by increasing the length of their vessels in proportion to the breadth.
Hitherto vessels, for instance, of twenty-five feet beam, seldom exceeded one hundred feet in length, keel and forerake, and although the Americans, in their once famous "Baltimore clippers," set the example of increasing the length to five, and even to six times the breadth of the beam, it was not until the English were thrown into competition with the shipowners of that nation, in every branch of their carrying trade, that they were induced, or rather obliged, to adopt, in this respect, the improved models of their enterprising transatlantic competitors.
After the trade to the East Indies had been thrown open, a number of vessels, ranging from three hundred and fifty to seven hundred tons register, were built. They were not, however, exclusively employed in the trade with the East, but were free to seek employment wherever they could obtain the most remunerative returns, and were to be found in all parts of the world in search of freight. An illustration of one of these vessels, known as Free-Traders, will be found on the following page.[1]*
- ↑ It was not until 1850, when the English Navigation Laws were repealed, that any material advance was made by the shipowners of Great Britain in the improvement of their vessels. In that year, when they were in a very desponding state, seeing nothing before them but "ruin," the result, as they conceived, of an entirely free-trade policy, the author had the hardihood to order to be built, for his own use in the trade between London, Australia, and India, six ships, each of an average size of eight hundred tons register, and with a capacity of from eleven hundred to fourteen hundred tons, according to the nature of the cargo. The crew of each of these vessels consisted of the master, first and second officers, steward, cook, boatswain, carpenter, sail-maker, seventeen seamen, and five apprentices, or thirty "all told;" a very great difference, as will be seen, in the capacity and current expenditure, but no great advance in the pro-*
