▪ I. tonnage, n.
(ˈtʌnɪdʒ)
Also 5–6 tonage, (6 to(u)ndage, t(o)unage), 7– tunnage, (8 tunnige).
[In sense 1, a. OF. tonnage (1300 in Du Cange), tonaige (1374 in Godef.), tonage (1477 ibid.), f. tonne tun: see -age, also med. (Anglo-)L. tonnāgium (Du Cange); in senses 2–7, f. ton n.1 + -age.]
I. Charge, duty, or payment of so much per tun or ton.
1. Eng. Hist. A tax or duty formerly levied upon wine imported in tuns or casks, at the rate of so much for every tun. Commonly in association with poundage: see poundage n.1 1.
By some historical writers and in some dictionaries written tunnage for distinction's sake, and to emphasize the connexion with tun n.; but tonnage is the more usual form.
Tonnage and poundage were first levied in the 14th c., and were granted for life to several sovereigns, beginning with Edward IV. They were abolished by 27 Geo. III c. 13, in 1787.
| 1422 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 173/2 A subsidie of Tonage and Poundage.., that is to sey of every Tunne iii s; and xii d of every Pounde. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vi. (1885) 123 Pondage and tonnage mey not be rekenned as parcell off the revenues wich the kynge hath ffor the mayntenance off his estate, bi cause it aught to be applied only to þe kepynge off the see. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 509 margin, This is the custome whiche we nowe paye, called Tonnage and poundage. 1640 Pym in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 22 There is First Tunnage and Poundage, and the late new Book of Rates taken by Prerogative, without Grant of Parliament. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iii. §215 Great Complaint had been made, ‘that Tonnage and Poundage’ (which is the duty and subsidy paid by the Merchant upon Trade) ‘had been taken by the King without consent of Parliament’. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. viii. 304 Tonnage was a duty upon all wines imported, over and above the prisage and butlerage aforesaid. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. v. (1852) 235 The duties of tonnage and poundage, of which mention is so frequently made in English history, were customs duties. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xvi. 424 The custom of tunnage and poundage, two shillings on the tun of wine and sixpence on the pound [i.e. pound's worth] of merchandise which had been granted the year before [1371] for the protection of the merchant navy. |
† 2. A charge for the hire of a ship of so much a ton (of her burden) per week or month.
Obs.| 1512 French Wars of 1512–13 (Navy Rec. Soc. 1897) 5 (Charge of the Marie Roose)..Also for toundage, after 3d. a ton a weke, 500 tons: nihil, quia navis regis. Ibid. 7 Also for toundage of 400 tons: 60l. Ibid. 12 Somme total of the charges of the 22 shippes afore said, as in vitayle, wages, deddeshares and toundage for the first 3 mounthes: 5608l. 2s. Ibid. 34 Toundage after 12d a ton a mounth, for 9 shippes tyght 1790 tons, amountyng for 3 mounthes to 268l. 10s. c 1525 in Archæologia (1883) XLVII. 335 To David Miller apon the wages and vitailles and tondage of the Vyncent, of Eryth, xxxvij. li. ix. s. iij. d... To Christofer Coo apon wages and vitailles and tonage of diverse shippes, dclxxix. li. vj. s. viij. d. 1587 Spanish War (Navy Rec. Soc.) 237 For tonnage of the 6 ships for 3 months 141 0 0. |
3. A charge or payment per ton on cargo or freight;
e.g. that payable at any port or wharf, or on a canal; also, sometimes, that received or earned by a railway (
quot. 1838).
| 1617 Minsheu Ductor, Tonnage..I haue heard it also a Dutie due to the Mariners for vnloading their shippe arriued in any Hauen, after the rate of euerie Tonne. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. IV, cccxiv, The French..surprised as they stood In harbour, by some English Lords, make out The Tunnage lost, & forfeit stock to boot. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 53 What other Additions and Allowances of Tunnige for other Wares and Merchandize as are paid at the Ports aforesaid. 1789 Constitution U.S. i. §10 No state shall, without the consent of the Congress, lay any duty of tonnage. 1806 Gazetteer Scotl. 409 [Paisley] to defray the expence by a tonnage of 8d per ton upon all vessels navigating the Cart, except those loaded with coal. 1828 Webster, Tonnage..a duty, toll or rate payable on goods per tun, transported on canals. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 322/2 It was admitted..that the amount of tonnage received by the Railway Company..was 1,236l. os. 6d. per mile. Ibid., They would allow..30l. 18s. per mile, or 2½ per cent. for the collection of the tonnage. |
II. Carrying capacity, weight, etc., in tons.
4. The internal capacity of a ship expressed in tons of 100 cubic feet (see
ton1 2) or 2·83 cubic metres.
