My thanks are also due for the courteous permission which has been given to reproduce photographs of many of the steamships seen within these pages. To the authorities at South Kensington I am indebted for the privilege of reproducing a number of the exhibits in the Victoria and Albert Museum. I wish also to thank the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company for permission to reproduce the _Royal William_; Mr. James Napier for the illustration of the _British Queen_; the Cunard Steamship Company for the various photographs of many of their fleet; also the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, Messrs. Ismay, Imrie and Co., Messrs. Anderson, Anderson and Co., the American Line, the Norddeutscher Lloyd Company, the Liverpool Steam Towing and Lighterage Company, Messrs. L. Smit and Co., the Ymuiden Tug Company, Messrs. Lobnitz and Co., Renfrew, the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, Liverpool, Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Messrs. William Doxford and Sons, Sir Raylton Dixon and Co., Messrs. Cochrane and Sons, Selby, the Fall River Line, Messrs. A. and J. Inglis, Messrs. Thos. Rhodes and Co., the Caledon Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Messrs. Camper and Nicholson, Messrs. Cammell, Laird and Co., the Great Western Railway Company, the London and North Western Railway Company, the London and South Western Railway Company, the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Company, Messrs. Harland and Wolff, and Messrs. C. A. Parsons and Co. To the Right Hon. the Earl of Stanhope, to the New Jersey Historical Society, and also to the proprietors of the _Century Magazine_ I wish to return thanks for being allowed to reproduce certain illustrations connected with Fulton’s early experiments in steam navigation, and to the _Yachting Monthly_ for permission to reproduce the diagrams of steam yachts and lifeboats. Finally, I have to apologise if through any cause it should be found that in spite of extreme carefulness errrors should have found their way into this narrative. The nature of the subject is necessarily such that to have erred herein would have been easy, but I have been at great pains to prevent such a possibility occurring. E. KEBLE CHATTERTON. _June, 1910._ CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. THE EVOLUTION OF MECHANICALLY-PROPELLED CRAFT 12 3. THE EARLY PASSENGER STEAMSHIPS 63 4. THE INAUGURATION OF THE LINER 104 5. THE LINER IN HER TRANSITION STATE 145 6. THE COMING OF THE TWIN-SCREW STEAMSHIP 165 7. THE MODERN MAMMOTH STEAMSHIP 183 8. SMALLER OCEAN CARRIERS AND CROSS-CHANNEL STEAMERS 215