The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-10-22
From Our Regular Correspondent.
LONDON LETTER.

LONDON, Eng, Sept. 80, 1881.
During the next three months three
magnificent steamers of the largest size
and of hitherto unparalleled power will
have been added to the mercantile navy
of England.
1t will be observed with amazement
that the Alaska-the shortest of the three
rivals-is not less than FIVE hundred feet
in length, while the Servia is five
hundred aud thirty feet long, and the
City of Rome extends to the unparal-
leled length of FIVE hundred and eighty-six
feet. Unparalleled, indeed, this length may
be called, seeing that it has never been
exceeded, except in the case of the Great
Eastern, which may be regarded as ves-
sci ''hors hgne, " and hardly to be reckoned
among passenger steamers. 1t will be re-
membered that in the Great Eastern, of
twenty-five thousand FIVE hundred tons.
the concomitant horsepower was in the
ratio of one horse to fourteen tons. The
engines were Of double description, be-
ing divided between her paddle-wheels
and her screw. In the City of Rome, the
Alaska and the Seryia the serew-which
has long since driven the paddle-wheel off
the oeean-has a power which is in the
ratio of moro than one horse to each ton
Of burden. Thus the Servia has a gross
tonnage Of eight thousand FIVE hundred
tons, and an indicated horsepower of
about ten thousand FIVE hundred horses.
The City of Rome, with burden Of rather
more than eight thousand eight hundred
tons, has an indicated power of ten thou
sand horses. The Alaska, lastly, with an
indicated power of little less than ten
thousand horses, stands in about the same
ration to her total bulk as the Servia. The
peremptory necessity which is imposed
upon them all of attaining and maintain
ing for eight or nine days or nights in sue
cession an uniutermitted and prodigieus
rate Of speed is clearly manifested BY the
enormous magnitude of the horse power
which is brought to bear upon each as re-
CARDS the comfort, or indeed / might say
the luxury, Of their accommodation and
the splendor Of their equipment there is
little to choose between the three rivals.
In each the staterooms are spacious and
airy, presenting a strange contrast to that
narrow and sitting cabin in which Charles
Dickens first crossed the Atlantic upon q
Cunarder Of fifteen hundred tons in 1912.
An agreeable temperature is secured in
every part Of each vessel by the adoption
Of all the latest improvements in yentila-
ton; nor is there any lack of gorgeous up
holstery, of grand pianos, of large aud
we'll selected libraries, of pneumatic and
electric bells, and of admirably-arranged
ice houses. In moderate weather splen-
did stretch Of deck viii afford opportuni-
ties for promenades which supply passen-
gers with means for Willing away many a
tedious hour and filling their lungs to re-
pletion with the ozone exhaled by the
breaking and tumbling waves. In fact, a
voyage across the Atlantic in one of these
floating palaces is in these days often re-
commended by medical men to delicate or
over-worked patients, who find that the
broad breast of ocean supplies more ex-
hilarating and restorative tonic even than
mountain breezes Of Switzerland, Scotland
or the Pyrenees can furnish. For these
reasons the performances at sea of the
three new vessels viii be watched BY thou
sands upon either side Of the Atlantic with
keen and interested observations.