+-----------------+----------------------+---------------------+ | | Out. | Home. | | +------------+---------+-----------+---------+ |Names of Vessels.| Date. | Time. | Date. | Time. | +-----------------+------------+---------+-----------+---------+ | | | D. H. M.| | D. H. M.| | Alaska, |April, 1882,| 7 4 32 |June, 1882,| 6 22 0 | | Do., | May, 1882,| 7 7 0 |Sep., 1882,| 6 21 48 | | Do., | May, 1882,| 7 4 10 |Jan., 1883,| 6 23 42 | | Servia, | Jan., 1882,| 7 8 13 | —— | —— | | Do., | Aug., 1883,| 7 6 0 | —— | —— | | City of Rome, | May, 1883,| 7 12 16 |June, 1883,| 7 7 4 | | Do., | June, 1883,| 7 4 56 |July, 1883,| 7 2 19 | | Do., | Aug., 1883,| 6 22 6 |Aug., 1883,| 6 21 4 | | Do., | Sep., 1883,| 7 3 0 |Sep., 1883,| 6 23 24 | +-----------------+------------+---------+-----------+---------+ An addition to the list of competitors was made in the _Aurania_, built by Messrs Thomson in 1882, and tried in June, 1883, when she attained a mean speed of 17¾ knots, and showed herself not unequal to a maximum speed of 18½ knots under circumstances ordinarily favourable. An untoward and serious accident to her machinery laid the _Aurania_ aside just as her capabilities in actual service were being shown. It is during the “passenger season” that the qualities of these transatlantic steamers are best brought out, and it remains with the season which has just begun, to demonstrate to the full the _Aurania’s_ powers. A similar remark applies to the _Oregon_, a still more recent competitor from the same stocks as the _Alaska_, whose dimensions correspond with those of the _Alaska_, except in respect to breadth, the first-named vessel having 3-ft. 6-in. more beam than the latter, the figures being—length over all, 520-ft.; breadth, 54-ft.; depth, 40-ft. 9-in. Extra power of engines to the extent of nearly 3000 horses indicated has been fitted in the _Oregon_. On the occasion of her speed trial on the Clyde she ran the distance between Ailsa Craig and Cumbrae Head—-29½ nautical miles—in 1 hour 20 minutes, or about equal to 20 knots per hour. This was attained with the engines indicating 12,382 horse-power and making 62 revolutions per minute, the steam pressure being 110-lbs. per square inch. This result was doubtless attained under conditions more favourable to speed than the vessel is, as a rule, likely to meet with in actual service; and, as has been indicated, it still remains with the future to determine how far the aims of the owners and builders of the _Oregon_ are realised.[1] * * * * *