In June, 1897, there appeared on the Solent, at the time of the great Jubilee Naval Review, a steam vessel furnished with a novel method of propulsion, by which a speed far in excess of any previous record was attained. In the opinion of competent experts this new application of steam-power is likely to bring about in the near future a revolution in steam navigation. The following account of this phenomenal craft appeared in the Montreal _Star_: “LONDON, July 5th, 1897. “The record-breaking 100-foot torpedo boat _Turbinia_ has intensely interested the public here generally, and experts in marine engineering in particular. It is admitted that if the principle of the steam turbine invented by Charles Parsons and fitted in the _Turbinia_ can be extended to large ships, it will mark the greatest revolution in mechanics since the invention of the steam-engine itself. “Mr. Wolff, M. P. for Belfast, head of the famous firm of Harland & Wolff, of Belfast, and himself the designer of the White Star Liners, says: “‘I saw the _Turbinia_ at Spithead going nearly eight miles an hour faster than any vessel had ever gone before, and even then she was not being pushed to her full speed. She passed quite close to the _Teutonic_, on which I was. She dashed along with marvellous speed and smoothness. “‘I must say, however, that I felt more secure on the _Teutonic_ than I should have felt on the _Turbinia_, for you know they have not yet surmounted the difficulty of reversing the engine. She can go ahead forty miles an hour but can only reverse at less than four. “‘If Parsons can make a similar turbine engine practicable for big craft with proper reversing power, he will open a new era in the history of steam motors. But, although he has carried the economizing of steam to a great pitch for a turbine engine, still from my observation the waste of both steam and fuel under his system, if applied on a large scale, would be almost fatal. That there is a big future before his turbine engine for launches and other small craft I do not doubt, provided that he can get over the reversing difficulty.’” The _Scientific American_, in its issue of June 26th, 1897, says: “Nothing more startling has ever occurred than the wonderful runs which have recently been made by a little craft called the _Turbinia_, in which the motive power is supplied by a steam turbine of the Parsons type.” Quoting from a paper read at a meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, by the Hon. Charles A. Parsons, the inventor of this new system, the advantages of the turbine system are thus summarized: