878 Transactions of the Amebic an Institute, 



specimens of naval areliitcctnre can turn to " Homeward Bound," and 

 make acquaintance with the line old specimen of a salt, Captain Truck, 

 and his ship. In point of size and accommodations, the old liners far 

 surpassed the once famed British Indiamen. 



By tlie improvements referred, to our builders had succeeded in 

 reducing the average passage across the Atlantic from about forty to 

 twenty-five days, as compared with the earlier English built ^'essels. 

 Our fame as ship builders and ocean carriers had now reached its 

 zenith. Nor was it confined to the trans-Atlantic routes named ; 

 our merchants were not slow, in those days, in availing themselves 

 of our national superiority on the ocean; they pushed their trade into 

 e\-ery part of the world. It M'as the pride of Americans, wherever 

 they might wander, to behold their country's flag floating from the 

 masts of the noblest ships to be seen. 



Such was the superiority of our merchant marine over that of the 

 old nations of Europe, at the period referred to, that we became at 

 once the envy and the admiration of all maritime nations. The 

 ships of war we were compelled to build to defend our rights on the 

 ocean during the war of 1812-14, were found to be more than a 

 match for those of England of equal tonnage, because they were 

 better sailers and easier to be handled. This circumstance gave 

 much uneasiness to our chief rival, England, lest a time' might come 

 when we should be able to carry the war to her own sho.res, if war 

 should come again. This fear led her to build vast numbers of those 

 old monstrosities, the three decker line of battle ships. Of these, 

 there lay over sixty in the Ilamoze, behind Plymouth breakwater, 

 when I paid that last resting place for England's old ships a visit, in 

 1854. If we add those then lying in other ports, the number would 

 be not less than one hundred of these once boasted " tvooden walls" 

 lying rotting, the greater portion never having been in commission 

 for service of any kind. 



The time, however, was at hand when a new element was to enter 

 into the contest for maritime supremacy. Steam, as a means of pro- 

 pulsion had become a success on our lakes and rivers and in the 

 coasting and channel trade of Englalid. This mighty agent and 

 revolutionizer, being destined to supersede the power of the winds, 

 was fast changing the forms of the ships in which it was to be used. 

 We were the first to find out that in order to obtain high speed, it 

 was needful to materially modify the models of our vessels. To carry 

 the engines, boilers and fuel it became necessary to increase their 



