In order to bring up the account of British sailing line-of-battle ships to the period when they were superseded by the adoption of steam-power in the Royal Navy, we give illustrations of a first-rate launched in the reign of William IV., called the _Waterloo_ (Fig. 65), of 120 guns, and of the _Queen_ (Fig. 66), of 110 guns: the latter was the first three-decker launched in the reign of Queen Victoria. A comparison of these illustrations with those representing the largest men-of-war in the time of the Stuart sovereigns, will do more than any verbal description to show the great alterations in form and size which had taken place during two centuries. The _Waterloo_ had a length on deck of 205 ft. 6 in., extreme breadth of 54 ft. 9 in., and a tonnage of 2,718; while the corresponding dimensions of the _Queen_ were 204 ft. 2-1/2 in., 55 ft. 2-1/2 in., and 3,104 tons. [Illustration: FIG. 66.--The _Queen_.] [Illustration: FIG. 67.--The _Thames_. East Indiaman. 1819.] During the epoch covered in this chapter the chronicles of the British Mercantile Marine were extremely meagre. The seaborne commerce of the country had increased enormously since the time of the Restoration. It had, in fact, kept pace with the development of the Royal Navy, and, in proportion as the naval power of the country was increased so was her commerce extended and her Mercantile Marine increased. In the year 1801 the total amount of British Mercantile shipping was about 1,726,000 tons; in 1811 it had increased to 2,163,094 tons, and in 1816 to 2,489,068; while in 1846 it had reached 3,220,685 tons. The East India Company was by far the largest mercantile shipowner and ship-hirer in the country. In the year 1772 the Company employed 33 ships of the aggregate burthen of 23,159 tons, builders' measurement. It was about this period that the Company commenced the construction of a larger type of vessel for their own use. These vessels afterwards became famous for their exploits, and were called East Indiamen. Fig. 67 is an illustration of one of them named the _Thames_, built in 1819, of 1,360 tons register. She carried 26 guns, and had a crew of 130 men. East Indiamen were designed to serve simultaneously as freight-carriers, passenger-ships and men-of-war. In the latter capacity they fought many important actions and won many victories. Having had to fill so many purposes, they were naturally expensive ships both to build and work. Their crews were nearly four times as numerous as would be required for modern merchant sailing-ships of similar size.