 Already by 1853 one-fourth of the tonnage built in Great Britain were steamships and more than one-fourth were built of iron.In the same year 22 percent of our tonnage was constructed for steamships, but scarcely any iron ships were built here.The Yankee ship builder, overconfident in the recognized superiority of his inimitable clipper ship, was blinded to the fact that the future of the sea was for the nation which could build the cheapest and the best iron steamships.