In order, therefore, to make them pay it is vitally necessary to eliminate waste. For instance, if the turbines were each operated by steam direct from the boilers, and this steam were sent direct to the condensers after having passed only once across the vanes of a turbine, it would take very nearly four times as much steam, and four times as much fuel, to operate the _Majestic_ as it does with the system that is installed. Only part of the power of the steam is used up in the first turbine through which it passes, so when the ship is at full speed, the steam, still under comparatively high pressure, although much less than when it left the boilers, is led from the first turbine, which is called the high-pressure turbine, to a second turbine, called the intermediate. Here again it fans the vanes and the turbine revolves, but once more the steam is used, for part of its power still remains. This time, however, the pressure is much less, and the steam has expanded until it takes up more space than it took up in the boiler, just as the air in the rubber bladder of a football would take up more room if the leather cover which keeps it compressed were removed, or the inner tube of an automobile tire would expand if the “shoe” or “casing” were not around it. This expanded steam is divided, when it comes from the intermediate turbine, and is led to the two outside turbines—that is, the turbines that operate the port, or left hand, and the starboard, or right-hand, propellers. These are the low-pressure turbines, and when the steam has passed through these turbines, causing them to turn, its work is done and it is led to the condenser. Condensers are a vital part of every sea-going steamship’s equipment. Locomotives do not need them, and stationary engines ashore do not, for they can easily replenish their supply of water, but to a ship crossing the ocean, fresh water is a vital necessity, for its boilers no less than for its passengers and crew, and should the used steam be allowed to escape, the ship, no matter how great her water tanks might be, would probably run out of fresh water long before her voyage could be completed, if it happened to be at all long. If, in such a predicament, she should attempt to use salt water there would very soon be a heavy covering of salt inside her boilers and her steaming ability would become limited, and, furthermore, the boilers would very shortly require a thorough cleaning.