Originally the number of tun casks of wine which a merchant ship could carry. Afterwards estimated by measurements and calculations which gave rough approximations to the actual cubic content (
Old Measurement). Later arrived at by measurements of breadth and depth at determinate distances, from which by a mathematical calculation (see Merchant Shipping Acts from 1854 onward, and subsequently Merchant Shipping (Tonnage) Regulations) the cubic content of the space under the tonnage-deck (
under-deck tonnage) is obtained. To this is added the volume of certain specified enclosed spaces above this deck, the result being the
gross (register) tonnage. A deduction is made from the latter for those parts of the ship which are deemed to be non-earning, to give the
net (register) tonnage or
register tonnage, for which vessels are registered, and on which the assessment of dues and charges on shipping is based. Systems of measurement vary from country to country, but there have been moves towards international standardization. The
Suez Canal tonnage makes a smaller deduction for engine-space, etc., and approximates more closely to the gross tonnage.
deadweight tonnage represents the ship's carrying capacity, expressed in tonnes.
displacement tonnage, the weight of water in tonnes displaced by a fully-laden ship, formerly used to express the tonnage of warships; superseded by
standard displacement.
| 1718 Steele Acc. Fishpool 170 There is a great difference between a shipwright's and merchant's way of calculating the tonnage of a ship. Ibid., The shipwright's way is to multiply the length of the keel by the middle-breadth, and that product by half the breadth and then they divide the last product by 94, and the quotient is the tunnage. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. vii. 354 The duty..paid by all ships..according to their tunnage. 1751 C. Labelye Westm. Br. 86 Of more Tonnage or Capacity than a Man of War of 40 Guns. 1836 W. Irving Astoria III. 133 Coasting vessels..of small tonnage and draft of water, fitted for coasting service. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 384/2 She is 271 tons old measurement,..and has 99 ft. 9 in. [length] for tonnage. 1858 E. B. Tinling in Merc. Marine Mag. V. 306 She had a registered American tonnage of 1035, corresponding with 997 British. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 442/2 There are three terms used in respect of the tonnage of ships,—namely, tonnage under decks, gross tonnage, and register tonnage... In obtaining the tonnage under tonnage deck, ships are divided in respect of their length into five classes. Ibid. 443 This formula is also applicable for finding displacement tonnage of ships, that is, the external displacement measured by taking transverse areas to the height of the load water-line to find the cubic content, which divided by 35 gives the displacement in tons weight. 1894 Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 388 Gross tonnage means a vessel's actual burthen;..registered tonnage is her burthen when the capacity of all the space in which cargo is not carried has been deducted. |
b. fig. (Used of mental capacity or bodily size.)
| 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) i. Introd., To settle the comparative tonnage of their minds. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. ii, A dignitary of that tonnage. 1897 Flandrau Harvard Episodes 323 A person, female, aged—say forty-five; of abundant tonnage and affable manners. |
5. transf. Ships collectively, shipping (in relation to their carrying capacity, or together with the merchandise carried by them).
| 1633 T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xxiv. (1821) 443 Victuals, and tonnage for the victualling and transporting of three thousand and two hundred men. 1748 in Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxxvi. 348 He should not otherwise be able to give us any tonnage. 1808 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1837) IV. 24 If the additional Tonnage does not arrive tomorrow, I shall settle to leave behind the veteran battalion or the 36th. 1809 Ibid. V. 212 To send to Lisbon that part of the coppered tonnage of the country which can be spared from service elsewhere. 1833 H. Martineau Vanderput & S. i. 16 The tonnage of this country is more than half that of all Europe. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. i. viii. 515 The amount of tonnage then provided for the private trade had never been fully occupied. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ix. II. 484 The tonnage [of Brixham] exceeds many times the tonnage of the port of Liverpool under the kings of the House of Stuart. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iii. xviii. (1872) I. 250 The Friedrich-Wilhelm's Canal..still carries tonnage from the Oder to the Spree. 1898 Daily News 14 Feb. 9/5 An inadequate supply of tonnage has prevented the shipments coastwise being carried on on the large scale which the demand would undoubtedly warrant. 1909 Daily Chron. 22 Jan. 1/3 The tonnage built in German yards amounted to only 201,000, against 311,000 in 1907 and 338,000 in 1906. |
6. a. Weight in tons.
