English shipowners were very slow to adopt these improvements, and it was not till the year 1850, after the abolition of the navigation laws, that our countrymen really bestirred themselves to produce sailing-ships which should rival and even surpass those of the Americans. The legislation in question so affected the prospects of British shipping, that nothing but the closest attention to the qualities of vessels and to economy in their navigation could save our carrying trade from the effects of American competition. Mr. Richard Green, of the Blackwall Line, was the first English shipbuilder to take up the American challenge. In the year 1850 he laid down the clipper ship the _Challenger_. About the same time, Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Co. gave an order to an Aberdeen firm of shipbuilders, Messrs. Hall and Co., to build two sharp ships on the American model, but of stronger construction. These vessels were named the _Stornoway_ and _Chrysolite_, and were the first of the celebrated class of Aberdeen clippers. They were, however, only about half the dimensions of the larger American ships, and were, naturally, no match for them in sailing powers. The _Cairngorm_, built by the same firm, was the first vessel which equalled the Americans in speed, and, being of a stronger build, delivered her cargo in better condition, and consequently was preferred. In 1856 the _Lord of the Isles_, built by Messrs. Scott, of Greenock, beat two of the fastest American clippers in a race to this country from China, and from that time forward British merchant vessels gradually regained their ascendency in a trade which our transatlantic competitors had almost made their own. [Illustration: FIG 73.--The _Great Republic_. American clipper. 1853.] It was not, however, by wooden sailing-ships that the carrying trade of Great Britain was destined to eclipse that of all her rivals. During a portion of the period covered in this chapter, two revolutions--one in the means of propulsion, and the other in the materials of construction of vessels--were slowly making their influence felt. About twelve years before the close of the eighteenth century the first really practical experiment was made on Dalswinton Loch, by Messrs. Miller and Symington, on the utilization of steam as a means of propulsion for vessels. An account of these experiments, and of the subsequent application and development of the invention, are given in the "Handbook on Marine Engines and Boilers," and need not, therefore, be here referred to at greater length.