One of the best known steamship companies in the United States is the Fall River Line, belonging to the New England Navigation Company. The Fall River Line runs from New York to Boston, and their vessels are of exceptional interest as being propelled by paddle-wheels notwithstanding that their size is in some cases of from four to six thousand tons. Characteristic, too, is the extent to which the decks tier aloft and spread out beyond the hull of the ship. Among their fleet may be reckoned the _Priscilla_, _Puritan_, and _Providence_, vessels which vary in length from over, to just under, 400 feet, with a beam of about 50 feet, but including “guards” about another 30 feet. Opposite this page will be seen the _Commonwealth_, the flagship of this celebrated fleet, and the most modern. Instead of the paddle-boxes rising to a great height, they are absorbed by the excessive amount of top-hamper. To such an extent, also, has the widest beam of the ship been pushed that the paddle-wheels are scarcely discernible, being quite underneath the “guards,” instead of projecting from the hull. The _Commonwealth_ plies between New York and Boston via Newport and the Fall River, and is the largest and most magnificent steamship built for service on inland waters. Some idea of her value may be gathered when we remark that she cost £400,000 to build. It will be seen that she has been given a high bow, for the reason that she must be a good sea-boat, since part of her route is exposed to the Atlantic. She is 456 feet long, 96 feet wide (reckoning in the “guards”), and has sleeping accommodation for two thousand people. This voyage is performed in about twelve hours, mostly by night, from New York to the Fall River, and the retention of the paddle-wheel gives an absence of vibration, and enables the nerve-wrecked citizen to sleep as peacefully as on shore. The _Commonwealth_ is steady in a sea-way, and has pushed the cult of luxury just about as far as it can go, whilst yet retaining any of the accustomed characteristics of the ship. Practically these craft are remarkably up-to-date hotels moved by a pair of paddle-wheels. Replete with their barber’s shops, cafés, libraries, saloons, orchestra, galleries, stairways, dining-rooms, spacious bedrooms, kitchens, and other features too numerous to mention, they are representative afloat of the prevailing passion ashore for luxury and personal comfort. The _Commonwealth_, like her sisters of the same fleet, is built of steel, and for greater safety she has seven bulkheads, which extend to the main deck, and are so installed that no carelessness can leave the doors open. Her hull is double and the space between the bottoms is divided into numerous water-tight compartments, whilst collision bulkheads are also placed at each side of the steamer at the “guards.” Her speed is twenty-two knots per hour, which is obtained by compound engines, with two high-pressure cylinders. The