The effect of the opening of the Suez Canal in the year 1870 was to place most of the trade to the East into steamers, which by now had become the deadliest enemy of the sailing ship. It would have been impossible to have carried on the trade in frozen food to-day in these fine old ships, and sentiment had necessarily to give way to the exacting dictates of commerce; but for a long time before 1870, and for some time after opening the canal, the traffic to India, Australia, and New Zealand was carried on in sailing ships, and the same keen rivalry to make the best passage continued. The Atlantic emigrant traffic also continued to be carried in sailing ships; but the ceaseless progress of the big steamship lines, and the competition which lowered the fares for steerage passengers, drove still another nail in the sailing ship’s coffin. And yet, in regard to speed, these ships would sail to the east or the west with a regularity equal to most modern tramp steamers. [Illustration: FIG. 75. THE IRON BARQUE “MACQUARIE.” BUILT IN 1875. _Photo. Hughes & Son, Ltd._] The beautiful illustration in Fig. 75 is from a photograph of the celebrated _Macquarie_. She is an iron barque, and was built in 1875 by Messrs. R. & H. Green of London. Her registered tonnage is 1977, her length 269·8 feet, her beam 40·1 feet, and her depth 23·7. In her day she was a famous beauty, but now she has changed her name and nationality. Known as the _Fortuna_ she is registered at Sandefjord and flies the Norwegian flag. The reader will remark the old-fashioned white band introduced soon after the Battle of Trafalgar, and mentioned early in the present chapter. [Illustration: FIG. 76. THE “DESDEMONA.” REGISTERED TONNAGE, 1564. BUILT 1875.] The _Desdemona_, seen in Fig. 76, was built in 1875 by Messrs. W. H. Potter & Co. of Liverpool. Constructed of iron, she is ship-rigged and has a registered tonnage of 1564, and is British owned. Her length is 242 feet, beam 37·7 feet, and depth 22·9 feet. As she is running before the wind, her headsails have been stowed. As the reader is probably aware, ships usually when “running their easting down” haul up a point or two, so as to bring the wind on the quarter, in order that all sails may be allowed to draw and none allowed to blanket the other. Thus after running a certain distance with the wind on one side they gybe her and bring the wind on the other quarter. The photograph was taken recently off Cape Horn. [Illustration: FIG. 77. THE “OLIVE BANK.” STEEL FOUR-MASTED BARQUE. REGISTERED TONNAGE, 2824. BUILT IN 1892. _Photo. J. Adamson & Son, Rothesay._] [Illustration: FIG. 78. A MODERN FOUR-MASTED BARQUE, WITH THE R.M.S. “MAURETANIA” COMING UP ASTERN. _From a painting by Charles Dixon._]