But in the twenty-four years following 1890 the German lines built fast and furiously. As late as the ’eighties they were buying British-built ships or were having their ships built in British yards, but then came the development of German ship-building and before many years had passed greater and faster liners than any Britain had built came sliding from their German ways into German waters. [Illustration: THE _DEUTSCHLAND_ _Formerly the holder of the transatlantic record._] But Britain’s claim to the mastery of the seas was not one based solely on her matchless fleet, and each time a German ship was built to outstrip the British flyers, a British yard was set to work on still a faster ship, with the result that despite the _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, the _Deutschland_, the _Kaiserin Auguste Victoria_, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II_, and many others, the British were able to answer with ships still faster until the _Lusitania_ and _Mauretania_ were built and the Germans called off their race for speed and started the building of such monster ships as have not yet been surpassed. The three greatest ships in the world to-day—the _Majestic_, the _Leviathan_, and the _Berengaria_—are all German built. But Germany overreached herself and fell, carrying with her in her collapse all her ambitions upon the sea, for the end of the World War saw her reduced to an inconsequential sea power—and reduced to such a state largely because of her illegitimate use of another kind of ship—the submarine. While the race with Germany was at its height, however, Britain was never for a moment out of the running. The _Olympic_, the _Titanic_, the _Justicia_, the _Britannic_, the _Lusitania_, the _Mauretania_, and many others came from her ways. And although the _Titanic_ ended her first voyage when she sank after a collision with an iceberg, and the _Justicia_, the _Britannic_, and the murdered _Lusitania_ were casualties of the war, still Britain has giant ships, for the Germans, to pay partially for their submarine campaign, were forced to give over the most important section of their merchant fleet to the Allies, and Britain, properly enough, for her losses were far the greatest, rightfully secured the lion’s share. These giant ships, however, and their smaller sisters in the passenger trade are only a part of recent shipping developments. Once the compound engine had been perfected, steam, as I have said, began its competition with sail in the carrying of freight. Already the major portion of passenger travel had been taken over by steam, but until steam had become a more reliable and a less expensive power, sailing ships contended successfully for freight—particularly on long voyages.