Up till the ’eighties it was customary for the crack liners to carry three and even four masts with yards and both a fore staysail and square-sails. It was a practice which exhibited the last suspicion of steam, for it was argued that if the propeller should become damaged, or the shaft break there would at least be canvas enough for her to get along. But, with the introduction and general adoption of the twin-screw, masts became fewer, yards and canvas disappeared, and the seaman who had been brought up to go aloft and lay-out along a yard found himself a mere deckhand. He had seen the golden age of the full-rigged pass away, and the last resemblance in the steamship to the Blackwall frigates and the clippers remained only in the clipper bows of the Inman Line, who for so long kept up the useless but ornamental bowsprit even as late as the ’nineties. It is with the launch of their _City of New York_ and _City of Paris_, the latter in 1888, that twin screws of a large size were introduced into the Mercantile Marine, and here begins the final chapter in the steamship’s development, for it gave her an independence and increase of efficiency which never before has she possessed nor since lost. CHAPTER XVI THE MODERN MERCHANT SHIP The dominating factors which now influenced the development of the Atlantic liner were speed and comfort. Owing to the rapid increase of commerce between the United States and Great Britain, the West had long since taken the place of the Orient as a magnetic attraction for the shipowner. It is the Atlantic and not the route to India which has seen the great improvements in the modern ship, and even if there had been keener competition to the East, it would not have been possible to increase much the size of steamships for the reason of the limitations imposed by the Suez Canal. It is conceivable, however, that some day the route to Australia round the Cape may become a lane of keen rivalry to the advantage of ship development. [Illustration: [_By courtesy Messrs. T. H. Parker._ S.S. “SPAIN.” 5,000 tons register. Of the National Line (New York to London).]