engines of the _Great Britain_, was not infrequently unable to endure the terrible strain to which it was put. It was for this reason that the screw engines were afterwards made direct-acting. The Cunard Company decided to build their next ship of iron, but with paddle-wheels. This was the _Persia_, launched in 1856, a vessel of 3,300 tons burthen, with accommodation for 250 passengers. But she was even surpassed by the _Scotia_, which was built in 1862, and is interesting as being the last and the finest paddle-ship which was ever made for their Atlantic service. An illustration of this vessel will be found opposite page 130. She was fitted with the greatest luxury of the time, to carry 275 cabin passengers, had seven water-tight compartments, and a double bottom, so that even if she should have had the bad luck to run ashore she would still most probably be able to endure. Nowadays most steamships are fitted with this excellent arrangement, which was first adopted in the _Great Eastern_, through the ingenuity of Brunel, to which we shall refer presently. But the _Scotia_ turned out to be also a fast boat, and materially altered the time spent in crossing the Atlantic; she lowered the record to just two hours under the nine days. Her engines were of the familiar side-lever type, and were the finest examples of their kind that were ever made. The cylinders were 100 feet in diameter, and steam at 20 lb. pressure was supplied by eight boilers with forty furnaces, the speed attained being 13½ knots per hour; her daily coal consumption was 159 tons. She could carry 1,800 tons of coal, and was exceedingly strongly constructed. We can obtain some idea of those paddle-wheels shown in the illustration when we remark that they were no less than 40 feet in diameter. She was afterwards turned into a “telegraph” ship for use in cable-laying, and her paddles changed for twin screws. It was not until about 1896 that her water-tight bulkheads were put to practical use; for as the result of an explosion on board of vapour from spirit her bow was blown out of her, and the water began to rush in. Her collision bulkhead was also damaged, but happily the second bulkhead saved the ship from foundering. [Illustration: THE “SCOTIA” (1862). _From a Painting. By Permission of the Cunard Steamship Co._] [Illustration: THE “PACIFIC” (1853). _From a Painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum._]