Many a first-class merchant or passenger ship actually weighs more and exceeds in length the largest battleship. With the latter, size and space cannot be the principal aim, but rather strength and endurance, with speed. A vessel lately constructed may have a most important bearing on warships of the future. This “turbo-motor,” as it is called, with a new kind of engine, has reached the unexampled speed of thirty-four knots an hour; and there seems to be no reason why in time it should not do much more. Such a success threatens to revolutionise the life of ships at sea. Thus far British ships have been mainly spoken of; and naturally so. Not only because a British subject might be expected to put them first, but because of their enormous preponderance in numbers and tonnage over the ships of all other Nations. American and German merchant-shipping has, it is true, of late years made huge strides; and the last thing to be done is to underrate their diligence and energy, or to wish them non-success. Yet still we, Children of the Empire which dominates the Ocean, must desire our Empire to hold her own, must strive our utmost to keep ahead of all competitors in the race. Perhaps not everybody realises how far ahead we have been up to the present day. Other nations indeed have made great advance. What the future may mean for them and for us, Time alone can show. But as yet they do not seem likely to outstrip us, unless Great Britain grows lazy and lies upon her oars. In the year 1900, the Merchant Shipping of the whole world, including all vessels of more than one hundred tons, was reckoned to amount in round numbers to over Twenty-eight Thousand Ships, and in burden to over Twenty-nine Millions of Tons. Of that vast world-fleet Eleven Thousand vessels were British. And since the British ships were, on an average, larger than the foreign ships, it meant that _nearly one-half of the tonnage of the whole world’s merchant shipping sailed under the Red Ensign_. To put the matter differently. In 1892 another reckoning was made; the comparison being expressed by numbers, for the Merchant-Navies of several Nations. It stood as follows:-- The Merchant fleet of Italy was taken as slightly over One. Then, in proportion, the French fleet was represented by something over Two; the Norwegian, by the same; the United States, by Three; the German, by something over Three; and the British, by something over Twenty-two! This included the whole tonnage or carrying power of the fleets in question, both sailing and steam-driven vessels. The figures speak for themselves. Or, again, let us take all the steam fleets of the world, reckoning only vessels over one hundred tons, and only those used for merchandise; not Men-of-War. These steam-fleets shall be pictured in our minds or on paper by broad black lines, one-tenth of an inch wide. Now let us see how long such lines would have to be, at two different dates, for a few of the leading fleets.