Description
On a Scottish loch in 1788 the noisy arrival of the first British steamer heralded the dawn of a new era but fifty years were to pass before the first serious challenge to the supremacy of the lofty sailing ship occurred with the maiden voyage of the “Great Western” in 1838. It is evident that the full rigged ship with her beauty and speed was loth to concede her mastery of the seas, for another forty years were to pass before British tonnage in steam began to overtake her tonnage in sail and if by the end of the 19th century the steamship could claim triumphant ousting of the sailing ship from every important trade route of the world – yet still the towering sails of the full rigged ship represented almost a quarter of British tonnage.
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