The trade of the City of Buenos Aires up to the time of the opening of
the South Basin had nearly all been carried on between the shore and the
steamers by lighters and small steam tenders. The usual anchorage for
the ocean steamers was in the "bar anchorage," a distance of about
fourteen miles from the city. The cargoes were transhipped into
lighters, which brought them as near to the shore as possible, and from
this point they were taken to the Custom House in specially-constructed
carts with very large wheels. Passengers were transhipped in the bar
anchorage into small tenders, and were brought to a point about 500
metres from the end of the passenger mole. From these tenders, when
there was sufficient water, they were taken ashore in small boats,
while, if the water was too low to go alongside the mole, they also had
to be brought ashore in carts. In many cases, however, passengers were
brought on in tenders and landed at the Riachuelo wharves, which were
then under construction. The first steamers that arrived in the River
Plate were those of the Royal Mail Company, followed by the French
Messageries Maritimes, and shortly afterwards by the Lamport & Holt
Line.
Up to the year 1870 these lines, and a few more that were started,
progressed very slowly, although the rates of freight were then very
high; but after that trade increased gradually, and not only a fair
number of sailing-vessels arrived yearly, but the regular lines of
steamers increased their number of sailings.
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