In the _America_, launched from the yard of Messrs J. & G. Thomson, near the close of 1883, and presently being fitted for sea, the National Steamship Company (Limited), of Liverpool, have embodied the results of their careful study of the development and changes in the mode of conducting the American trade. From such experiments—for they can hardly be considered anything else—as the rapid passages of the _Alaska_, the _City of Rome_, and other “greyhounds of the Atlantic,” the company see it is no longer possible or profitable to have “composite” vessels—_i.e._, those intended to carry a large cargo as well as passengers,—but that practically one class of vessels must be built for the passenger traffic and another for the conveyance of cargo. The vessel represents an attempt to solve the problem of producing a ship which shall have large passenger accommodation and a high speed, with a comparatively small first cost and a reasonable consumption of coal. She is built of steel, and of the following dimensions:—Length, 440 feet; breadth, 51¼ feet; depth of hold, 36 feet; gross tonnage, about 6,000 tons. Her engines are of the inverted three-cylinder type, the high pressure cylinder being 63-ins. diameter, the two low pressure cylinders being 91-ins. each, while the piston stroke is 66-ins. Six double ended boilers and one single ended, having in all 39 furnaces, are fitted. The power expected to be developed is about 9,000 indicated. The speed guaranteed by the builders of the _America_ is 18 knots an hour, and confidence is entertained by all concerned as to this result being attained.[2] It is abundantly evident, notwithstanding what has already been achieved, that the brisk competition among transatlantic companies for the “fastest steamer afloat” has not yet exhausted itself. The determination some time ago publicly expressed by Mr John Burns, the able chairman of the Cunard Company, to maintain a leading position, has since taken decidedly active shape in the contract entered into and now being carried out by Messrs John Elder & Co.: that is, the construction of the two huge and powerful steamers of unprecedented speed, already referred to near the beginning of this work. They are each of 8000 tons burthen, 500 feet in length, 57 feet broad, by 40 feet depth of hold. Engines of 13,000 horse-power will be provided, which, it is computed, will drive the vessels at a speed of 19 knots an hour. With the establishment of these remarkable steamships in this most important service, the prospect is near of a transatlantic passage lasting only six days, if not indeed considerably under that period.