have been a factor in the decline of the nation's maritime
prestige and resources. Through a period of forty years the pride
and confidence in these ships, their builders, and the men who
sailed them, was intense and universal. They were a superlative
product of the American genius, which still displayed the
energies of a maritime race. On other oceans the situation was no
less gratifying. American ships were the best and cheapest in the
world. The business held the confidence of investors and
commanded an abundance of capital. It was assumed, as late as
1840, that the wooden sailing ship would continue to be the
supreme type of deep-water vessel because the United States
possessed the greatest stores of timber, the most skillful
builders and mechanics, and the ablest merchant navigators. No
industry was ever more efficiently organized and conducted.
American ships were most in demand and commanded the highest
freights. The tonnage in foreign trade increased to a maximum of
904,476 in 1845. There was no doubt in the minds of the shrewdest
merchants and owners and builders of the time that Great Britain
would soon cease to be the mistress of the seas and must content
herself with second place.

It was not considered ominous when, in 1838, the Admiralty had
requested proposals for a steam service to America. This demand
was prompted by the voyages of the Sirius and Great Western,
wooden-hulled sidewheelers which thrashed along at ten knots'
speed and crossed the Atlantic in fourteen to seventeen days.
This was a much faster rate than the average time of the Yankee
packets, but America was unperturbed and showed no interest in
steam. In 1839 the British Government awarded an Atlantic mail
contract, with an annual subsidy of $425,000 to Samuel Cunard and