310 OUR HERITAGE THE SEA 



place, and others, vied with each other in turning out 

 vessels of yacht-like appearance and enormous spread 

 of canvas, many of them being of what is called 

 " composite " build that is, having a framework of 

 iron and a skin of hard wood, thus combining elegance 

 with strength. In vain did the Yankees strive to 

 compete with these new clippers, and publish long 

 fictional accounts of the superior prowess of their 

 soft-wood ships, the hope of their supremacy at sea, 

 which had at one time seemed so probable, having 

 entirely gone. 



An interesting parallel has been drawn between 

 sea and land traffic by the remark that the mail and 

 passenger coaches had never been so splendidly built 

 and handled, or the organization of their services been 

 so perfect as at the advent of railways; and in like 

 manner never had there been seen such splendid 

 clipper ships as were built between 1840 and 1870, 

 or well within the memory of many seamen now 

 living, at the close of which period it had become 

 evident that steam had come to sea to be the power 

 of the future ship. Great firms, like Greens, Money 

 Wigram, George Thompson and Sons, Devitt and 

 Moore, Ismay Imrie and Co., Brocklebanks, and a 

 host of others hardly less famous, had accumulated 

 splendid fleets of sailing ships, and appeared almost 

 to monopolize the trade of the world. The British 

 seaman was facile princeps, and the Americans, re- 

 linquishing the unequal contest, turned their attention 

 to the development of their vast internal resources 

 and their huge lake traffic, which has a character 

 peculiarly its own. 



Before going any further, however, in our cursory 



