The Blackwall frigates form a connecting link between the lordly East Indiaman of the
Honourable John Company and the magnificent P and O liners of the present day. They were
first-class ships. Well-run happy ships and the sailor who started his sea life as a
midshipman aboard a Blackwaller looked back ever afterwards to his cadet days as the happiest
period of his career. If discipline was strict it was also just. The training was superb as
witness the number of Blackwall midshipmen who reached the head of their profession and
distinguished themselves later in other walks of life. Fifty years ago the lithographs of the
celebrated Blackwall liners to India and Australia could be bought at any seaport for a few
shillings. Nowadays those old ship portraits are cagerly snapped up by a growing group of
collectors. We therefore hope that the illustrations in this book will be appreciated.
