Nor are the Americans inclined to rest satisfied with the present size of their steamers, but, with a prudence not displayed by the projectors of our _Great Eastern_, they have hitherto regulated their dimensions by the requirements of the trade in which they intended to employ them. When I visited Philadelphia, in the autumn of 1860, several merchants of that city brought under my notice the designs and model of a steam-ship they then contemplated building, and which, though not one-half the dimensions of our own vast _Leviathan_, was double the size of any other vessel then afloat; they had, indeed, formed a company which they styled the Philadelphia and Crescent Steam Navigation Company, expressly for the purpose of constructing a line of such vessels to trade with Great Britain. The plans of this ship are now before me. [Sidenote: Details of proposed ship.] Into the estimates of profit and loss I need not enter, as their accuracy, or otherwise, has not been tested, but the plans of the projector, Mr. Randall, were considered of sufficient importance to justify the State legislature in granting to the company an Act of Incorporation. This vessel was to be 500 feet long, with a beam of 58 feet moulded, and to measure about 8000 tons. She was to have “ample accommodation for 3000 passengers and 3000 tons of cargo,” and to be “a regular 20-mile ship.” She was to “have ample fuel room, sufficient to run 8000 miles without stopping for coal,” and to have a “main saloon of 350 feet of uninterrupted length,” and “175 family state rooms, with double beds in each of extra size, and a dining-room and drawing-room, each 150 feet long.” For the comfort and convenience of excursionists, who, it was said, “will be induced, in consequence of the increased safety offered by these vessels to visit Europe in preference to Saratoga, Newport, Niagara, &c., there will be found on board a social hall, reading-rooms, and library 50 feet long, and a smoking-room 45 feet in extent, and numerous baths, comparing favourably with first-class hotels.” [Illustration] [Sidenote: Two sets of paddle-wheels.] [Sidenote: Principle of construction.] Her motive power was to consist of two sets of wheels, “constructed in such a manner and so placed as to obtain a vast increase of speed;” she was to be divided into seven water-tight compartments, and the engines were to be entirely distinct, 130 feet apart. She was to be constructed on the diagonal principle and trussed with bars of iron as shown in the following midship section. There was to be “a solid arch on each side of the ship, together with the vertical arch and iron diagonal bracing, extending over the whole frame, affording a construction of strength and security never equalled.”[161]