The _Pomeranian_, Captain Dalziel, a fine ship of 4,364 tons, in 1893 survived one of the stormiest Atlantic voyages on record. She sailed from Greenock for New York, March 27th. After eight days battling with a furious gale, when about twelve hundred miles west of Ireland, she was well-nigh overwhelmed by a tremendous wave, which made a clean sweep of the deck. The bridge, the chart-house, the saloon, the steam-winch, the ventilators, everything between the foremast and the funnel, were hurled overboard, a mass of wreckage. The captain and a saloon passenger were so severely injured that both died in a few hours. The second and fourth officers, who were on the bridge, were swept into the sea and drowned, as were the rest of the cabin passengers, one intermediate, and four of the crew—twelve persons in all. Three of the lifeboats were carried away and two were smashed, leaving only one available for service. The whole of the nautical instruments, books and charts had gone overboard, the steering gear was badly wrecked, and the only compass left was that in the steering-house aft. The first officer, Mr. McCulloch, on whom the command now devolved, seeing the crippled condition of the ship, turned her head homewards, a thing not easily done in such a sea, and eventually returned to the Clyde in a gale of wind. [Illustration: “THE PARISIAN,” 1881.] It is doubtful if there is another shipping company in existence that would have withstood the strain put on the Allan line by such a succession of disasters; but so far as outsiders are aware the Allans never lost courage. They were bound to succeed in the long-run, and they did. When ships could not be built quickly enough to take the places of those that had been lost at sea, they bought of others ships ready-made, meanwhile resolving to reinforce their fleet with larger and in every way better boats than heretofore. The _Norwegian_ and _Hibernian_, of 2,400 tons each, were launched from Denny’s yard in 1861. In 1863 Steeles of Greenock built for them the _Peruvian_ and the _Moravian_, both very fine ships. The _Nestorian_ and the _Austrian_, of 2,700 tons each, built by Barclay & Curle, Glasgow, are both good ships now after thirty years’ service. The _Sarmatian_ and _Polynesian_ (now _Laurentian_), about 4,000 tons each, came out in 1871 and 1872, and proved excellent boats. The _Circassian_, 3,724 tons, was launched in 1873, and the _Sardinian_ in 1875. The _Parisian_, the finest of the fleet, was built by Robert Napier & Sons, Glasgow, in 1881, and took her place on the line the following year. She is built of steel, the bottom being constructed of an inner and outer skin five feet apart, the space thus enclosed being available for water ballast and also a protection from the perils of collision. The Allans were the first to apply this kind of build to Atlantic steamers, and were also the first to build such steamers of steel. The general dimensions of the