The Little “Ethel.” Perhaps the most familiar ship to old City men was the little _Ethel_, which under the command of Captain A. Ross ran for years with the utmost regularity between London and Tasmania, and when in the Thames always moored at Hayes Wharf, London Bridge. She was a composite barque of 556 tons and was built in 1866 by Pile, of Sunderland, and owned by Fenwick & Co., of London. The Hobart Barque “Harriet McGregor.” A still smaller ship than the _Ethel_ in the Tasmanian trade was the smart little _Harriet McGregor_, which had the “round the world” race with _Berean_. A. McGregor who built her was also her owner. She was built at Hobart in 1871, and measured:— Registered tonnage 331 tons. Length 134.2 feet. Beam 27.6 „ Depth 15.9 „ This little ship for year after year did the following annual round with the regularity of a clock. On Christmas day she left Hobart for London, loaded with wool and sperm oil. She returned to Hobart from London with general cargo at 40s. and often more. Then she ran across to Mauritius from Hobart with coal, and returned with a cargo of sugar, in time to get away on her usual sailing day for London. The Fremantle Barques “Charlotte Padbury” and “Helena Mena.” In the early days the Fremantle wool trade, including that of the Ashburton River and Sharks Bay, was all carried in the holds of fast clipper barques, such as Walker’s _Westbury_, _Decapolis_ and _Corinth_, and well worthy to be ranked with these were the _Charlotte Padbury_ and _Helena Mena_, both of which were well known and much admired in the London River for many years. The _Charlotte Padbury_ was a wood barque of 640 tons, she was built at Falmouth in 1874 for W. Padbury, of Fremantle. The _Helena Mena_ was a composite barque of 673 tons, and was built by Thomson, of Sunderland, in 1876, for J. Wilson, of London. The _Charlotte Padbury_ was wrecked in April, 1903, and the _Helena Mena_ was sold to the French for £1275 in 1898. These were two of the last of the wood and composite clippers, for by the early seventies every shipowner, however conservative, found himself compelled to go in for iron ships, if he was to compete successfully in the world’s freight market. Footnote. [B] The green with which the Aberdeen White Star ships were painted was a composite paint always known as Aberdeen green. PART III.—“THE IRON CLIPPERS.” Fill us with wool till we’re nigh overflowing, Send us away when strong breezes are blowing, And we’ll show all the others the road. The tug boat is coming for us in the morn, We’ll drive her like blazes from here to the Horn, For the main royal shall never be stowed.— J. ST. A. JEWELL. The Introduction of Iron in Shipbuilding.