He was quick to study a successful rival ship in dry dock, although this did not tell all. However, altho,ugh there was a natural reluctance among owners and builders to impart their hard-earned knowledge to others who were competing, there was a realization that a certain amount of cooperation would benefit all, and the formation of the Institute of Naval Architects in Britain in 1860 was the first step towards this pooling of knowledge.

  The grace arid beauty of, the clipper ships was achieved by men who had an intuitive instinct for good aesthetic taste, influenced by the nature of the material with which they worked. Wood can be carved into grotesque shapes, but it cannot be bent into ugly bends and curves without damaging or rupturing the fibres, and in consequence shipbuilders throughout the ages have used the natural tendencies of the wood to achieve their ends. A vessel such as a Viking ship was not designed beforehand to bave beautiful sweeping curves: the shape was the result of the natural bend and twist of the planks with the minimum of cutting awa y and tapering until the eye judged it to be right.

  Great care was taken by designers and draughtsmen in the 19th century who, inheriting old traditions in an unbroken line from the first seagoing vessels, saw to it that their finished products pleased the eye when viewed from any angle. For instance, fair sheer curves on a drawing board for deck at side and deck at centre meeting at a point at the taffrail could turn out an unhappy semicircular or elliptical counter or a square transom, if adjustments were not made to the cambering of the deck at the stern, and in a similar fashion at the bow. They were not always successful, especially with the introduction of metal plates, and occasionally one comes across curved upper and lower mouldings at the knuckles of the counter which were not quite complementary to each other.
 
  In the days when ships' sterns had towering galleries, raking aft and curved both horizontally and vertically yet tapering upwards, it was easy to get a twisted appearance from certain viewpoints if the geometry was not thought out. Contemporary laying-out instructions employed pages of detailed explanations to avoid this.
   The larger American clippers with their deep counters and rising levels of two, three, or sometimes four knuckles or mouldings carried on this tradition.

  I remember seeing modern vessels with the first raking, round plated stems (soft noses), which did not have the same care taken in their design.
From a passing boat the profile of stem would look good, but as one rounded the bow there appeared to be a kink and falling back of the upper part. This was because the rake of the stem did not match the rake or flare of the sides above the hawsepipes, the two having been considered independently.

Some of the old-time drawing office men with whom I was fortunate enough to make a brief acquaintance would speak proudly oflaying out a profile for those sleek Atlantic liners of the last century: on balancing the funnel height and diameter against the amount of solid hull above the waterline; the spacing and rake of masts and funnels, and the bands on the funnels. A curved hance was not simply a sweep of the compass, but a gradually increasing bend, roughly described as the profile of the ball of the thumb. All this after the functional design had been decided, which gave the whole a basic truth.

   One thing the steamers had in common with their contemporary clipper sisters. Not only did they express power and movement when under way, and readiness for the attack of the sea when it threatened but they also displayed stately content and repose when idle at their moorings or in dock. Their balance was so unlike the present generation of ships plying the Caribbean on their luxury cruises, with their tortured superstructures twisted this way and that in an endeavour to make them look as though they are travelling faster than in fact they are, and denying them any rest at the end of a voyage. If they were moored by the stern anchors it would be more in keeping with their attitude of hounds straining at the leash.
 
  I may add that I have been partly responsible myself for vessels such as these, from the pressures of popular taste, and appreciate the economic necessities involved. One redeeming feature that they have incorporated is the long, sleek, overhanging, curved stem which is almost a direct copy of that on the clipper. Perfection in sailing clipper ship design was never reached, and could not be reached today on existing knowledge, but what these 19th century designers and craftsmen did produce was truly wonderful, and the images that remain can still excite the imagination and arouse admiration for their beauty and utility in an honourable trade carried on by honourable men.