VII 



THE LAST OF THE PADDLE LINERS 



IN the progress made in the thirty 

 years 1861-1890, which we are now to 

 consider, we shall find it best to keep to 

 the mercantile ship for the first part of 

 our story, coming to the remarkable 

 progress made by the fighting ship 

 later on. 



At the onset I am claiming a writer's 

 privilege to drop back for a moment into 

 the period with which we have just dealt, 

 in order to tell you something of two 

 vessels which are shown under dates 1856 

 and 1858 of our " family tree ". Though 

 both were built before the 'sixties, they 

 had a great influence on the future 

 trend of affairs in the shipping world, 

 particularly in the opening years of 



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