> It was britain sail powered ships that destroyed chinese ships. They were sail-powered steamboats. It's true that travelling all the way from Britain to Chin

> It was britain sail powered ships that destroyed chinese ships. They were sail-powered steamboats. It's true that travelling all the way from Britain to China using only steam power was impossible at the time. But the very first British steamboat [1] also had sails. That way, they only had to feed the steam engines when a maneuver required it, e.g. going against the wind. That was evidently enough to win battles. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(1839) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemesis_(1839)