From this incident was learnt the advisability of protecting this opening with something more substantial. Its first form was, therefore, to raise the sides of the hatchways from the ship by means of an iron casing so as to be about eight feet above the deck and about level with the captain’s bridge. From this it was a perfectly easy transition from the bridge to the bridge-deck, extending it sufficiently to protect the opening adequately. The same idea in a more elementary form will be seen in the tug _Blackcock_ illustrated in Chapter IX. [Illustration: THE “AUSTRAL” (1881). _From a Photograph. By permission of Messrs. Anderson, Anderson & Co._] [Illustration: THE “VICTORIA” (1887). _From the Painting by Frank Murray in the possession of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co._] [Illustration: THE “MAJESTIC” (1889). _From a Photograph. By Permission of Messrs. Ismay, Imrie & Co._] The _Austral_ shows another early steamship of the Orient Line. Constructed by the same builders as the _Orient_ and _Umbria_, she was launched in 1881, and it is a sign of those later times that the yards have now disappeared, though she was schooner-rigged and could set 28,000 square feet of canvas on her four masts. Her gross registered tonnage worked out at 5,524. Built of mild steel with a double bottom, the latter being subdivided into nineteen water-tight compartments with thirteen water-tight bulkheads in her hull, the _Austral_ was specially constructed to act as a cruiser, and to carry guns in case of war. The year after she was launched the _Austral_ was lying in Sydney Harbour with her port-holes left open, when, owing to a heavy list, caused through unequal coaling, the water poured in, and she sank in fifty feet of water, but was refloated again several months after. The four-masted steamship shown opposite page 162 is the _Victoria_, one of the P. and O. boats of this period. Launched in 1887, the _Victoria_ belongs to the company’s “Jubilee” class, and is now one of the oldest boats in this line’s employ. Both at the bow and stern there will be seen a modification of the turtle deck. A sister ship was launched under the name of the _Britannia_. Their tonnage is, in the case of the _Victoria_, 6,522, but the _Britannia_ comes out at three tons more, the length being slightly over 465 feet, with a beam of 52 feet, and a depth of over 26 feet.