American built packets and freighters of the 1850s : an illustrated study of their characteristics and construction Up and down the Eastern seaboard during the 1850s American shipyards constructed wooden merchant sailing vessels forming the backbone of the commercial shipping industry. This comprehensive volume appraises in minute detail the construction of these ships outlining basic design criteria and enumerating and examining every plank and piece of timber involved in the process. More than 150 illustrations Provided by publisher