And here, in the height of their glory, we must now leave these clippers; for the opening of the Suez Canal told owners pretty plainly that the future for them was to leave sail and go in for steam. In 1881 _Thermopylae_ made her last passage as a tea-carrier, and all the other clippers had either gone or were out of the running, and used in other trades. Crews began more frequently to go into steamships, famous captains retired, and the younger men, like the crews, preferred the more comfortable life in a mechanically-propelled vessel. But for years the American and British clipper ships were the glory of the Mercantile Marine, as at one time the old East Indiamen had been before the days of healthy competition. The influence of the scientific French architects on the American builders of frigates and privateers is traceable through the clipper ships which followed. Thus mutually one nation is linked with another in the development of that great service which has meant so much for the good of the world. CHAPTER XIV THE TRIUMPH OF STEAM The speed of life, the rate of progress, and the development of new ideas have since the beginning of the nineteenth century been so rapid that all the previous history of the Mercantile Marine, as in other spheres of activity, seems ridiculously slow and unduly protracted until we realise that a ship could not become efficient until she had the right type of hull and the correct distribution of sails, nor be able to steam until suitable engines had evolved by invention and long practice. It is a cliché to speak of the “wonderful” nineteenth century, and yet in regard to its effects on the sea services it is but expressing a literal truth. The amazing fact is, that just as the sailing ship was becoming perfect the steamship was beginning to take its place; and just as the clippers had definitely created the golden age of sail, steamers had become reliable, indispensable and destined to make sailing vessels out of date. If steam and iron, and then steel, had not been introduced into marine progress for another hundred years, and the clippers had been allowed to have the seas to themselves, it would have seemed but fair and natural, having regard to the centuries and centuries which had been necessary to bring about, at last, so perfect a creation of man’s science, art and bitter experience. [Illustration: [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ LORD YARBOROUGH’S YACHT “FALCON.” 351 tons. Off Cowes. About 1829. Afterwards used as a merchant ship.]