rare.
| 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. Contents 7 Tonnage of the Stone. Ibid. 8 The Moorstone considered as ballast. Its tonnage. |
b. Weight of (iron or other heavy merchandise) in the market.
| 1898 Daily News 14 Feb. 9/5 Production has..been curtailed with a view to raising prices, but no impression is made upon the tonnage on offer, the Lancashire and Welsh makers being serious rivals. |
7. Mode of reckoning the ton of cargo for freightage.
| 1913 Handbk. Conference of W.I. Atlantic S.S. Comps., Genl. Regulations, All goods to be freighted at actual measurement, or at actual gross weight, which ever tonnage be the greater..the measurement to be taken at 40 cubic feet to the ton, and the weight at 2240 pounds or 1000 kilos to the ton. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
tonnage bounty,
tonnage capacity,
tonnage due,
tonnage duty,
tonnage length,
tonnage money,
tonnage tax;
tonnage annuity, a government annuity payable out of the proceeds of tonnage duties: see
Act 5 & 6 Will. & Mary, 1694, c. 20 §§16–18;
tonnage-cheater, term applied to a vessel built so as to cheat the rules for tonnage measurement,
esp. a yacht with a ‘dog's-leg’ stern-post, by which its length was diminished;
tonnage-deck, in a ship, the second deck from above in all vessels of two or more decks; the only deck in a vessel of one deck;
tonnage-displacement = displacement tonnage, in 4.
| 1698 Lond. Gaz. No. 3374/4 The Purchasers may satisfie the Purchase-Money by Arrears, incurred..on the *Tunnage-Annuities or by Lottery-Tickets, which became due within the same Time on the Salt Act. |
| 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 631 A high *tonnage bounty was granted upon every buss fitted out for the deep-sea fishery. |
| 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 463/2 Commercial competition demanded that *tonnage capacity should be secondary to speed. |
| 1912 Du Boulay Compl. Yachtsman 474 Many yachtsmen attributed her [a yacht's] success to her evading the rule of length-measurement, and she was [1874] commonly known as a ‘*tonnage-cheater’. |
| 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 442/2 In obtaining the gross measurement the space under the *tonnage deck is first measured; then the space or spaces, if any, between the tonnage deck and the upper deck. |
| 1888 Daily News 8 Sept. 2/1 The smaller of the two ironclads will be named the Texas... Her *tonnage displacement is 6,300, and she will steam about 17 knots. |
| 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 71/2 At present the orders in Council fix 2s. for the *tonnage dues [in China], and 7s. per cent. on the export and import cargo. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) II. 65 The tonnage dues and other revenues being generally insufficient to defray the ordinary expenditure. |
| 1697–8 Act 9 Will. III, c. 37 (title) Annuities..payable out of *Tunnage Duties. 1801 A. Hamilton Wks. (1886) VII. 217 Rather let the tonnage duty on American vessels be abolished. |
| 1705 Sir C. Wren Let. in N. & Q. 3rd Ser. IV. 103/2, I am sorry M{supr}. Wood has p{supd} you the *Tunnage-money, but..I shal endeavor that you be made to refund it. |
| 1882 D. A. Wells Our Merchant Marine vii. 179 *Tonnage-taxes on shipping are not levied by Great Britain, nor, it is believed, by any other of the maritime states of Europe, except Spain. Prior to the war, also, there were no tonnage-taxes in the United States. 1899 Daily News 19 Aug. 6/6 The challenging yacht is subject to tonnage tax, and must enter and clear at the Custom House like a regular merchant vessel. |
▪ II. ˈtonnage, v. [f. prec. n.] 1. trans. To impose tonnage upon (see
prec. 1); hence
ˈtonnaging vbl. n.: in
quot. fig.| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 64 Nothing..but what passes through the custom-house of certain Publicans that have the tunaging and the poundaging of all free spok'n truth. |
2. To have a tonnage of (so much): see
prec. 4.
| 1850 Scoresby Cheever's Whalem. Adv. i. (1858) 8 Six hundred and fifty ships, barks, brigs, and schooners, tonnaging two hundred thousand tons. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals 241 Sixteen vessels, which tonnaged in the aggregate 1,871 tons. |