Iron-hulled sailing ship
[2] Iron-hulled sailing ships were mainly built from the 1870s to 1900, when steamships began to outpace them economically, due to their ability to keep a schedule regardless of the wind.
[3]: 89 Even into the twentieth century, sailing ships could hold their own on ultra-long voyages such as Australia to Europe, since they did not require bunkerage for coal nor freshwater for steam, and they were faster than steamers, which usually could barely make 8 knots (15 km/h).
Other sailing ship companies carrying on despite the onset of the machine age were F. Laeisz of Hamburg and A.D. Bordes of Dunkirk.
[4] The four-masted, iron-hulled ship, introduced in 1875 with the full-rigged County of Peebles, represented an especially efficient configuration that prolonged the competitiveness of sail against steam in the later part of the 19th century.
"[12] The crew roster of Pamir on her last commercial voyage around Cape Horn in 1949 under the Finnish flag listed a total complement of 33:[13] Owners ran their sailing ships with close attention to costs.
"[14] Crews were readily available in spite of abysmal pay because Germany and Scandinavian countries still required sail experience for mariner's licences.
However, even the Finnish mates occasionally enforced discipline with their fists while sailing with minimal crews of largely inexperienced youths when "... instant obedience to orders was essential.
They occupied a niche in the transport of low-value bulk cargoes of little interest to steamship companies, e.g., lumber, coal, guano or grain (60,000 sacks on Pamir[16]).
The last leg from Australia to Europe, where the cargo was wheat or barley, became the source of The Great Grain Races as the ships' masters attempted to sail the leg as fast as possible, essentially only for prestige and pride[17] — usually from the grain ports of South Australia's Spencer Gulf to Lizard Point at the Cornwall coast and on to the harbour of destination in Britain or continental Europe.
The owners of the Parma bought their vessel in 1932 for about ten thousand dollars and then loaded over 5,200 tons or 62,650 sacks of grain, for a gross income of $40,000.
[18] The Germans in particular maintained profitable commerce through the 1930s to the west coast of South America, shipping general cargo out and nitrates home.
