"The attempts to launch this vessel were most disastrous, and cost no less than £120,000, an expense which ruined the company. The original company was wound up, and the great ship sold for £160,000 to a new company, and was completed in the year 1859. The new company very unwisely determined to put her on the American station, for which she was in no way suited. During her preliminary trip the pilot reported that she made a speed of fully 14 knots at two-thirds of full pressure, but the highest rate of speed which she attained on this occasion was 15 knots, and on her first journey across the Atlantic the average speed was nearly 14 knots, the greatest distance run in a day having been 333 nautical miles. The great value of the system adopted in her construction was proved by an accident which occurred during one of her Transatlantic voyages. She ran against a pointed rock, but the voyage was continued without hindrance. It was afterwards found that holes of the combined length of over 100 feet had been torn in her outer bottom; but, thanks to the inner water-tight skin, no water was admitted." Between the years 1860 and 1870 great improvements were made in marine engines, and screw-steamers very generally replaced side-wheel boats for ocean traffic. The improvements in the engines consisted largely in the use of higher pressures, surface condensation, and compounding of the cylinders, which resulted in a saving of about half the amount of fuel over engines of the older type. As a result steamers were able to compete successfully with the sailing ships, even as freighters for long voyages, such as those between Europe and Australia. During the reactive period in France immediately following the Franco-Prussian war, when there was great activity in shipbuilding, the use of mild steel plates in place of wrought iron was tried. The superiority of this material over iron was quickly demonstrated, and as the cost of steel was constantly lessening, thanks to the newly discovered methods of production, steel practically replaced iron in ship construction after this time. It was during this same period that a new type of passenger steamer was produced--the "ocean greyhound." The first of these was the _Oceanic_, built by the White Star Company in 1871. This ship was remarkable in many ways. Her length, four hundred and twenty feet, was more than ten times her beam; iron railings were substituted for bulwarks; and the passenger quarters were shifted from the position near the stern to the middle of the vessel. All these changes proved to be distinct improvements, and the _Oceanic_ became at once the most popular, as well as the fastest ocean liner.