Another ingenious vessel on this service was the _Castalia_. She was a twin-ship composed of a couple of hulls. Those who crossed in her about the year 1876 found her very comfortable, and she was so steady that comparatively few of her passengers were sea-sick, but her drawback was that she was not fast. The genesis of this double-hulled ship was in order to obtain greater steadiness, and the experiment was first tried by fastening two Woolwich steamers together, having first removed the inside paddle-wheels. Following up this, the same principle was exemplified in a ship called the _Express_, which had been constructed for a firm that became financially embarrassed, and she was accordingly taken over instead by the owners of the _Castalia_, and became the famous _Calais-Douvres_, which most of my readers will well remember. She was certainly a fast ship, but her life was not devoid of adventures. In May, 1878, she collided with Dover Pier through her steering-gear going wrong, her main engines having previously broken down. She was subsequently repaired and did well until 1887, when, worn out by active service, she was withdrawn, having proved an expensive boat to run, and obtained an unenviable reputation for a large coal consumption. The _Castalia_ was withdrawn in 1878, and became a floating small-pox hospital on the Thames, where she remained for about twenty years, and was finally towed therefrom to Dordrecht by one of that fleet of Dutch tugs which we shall mention in a later chapter as being famous for the towage of big docks. In the course of time new and improved Channel steamers continued to be put on this Dover-Calais route, and in 1899 an amalgamation of interests owned by the South Eastern and the London, Chatham and Dover Railways took place, so that now the two fleets are under one management. Within recent years they have shown a very enterprising spirit by leading the way in placing turbine steamers on their route, and the illustration on the opposite page shows their turbine steamer _Empress_ clearing out of Dover Harbour. In general character we may take the appearance of this vessel as typical of the more modern cross-channel steamers which now ply also on other routes owned by the various railway companies. The fine service of steamboats, for instance, possessed by the Great Western, Great Eastern, the Midland, the London and North Western, the Great Central, and the London and South Western consists rather of miniature liners of a very up-to-date type. Not merely wireless telegraphy and turbines have been introduced into the cross-channel steamers, but every conceivable regard for the comfort of the passengers has been taken commensurate with the size of the ships, and the special work which they are called upon to perform.