The owners of the _Oceanic_ followed up their success by the _Britannic_ and the _Germanic_ in 1874. A photograph of the former is here reproduced as she appeared when leaving Southampton during the Boer War for South Africa, acting as a transport, with British troops aboard. From this picture it will be noticed that she is purely a steamship, but when launched she was rigged as a four-masted barque with yards and sails, but, following the fashion of the _Oceanic_, the bowsprit had been discarded. At one time the _Britannic_ was given a curious arrangement by which she could lower her propeller so that it was almost level with the keel, and being placed thus low it was hoped that all tendency to race when the vessel pitched would be eradicated. To this end a hollow recess was made in the hull at the stern so that the shaft could be made to work up or down as desired. But the results were disappointing, so that after giving the method several months’ trial it was discarded. Both the _Britannic_ and the _Germanic_ were larger craft than the _Oceanic_, and had a tonnage of just over 5,000 tons, and a length of 468 feet, with 45 feet beam. They also were fitted with compound engines, which gave 5,000 indicated horse-power, and a pressure of 75 lbs. to the square inch. The _Britannic_ broke the record again by her speed of 16 knots, but the year after her launch the Inman Line, with the _City of Berlin_, also developed 16 knots, and wrested the record from the White Star boats by crossing the Atlantic in seven days fourteen hours. She was a much larger ship than those other two, had a gross tonnage of 5,491, and was 520 feet over all. This ship is interesting as having been the first Atlantic liner to be fitted with electric light, which was installed in 1879. The White Star Line, however, had endeavoured in 1872 to instal in their _Adriatic_ a system of lighting the ship by gas generated from oil. But the rolling of the ship and other causes led to so much leakage that it was discarded.