The captains were men of great ability, who handled their ships with skill and judgment; some of them accumulated considerable fortunes, being part owners of the vessels which they commanded. These ships were manned by fine British seamen, many of whom had served in the Royal Navy. When these fellows got safely to sea and properly sobered up, there were no smarter sailors afloat, whether aloft or with marlinspike, palm and needle, or watch tackle. In 1863 the first tea clippers of composite construction were brought out--the _Taeping_, built by Robert Steele & Son; the _Eliza Shaw_, by Alexander Stephen, and the _Yang-tze_ and _Black Prince_, by Alexander Hall. This system of ship-building--iron frames and wood planking--was invented by John Jordan, son of a member of the firm of L. H. Macintyre & Co., ship-builders of Liverpool, who built the schooner _Excelsior_ upon this principle in 1850, and the barque _Marion Macintyre_, in 1851, these being the first composite vessels constructed. This system combined the strength of iron frames with the advantage that the wooden planking could be coppered to prevent fouling, which was a serious matter in this trade. Great care had to be taken in building these vessels to prevent galvanic action so far as possible. Gutta-percha was placed between the frames and planking as a non-conductor; the planking was then fastened with yellow-metal screw bolts with counter-sunk heads, the holes being afterwards filled with a composition prepared for the purpose. Mr. Jordan obtained a patent for his invention, but it did not attract much attention until adopted in the construction of the _Taeping_, _Eliza Shaw_, _Yang-tze_, and _Black Prince_. From that time all the tea clippers were of composite build, though it was not until 1867 that the Committee of Lloyd’s Register issued rules for their construction. It was in 1863 also that the _Seaforth_, an iron ship of 1200 tons, built for the Calcutta trade by Jones, Quiggin & Co., of Liverpool, was fitted with steel lower masts, topmasts, topsails yards, and bowsprit, and with standing rigging of steel wire [Illustration: The Composite Construction] rope. It was estimated that by replacing wood and hemp with steel, she saved 21 tons weight aloft, besides getting less wind resistance and a very considerable increase in strength. The _Seaforth_ was the first vessel to have steel spars and rigging, but they soon came into use on board the tea clippers.