their lairs in the harbors of Algiers, and ships needed to show
no broadsides of cannon in the Atlantic trade. For a time they
carried the old armament among the lawless islands of the Orient
and off Spanish-American coasts where the vocation of piracy made
its last stand, but the great trade routes of the globe were
peaceful highways for the white-winged fleets of all nations. The
American seamen who had fought for the right to use the open sea
were now to display their prowess in another way and in a romance
of achievement that was no less large and thrilling.



CHAPTER VIII. THE PACKET SHIPS OF THE "ROARING FORTIES"

It was on the stormy Atlantic, called by sailormen the Western
Ocean, that the packet ships won the first great contest for
supremacy and knew no rivals until the coming of the age of steam
made them obsolete. Their era antedated that of the clipper and
was wholly distinct. The Atlantic packet was the earliest liner:
she made regular sailings and carried freight and passengers
instead of trading on her owners' account as was the ancient
custom. Not for her the tranquillity of tropic seas and the
breath of the Pacific trades, but an almost incessant battle with
swinging surges and boisterous winds, for she was driven harder
in all weathers and seasons than any other ships that sailed. In
such battering service as this the lines of the clipper were too
extremely fine, her spars too tall and slender. The packet was by
no means slow and if the list of her record passages was superb,
it was because they were accomplished by masters who would sooner
let a sail blow away than take it in and who raced each other