Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 2).djvu/510

 had hitherto done to the combination of capacity with speed, and greater economy in the navigation of their vessels. Attention also began to be directed to the substitution, as far as practicable, of mechanical skill for manual labour. They saw that the ships of the East India Company, however magnificent, were not adapted to compete successfully or profitably in an unprotected trade. That of the British West Indies, which had ever been open to the free competition of British shipowners among themselves, had given a greater scope for improvement in these respects than the protected trade of the East; consequently in the trade with the West we find, at a comparatively early period of the present century, a class of vessels much better adapted for competition than any of the vessels in the service of the East India Company. An illustration of one of these, copied from Mr. Cooke's interesting sketches, will be found on the opposite page.

Though the Thetis is somewhat modern, she is a fair representation of the type of vessels which had long been employed by the enterprising merchants, more especially of Bristol and Liverpool, in their trade with the West Indies. Unlike the vessels in the service of the East India Company, her capacity for cargo was considerably in excess of her registered tonnage, and her complement of crew less than one-half in proportion to her tonnage. Nor were these vessels inferior to them, either in speed or other seagoing qualities, though they too were greatly surpassed by those of a later period, their owners as yet understanding but imperfectly the advantages derived