She was 285 feet long, 40 feet 8 inches broad, and 29 feet deep. Her engines indicated 3,250 H.P., and her average speed was 13 knots per hour. Three years later, 1855, the first iron mail steamship was built for the Cunard Company. She was named the PERSIA, and was nearly one hundred feet longer than the largest of her predecessors. Her principal dimensions were—Length 376 feet, breadth 45 feet 3 inches, depth 31 feet 6 inches. Her gross tonnage was 4,000 tons, and her engines indicated 4,000 H.P., giving a speed of 13·8 knots per hour. In 1853 the Company established (primarily as auxiliaries to their Atlantic service) branch lines between Liverpool and Havre, and Liverpool and the principal ports in the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Levant, Bosphorus, and Black Sea. For these branch lines the screw steamers SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN, ANDES and ALPS were built in 1852, followed by the JURA in 1854 and the ETNA in 1855. War having been declared against Russia the four last-named steamers, in addition to the CAMBRIA, NIAGARA, EUROPA and ARABIA, were engaged by the Government as troopships. The Cunard Company had in 1854 purchased the steamer EMEU, and she was immediately chartered to the Government. The EMEU was the first troopship to arrive out at the commencement of the Crimean War, and in the seventeen months following she conveyed upwards of 17,000 troops to the Crimea. A few years later (1862) the famous SCOTIA (the last of the paddle-wheel steamers) was built. In 1878 she was sold to the Telegraph Construction Company, who converted her into a screw steamer. The same year (1862) the Cunard Company ordered their first screw steamer for the Atlantic trade. This was the CHINA S.S., now converted into a four-masted barque and named the THEODOR. She was followed in 1864 by the CUBA, in 1865 by the JAVA, and in 1867 by the RUSSIA, of 2,960 tons gross and 3,100 I.H.P. After sailing for many years under the Cunard Flag, the RUSSIA was sold to the “American Line.” Her new owners lengthened her, gave her a fourth mast, and altered her name to the WAESLAND. She finally sank off Holyhead, after colliding with the S.S. HARMONIDES, on the 5th March, 1902. [Illustration: SCOTIA. Cunard Steamship Co.]