revised. Old ships were disposed of, and,
between
1894 and 1902, twenty-two new, large steam ships were added
to the Blue Funnel fleet.
Mr. Holt died at Liverpool on the 28th November, 1911, in
his eighty-third year. He was elected a Member of The Institution on the 2nd
February, 1875.
Links
Sources
Wikipedia
Liverpool Records Office
Liverpool Central Library
Graces Guide
