Sail ruled the waves for well over a thousand years and its triumph in 1805 at Trafalgar has established its place forever in the public mind.

But over the next three decades, the convergence of three amazing new inventions would slowly but surely displace sail from its perch at the apex of shipping technology.  By 1860, the transformation was all but complete - man had claimed his independence from the tyranny of weather on the high seas. 

Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire"