The famous White Star Company have pointed with pride to the fact that the excellence of their ships was due largely to the fact that they had been built in the same shipbuilding yard and under an arrangement which encouraged the builders to embody in the ships the most careful design and workmanship. Under this arrangement, Messrs. Harland & Wolff, of Belfast, build the White Star vessels without entering into any hard and fast agreement as to the price: the only stipulation of this character being that, when the ship is accepted, they shall be paid for the cost of the ship, plus a certain profit, which is commonly believed to be ten per cent. [Illustration: GREAT EASTERN 1858 FOUR WATERTIGHT COMPARTMENTS TITANIC 1912 ONE WATERTIGHT COMPARTMENT _Titanic_ shows omission of inner skin, longitudinal bulkheads, and watertight decks. Transverse bulkheads are lower by 20 feet. FIFTY YEARS' DECLINE IN SAFETY CONSTRUCTION] Of the strength of the _Titanic_ and the general high character of her construction there can be no doubt whatever. Not only was she built to the requirements of the Board of Trade and the insurance companies, but, as we have noted, she was constructed by the leading shipbuilding company of the world, under conditions which would inspire them to put into the world's greatest steamship the very best that the long experience and ample facilities of the yard could produce. The principal dimensions of the _Titanic_, as furnished by her owners, were as follows: PARTICULARS OF THE _TITANIC_ Ft. Ins. Length over all 882 9 Length between perpendiculars 850 0 Breadth extreme 92 6 Depth moulded to shelter deck 64 3 Depth moulded to bridge deck 73 3 Total height from keel to navigating bridge 104 0 Load draft 34 6 Gross tonnage 45,000 Displacement in tons 60,000 Indicated horsepower of reciprocating engines 38,000 Shaft horsepower of turbine engine 22,000 In this connection the following table, giving the dimensions of the most notable steamships, from the _Great Eastern_ of 1858 to the _Imperator_ of 1913, will be of interest. How rapidly the weight (displacement) increases with the length of these large ships, is shown by the fact that, although in length the _Titanic_ is only about 27 per cent. greater than the _Great Eastern_, in displacement she exceeds her by considerably over 100 per cent. PARTICULARS OF NOTED TRANSATLANTIC LINERS