Until the advent of air transport and the creation of the Channel Tunnel in 1994, marine transport was the only way of reaching the British Isles. For this reason, maritime trade and naval power have always had great importance in England.
By the time Major Waters was born in 1781, two significant devices that would revolutionize sailing had only recently been invented. Between the 1730s and 1770s, John Campbell had invented the sextant, an improved navigational device enabling sailors to measure latitude, and John Harrison developed reliable chronometers (seafaring clocks) that allowed sailors to measure longitude accurately for the first time.1
By the mid-19th Century, steamboats were a common sight on British rivers and canals. Regular steamship sailings across the Atlantic started in the 1830s. Shipbuilders began using iron instead of wood as the ships could be made larger with more cargo space. Ships also began to be fitted with steam engines. From the 1840s screw propellers replaced paddles. In the 1870s new more efficient engines were introduced so that sailing ships began to be phased out. But, because of the space required for coal and the large crew requirements on steamships, sailing ships were still favored for long voyages and reached a design peak with the clippers used for transporting tea and wool. Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping during the 19th century.
The Battle of Navarino in 1827 was the last to be fought by the Royal Navy entirely with sailing ships. At the end of the century, 25% of the world’s trade was through British ports, 18% of this being to North America.