Thirteen years after the Scotia was built the White Star Company placed on the station two vessels that were very great advances on anything then existing; they were marvels of the ship-builder’s and marine engineer’s skill, and even to-day hold their own in many respects with the most modern ships. That these should compete successfully, and eventually drive off the line such a ship as the Scotia is easily seen by reference to contrasted particulars in the table on page 78. The Britannic is a screw vessel 455 feet long; her I. H.-P. on trial trip was 5,400, and at sea is about four thousand nine hundred, or practically the same as that of the Scotia; but the speed on trial was nearly two knots more, and the average of eleven voyages gives a mean of 15.045 knots per hour; while as recently as September, 1890, in her old age, she traversed the Atlantic from New York to Queenstown at an average speed of 16.08 knots. She has compound engines with 4 cylinders, the two high-pressure being each 48 inches diameter, and the two low-pressure each 83 inches diameter, with a stroke of 5 feet. Her consumption of coal will be about one hundred and thirty tons per day, and on leaving port she will have on board, say 1,300 tons of fuel. She can carry a considerable cargo. The weight of her machinery is 1,112 tons. She and her sister ship, the Germanic, were in their day admitted to be all that could be desired; almost as much as was physically possible, and certainly as much as was then possible commercially. Since then, however, many changes have taken place that will be alluded to later on, so that to-day we have numerous boats running on the Atlantic at an average speed of 19 to 20 knots, with a reputation for being commercial successes as well as triumphs of engineering skill. The most recent and noteworthy of these are the steamships Teutonic and Majestic, owned by the same enterprising gentlemen, and constructed by the same famed builders as the Britannic and Germanic; and the City of Paris and City of New York, sailing under the same house flag as the steamship City of Berlin, which was a worthy competitor of the Britannic. The Majestic is a twin-screw steamer of 9,851 tons gross, 565 feet long (or 110 feet more than the Britannic). Each screw is driven by a set of triple-expansion engines. Her consumption of fuel is about two hundred and ninety tons per day, while on leaving port she will have on board about two thousand four hundred tons of coal. Her I. H.-P. on trial trip was 17,000. Her best speed on service is a mean of 20.18, and taking the mean of ten voyages it is 19.72 knots. A picture of the ship, taken while afloat on the Mersey, is shown on page 75.