SAILING CRAFT 75 



But the challenge was met in the proper way, 

 by building to beat on even terms. The 

 British had already regained their lead before 

 the Civil War of the sixties ; and the subsequent 

 inland development of the United States, with 

 the momentous change from wood and sails 

 to steel and steam, combined to depress the 

 American mercantile marine in favour of its 

 British rival. 



Canada played a great part in this brief but 

 stirring era, when the wooden sailing vessel 

 was making its last gallant stand against 

 steam, and the sun of its immemorial day was 

 going down in a blaze of glory which will never 

 fade from the memories of those who love the 

 sea. Canada built ships, sailed ships, owned 

 ships, and sold ships. She became one of the 

 four greatest shipping centres in the world ; 

 and this at a time when she had less than half as 

 many people and less than one-tenth as much 

 realized wealth as she has now. Quebec had 

 more than half its population dependent on ship- 

 building in the fifties and sixties. In 1864 it 

 launched sixty vessels, many of them between 

 one and two thousand tons. About the same 

 time Nova Scotia launched nearly three hundred 

 vessels and New Brunswick half as many. The 

 Nova Scotians, however, only averaged two 



