CRACKING-ON
We have seen in the development of our subject that it was only after
many centuries that the accommodation of the passenger aboard ship was
ever considered. We have noticed how the ship was built primarily not
for speed, but for carrying the maximum of cargo with the greatest
safety. But now there comes into our story the desire for speed as the
dominating factor, far more important than any other consideration, and
it is in the clipper ships that we get the first merchant vessels that
were constructed to cross the seas with the utmost despatch.
It is to North America that this is due. Whilst our bluff, dignified,
heavy East Indiamen were slowly making their last voyages before the
China monopoly was to come to an end, a remarkable ship, built by her
owner regardless of cost, was to appear in Baltimore. This was the
_Ann McKim_, of 493 registered tons. This flush-decked vessel came out
in 1832. She was very fast, but had small carrying capacity, and was
the first clipper ship ever built, and having regard to the daring
improvement which America had made in frigates and privateers, it is
not surprising that this fast type of merchant ship should come from
the same country. The contrast, indeed, between the old East Indiamen
and the young clippers is exactly what exists between the Old World and
the New. Convention was put aside, shipbuilders thought out problems
for themselves and had the courage to put their convictions into hulls.
But the first real out-and-out clipper ship was the _Rainbow_, which
was launched at the beginning of 1845 in New York. She was a 750-ton
vessel with hollow lines at the bows, and her greatest breadth much
further aft than had been thought practicable. When constructed, she
turned out to be a handsome vessel, exceptionally quick, and she was
the fastest vessel in the world. But after trading some time out to
China, she was lost in 1848, probably off Cape Horn. Now the cause of
attraction towards China at first was the trade in opium. It is not to
the credit of British, American or Parsee firms that this pernicious
drug was imported into China, where it had been declared illegal by the
Government as far back as 1796; but this illicit trade certainly did
much to develop fast-sailing ships.
But besides the opium, there was the China tea trade after the East
India Company’s monopoly had run out, and happily this did even more
than the opium to improve the evolution of the quickest fleet of ships
under sail that the world has ever seen. In 1846 the 890-ton _Sea
Witch_ was launched in New York, and she made a wonderful series of
voyages to China and back, her best day’s run being 358 miles, which
was far superior to that of any contemporary steamer. Then came such
celebrated American clippers as the _Samuel Russell_, 940 tons, the
_Memnon_, 1068 tons, and others. The American trade with China was so
important that in one year forty-one ships with tea, silk and spices
reached New York from China. The American clippers were certainly the
fastest ships of the period, and the _Sea Witch_ was still to hold the
record for a long time.
But now come two important events which were to have noteworthy results
on the Mercantile Marines of the world. The first of these was the
repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849, and the second was the
rush in that same year to California, caused by the discovery there
of gold in 1848. We will deal briefly with these factors and pass on.
Considerable opposition was made to this repeal, and indeed the first
result was that the tonnage of British shipping entering British ports
largely decreased and that of American shipping increased. After a
few years this competition proved a stimulus to both countries, but
especially it caused British owners to wake up in the Atlantic, as the
introduction of competition into the Eastern route had already done so
much good.
During the ’forties and ’fifties the American Mercantile Marine was in
many respects superior to the British, for the reason that the baneful
monopoly had caused a kind of self-satisfaction, and therefore no
progress to speak of. The long series of Navigation Laws beginning in
1651, and the steady, comfortable, close trade to the East, had lulled
British shipping into a kind of stupor. It was only when competition
was thrown open to the world that British shipping really got going.
The first American ship to carry tea from China to England was the
_Oriental_, which left China in August 1850 and reached the London
River ninety-seven days out from Hong-Kong with 1600 tons. This was the
fastest passage which had yet been made to England. As a beautiful,
powerful, speedy, well-found ship the like of her had never been met
with in the Thames. Those who had never seen anything but the East
Indiamen were amazed at the innovation by the United States Mercantile
Marine. But the shock did a world of good. The arrival of tea, in an
American ship, in record time, from a country where there had been a
British monopoly for so long, caused shipowners and builders furiously
to think.
The result was that two ships were ordered to be built at Aberdeen,
for during the last few years Messrs. Hall of that port had been
building some fast schooners. The _Stornoway_ and _Chrysolite_ were
thus launched, and have been called the first British tea-clippers,
though they were less beamy and powerful than the American clippers.
