Covering some 125 merchant ship types, from the start of powered merchant ship types, from the start of powered merchant ship designs like small tugs and larger passenger vessels to modern giants such as great and luxuriously appointed cruise ships, and ultra-large crude carriers for the delivery of vast quantities of crude oil. This is the story of merchant ships in their first steam-powered forms, with driver paddle wheels and then propellers, to the great transatlantic liners, the immigrant ships and tramp steamers, to modern vessels with diesel or, in a few cases, nuclear propulsion for tasks as varied as icebreaking and the carriage of outsize single freight items.