CATALOGUE OF THE WATERCRAFT COLLECTION. 5 



vessels. The success which attended these efforts led Americans to 

 venture the inauguration in 1819 of transatlantic steam travel. 

 While this experiment, undertaken largely for speculative purposes, 

 did not prove remunerative, it, nevertheless, blazed the way for more 

 successful ventures a few years later when the construction of steam 

 vessels and their employment on the ocean were better understood. 



No other country, perhaps, has such a variety of steam craft as 

 the United States, due largely to the fact of the varying conditions 

 of its inland and coast waters to which, of course, vessels must be 

 adapted to meet with success. It is not pertinent to discuss here 

 the causes which have influenced or retarded the development of 

 an ocean-going steam merchant fleet under the flag of the United 

 States, such as may have been expected from the prominent part 

 taken by this countr}^ in the inauguration of steam navigation. It 

 is probably sufficient to say that, at the present time, this country is 

 able to produce as fine examples of steam vessels as have ever been 

 put afloat in any part of the world, prompting the hope that the day 

 is not far distant when the water-borne commerce of the country may 

 be carried in home-built hulls. 



The development of sailing vessels affords a most excellent oppor- 

 tunity for the study of many interesting phases of naval architecture. 

 The student of this art will learn how the form, construction, 

 and rig of vessels have been modified to meet the requirements 

 of trade or certain local environments. At the same time it is in- 

 structive to consider the types of vessels contemporaneous with the 

 discovery and early settlements of America, or which were asso- 

 ciated with the merchant service in later colonial periods. Neces- 

 sarily, the vessels last referred to were wholly or largely of Eu- 

 ropean types and build. Nevertheless, they are of special interest 

 as affording the starting point upon which the naval architecture 

 of America was primarily founded. 



The changes which have occurred since the establishment of Amer- 

 ican independence in the intercourse of nations and the methods of 

 conducting maritime commerce are nowhere more strongly em- 

 phasized than in the noticeable advance in the size of seagoing ves- 

 sels. In the early days of the Republic a large percentage of the 

 vessels trading with Europe were small brigs and brigatines ranging 

 from a little more than 100 tons to about 200 tons, old measurement. 

 Even the ships of those early days were comparatively small and at 

 the present time would look like toy vessels beside the great fabrics 

 with lofty rigs that are now fitting representatives of the sailing 

 vessels employed by this country. 



The Atlantic, built by John Davis, jr., in 1790, and the first full- 

 rigged ship built at Bath, Me., was only 235 tons. No vessel exceed- 

 ing 500 tons measurement was built at that port until 25 years later, 



