Now, since the steamship is run for the purpose of making money, it is essential that over-seas trade should not show any signs of lagging; otherwise it becomes commercially impossible to run these fast ships from one continent to the other. The craze for speed is one that may go on and on for just such a time as the financial support continues; but as soon as a diminution in trade sets in, and with it a falling-off in revenue, this wild, reckless race for speed-supremacy must automatically cease. At present it is but a reflection of the restless activity on shore. May the time not come when rest and simplicity will again replace excessive strenuousness and restore to the Atlantic something of its plain expansiveness, and take back the character which it has now developed as being merely a race-track for ocean greyhounds? However much designers, shipbuilders and engineers may conspire together; whatever inventions man in his brilliant efforts may succeed in bringing about, the solid fact remains that Nature is superior in force to all these. The winds will blow and the great seas will roll up against all the mighty ships man may build. Among the gifts to humanity there is not included that of taming the sea. She is tyrannical in her strength, untamable, dominant; and when you launch into her bosom heavy masses of iron or steel, and deceive yourself with high-sounding names--call them _Great Easterns_, _Majestics_, _Indomitables_, _Titanics_, and the rest--the Sea only laughs at you, for she knows perfectly well that a blow or two from her mighty arm will end their days and settle their fate for all time. To fight against Nature is to contend against heavy odds, to engage in a contest whose result is known long beforehand; and the most that man can ever do is make a truce with his superior foe, so that he may be able to rush across her expanse much as he would hurry past the open cage of a tigress. For that reason speed is appreciated by some as the greatest weapon which was ever given to the ship, but even then it cannot terrify a much mightier power. In spite of wireless gear, submarine bells, navigational science, expert seamanship, perfect ship-building and design, well-found ships still put to sea and disappear presently never to be seen again. The case of the _Waratah_ is not an isolated incident, but an example of the universal law that human achievement in comparison with the eternal sovereignty of the Sea must take only a second place, and learn to obey, when bidden, a power of far older, far superior strength. CHAPTER VII THE MODERN MAMMOTH STEAMSHIP