40
After the sub managed several test runs, Jules Verne, best-selling
author of
“20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,”
sent
Argonaut
builder
Simon Lake a congratulatory telegram.
Manufacturers aspiring to link up with the maritime chain
crowded the waterfront area to reduce their transportation costs
for incoming raw materials and outgoing finished goods. Ferries
and small bridges connected busy sections of the port area. Vane
Brothers chandlery opened in Fell’s Point in 1898 as a one-stop
provisioning shop for ships and crews; Vane dealt with the butcher,
the baker, the ironmonger, and even the post office. Today, the
company supplies an expanded range of services, and distributes
fuel to the Eastern Shore and East Coast locales.
International giant McCormick Spice Company opened up
shop in 1889. Today McCormick imports commodities from 35
nations through the Port of Baltimore to produce more than 15,000
products, more than two-thirds of which are made in Maryland.
George Gunther began making beer with imported hops, one of
30 small area breweries at the time; Gunther developed a strong
local following as an original sponsor of the Baltimore Orioles.
The Port provides, whether one aspires to sell several products
or 15,000.
Right: Charles Hughes, Jr. in his
family’s ship chandlery in 1960.
Vane Brothers, at the foot of
Broadway in Fell’s Point, provided
all the essentials— including
McCormick spices, inset — to
mariners. Vane Brothers has left the
chandlery business and focuses on
bunkering and oil transportation.
