SAILING CRAFT 77 



they still make a very large fleet. Singular 

 proof of this is sometimes found. Nothing 

 collects sailing ships like a calm; vessels run 

 into it from all quarters and naturally remain 

 together till the breeze springs up. But, even 

 so, most readers will probably be surprised to 

 learn that, only a few years ago, a great calm 

 off the Azores collected a fleet of nearly three 

 hundred sail. 



Canadian shipbuilders had some drawbacks 

 to contend with. One was of their own 

 making. Certain builders in the Maritime 

 Provinces, especially at Pictou and in Prince 

 Edward Island, turned out such hastily and 

 ill constructed craft as to give ' Bluenoses ' a 

 bad name in the market. By 1850, however, 

 the worst offenders were put out of business, 

 and there was an increasing tendency for the 

 builders to sail their own vessels instead of 

 selling them. 



A second, and this time a general, drawback 

 was the difficulty of getting Canadian-built 

 vessels rated Al at Lloyd's. ' Lloyd's,' as 

 every one knows, is the central controlling 

 body for most of the marine insurance of the 

 world, and its headquarters are in London. 

 There were very few foreign ' Lloyd's ' then, and 

 no colonial ; so it was a serious matter when the 