The first ship sailed out to Hong-Kong in 102 days, the _Chrysolite_
also went out during 1851 in the same time, and on her way home her
best day’s run was 320 miles, and she even reached fourteen knots. She
got to Liverpool in 103 days, after a very fine maiden voyage. Then
came increased competition as the result of _Chrysolite’s_ achievement,
for the American Navigation Club challenged the British shipbuilders to
a race with cargo on board from England to China and back for £10,000 a
side. This stake was even doubled, but the challenge was unfortunately
never accepted by British shipowners until Richard Green in 1852 built
the tea-clipper _Challenger_, which in that year went out to China,
and after loading tea at Shanghai, fell in with the American clipper
_Challenge_, three times the size of the British ship. From Anjer they
raced home with their tea, and _Challenger_ beat the _Challenge_ into
the dock in London by a couple of days. It is only fair to add that
British naval architects had an opportunity of learning from American
progress in a very direct manner. For _Oriental_ had been previously
placed into the Blackwall dock and her lines taken off; and now
_Challenge_ went in for the same purpose. Thus, the American clipper
ships, with their original design, did have a very powerful effect on
the future of British shipping.
The competition in the China tea trade continued, the British clippers
of this time made the rivalry very keen, and it is always a matter
of regret that there never was another real race between the two
countries. But now we must see how the California gold affected the
clipper. Briefly these are the facts. In 1848 San Francisco was a
mere hamlet, but this sudden discovery of a means to wealth caused a
tremendous flow of emigration to the West. Every one wanted to go, and
every one wanted to get there in the quickest possible time. Leaving
out the difficulties in those days of transcontinental travel, the only
way possible was by means of ships. The American clipper was thus the
solution, and they were therefore built in great numbers and in a small
space of time. In fact within four years 160 were launched, and they
sailed from New York to San Francisco in the remarkable time of 100
to 120 days. Here, then, was yet another incentive to the increase of
the Mercantile Marine, to the shipbuilders and to those attracted by
the sea. It is comparable only to the impetus which we have seen was
received by the Elizabethan seamen. There has seldom been in history
such an extensive and speedy migration of people, all anxious to get
rich quickly. Once again the ship was invaluable in the service of man.
In the year 1849 over 90,000 passengers landed in that San Franciscan
hamlet from ships. On the other hand, it became most difficult to
get crews to bring the ships back; for the seamen, too, had gone
gold-seeking as soon as the ship had anchored. The California clipper
period, as Captain Clark says in his _The Clipper Ship Era_, covers
the period 1850 to 1860, and it is during the first four of these
years that nearly all the 160 ships were built, most of them being
constructed in the neighbourhood of New York and Boston. It is claimed
for them that they were the fastest sailing ships which the world
ever saw, and the skippers cracked-on because these vessels were
able to earn enormous rates if only the passengers could be landed
at their port in the quickest time. Every one was making money—the
shipowner, captain, crew and then the gold-seekers. Ashore the riggers,
shipwrights, painters, sail-makers, metal workers, spar-makers,
pump-makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, caulkers were in such demand
that there was prosperity for all, and plenty of it. And it is to this
period that a good many of the fast-dying sea-chanties can be traced.
What of the crews that manned the American clippers? “The history of
men before the mast on board American ships,” says Captain Clark,
“is not a history of American sailors, for strictly speaking there
have never been any American merchant sailors as a class; that is,
no American merchant ship of considerable tonnage was ever manned
by native-born Americans in the sense that French, British, Dutch,
Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish or Danish ships are manned by men born in
the country under whose flags they sail.” This statement was written in
1910, and of course requires some modification to-day. But the advent
of the Californian clippers necessitated getting men from anywhere—some
sailors, many others not, and a whole lot of “bad hats” among them.
Of the Californian clippers built in 1851 one was the celebrated
_Challenge_, already referred to, a vessel of 2006 tons, one of the
largest clippers ever built, though absolutely the biggest was the
_Great Republic_, built in 1853. This was constructed by Donald McKay,
the famous Nova Scotian builder. She was of 4555 tons register, and
was the first ship to have an engine merely for hoisting the yards
and working the pumps. Rigged with four masts, she had the misfortune
to get on fire when nearly ready for sea, but was rebuilt, being the
largest merchant ship of her time, though registering now only 3357
tons.
