Chapter I: Preface

The following sketches were contributed to the Liverpool Press (_Liverpool Daily Post_, _Liverpool Courier_, _Journal of Commerce_), and they are now published at the request of many friends. Advantage has been taken of the opportunity for revision, and to add further reminiscences.

A chapter has also been added descriptive of the part played by the British merchant seaman in the war; and another, published in 1917, portraying the attitude and work of the British shipowner during the war.

To do adequate justice to the history of our shipping during the past sixty years would occupy several volumes. In the following pages all that has been attempted has been to outline the principal events in the fewest possible words, in the hope that they may serve for future reference; and also keep alive that interest in our mercantile fleet which is so essential to the prosperity of our Country and the welfare of our people.

Bromborough Hall, Cheshire,
_August, 1920_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I PAGE
The Passing of the Sailing-Ship 1

CHAPTER II
The Era of the Steamship 15

CHAPTER III
The Evolution of the Marine Engine 24

CHAPTER IV
The Makers of our Shipping Trade 29

CHAPTER V
Our Merchant Ships and the War 55

CHAPTER VI
Shipping and the War 69

CHAPTER VII
The "Red Jacket," 1857 87

CHAPTER VIII
The "Queen of the Avon," 1858 94

CHAPTER IX
The "Great Eastern," 1861 99

CHAPTER X
The Building of an East Indiaman 106