In the weapons, no less than in the ships, the changes have been marvellous. For many centuries after ships were adopted for war, the fighting was done by soldiers carried aboard them. The human machines, the rowers, had to attend exclusively to their oars, for on them the safety or success of the fighting men depended. The main idea was to get to close quarters and fight hand to hand with javelin or sword, spear or battleaxe; bows and arrows were used when possible, and missiles hurled by hand were not despised. The ram, in various forms, affixed to the bows in such a manner as to strike the enemy’s ship below or above the water-line, or both, was used with fearful effect in many a stubbornly fought engagement. The introduction of artillery in the fourteenth century marked the beginning of the first great revolution in naval warfare, and the changes in the projectiles have been no less extraordinary than those in the guns. * * * * * The next great revolution was the introduction of the steam-engine. Its adoption in the British Navy in 1832 marked the beginning of the end of the sailing warship. Her last grim battle against inexorable fate was fought with the same doggedness which had distinguished her in many an encounter with her nation’s enemies; but the superiority of steam over sail was recognised. Temporising measures, a patched-up peace, as it were, lasted for a few years while the steam engine was employed as an auxiliary. Sail power, however, had reached its apotheosis so far as warships were concerned. Engineers, animated by practical common sense and ignoring romantic associations, improved their engines, so that the steam power was no longer the assistant of sail, but its associate, and was quick in attaining the position of chief partner and showing that sails could be dispensed with altogether. The Crimean War sounded the knell of the wooden battleship as well as of the paddle-wheel war steamer. The former gave place to the iron-clad vessel, and the latter was supplanted by the screw-propelled ship. The power of artillery had shared in the application of scientific knowledge and benefited accordingly. The great battle between the maker of armour plates and the maker of guns and projectiles had begun. Iron, the conqueror of wood, had but a short reign. Where iron was used a few years ago, steel is now invariably employed. The thoroughness of the victory is shown by the fact that in the whole of the British Isles not one iron vessel, large or small, was built in 1909 for war or commerce. * * * * *