miscellaneous
cargo, containing, among many other items, '166 cheses, 20+81+101 Rols
of tobacko, {65} 2 hogheds of botls marckt SR, 70 bunches of arthen
waire pots, 8 barels of beaire, 19 caskes of schotte.' Her return
cargo included '14 barels of brandy, 4 hogsds of Claret, 2 bondles of
syle skins, etc.' She was wrecked before she reached home, but most of
her cargo was saved. Her owner, Samuel Vetch, the son of a 'Godly
Minister and Glorifier of God in the Grass Market' in Edinburgh, was a
great local character in New York. Four years after this voyage he was
sent to Quebec to arrange a truce between New France and New England.
But his return was as unlucky as that of his sloop _Mary_, for he was
arrested and fined L200 on a charge of having traded with his own
country's official enemies.

The fashion in ships changed very slowly. As we have seen, what may be
called the ancient period of sailing ships closed about the time
Jacques Cartier appeared in Canada. When the fore-and-aft-trimmed
sails were invented in 1539, the modern age began. This has three
distinctive eras of its own. The first lasted for about a century
after the time of Jacques Cartier; and its chief work was to free
itself of ancient and mediaeval limitations.

The second, or central, modern era lasted twice {66} as long, from the
middle of the seventeenth century to the middle of the nineteenth. It
thus covered one century under the Fleurs-de-lis in Canada and another
under the Union Jack. It also exactly corresponded with the long era
of the famous British navigation laws, of which more will presently be
heard. During this period sails were improved in size, cut, and
setting. The changes can be described only in technical language.
Jibs became universal, adding greatly to handiness in general and the
power of tacking in particular. Four sails were used on a mast--main,
top, topgallant, and royal. Naval architecture was greatly improved,
especially by the French. But this improvement did not extend to
giving the hull anything like its most suitable shape. The Vikings
were still unbeaten in this respect. Even the best foreign
three-deckers were rather lumbering craft.

The third era began with the introduction of the clippers about 1840,
and will not end till deep-sea sailing craft cease to be a factor in
the world's work altogether. It was in this present era, when steamers
were gaining their now unquestioned victory, and not d