We have thus seen the liner in a condition of change, and it is only from the close of the eighth decade of the nineteenth century that she begins to take on a form more in accordance with a steamship able to pursue her way totally independent of auxiliary sails. The experience which we recorded as having happened to the _Umbria_ clearly marked the way for the coming of the twin-screw ship. It was patent to anyone that by this means an efficient safeguard would be obtained in the event of a fractured shaft befalling the ship. If it was likely that one should come to grief, it was highly improbable that the other would not be available for getting the ship into port, and so enabling the owning steamship line not merely to preserve their reputation for carrying passengers, mails and cargo with safety, but to avoid the very costly possibilities of having to pay salvage claims to the rescuing ship that should happen to fall in with the injured liner and to tow her home. As soon as the twin-screw became established there was virtually little use for the sails, and so it was not much longer before they disappeared altogether from the crack liner. CHAPTER VI THE COMING OF THE TWIN-SCREW STEAMSHIP During the ’eighties the competition for the Atlantic “blue ribbon” had become very keen indeed, until the _Umbria_ and _Etruria_ began to shatter existing records and to show their undoubted superiority. But their turn to be eclipsed was not long in coming, and the Inman Line were determined to make a bold bid for supremacy once again. A year or two before the launch of the _Umbria_ they had made a spirited effort with the _City of Rome_, a large vessel with a displacement of over 11,000 tons. But she did not prove successful.