PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. Site 
and it may be of interest to recall a few of the principal facts. For a long 
period trade and communications were carried on by wood-built sailing 
ships, many of the finest being Canadian built ; but at a very early period 
Canadians had under consideration the use of steamships. One of the first 
steamers to cross the Atlantic was the Royal William paddle-steamer, built 
near Quebec in 1831. She was 160 feet long, 44 feet broad, of 363 tons burden, 
sailed from Quebec on August 5, 1833, and reached Gravesend on Septem- 
ber 16, a passage of more than forty days, in the course of which sail-power 
was largely used. Cabot, in 1497, crossed in the good ship Matthew, of 200 
tons burden, which was probably from 90 to 100 feet in length ; so that three 
centuries of progress had not made very great changes in size of the ships 
employed. Wood was still the material of construction, and sails were still 
used as a motive power, although the steam-engine was installed. In 1839 
it was a Canadian, Samuel Cunard, who secured—in association with two 
British shipowners, Burns and McIver—the contract for a monthly Trans- 
atlantic service from Liverpool to Halifax and Boston. The four steamers 
built were wood-hulled, driven by paddle-wheels, had good sail-power, and 
were of the following dimensions: 207 feet long, 543 feet broad, 1,150 tons 
burden, and about 8 knots speed. A rapid passage to Boston then “occupied 
about fourteen days. 
Another Canadian enterprise, the Allan Line, started about fifty-six 
years ago. The first steamer built for the company was appropriately named 
the Canadian. At the time of her construction she ranked among the most 
important mercantile steamers in existence, and was quite up to date. Her 
dimensions were: Length, 278 feet; breadth, 34 feet; burden, 1,873 tons. 
She had inverted direct-acting engines, driving a screw propeller, and a full 
sail equipment. 
The Transatlantic service to New York, as was natural, rapidly sur- 
passed that to Canadian ports, but the latter has been continuously 
improved, and its development has been marked by many notable events. 
_ For example, the Allan Line was amongst the first to use steel instead of 
iron for hulls, and in their two largest steamers now on service, dating from 
1903, they were the first to adopt steam turbines for ocean-going ships, 
although their lead of the Cunard Company was not long. The Virginian 
and Victorian are 520 feet long, 60 feet broad, of 10,750 tons, and their 
maximum speed is 18 knots. The Canadian Pacific Railway authorities 
added shipowning to their great land enterprises at an early period in their 
career by building for the Pacific service in 1891 three important steamers, 
each 456 feet long, 51 feet broad, of 5,950 tons, and 17 knots speed. These 
vessels continue on service, and have done splendid work as a link in the 
‘allred’ route. Since this step was taken the Canadian Pacific Railway has 
become possessed of a large fleet of Atlantic steamships, and quite recently 
has placed on the service from Liverpool to Quebec passenger steamships 
nearly 550 feet in length, 66 feet in breadth, of 14,200 tons, with a maximum 
speed of 20 knots. 
. The latest addition to the Canadian service has been made by the White 
Star Line in the form of two steamers, the Laurentic and Megantic, of 
15,000 tons, 550 feet long, about 67 feet broad, and 17 knots speed. In the 
Laurentic an interesting experiment has been made—Messrs. Harland & 
Wolff having introduced a combination of reciprocating engines and a low- 
pressure turbine. This system was patented as long ago as 1894 by Mr. 
Charles Parsons, to whom the invention of the modern steam turbine and 
its application to marine propulsion are due. Mr. Parsons foresaw that 
while the turbine system would prove superior to reciprocating engines in 
ships of high speed and with a high rate of revolution, there would be a 
possibility of getting better results by combining reciprocating engines with 
low-pressure turbines in ships of comparatively slow speed, where a low rate 
of revolution for the screw-propellers was necessary to efficient propulsion. 
1909. PP 
