and above water, so that, even supposing they got water into the space
between one bulkhead and the side of the ship, they would have
sufficient buoyancy in the other parts of the ship to keep her afloat.
Broad ships must necessarily mean deep ships, in order to have comfort
at sea. They were limited in length, and first came the question how
many passengers they wanted to carry. The experience of a ship like
the America--which was only 400 ft. in length--showed it was not
necessary to go to great length to have great speed. A ship of 400 ft.
to 430 ft. in length, 65 ft. of beam, and with a depth of 45 ft.,
would be a ship of proper dimensions for the Atlantic trade, and he
believed it quite possible to build a vessel of special construction
of about 7,000 tons gross register which should steam with less
consumption of coal than the Umbria and Etruria at a rate of 22 knots,
crossing the Atlantic from Liverpool to New York in six days. He
thought that was likely to be the vessel of the future, and that it
would be quite as commercially successful as the Umbria or Etruria.

Mr. J. Campbell remarked that at present the great American liners had
only the ordinary compound engines, and he thought that, instead of
converting them to triple expansion, they should take a step further
at once, and adopt quadruple expansion engines. This class of engines
was being very successfully built in various parts of the country. He
should recommend the adoption of a three-crank six-cylinder engine.

Mr. Hamilton did not think it had been demonstrated that greater
efficiency had been got out of twin screws than out of single screws;
but there was no doubt they would tend to additional safety.

Mr. Martell said that when they had got satisfactory data, twin screws
would be adopted for ships requiring great speed; but they had not got