the risk and the responsibility of venturing afar in
the rude new ships. In this wise, to us fell the honour of leading the
State service to a new order of seafaring. Iron hulls and steam
propulsion came first under our hands. It was not long before our new
command of the sea was noted. Somewhat grudgingly, the conservative
sea-mandarins were brought to a knowledge that their torpor was fatal.
The Navy stirred and lost little time in traversing the leeway. They
progressed on a path of experiment and probation suited to their needs,
striving to construct mightier vessels and to forge new and greater
arms. Exploring every avenue in their quest for aid and material, every
byway for furtherance of their aims, they drew strange road-fellows
within their ranks, new workmen to the sea. The engines of their
adoption called for crafty hands to serve and adjust them. Steam we knew
in our time and could understand, but auxiliary mechanics outgrew the
limits of our comprehension; naval practice became a science outwith the
bounds of our sea-lore, a new trade, whose only likeness to ours lay in
its service on the same wide sea.

Parted from the need to draw arms, secure in the knowledge of adequate
naval protection, the Merchants' Service developed their ships and
tackle in the ways of a free world trade. By shrewd engagement and
industry in the counting-house, diligence and forethought in the
building-yards, keen sailing and efficiency on the sea, the structure of
our maritime supremacy was built up and maintained. Monopolies and
hindering trade reservations and restrictions barred the way, but
yielded to the spirit of our progress. Vested interests in seas and
continents had to be fought and conquered, and there was room and scope
for lingering combative instincts in the keen competition that arose for
the world's carrying trade. Other nations came on the free seas, secure
in the peace our arms had wrought, and entered the lists against us. The
challenge to our seafaring we met by skill and hardihood--keener and
more polished arms than the weapons of our sea-fathers. The coming of
competitors spurred us to sea-deeds in the handling of our ships and
cargoes, dispatch in the ports, and activity in the yards, that brought
acknowledged victory to our flag. Every sense and thought that was in us
was used to further our supremacy. The craft and workmanship of the
builders and enterprise of the merchants provided us with the most
beauti