What may be described, however, as the opening of the age of iron on the Wear did not begin till the year 1863. During that year 17,720 tons of iron shipping were launched, and from that time the declension of wood shipbuilding, which had long made the Wear a distinguished shipbuilding port in the United Kingdom, proceeded apace. The causes of fluctuation in the trade throughout the subsequent years cannot be traced with any circumstantiality, but the general progress made can be readily gathered from the subjoined tabular record of the number of ships built yearly, with their aggregate and average tonnage. Wood vessels, it may be stated, formed part of the aggregate till the year 1878, when wood dropped out of the arena altogether:— +-------+--------+-------------+---------+ | | No. | | | | Year. | of | Gross Tons. | Average | | | Ships. | | Tons. | +-------+--------+-------------+---------+ | 1860 | 112 | 40,200 | 359 | | 1861 | 126 | 46,778 | 371 | | 1862 | 160 | 56,920 | 356 | | 1863 | 171 | 70,040 | 410 | | 1864 | 153 | 71,987 | 470 | | 1865 | 172 | 73,134 | 425 | | 1866 | 145 | 62,719 | 432 | | 1867 | 128 | 52,249 | 408 | | 1868 | 138 | 70,302 | 510 | | 1869 | 122 | 72,420 | 594 | | 1870 | 103 | 70,084 | 681 | | 1871 | 97 | 81,903 | 844 | | 1872 | 122 | 131,825 | 1081 | | 1873 | 95 | 99,371 | 1046 | | 1874 | 88 | 88,022 | 1000 | | 1875 | 91 | 79,904 | 878 | | 1876 | 60 | 54,041 | 901 | | 1877 | 75 | 87,578 | 1168 | | 1878 | 85 | 109,900 | 1293 | | 1879 | 65 | 92,200 | 1418 | | 1880 | 77 | 116,200 | 1509 | | 1881 | 88 | 148,000 | 1681 | | 1882 | 123 | 212,500 | 1727 | | 1883 | 126 | 212,300 | 1685 | +-------+--------+-------------+---------+