The famous American clipper _Dreadnought_ came out in 1853, and voyaged
between New York and Liverpool, and on one occasion made this passage
in fifteen days twelve hours, and on another occasion in thirteen days
eight hours, though she was wrecked eventually off Cape Horn. But the
Australian gold discovery in 1851 had the same effect on shipping that
the China tea trade and the California gold rush had created. The
fastest vessels were required, competition became keen, and there was
no time to waste. Those owners, therefore, who had ships that could
carry passengers were in a splendid position from the first, for about
300,000 or 400,000 people each year for the next three or four years
had to be transported. From America no less than from England these
ships sailed away, and there was the same difficulty in Melbourne with
the crews as there had been in San Francisco.
[Illustration:
[_By courtesy the White Star Line._
SAILING NOTICE OF THE WHITE STAR CLIPPER “RED JACKET.”
(See p. 157.)]
For British shipowners the difficulty was that there was but little
accommodation in most ships, so they thought of the American clippers,
which had been doing such fine work. James Baines & Co. of Liverpool
therefore had the clipper _Marco Polo_ built at St. John’s, New
Brunswick. She was a very handsome ship of 1622 tons, with considerable
rise of floor, very fine aft, and she carried a very large spread of
canvas. This was the pioneer of the clipper ships for the Australian
trade and the first of the Australian Black Ball Line, her passenger
accommodation being a great improvement on the ships usually trading to
Australia. She left Liverpool in July 1851, and made a record passage
in sixty-eight days to Melbourne, and during the ensuing years of the
gold rush was a very popular and successful ship. The British lines
running out to Australia at this time were the White Star (twenty years
before they entered the Atlantic steam competition) and James Baines &
Co.’s Australia Black Ball Line, just mentioned.
These two firms both had clippers which were built in New England, and
one of these, the _Red Jacket_, was for the White Star Line. Named
after a noted Indian chief, with a full-length figure-head of him at
her bow, this fine ship was one of the most famous of the clippers,
and made a fine passage from New York to Liverpool in thirteen days,
one hour, when she first came out in February 1854, and on one of the
days made 413 miles. During that same year she sailed from Liverpool to
Melbourne in sixty-nine days. In his recently published _Reminiscences
of a Liverpool Shipowner_, Sir William B. Forwood has left an
interesting account of a voyage he made in this magnificent sailing
ship of 2006 tons, three years after she came out. “On the morning of
the 20th November, 1857,” he says, “I embarked by a tender from the
Liverpool pierhead. It was nearly the top of high water. The crew were
mustered on the forecastle, under the 1st Mate, Mr. Taylor. An order
comes from the quarter-deck. ‘Heave up the anchor and get away.’ ‘Aye,
aye, sir.’ ‘Now then, my boys, man the windlass,’ shouts the Mate, and
to a merry chantie:
“‘In 1847 Paddy Murphy went to Heaven
To work on the railway, the railway, the railway,
Oh, poor Paddy works upon the railway.’
“‘The anchor is away, sir,’ shouts the Chief Officer. ‘Heave it a-peak
and cathead it,’ comes from the quarter-deck, and the tug _Retriever_
forges ahead and tightens the tow-rope as we gather way. Bang, bang
went the guns, and twice more, for we were carrying the mails, and
goodbye to old Liverpool, and the crowds which lined the pierhead
cheered, for the _Red Jacket_ was already a famous ship, and it was
hoped she would make a record passage.
“Next morning we were off Holyhead, with a fresh westerly breeze and
southerly swell. We were making but poor headway, and shortly the
hawser parted. ‘All hands on deck,’ was shouted by Captain O’Halloran,
and a crew of eighty men promptly appeared on deck, for we carried
a double crew. ‘Loose sails fore and aft; hands in the tops and
cross-trees to see that all is clear and to overhaul gear; let royals
and sky sails alone.’
“The boatswain’s whistle sounded fore and aft as the men quickly took
their positions and laid hold of the halyards and braces.
[Illustration:
[_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._
CRACKING-ON!]
“‘Mr. Taylor, loose the headsails.’ ‘Aye, aye, sir.’ The topsail,
courses and topgallant sails were all loose and gaskets made up. ‘Now
then, my men, lead your topsail halyards fore and aft, and up with
them.’ Away the crew walk along with the halyards, and then with a long
pull and a pull all together the topsail yards are mastheaded to the
chantie:
“‘Then up the yard must go,
Whiskey for my Johnny,
Oh, whiskey for the life of man,
Whiskey, Johnny.’”
