Identifier: triumphswonderso01boyd (find matches)
Title: Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century, the true mirror of a phenomenal era, a volume of original, entertaining and instructive historic and descriptive writings, showing the many and marvellous achievements which distinguish an hundred years of material, intellectual, social and moral progress ..
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: Boyd, James Penny, 1836-1910
Subjects: Progress Inventions
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa., A. J. Holman & Co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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orsto establish the business upon a sure foundation. For some countries, as inthe case of the United Kingdom, that is much easier than for others; andthat is one reason why Great Britain has so easily succeeded in maintainingher place as mistress of the seas. The business of building ships in the United States, to be used in foreigntrade, has passed through a golden age of triumphs, followed by a period ofdecline and discouragement, and it is now entering upon an epoch of revival.The golden age came in the days of wooden vessels. It began in early colo-nial times and lasted until the middle of this century, when the world beganto buy iron ships of the United Kingdom. The magnitude of our shipbuild-ing industry at the middle of the nineteenth century is indicated by the factthat during the decade beginning with 1850 the tonnage built in our yardsequaled 3,988,372 tons, an annual average of nearly 400,000 tons. Duringthe three years 1854-56 we constructed over a million and a half tons.
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510 TRIUMPHS AND WONDERS OF THE XIX™ CENTURY The decline in American shipbuilding set in sharply after the Civil War,and, in spite of the continued growth of our domestic marine, the tonnageconstructed by American builders steadily declined until 1886, when only95,453 tons were built. The causes of this decline have been stated in whathas been said regarding the substitution of iron and steel vessels for wooden.The period of decline seems now to be safely passed, for we are annuallybuilding over 200,000 tons on an average, and every indication points to rapidprogress in the near future. What is more indicative of progress than the increase in the tonnage con-structed is the growth in the percentage of steamers and iron and steel shipsbuilt, as compared with the wooden sailing ships turned out. During thedecade 1872-81, we built 800,000 tons of steamers and 224,000 tons of ironand steel ships ; in the decade following, we constructed 1,200,000 steamtons and 485,000 tons of iron and s

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