Reasons the exec would prefer sail to steam: he was brought up that way; the soot belched out from the smaokestack all has to be cleaned up; coal stocks can go in days while other stores last for months; 'coaling ship' is hard work and dangerous in wartime if an enemy cruiser turns up (cruiser in the old sense of 'cruising ship'; coal costs money and the best coal (Welsh Steam Coal) is hard to get; cruising warships like Shenandoah could often manage to stay out be taking stores from prizes, but the chances of getting coal this way were limited. He really wouldn't like giving the order 'up funnel, down screw'.