738 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



Dutch vessels were replaced by American models, sharp, 

 nothing superfluous, arid riding the waters as easy as a bird. 

 The American clipper ships became renowned for their quick 

 passages, and in transporting teas from China made fortunes 

 for their happy owners, by bringing to the markets the first 

 cargoes of the new crops. 



The same thing occurred when steam vessels first began to 

 cross the ocean. The English in their first steamers followed 

 the models of their largest sailing ships. They still preserved 

 the heavy bowsprit, projecting twenty to thirty feet in advance 

 of the prow, though it was not necessary, as in their sailing 

 ships, for balancing the pressure of the other sails. Their 

 steamers were therefore always heavy at the head, and when, 

 in a rough sea, they were driven by the power of the engine, 

 buried their bows in every large wave. Any one who has 

 crossed the Atlantic in an English steamer of twenty yeais ago, 

 must have noticed how heavily it labored in rough weather, 

 and how the waves broke over her bow. To take in tons of 

 salt water when the waves ran high, was usual ; and in a pas- 

 sage across the Atlantic it was no rare thing to have the salt 

 encrusted on the smoke-stack, from the waves which dashed 

 over the bow and swept aft, reach a thickness of from one to 

 two inches. . 



The American ship-builder, however, early saw that the 

 model of his craft, which was to be propelled by steam, should 

 differ from that of a ship depending upon its sails alone, and 

 governed himself accordingly. He made her sharp, for speed, 

 and ended her prow straight up and down, as he built the 

 steamboats for river navigation. The consequence was that 

 she rode dry through waves which would pour tons of salt 

 wat upon the deck of an English model. George Steers, of 

 Ne^r York, a genius in naval architecture, and whose early 

 dea'h was deeply regretted, was the person who did the most 

 to 1 ring ^'uto use the present form used in the best models for 



