Faster and cheaper and more efficient. Nearly everyone agrees that the rapid change from break-bulk cargo handling to the containership has been revolutionary. It is perhaps the most startling development since the shift from sail to steam. In the world of shipping, the change has been so profound that we can readily refer to it as paradigm shift. How do we explain the change? Professional historians are often reluctant to attribute major cultural changes to a single individual. Many factors, large and small, play into the making of any major change so that historians typically try to avoid "the great man" explanation. For example, the American Merchant Seamen's Manual (Sixth Edition,) edited by William B.