ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century the two most important innovations were the development of iron or steel vessels and the replacement of sail by steam power. Iron or iron-clad vessels became accepted by the middle of the nineteenth century, after the Great Britain had proved its durability. Steam could not compete at first with fast ‘clipper’ ships such as the Cutty Sark, due to fuel costs. Though the first steam crossing of the Atlantic was in 1838, it was not until the development of screw propulsion (1843), the compound expansion engine (1854) and the turbine engine (1894) that steam eclipsed sail.
