This is a readable and informative account of a long period in history which culminated in the launch of the Cunard Mail Steamer "Scotia," last of the big paddlers. This book tells - How the United States, builder of the world's finest sailing ships, missed the boat when it came to transatlantic steam travel. How the Cornish miners' need to dig deeper and to dig further under water led directly to Britain becoming the world capital of manufacturing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, How Liverpool, aided by the shipbuilders of Scotland, played a key role in the creation of wealth in Great Britain and in the rapid development of the United States during the nineteenth century. - and much more, including some surprises. The book is enhanced by the Author's interesting and useful tendency to answer reader's questions before they are asked and by the way the reader is sometimes encouraged to form their own view on what happened rather than just being presented with firm historical facts. A good read for everyone not just those interested in history or ships. It even includes some advice for entrepreneurs.