With the man at the wheel, keeping his eyes on the weather-luff of the
foreroyal, and allowing the sail to be just on the tremble, so as not
to lose an inch to windward, the _Red Jacket_ went tearing through the
seas, throwing them on either side in a sparkling cascade. By evening
the wind had increased, and the captain ordered life-lines to be run
fore and aft, and the decks to be sanded and the scuppers to be free.
The clipper plunges along, the man at the wheel eases her a few spokes
when a squall strikes her, and then bang goes the second jib, blown out
of the bolt ropes with the report of a gun. With seas coming in over
the forecastle, the hands set another jib, and by this time the clipper
is indeed travelling, for by the log she is doing eighteen knots.
During bad weather the fifty saloon passengers and 600 steerage were
kept below and the atmosphere was stifling. There was none of the
comfort or luxury of a modern steamship, and the clipper was heeling
over in a way that would alarm many travellers to-day. But at last,
after sixty-four days, the _Red Jacket_ had made Port Philip Heads, and
so a record voyage to Australia. Those were the days when travelling
by sea was romantic and not as monotonous as a railway journey. With
the captain cracking-on to make a fast trip, with sails carrying away,
spars and gear as well, there was always some sport, some adventure.
Between 1850 and the following ten years Prince’s Dock, Liverpool, was
crowded with fine clippers raising their lofty masts and crossing their
great spars. And those were the days of wonderful feats of seamanship.
Sir William Forwood says that he remembers seeing the 600-ton
Brocklebank sailing ship _Martaban_ come sailing into George’s Dock
Basin under all canvas. Her halyards were then let go and sails clewed
up so smartly that the ship, as she passed the pierhead, was able to
throw a line on shore and make fast. Could you beat this for seamanlike
skill and discipline?
[Illustration:
[_Photo, Henry Hughes & Son, Ltd._
SPARS AND STAYS.
Looking for’ard along the decks of a sailing ship.]
But it is with the celebrated China tea-clippers from about 1860
onwards that this skill reached such heights of proficiency. British
shipowners no longer found it necessary to have their clippers built
in America, and the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, together with the
enterprise learnt in a hard school, as the result of competition,
enabled British shipping to go ahead. The California boom, which had
produced America’s finest clippers, was dead. The great quantities
of American timber would soon be not wanted for shipbuilding, now
that iron was coming in and steam was replacing sails. But that which
gave the final character to the American Mercantile Marine was the
outbreak of civil war in 1861 between the North and South. From that
it never recovered until the new efforts, begun in 1917, to rebuild a
service that had been such a keen competitor during the clipper-ship
period. In the meantime, during the ’sixties and onwards, the British
Mercantile Marine, by the enterprise of the shipowners, the assistance
of legislation, the protection of the British Navy, the scientific
progress of shipbuilders and engineers, and by the skill and endurance
of its officers and crews, regained its supremacy after a stiff fight,
and opened up new trade routes in all parts of the world. And this
not merely in regard to the big lines, but especially in respect of
the tramp steamers going out with coal and bringing back all sorts of
essential produce.
The Clyde was gradually beginning to take the place of the Blackwall
yard, and this became still more so as the need for coal and iron
increased, owing to the fact that the Thames is not convenient to
coalfields. It was in 1855 that Steele of Greenock built his first
tea-clipper, the _Kate Carnie_, about 600 tons, and thereafter he
built, among other beautiful and eye-pleasing ships, the historic
_Taeping_, _Serica_, _Ariel_ and _Sir Lancelot_, all under 900 tons,
yet exceedingly fast. From 1855 to 1881 is the comprehensive period
of these China tea-clippers, and their evolution should be compared
with that of the Blackwall frigates already dealt with. The Steele
clippers had a full midship section and fine ends, but some of the
other clippers were fined away like the hulls of schooner yachts.
Unlike the obstinate Blackwallers, many tea-clippers had a certain
amount of sheer. From 1863 both the Clyde and Aberdeen firms launched
composite-built clippers, and these were so beautifully tight as to
require practically no pumping, and so the cargoes of tea arrived in
perfect condition.
