in the event of war breaking out between us and another first-class nation, it would not be long before we should be starved into submission if by any chance our over-seas food supply were cut off. It has been suggested with every appearance of probability, that in such a condition the _Mauretania_ and _Lusitania_ might render the highest service by making rapid passages across the Atlantic and, being there loaded up with grain, might hurry back home again. Their speed alone would save them from the enemy, except perhaps from the latest and fastest types of fighting-ships. But if convoyed by the _Indomitable_ and _Invincible_ battleship-cruisers, with their enormous speed and equally enormous “smashing power,” the chances would be in favour of the grain-ships reaching port. Thus when the British Government advanced the sum of £2,000,000 sterling (which amount represents about one-half of the total cost of the two vessels) it was acting with a wisdom and a power for looking well ahead that is not always possessed by political bodies. With their very considerable capacities for passenger accommodation, these two ships would also be invaluable if called upon to act as transports. The singularly impressive picture facing page 198 shows the _Mauretania_ whilst she was still lying on the Tyne at Wallsend before being quite ready for service. It is by a happy coincidence that the same picture shows a delightful contrast between this last word of modern invention and the old-fashioned type of steam tug-boat in the river, to the right. There is, in fact, so mighty a divergence in character that it is not easy to catalogue both under the very elastic and comprehensive title of steamship. Only by comparison with existing ships can one gain any idea of the _Mauretania’s_ colossal qualities. The present writer was one of those who watched the _Mauretania_ docked for the first time at Liverpool immediately after she had come round to the Mersey from the Tyne. By her was lying another steamship, by no means out of date, whose appearance at one time called forth some of the expressions of amazement and wonder that these two Cunarders have brought about. For size and speed this older “greyhound” was properly and legitimately famous, but yet within the comparatively small dimensions of the dock-space one was able to obtain a more accurate idea as to the exact proportions of the _Mauretania_ than when lying outside in the river, where space brings with it deception; and it was amazing to remark how utterly and unconditionally the new steamship overshadowed the old. Even in such close proximity as one stood, everything else looked small by comparison. The captain on the _Mauretania’s_ bridge resembled a small, black dot, the funnels looked like four great, red caverns. A brand new thick rope warp was brought to the shore to stop the _Mauretania’s_ way. It was so heavy that a score of men were needed to move it about. And yet although she seemed