To have built this, or indeed any big ship, of wood could not have been possible. What rendered practicable the increased length of ships, able to carry high-powered engines with much space for passengers and cargo, was the invention of the rolling-mill, which had been brought about by Henry Cort, who died in 1800. Before this was introduced, the iron after leaving the furnace had to be hammered into shape. But nowadays iron and steel can be turned out into suitable plates, so that shipbuilding really consists in riveting together so many plates as to form a steel box with shaped ends. Instead of the soft sounds of the adze and caulking chisel and the wholesome smell of tar, the shipyard of to-day is a pandemonium of monotonous, buzzing pneumatic riveting hammers. There is no loving selection of timbers and planking: the steel plates and girders are just there ready to be put into position. It is highly unsentimental, but inevitable that development should proceed along these lines. During the ’seventies steel had been used for shipbuilding more or less tentatively, but it was not until the Allan liner _Buenos Ayrean_ that a steel ship was seen in the Atlantic. Mild steel, because of its ductility and strength and lightness, became much more suitable than iron, and opened up another era in the story of the steamship. With the exception of yachts, lifeboats and certain fishing craft, this is now used universally for constructing hulls. In 1873 the French had employed steel in building their warships, and in 1881 the Cunard _Servia_ came out thus constructed. She was the largest and most powerful ship then built with the exception of _Great Eastern_, her measurements being 515 feet long, 52 feet beam and 7392 tons gross. She lowered the Atlantic voyage to seven days, one hour, thirty-eight minutes. [Illustration: [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ S.S. “OCEANIC.” The first White Star Line steamship. Launched 1870. She measured 420 ft. over all. She was the first of the modern steamship era.]