By 1840, Messrs. Green of Blackwall owned a fleet of splendid East Indiamen fitted with auxiliary steam. One of them, the _Earl of Hardwicke_, which may be taken as typical of the others, had a steam-engine of 30 horse-power, working paddle-wheels intended to propel her in light airs and calms, such as are common in the region of the tropics. These paddles could be disengaged in one minute from the engine whenever it was desired to use sails alone. Although the _Earl of Hardwicke_ was of 1600 tons, the space occupied by her boilers and engine was only 24 feet in length and 10 feet in width of the main deck, no part going into the hold or above deck. This engine in calm weather could give the ship a speed of five knots an hour on a coal consumption of three tons in twenty-four hours. In August 1840, in steaming from London to Spithead on her way to Calcutta, she beat the _Wellington_ by twelve hours, the steam-engine working for upwards of forty hours. The ship was expected to make the voyage in 75 days, which, considering that she would have to go round the Cape, was quick work. She was a sister ship to the famous _Vernon_, with which the experiment of auxiliary steam for a regular East Indiaman was first made. The _Vernon_ went from Calcutta to Spithead in 86 days, and for the first eight days and nights, in going down the Bay of Bengal, the wind was so light that she had to use her engines all the time. On the run from the Cape to Spithead she made the then shortest passage on record of 32 days, during which she used her steam nine days. The engines of the _Vernon_ were constructed by Messrs. Seaward and Capel, of the Canal Ironworks, Limehouse, who were also builders of many other marine engines, some of large size, including that of the _Nicholai_, the largest steamer then belonging to Russia. [Illustration: THE “EARL OF HARDWICKE.”]