These vessels, built chiefly of live oak, were planked with pitch pine and were in strength equal, if not superior, to any vessels constructed of wood then afloat. The timbers, which were solid and bolted to each other, were further strengthened by a lattice work of iron bands, wood and iron being so united as to derive the greatest advantage from each: wood for its elasticity, and iron for its greater power of resistance. They were beautiful models, and could at a small expense have been easily converted into ships of war. The Arctic, which was considered the finest of the fleet, familiarly known as the “clipper of the seas,” was built by Mr. William H. Brown of New York, under the superintendence of Mr. George Steers, who modelled the famous yacht _America_. She was 2856 tons register.[196] Her equipment was complete and of the highest order, as I can testify from inspection, while her cabin accommodation in comfort and elegance surpassed that of any merchant-vessel Great Britain then possessed. “To enter,” exclaims Mr. Bayard, a member of the Senate, “the contest with England for the supremacy of ocean steam navigation required talent, energy, and _faith_ of the highest order known to our countrymen, for to _fail_ would involve a loss not only of the vast sums necessary to make the effort, but, what is of far more value to every lover of his country’s reputation, it would insure national disappointment, more deeply felt from the fact that England had already been vanquished by our sailing-ships, and gracefully yielded to us the palm of victory, since more brilliantly illuminated by the yacht _America_, and the clipper ship _Witch of the Wave_.” Such were the expectations and warnings of those who guided public opinion in the United States, when it was resolved to undertake this great ocean race. Before giving out the contracts for the machinery, Mr. Collins obtained from Messrs. Sewell and Faron, chief engineers of the United States’ Navy, full specifications of the engines and boilers the latter had designed, and subsequently made use of, for the steamers _Arctic_ and _Baltic_.[197] [Illustration: STEAMER “ATLANTIC.”] [Sidenote: Mr. Faron’s visit to England.] [Sidenote: Details of the build of these vessels.]