The navies of both the North and the South were, except for a few out-of-date ships, exclusively steam driven. Then, in 1862, the Cunard Line built the _Scotia_, a 3,300-ton iron steamer, driven by paddle-wheels. She had seven watertight compartments and a double bottom, the value of these having been proved by the unfortunate _Great Britain_, and she crossed the Atlantic in eight days and twenty-two hours—a record not to be ignored even to-day with the records of the _Mauretania_ and the _Leviathan_ before us. Many ships on transatlantic routes to-day cannot equal that record, and for the first time the outstanding records of the fast sailing ships were finally and completely outclassed. But before the _Scotia_ slid from her ways the _Great Eastern_ was launched. So great was she and so unusual that she created a furor in the shipping world that even yet has not entirely subsided. The idea of building so great a ship originated because of the desire to carry a large passenger list and a great cargo from England to Australia without having to coal on the way. This desire led to the designing of a ship of truly huge proportions. She was driven both by paddle-wheels and by a screw propeller, and was 679 feet 6 inches long, 82 feet 8 inches beam, and her tonnage was 18,900—dimensions that were not surpassed until 1905 when the White Star Line launched the _Baltic_. She was under construction for four years, being launched in 1858. So huge was the _Great Eastern_ that her engines, which were of only 3,000 horse power, were inadequate, and she never proved to be a real success, financially or mechanically, although her hull proved to be staunch enough, despite the little past experience her designers and her builders could profit by in her construction. This great ship was equipped with six masts, each capable of carrying sail, five funnels, two paddle-wheels, and a propeller. She never voyaged to Australia, but she did cross the Atlantic, and from 1865 to 1873 she was used for laying the first Atlantic cable. In 1888 she was beached and broken up. She, however, was ahead of her day. Engines had not developed to the point where ships of her size could be properly powered, and she merely stands for the courage and inventiveness of the mid-Victorian ship-builders who dared to undertake so vast and so new a task. With the exception of the _Great Eastern_, however, ships increased only gradually in size, and their increases in speed were approximately parallel to their growing tonnage. The _Great Eastern_ was an attempt—an unsuccessful attempt—to leap ahead half a century. But the semi-failure of this ship did not retard the growth of ships. Perhaps, even, it aided that growth.