And, happily, there is such a contagion as sea-fever. Without it there would have been no Phœnician, Venetian, Spanish, Portuguese, Norse, mediæval or later mariners; no new worlds to discover—nothing but a very restricted communication and the minimum of progress. It would have been a very stunted, dull existence. There would have been no fine merchantmen of the sea and none of that glorious breed of seamen, virile, strong and masculine. Let us be thankful for all that the sea has taught us. FOOTNOTES: [6] Now owned by the Swedish-American Line and named the _Drottningholm_. [7] The speeds given for _Mauretania_, _Majestic_, _Berengaria_, _Aquitania_, _Olympic_ and _Homeric_ are from New York to Cherbourg Breakwater or to the Eddystone Light. The passages quoted are really not faster than what was previously accomplished on the Liverpool to New York route before these big liners were transferred to the Southampton to New York route. Thus the fastest Atlantic voyage ever made was by _Mauretania_ when she steamed from Queenstown to New York in four days, ten hours, forty-one minutes. _Lusitania_ accomplished this in only sixty-one minutes longer. The best average speed ever made by a liner for one day was 27·10 knots by _Lusitania_, eastward-bound; but the best average speed for a whole voyage was made by _Mauretania_, before being converted to oil. She kept up 26·06 knots. CHAPTER XVII THE RISE AND FALL OF THE GERMAN MERCANTILE MARINE For about seventy years the German Mercantile Marine had an interesting career. It began in quite a small way, it was conducted with courage, enterprise, far-sightedness and, eventually, with an astute cunning which many people would describe under a stronger term. Its rise was meteoric, and its descent at the time of its zenith was swifter still. It is just because the true value of the sea began to be appreciated, that Germany was able to build up such a vast and highly efficient service within one generation. The result was that on the eve of the Great War she was second only to the British Empire as a big owner of steamships. [Illustration: BIG SHIP MASTERS. [_By courtesy the Cunard Line._ Captain C. A. Smith, C.B.E., R.D., R.N.R., of the “Berengaria.” [_By courtesy the White Star Line._ Captain Sir Bertram Hayes, K.C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N.R., of the “Majestic.”]