 When the abnormal demand for sailing ships should let up, as it did in 1858, it meant that shipyards built and equipped for the production of wooden ships and shipwrights trained for a type no longer wanted would be idle, while foreign shipyards already engaged in the building of the iron steamship would be in a decidedly superior position.The panic of 1857 precipitated the crash.In 1858 ship building, which had been maintained for the preceding years at an average of 400,000 tons a year dropped to 244,000 and in 1859 to 156,000.