ships had long been seen lying in the London and Liverpool docks. In 1848, Lord William Lennox, in an article entitled A Fortnight in Cheshire, mentions seeing them. He says: "Here (Liverpool) are some splendid American liners. I went on board the Henry Clay of New York, and received the greatest attention from her commander. Captain Ezra Nye. Nothing can exceed the beauty of this ship; she is quite a model for a frigate. Her accommodations are superior to any sailing vessel I ever saw." There were also the Independence, Yorkshire, Montezuma, Margaret Evans, New World, and scores of other fast American packet ships which had been sailing in and out of Liverpool and London for years. The arrivals and departures of these vessels created no deep impression upon the minds of British ship-owners, because they were not at that time competing with sailing vessels for the North Atlantic trade to the United States.
The same lack of enterprise was apparent in the men who handled their vessels, as we may see from the following amusing description in De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, published in 1835[1]
"The European sailor navigates with prudence; he only sets sail when the weather is favorable; if an unfortunate accident befalls him, he puts into port; at night he furls a portion of his canvas; and when the whitening billows intimate the vicinity of land, he checks his way and takes an observation of the sun. But the American neglects these precautions
- ↑ Second American edition, translated by H. Reeve, pp. 403-4.
