290 THE OCEAN RIVER 



be noted that the commander of Cleveland's ship to the 

 spice islands was nineteen. 



Just as the sailing vessel was developing into its climax as 

 the great clipper of 1850, the handwriting was on the wall 

 of what was to follow — namely the complete eclipse of sail 

 by steam as master of the turbulent waters of the Ocean River. 

 Once more sea supremacy went back to the English. With the 

 opening of the western lands after the War of 1812 the sur- 

 plus population of young men in New England and on the 

 eastern seaboard no longer needed to look to sea for fortune 

 and advancement. In fact, ready wealth by development and 

 speculation in western lands, and the sudden rise of western 

 cities and inland commerce, offered opportunities that could 

 no longer be matched at sea. The masters of the great Amer- 

 ican packet boats and clippers still were Americans, as were 

 most of the officers, but sailors and ''Liverpool packet-rats" 

 were often shanghaied to fill a crew — the hard discipline and 

 low pay did not appeal to young men with a new transmoun- 

 tain continent opening to the westward. 



Also at this time the first ocean steamers were being built, 

 and only the British with their advanced skills in iron and 

 steel then knew how to build them well. Five years before 

 the first American clipper began to set new records for sail 

 the British had two steamers in transatlantic operation, the 

 Sirius and the Great Western; and as new rivals for the carry- 

 ing trade the Inman Line from Liverpool to Philadelphia was 

 a commercial success without a penny of government subsidy. 

 It is true that the invention of the screw propeller — which 

 according to Anderson gave the death blow to sailing men-of- 

 war — was followed almost at once by a great though transient 

 advantage to merchant sailing vessels when steam tugs allowed 

 easier maneuvering and a quicker turnaround for the biggest 

 sailing ships in harbors and narrow waters. The flowering and 

 the eclipse of the great days of sail belonged to America for 



