The first steam-powered westward transatlantic crossings took place in 1838, but sailing ships remained competitive for another four decades. With wind as the prime mover, the cost of carrying a unit of cargo per unit of distance by a sailing ship was largely independent of the length of the voyage; while the longer the steamship voyage, the more of the vessel’s deadweight capacity had to be loaded with coal to fuel relatively inefficient engines, leaving less room for cargo. Refueling stations reduced, but did not eliminate, this disadvantage.27
