The 3-Masted Salt-Fish Carrier 

 E. P. Theriault, built in Nova 

 Scotia in 191 9. {Smithsonian photo 

 38794-b). 



topsail schooners were employed and some of these 

 were fast-sailing craft. 



The building of ocean freighting ships declined after 

 the depression of 1857 and very few ships of any great 

 size were built until after the Civil War, \Nhen there 

 was a slow recovery and New England in particular 

 began building ships over 190 feet and of a superior 

 class. These down-Easters, as they came to be 

 known, were fuller ended than earlier clippers and 

 extreme clippers, approaching the medium clipper 

 in form, and many were very large and well finished. 

 The number of brigs, brigantines, and topsail schoon- 

 ers in foreign trade gradually lessened; brigantines 

 and schooners in this period were built primarily for 

 the coasting and the West Indian trades. 



The down-Easter soon achieved high importance 

 in the American merchant marine and in most 

 respects represented the highest development of the 

 sailing merchant ship. They were large carriers yet 

 had lines that permitted quick passages on occasion. 

 They had relatively smaller sail plans than the old 

 clipper ships, but with their larger average size and 

 greater power to carry sail, they were nearly as fast 

 on long voyages as the more extreme ships of the 

 1850's. Builders' models in the Watercraft Collection 

 illustrate this class of ship and show the perfection in 

 hull form that the New England builders reached by 

 1885. Most of these ships had strong sheer compared 

 to earlier vessels. The rather upright stem had a 

 short flaring cutwater with very sparse adornment, 

 in the form of a figurehead or billet and a little 

 carving; often the trails and headrails were omitted. 



The stern was often round or there was a light and 

 well formed counter with an elliptical transom. The 

 entrance was fairly sharp and convex, and of moderate 

 length. The run was rather short but often very 

 well formed. 



The down-Easter remained supreme in the Ameri- 

 can merchant marine until well toward the end of 

 the 19th century, when economic depressions and 

 unwise taxes finally took their toll. By then the 

 competition of steamers had also become very 

 effective and the cost of operating ships under the 

 American flag gradually rose so that they could no 

 longer compete with foreign ships. The maritime 

 interest of the American public had also declined 

 very markedly after the Civil War. The opportuni- 

 ties for profit in the expansion in the West and the 

 rise of American manufacturing in many areas 

 produced a shift in economic interest; investors for- 

 merly supporting shipping now turned to railways, 

 manufacturing, land speculation, timbering, and 

 mining. By 1900 the American merchant marine 

 was to a very great extent restricted to the coasting 

 trade and to inland navigation. 



Attempts to revive the seagoing merchant marine 

 were made but it was not until the first World War 

 that any real success was obtained, and this was 

 accomplished by government subsidy. Standard 

 models of freight steamers were built as part of the 

 war effort and, for a period, America was again 

 active in foreign trade. This declined for a time after 

 the war but in the years prior to the outbreak of the 

 second World War a strong merchant marine was 



49 



