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This chapter concludes its survey with examples testifying to Liverpool’s established standing as one of the main sea-ports of Britain. It reflects the striking development of transatlantic cruise lines and related changes in the working of the docks. Particular examples relate to the Liverpool Exhibition of 1886 and the preparations at the turn of the century for Edward VII’s coronation.

This chapter collects early steamship figures on a national and port level in order to address the lack of early steamship statistics (highlighted in Chapter One) and to the establish rates of tonnage distribution and vessel turnover on the British shipping register. The gathered data illuminates a great deal of early steam navigation history, particularly findings from 1851 which demonstrate the peak and decline of paddle steamers and highlights the transition to superior technology, a process familiar to British industrialisation.

This chapter explores the impact of the early steamboat in North Wales, a region underexplored by maritime historians in regard to steam technology. It concentrates on period between 1817 and the 1840s. It begins by considering the comparatively small number of registered steamboats in North Wales and offers reasons why - the small population of towns and the rural environment are particular factors of note. It then expands out to examine steamboat services in the rest of Britain in comparison. It explores the geographical problems of establishing steamships in Wales, plus the successes and failures of several routes. The Holyhead-Dublin route is given significant attention, as it became a major communication route between Britain and Ireland. Finally, it studies the impact of the steamship on Welsh communities, and finds that it created an economic boost and provided wider access to technology, news, information, and passengers. Furthermore, livestock farming, retail trade, and the tourist industry all developed significantly in North Wales due to the presence of the steamship.

This final chapter considers the engineering and building work involved in the construction of early steamships, using a list of steamboats built between 1811 and 1822 that the authors discovered in British Parliamentary papers. It is divided into five sections. The first explores the source and the possible reasons it has been neglected by historians, and compares it to other contemporary sources to determine its validity. The second explores tonnage and horsepower figures to establish reflective trends. The third explores hull building and the skills and materials necessary, plus the location of their shipyards and the men who worked there. The fourth does the same for engine building, a separate activity requiring different skillsets and materials altogether. The authors highlight that this source is the first to demonstrate the division between hull and engine construction.The fifth section places the findings into context through an exploration of innovation dispersal. The conclusion applies the findings to a wider and long term context, suggesting that the tremendous rate of technological advance in steamships meant that high standards and specialisation became extremely valuable in a very short space of time.