The White Star and the Hamburg-America were the first Atlantic lines to adopt the twin-screw system for passenger ships. It was in 1887 that the latter ordered the two steel, twin-screw ships _Columbia_ and _Auguste Victoria_. The former was built at Birkenhead by Lairds, but the latter was constructed at Stettin, and this was the first time a German yard had attempted a ship of such a size, for she measured over 500 feet long, and she was of 8430 tons burthen. These two vessels were immediately followed by two others, similar in type, of which one was built on the Clyde and one at Stettin. With their three funnels, high speed, improved ventilation, commodious cabins, bathrooms, suites of rooms and general high standard of comfort, this quartette made a sensation. It was the introduction of the German floating palaces into the Atlantic. Reference to the previous two chapters in this volume will show that the British Atlantic companies were meeting this competition, but if you ask how was it that, notwithstanding the fact that the German Empire had been proclaimed as recently as 1871, this new Mercantile Marine had been able to build up such a trade in so few years, the answer is this. The repeal of the British Navigation Laws in 1849 enabled the Prussian ships to have the opportunity which came at the right moment. But, secondly, it was the enormous increase of emigrant passengers anxious to leave the European continent and try their fortunes in the New World. I have no wish to weary the reader with statistics, but the following few figures will substantiate this argument. They are derived from a Board of Trade analysis based on information afforded by the United States Immigration Bureau, and are therefore beyond dispute. Bearing in mind that the first Hamburg-America ship sailed in 1847, we find that whereas the average annual emigration from Germany to the U.S.A. had been only 19,000 up to 1844, during the next ten years it jumped to 95,000, dropped during the next decade to 49,000, but then rose to 113,000 in the decennial period ending 1874, was 109,000 up to the year 1884, then dropped to 28,000 by 1904, but rose to 34,000 in the decade ending 1914. But in addition to these figures must be added others. By reason of her geographical position Germany was most favourably placed for capturing the emigrant traffic from the rest of the continent, and of this she made the best advantage. It was not until the decade ending 1874 that the Russians, for instance, began pouring out from their own country to North America, and gradually the German ships carried most of these. How valuable such a traffic was can be at once realised. Beginning with an average of 2000 Russian emigrants to the United States, this figure in ten years had increased to 10,000, then to 38,000 and, finally, just before the war averaged 199,000.