Age of Sail.

For a few brief decades between the end of the War of 1812 and the control of the world's trade routes by the ocean steamers (after about 1860), America's merchant marine enjoyed a golden era, in some areas challenging even the historical predominance of England on the high seas New York's packet lines plied the Atlantic on predictable schedules to and from Liverpool, Le Havre, and London. New England's whaling fleets dominated that most dramatic of seaborne industries. Meanwhile, the new plantations of the recently settled Deep South swung into cotton production, and the Great Lakes basin began yielding tons of surplus grain and flour from its fertile farm fields, much of both bound for the transatlantic European market. The increased volume of shipping helped make flourishing port cities of New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans. This rise in waterborne...