The British tea-clippers of the period under consideration were
smaller than the American clippers, had less sheer, less freeboard,
and were more slim and graceful, with decks unencumbered except with
small houses; with less heavy spars, less beam, and were designed
to carry small cargoes of tea with the utmost despatch. They were a
small fleet in numbers, but their excellence was rather in a sustained
average speed throughout their voyages than in hourly or daily runs.
The longest day’s run by a tea-clipper was 363 miles, and this record
was made by _Cutty Sark_, and the only other clipper that could rival
her was the _Thermopylae_. These tea-clippers were economical to run,
handled by magnificent British seamen, and commanded by captains of
great experience, courage and enterprise. The composite construction
of wooden planking and iron frames gave these little ships unusual
strength, they were ballasted with shingle, and in light weather could
utterly outsail a Black Baller, a Californian clipper or a Blackwall
frigate. But because of their comparative smallness it is not to be
imagined that in heavy weather they could compete with the American
clippers of much greater tonnage and freeboard. _Cutty Sark’s_ rival,
_Thermopylae_, being of her own nationality, on one occasion did 358
miles, and _Ariel_ 340 miles, in the twenty-four hours.
But these tea-clippers needed proper handling, like sensitive horses,
and required to be humoured. Those were the days when the love of
ships by owners, captains and crews was something real, when clippers
were treated like human beings and given everything they wanted; and
their loss often meant the breaking of the owner’s heart. The personal
relationship between the owner, his ship and captain was something
very different from to-day. Before the advent of limited liability
companies and telegraph cables, instructions were given personally
by the owner, who would himself come down to see his ship start. In
many cases the captains were financially interested in the ships, and
it must be remembered that the best clipper-ship captains were hard
to find. Remembering that an owner required neither a mere dare-devil
nor one who merely played for safety, but a captain who would crack-on
without losing ship or gear, and whilst getting the last ounce out of
the ship would know instantly when to ease up, it is obvious that an
ideal commander would be a mixture of courage, iron nerve, initiative,
driving power, sound judgment based on experience, consummate
seamanlike ability and great physical endurance.
It was when such skippers got command of these lovely little ships that
the tea was raced home in such splendid time. They had to watch their
ships from hour to hour during the three months’ race from China to
England, rarely going below, getting very little sleep, and the result
was that many eventually broke down. But we must think of them as the
keenest lot of captains who ever sailed the seas, and up to every dodge
to get the ship home quicker than the other fellow. They looked for
risks and accepted them freely, but they were not foolhardy, and they
knew just how much their ships could stand. Backed up not by mutinous
crews, as was often the case in the American clippers, but by thorough
seamen, all British, a captain knew that he could rely on them to
aid him in getting the most out of his ship; for they were not less
keen than himself, and were betting against the other ships. It meant
hard work, but no sailorman will ever grouse at this if he is in tune
with the reason. They took a pride in their vessels and were jealous
of a ship’s honour. Could the same be said nowadays of the crews of
steamships? Sentiment in seafaring has a tremendous practical value if
only it is appreciated and properly trained.
In his volume _The China Clippers_, Mr. Basil Lubbock says that “in
the heyday of the racing, Foochow was the loading port par excellence,
and the Pagoda anchorage, just before the tea came down the river,
showed perhaps the most beautiful fleet of ships the world has ever
seen. The crack ships, which were always the first to load, began to
assemble about the end of April; and until the tea came down were all
engaged in painting, varnishing and smartening themselves up, and in
other ways, such as sheathing over their channels, preparing for the
fray. Then what a sight they made when all was spick and span, with
their glistening black hulls, snow-white decks, golden gingerbread
work and carving at bow and stern, newly-varnished teak deck-fittings,
glittering brass and burnished copper. Every ship, of course, had her
distinctive mast and bulwark colours.”
[Illustration:
[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._
PORT OF LIVERPOOL.
In 1798.]
[Illustration:
[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._
SCREW S.S. “LADY JOCELYN.”
1,800 tons, 300 horse-power. Owned by General Screw Steam Shipping Co.]
