12 ON THE MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS OF SHIPS. 
last year to this Society, the periods of rolling oscillation are actually less 
than the corresponding periods for smaller ships which preceded them; and 
it is certain that, as a result, the larger ships must prove less steady gun- 
platforms than their predecessors under the influence of ocean storm waves, 
such as are frequently encountered. 
XII. In view of the foregoing statements it becomes apparent that 
larger dimensions are not essential to good behavior at sea, and that increase 
in length and weight beyond the Mauretania is not necessary in order to 
secure maintenance of speed on long ocean passages. It would appear 
therefore that the main determining factor in regard to maximum dimensions 
for future mercantile vessels must be found on the commercial side and not 
on the technical. If ships cannot be made to pay dividends on the capital 
sums invested in them—after meeting working expenses and cost of upkeep, 
and making due allowance for insurance and depreciation—they are not 
likely to be built. 
The first cost of Trans-Atlantic passenger steamers has been increased 
enormously during the last forty years. In 1874 a 15-knot steamer cost 
£200,000; in 1889 a 20-knot steamer cost £375,000; in 1893 a 22-knot 
steamer cost about £550,000; in 1899 the Oceanic, of 20.75 knots, with 
relatively good cargo-capacity, cost £700,000; four years later a 23-knot 
steamer of about the same dimensions as the Oceanic cost £800,000. For 
later ships authoritative figures have not been published, but certain state- 
ments indicate approximately the sums which have been spent upon them. 
The British Government granted tothe Cunard Company aloan of £2,600,000 
toward the construction of the Lusitania and Mauretania, and it is under- 
stood that the actual cost of the two vessels exceeded that amount. The 
outlay on the Olympic has been put at about one and one-half million pounds 
sterling by men who had exact knowledge of what she has cost. The 
Hamburg-American and Cunard steamships now building would, on this 
basis, represent an expenditure of about one and three-quarters million 
pounds sterling per ship. There can be no doubt that experienced men 
who guide the policy of these three steamship companies have reached the 
conclusion that even such huge expenditure as these figures indicate will, 
on the whole, prove advantageous to the owners and lead to increased revenue. 
It is not my purpose to attempt even the roughest estimate of earnings 
or working expenses for the new vessels. On the other hand it may be well 
to call attention to certain facts and opinions which are already public 
property and which bear on the subject. In 1902 a committee appointed 
by the British Government to consider and report on the employment of 
mercantile cruisers and the subsidies proper to be paid for the services of 
