From Sail to Steam 19 



sailing power from the middle of the 

 eighteenth century until the 'sixties of 

 the nineteenth. 



The last word in the sail-driven ship 

 was the clipper magnificent examples of 

 British and American shipbuilding and 

 quite the flier amongst ships until the 

 all-conquering giant, steam, was fairly 

 let loose amongst them. 



Of the clippers engaged in the China tea 

 trade there are many remarkable stories 

 told, to which, were this not the story of 

 the steamship rather than the " wind- 

 jammer ", I should like to give space. 



For some years after the coming of 

 the steam-driven vessel the clippers held 

 their own on the China trip, and time 

 after time they beat the steamer on 

 the homeward voyage when the wind 

 favoured them. But when the wind was 

 fickle, then the poor ' wind-jammers " 

 were quite out of it. 



Finally, the opening of the Suez Canal 

 in 1870 put finis to their more important 