The tea-clipper _Fiery Cross_, launched in 1860 at Liverpool and
wood-built, was to become famous for her fast passages home. It was
customary in those days for the first vessel who landed the new teas
in England to receive a premium. This vessel won the premium on four
occasions. Then in 1863 Steele built the _Serica_ and _Taeping_, two
of the most famous clipper ships. The former was wood-built and of 708
tons. The latter was composite-built and of 767 tons, and it was in
1865 that two more Steele composite tea-clippers were launched, also
to become famous. These were the 853-ton _Ariel_ and the 886-ton _Sir
Lancelot_. Very beautiful craft they were, and no ship-lover can regard
the existing pictures of these handsome craft without a thrill of
emotion. Symmetry, grace, proportion, curves, easy lines as to hull;
a good sail-plan, tall masts and fine spars; carrying in light winds
all sorts of kites and fancy sails, the supreme test came in the
ever-memorable race of 1866, which is one of the greatest events in the
whole history of merchant ships under sail. On May 28, 1866, there was
a whole fleet of these clippers loading at Foochow. At 5 p.m. _Ariel_
began her voyage, by dropping down and anchoring for the night; and
then followed the _Fiery Cross_, _Taeping_, _Serica_ and _Taitsing_, at
intervals. On August 12 _Ariel_ passed the Cape Verde Islands, next day
came _Taeping_, _Fiery Cross_ and _Serica_, the _Taitsing_ not passing
until the 19th, but she had made up these three days by September 1.
On September 5 _Ariel_ picked up the Bishop Light, sighted _Taeping_,
and the two raced up Channel, doing their fourteen knots. _Ariel_ got
her pilot at six the next morning off Dungeness, followed immediately
by _Taeping_. In the Downs _Taeping_ got the more powerful tug, and
thus reached Gravesend nearly an hour sooner, and finally docked twenty
minutes before _Ariel_. It was a near thing after racing for three
months from one end of the world to the other. _Serica_ docked on the
same tide, _Fiery Cross_ was only about a day later, and _Taitsing_
arrived in the river on September 9. And there were plenty more of
these races, for the skippers cracked-on and made these clippers do
marvellous things through the water.
But in 1868 there was built at Aberdeen the famous clipper
_Thermopylae_, 947 tons, a bigger and more powerful ship than the
Steele clippers, and a veritable witch at sailing, whether on the wind
or to windward, and a wonderful sea boat, too. In November 1868 she
started on her maiden voyage from Gravesend, and reached Melbourne in
sixty-three days. Mr. Downie, already quoted, whilst a midshipman in a
Blackwaller, happened to be in Melbourne when _Thermopylae_ came in,
and went aboard to look over this new wonder ship. “She had immensely
square yards,” he says, “and most beautiful lines, fore and aft. Her
apprentices told me her skipper had driven her all the way, carrying on
tremendously, but her spars and rigging were all new, and of the best
material, and stood the severe strain in splendid fashion.”
_Thermopylae_ broke records, and in 1869 got home from Foochow in
ninety-one days, though _Sir Lancelot_ less than a fortnight later
arrived after a voyage of only eighty-nine days. But then came the
splendid _Cutty Sark_. She is the only one of this long line of
tea-clippers still afloat and at work. In the autumn of 1921 she came
into the London river, and I was able to go all over her. But she had
changed her name to _Ferreira_ and was Portuguese-owned and rigged as a
barquentine. For all that, and the disappointing way in which she was
being kept up, she was in excellent condition, with a yacht-like hull,
every line of which suggested grace and speed. Composite-built, this
921-ton vessel was a little bigger than _Thermopylae_, and was launched
in 1869. Under Captain Moodie this vessel cracked-on, and she could do
her seventeen and a half knots, and anyone who has examined her bow and
stern will readily believe this.
[Illustration:
[_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._
AUXILIARY SCREW S.S. “INDOMITABLE.”
1,170 tons. Owned by R. James Brown, Sunderland.]
And here, in the height of their glory, we must now leave these
clippers; for the opening of the Suez Canal told owners pretty
plainly that the future for them was to leave sail and go in for steam.
In 1881 _Thermopylae_ made her last passage as a tea-carrier, and all
the other clippers had either gone or were out of the running, and used
in other trades. Crews began more frequently to go into steamships,
famous captains retired, and the younger men, like the crews, preferred
the more comfortable life in a mechanically-propelled vessel. But for
years the American and British clipper ships were the glory of the
Mercantile Marine, as at one time the old East Indiamen had been before
the days of healthy competition. The influence of the scientific French
architects on the American builders of frigates and privateers is
traceable through the clipper ships which followed. Thus mutually one
nation is linked with another in the development of that great service
which has meant so much for the good of the world.