Progress with a Capital P

There's a few characters in here you won't know if you haven't read my other Master and Commander story Husbands and Lovers, but don't' be alarmed – I'm sure you'll understand it if you haven't.

It was one of the only times in his life where Jack had looked at a ship out in the harbor and been horrified. It was ugly - there was simply no other word for it. And they called this ugliness progress.

George, however, was in raptures over it. "It's powered by steam engine, Papa- no more sails! That's progress for you," he kept saying.

"Steam engines," Jack scoffed. "Dirty, smelly, lot of smoke. What was wrong with sails, I ask you? Nothing."

"Sails can't power themselves, Papa," George reminded him. "The steam engine can - makes a steady eight knots, rain, sleet, snow or hail. They've got a steamer that's done the Atlantic crossing in fifteen days! How long does it take a clipper to do that?

Twenty, if you've got a steady wind the whole way, Jack mused. "But George, look at it. It looks like...like a tin of tomatoes," Jack groused, thinking of that other new modernization that was spoiling food for future generations by preserving it in a jar made of metal and effectively destroying any good taste it might have possessed prior to the procedure. "Where's the adventure in captaining one of those? In my day a ship was a thing of beauty, something a man was proud to have a painting of hanging over his mantle. That is a monstrosity. For once in my life, I'm glad my son didn't go into the Navy - or I'd have had to hear about those all the time!"

"Well then, I might as well tell you right now I'm buying stock in the Great Western Railway - the company that owns the fifteen-day steamer. Darcy's thinking of taking a seat on the board."

"Railways - now those were progress. Perfectly good use of a steam engine," Jack said grudgingly. "At least you were inside a closed compartment, away from the smoke. But on a boat?" Jack shook his head. "It's part of the life to be out on the deck in the sunshine and salt air. Not closed off in a stuffy little deckhouse giving directions to the jacks in the hold shoving coal."

"So it's all right for steam power to change the land, but on sea it shouldn't be allowed? That's a bit rich, coming from a sea captain, papa. How do you think the drovers and carters feel with the railway cutting in on their business?" George pointed out. Jack scowled in a fond way at his son.

"Why did I let Stephen take you away to medical school?" Jack asked. "I haven't won an argument since you finished."

"I learned how to argue from you, Papa, not medical school," his son pointed out. "Now come on - we'll be late for lunch at Darcy's club. You and Richard can grouse about the current state of the Navy while George and I argue for the steamship."

"Don't tell me I've got a son- in-law on both sides of the argument!" Jack exclaimed. "Good God - Does Darcy actually like steamships?" he asked, curious.

"It'll be beneficial for buisness - Darcy's got those tea plantations in Ceylon. With a faster ship, the tea will be fresher when it gets to England. Fresher tea, higher quality. Higher quality, better price. And better prices on Darcy's tea means that Charlotte will continue to live in Grosvenor Square and take lunch with the titled and famous," George pointed out. "As for Richard, he's against a wall with the Navy. There's no space for him to be sentimental -They'll be converting to steam when they've the budget for it."

"Well, until then we've got time for complaining about it," Jack said decidedly. "Now come on, George, or our slow walking will prompt someone to invent a steam powered cart to get people to appointments on time!"

Just for the record, the steam powered car wasn't invented until around 1873, although there were a few before then.