neither. Early in 1632, at Richmond Island, off the coast of Maine, was
built what was probably the first regular packet between England and
America. She carried to the old country lumber, fish, furs, oil, and other
colonial products, and brought back guns, ammunition, and liquor--not a
fortunate exchange. Of course meanwhile English, Dutch, and Spanish ships
were trading to the colonies, and every local essay in shipbuilding meant
competition with old and established ship-yards and ship owners. Yet the
industry throve, not only in the considerable yards established at Boston
and other large towns, but in a small way all along the coast. Special
privileges were extended to ship-builders. They were exempt from military
and other public duties. In 1636 the "Desire," a vessel of 120 tons, was
built at Marblehead, the largest to that time. By 1640 the port records of
European ports begin to show the clearings of American-built vessels.

[Illustration: THE KETCH]

In those days of wooden hulls and tapering masts the forests of New
England were the envy of every European monarch ambitious to develop a
navy. It was a time, too, of greater naval activity than the world had
ever seen--though but trivial in comparison with the present expenditures
of Christian nations for guns and floating steel fortresses. England,
Spain, Holland, and France were struggling for the control of the deep,
and cared little for considerations of humanity, honor, or honesty in the
contest. The tall, straight pines of Maine and New Hampshire were a
precious possession for England in the work of building that fleet whose
sails were yet to whiten the ocean, and whose guns, under Drake and
Rodney, were to destroy successfully the maritime prestige of the Dutch
and the Spaniards. Sometimes a colony, seeking royal favor, would send to
the king a present of these pine timbers, 33 to 35 inches in diameter, and
worth £95 to £115 each. Later the royal mark, the "broad arrow," was put