THE HIGHWAY OF THE WATERS 



But in 1888 the City of Paris (now the Philadelphia) 

 a twin-screw boat, began making new speed records, 

 and the following year her sister ship, the New Yorky 

 and the new Majestic and TeutoniCj entering into the 

 ocean-record contests, cut the time of the passage be- 

 tween Europe and America to less than six days. 



The advantages of the double-screw over the single 

 are so many and so manifest as to leave no question as 

 to their superiority. The disabling of the shaft or screw 

 of the single-screw steamer, or the derangement of her 

 rudder renders the vessel helpless. Not so the twin- 

 screw ship; for on such ships the screws can be used 

 for steering as well as propelling. And it has happened 

 many times that twin-screw ships have crossed the 

 ocean with the steering gear disabled, or with one screw 

 entirely out of commission. 



THE TRIUMPH OF THE TURBINE 



In recent years the greatest revolutionary step in 

 steamship construction has been the invention and 

 development of the turbine engine, the mechanism of 

 which has been described elsewhere. Since the day of 

 the little Turbinia, whose speed astonished the nautical 

 world, the limit for size and speed of ships has again 

 been materially advanced, and no thinking person will 

 venture to predict restricting limits without a modify- 

 ing question mark. 



At the beginning of the twentieth century a keen 

 rivalry had developed between England and the Con- 

 tinent for supremacy in transatlantic traffic, America 

 having dropped out of the race. The Germans in par- 

 VOL. VII. — 6 [ 81 ] 



