What were the five busiest waterways in the world during the second
half of the 19th century?  Criteria:  Not harbors or other anchorages,
but coastal or inland routes on which commercial sail and steam-driven traffic
sailed en route from one place to another.  These can include
channels, rivers, straits, or other passageways, but they should be
alongshore or inland (rather than oceanic). Candidates suggested to me
recently include the English Channel, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the
Bosporus, the Mississippi (or Ohio) Rivers, the entrance to the
Mediterranean, the Strait of Malacca in Malaysia, the Rhine, and
Vineyard Sound. I need to know numbers of commercial vessels rather
than tonnage.  And I know many of the figures may be only estimates,
and probably changed a good deal over the course of 50 years.  But are
there clear, nearly indisputable standouts during that period?  Can
they be put in a reliable top-five order?

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 08 May 2003 19:42 PDT

Mccook --

The busiest are likely to be canals (Canal du Midi, Erie Canal) but
you seem to have excluded those.  They are also likely to have the
best census of traffic (being toll-oriented).  Do you wish them
included or not?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 08 May 2003 20:10 PDT

Omnivorous-ga:  You make a good point.  For the purposes of this
project, I'd like to concentrate on more open, natural waterways than
canals.  In other words, if the top five are all canals, that doesn't
really help me, but if there's one canal, like the Erie, that's a
standout among canals, that would be interesting and helpful.  Thanks
for the interest and help.  McCook.

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Clarification of Question by mccook-ga on 12 May 2003 18:10 PDT

I'd like to change the criteria a little to include canals if indeed a
set of solid numbers can be obtained for them.  If the top two, three
or five busiest waterways were indeed canals, that's useful to me.  I
have some ballpark figures for Vineyard Sound, an area of special
interest, and I'm trying to refute a long-held (but I think provincial
and poorly researched) belief that in the second half of the
nineteenth century it was "the second busiest waterway on the planet,
after the English Channel."  Are there reliable figures from other
waterways in the world -- now including canals -- against which I can
measure Vineyard Sound?  Thanks to all for your comments, which got me
thinking afresh.

The St. Lawrence Seaway didn't exist in the 19th Century: construction
began in 1954.

The Suez Canal should probably be considered among busiest canals.

hlabadie-ga

Not until 1954?  Did not know that.  Thanks for the insight.  mccook-ga.

I've forgotten most of the details, but I once heard that the 2
waterways that connect Lake Saint Claire to Lake Erie and possibly
Lake Huron were the world's busiest. This may not have occured until
early 20th century when car manufacturing in Detroit became big
business. I believe the major tonnage was coal to fuel the blast
furnaces. The coal and ore boats were very large so the number of
ships may be well below the the small craft that traveled the Yansee
River and others in China and SE Asia thoughout the 19th century.  
Neil

One of the top five would certainly be the River Thames and its
estuary.
"By the start of the nineteenth century Britain was the world's
leading industrial power and dominated international commerce. London
was the world’s largest port, the centre of international finance and
the heart of the expanding British Empire."
More information at
http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConNarrative.8&chapterId=33
answerfinder-ga

What about the Manchester Ship Canal ?