y in the latter type of vessel. While possessing the above-named
advantages, the West Indiamen were good boats for their time, both in
sea-going qualities and in speed.

[Illustration: FIG. 68.]

When the trade with the East was thrown open an impetus was given to the
construction of vessels which were suitable for carrying freight to any
part of the world. These boats were known as "Free Traders." An
illustration of one of them is given in Fig. 69. They were generally
from 350 to 700 tons register. The vessels of all the types above
referred to were very short, relatively, being rarely more than four
beams in length.

To the Americans belongs the credit of having effected the greatest
improvements in mercantile sailing-ships. In their celebrated Baltimore
clippers they increased the length to five and even six times the beam,
and thus secured greater sharpness of the water-lines and improved speed
in sailing. At the same time, in order to reduce the cost of working,
these vessels were lightly rigged in proportion to their tonnage, and
mechanical devices, such as capstans and winches, were substituted,
wherever it was possible, for manual labour. The crew, including
officers, of an American clipper of 1,450 tons, English measurement,
numbered about forty.

The part played by the Americans in the carrying trade of the world
during the period between the close of the great wars and the early
fifties was so important that a few illustrations of the types of
vessels they employed will be interesting. Fig. 70 represents an
American cotton-ship, which also carried passengers on the route between
New York and Havre in the year 1832. In form she was full and bluff; in
fact, little more than a box with rounded ends.

[Illustration: FIG. 69.--Free-trade barque.]

[Illustration: FIG. 70.--The _Bazaar_. American cotton-ship. 1832.]

In 1840, when steamers had already commenced to cross the Atlantic, a
much faster and better-shaped type of sailing-packet was put upon the
New York-Havre route. These vessels were of from 800 to 1,000 tons. One
of them, the _Sir John Franklin_, is shown in Fig. 71. They offered to
passengers the advantages of a quick passage, excellent sea-going
qualities, and, compared with the cotton-ships, most comfortable
quarters. The Americans had also about this time admirable
sailing-packets trading with British ports.

In the early fifties the doom of the sailing-packet on comparatively
short voyages