These, like nearly all of the older coastal lines that were associated with the firm of H. Powell and Co., started with small sailers between Liverpool and London, with calls at the various ports on the south coast. The history of the line has been one of continued progress, and it maintains at the present time a regular service of fast steamers between London and Liverpool, calling at Falmouth, Plymouth, Southampton, and Portsmouth. Its earlier steamers, as was only natural in the then imperfect state of steam navigation, were, compared with the present boats, small, but were fully up to the average of the coasting fleet, and in many cases could not be surpassed by any vessels trading on the coast, or even by some making ocean voyages. The _Augusta_, built in 1856, with a gross tonnage of 188, and 50 horse-power, was a screw steamer, and carried three masts. On the foremast were square sails. The company’s latest vessels are the _Masterful_ and _Powerful_. The _Masterful_ is of 2600 tons and is built of steel throughout, and the _Powerful_ is of 2200 tons; the improvement in their accommodation compared with that of the boats of fifty years ago is as noticeable as is the increase in size. These vessels are two of the few in the coasting trade fitted with submarine signalling apparatus. The Powell Line also has cargo services between Liverpool and Bristol and a number of ports on the south coast, and between Manchester and Bristol Channel ports and certain south-coast ports. Associated with this line are the steamers of Messrs. Samuel Hough and Co., the vessels of the two companies sailing as a rule alternately. ALEXANDER LAIRD AND CO. The St. George Company withdrew from the Clyde and Mersey trade in 1822, and in 1823 Alexander Laird and Co. began the Liverpool, Clyde, and Isle of Man service with the steamer _Henry Bell_, built by Wilson of Liverpool. In 1824 Mr. Laird placed on the Glasgow and Liverpool service the _James Watt_, which had been a couple of years with the General Steam Navigation Company. She was rigged as a three-masted schooner, and had the distinction of being the first steamer entered at Lloyd’s. Laird’s service between Glasgow and Inverness was started in 1825, and in the following year the sailings were changed from fortnightly to weekly. In 1827 Messrs. T. Cameron and Co. started a service of steamers between Glasgow and the north and west of Ireland, but in 1867 it was taken over entirely by Messrs. Laird and Co. [Illustration: THE “AUGUSTA” (POWELL LINE, 1856).]