The Dramatic Line to Liverpool was started in 1836 with the _Siddons_, _Shakespeare_, _Garrick_, and _Roscius_, under the management of E. K. Collins. These vessels did not much exceed 700 tons, and when, in 1837, Isaac Webb & Co. built the _Sheridan_, [Illustration: The “England”] of 895 tons for this line, she was regarded as too large for a Liverpool packet, and after a few voyages was placed in the China trade. The first Havre line of packets was founded by Francis Depaw in 1822 with the _Stephania_, _Montana_, _Henry IV._, _Helen Mar_, _Louis Philippe_, and _Silvia de Grasse_. A second line was formed in 1827 with the _Baltimore_, _Charles Carroll_, _Erie_, _France_, _Oneida_, _Mercury_, _Utica_, _Rhone_, _William Tell_, and in 1832 a third line, with the _Formosa_, _Galia_, _Albany_, _Duchesse d’Orléans_, _Isaac Bell_, _Queen Mab_, and _Don Quixote_. In 1831 the New Orleans Line from New York was formed with the _Nashville_, _Huntsville_, _Louisville_, _Creole_, and _Natchez_. These were the first packet ships built with full poop-decks, then quite a new feature in ship-building. Gradually the flush deck gave place to house-and poop-deck cabins, then to the topgallant, forecastle, and house from the foremast to the main hatch. The fashion of painting also changed, and most if not all the packets carried painted ports, while the inside green was replaced by white or light shades of other colors. After the Black Ball Line passed into the hands of Captain Charles H. Marshall in 1836, the _Columbus_, _Oxford_, _Cambridge_, _New York_, _England_, _Yorkshire_, _Fidelia_, _Isaac Wright_, _Isaac Webb_, the third _Manhattan_, _Montezuma_, _Alexander Marshall_, _Great Western_, and _Harvest Queen_ were gradually added to the fleet. To meet the competition of the Black Ball Line, the Swallow Tail Line built the _Washington_, _Independence_, _Pennsylvania_, _Roscoe_, _Patrick Henry_, _Ashburton_, _Hottinger_, _Queen of the West_, _Liverpool_, _New World_, and _Cornelius Grinnell_. The packet ships slowly increased in tonnage, but did not much exceed 1000 tons until 1846 when the _New World_, of 1404 tons, was built by Donald McKay, followed by the _Guy Mannering_, of 1419 tons, and the _Albert Gallatin_, of 1435 tons, built by William H. Webb in 1849, these three vessels being the largest merchant ships afloat at that period. The Black Ball ships carried a large painted black ball below the close-reef band in their foretopsails, while the Dramatic Line, not to be outdone, carried a black X which extended diagonally, almost from clew to earring, across their foretopsails. All packet ships carried a white light at the bowsprit cap from sunset to sunrise, but side-lights did not come into use until some years later. These ships also carried a flare-up which was kept in the companion ready for immediate use.