THE DAY OF BIG SHIPS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 88, 21 April 1913, Page 4

THE DAY OF BIG SHIPS.

Tho building of great passenger ships continues and tho contest tor supremacy in size on tho North Atlantic is proceeding merrily as ever in the past. To-day lias been fixed for tho launching of the latest Cuuard liner—the Aquitania, and on .May 28th, the Ham-burg-Amoriea liner Jmperator, the first 50.000-ton boat, will begin her maiden voyage to New i ork. Moreover, it is stated that the keels of two ships of the same class are to he laid down at Hamburg very soon, but their dimensions will not be finally determined until more is known about the leviathans that are being built in England. The Cunard line Aquitania will bo slightly larger than the German vessel, while the Britannic for the White Star line, a “bigger than ever,” is rapidly assuming shape on

tho stocks at Queen’s Island Since the first Oceanic was built in 1871 tho length and tho beam of transatlantic liners have been more than doubled, and at tho same time their gross tonnage has been increased twelvefold, but as to tho limit, that depends on the enterprise of harbour authorities. When giving notice the other day of his intention to move at tho Southampton board meeting that £IOO,OOO lie spent upon the further deepening and widening of the navigable channel, the Mayor remarked that within the next three years there would ho steamers half as big again as tho Olympic based upon the Hampshire port.