In 1878 it was considered expedient to consolidate the interests of the partners by registering the Company under the Limited Liability Acts, and a Joint Stock Company was formed with a capital of £2,000,000, of which £1,200,000 was issued and taken up by the families of Cunard, Burns and MacIver. No shares were offered to the public until 1880, when a prospectus was issued intimating that “it was now proposed to issue the balance of the capital.” The available shares were rapidly subscribed for, the representatives of the three founders retaining a large financial interest in the Company. About this period steel was engaging the attention of shipbuilders as a substitute for iron. The Cunard Directors were so convinced of the superiority of the former, especially where speed was a desideratum, that they ordered a steel steamship from Messrs. J. & G. Thomson, to be larger and more powerful than any steamer previously built, the GREAT EASTERN alone excepted. This monster vessel, which was named the SERVIA, was completed in 1881. Her dimensions were—Length 515 feet, breadth 52-1/10 feet, depth 37 feet. Her gross tonnage was 7,392. Her engines were compound—with seven steel boilers—and developed 10,000 I.H.P., producing a speed of 17 knots per hour. She was fitted in the most substantial and beautiful manner for the accommodation of 480 cabin and 750 steerage passengers, and embodied all the most modern appliances conducive to comfort and safety. She was the first of the Cunard Fleet to be equipped with incandescent electric lamps. The same year, the CATALONIA, 4,841 tons and 3,200 I.H.P., was built for the Boston service, and two more for the same service in the following year. These were the PAVONIA, of 5,587 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., built by Messrs. J. & G. Thomson; and the CEPHALONIA, 5,517 tons and 4,000 I.H.P., by Messrs. Laird Brothers, Birkenhead.