New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-12
TIE YOUNGEST OCEAN GREYHOUND.

| TIE YOUNGEST OCEAN GREYHOUND.
The details and result of the first trip Of
the new steamship City Of Paris are interest
ing and significant. She did not break the
record-there was no good reason to suppose
she would-but she came so near it that every
body will expect her TO achieve that distinction
before tho season is over. Indeed. had all the
conditions been steadily favorable, she might
possibly have cut down the Erurias unparal-
leled timo Of six days, ono hour and ffty-ive
minutes, instead Of being seventeen hours be-
hind it. During the first half Of the voyage
The weather was tempeStuous; during the last
half there wero steady though light head
winds; heavy fog as abe approached the coast
cut down the speed somewhat, and for about
FIVE hours one Of the engines was stopped The
conditions were not peculiarly unfavorable for
good time but simply inauspioous for record
breaking, and when in addition We consider
that this was her first voyage, 1t must be ac-
knowledged that she made remarkable run.
The interest with which performances Of
marine racers are followed by tens Of thousands
of persons who never saw them and perhaps
never expect to take an ocean voyage is re-
markable. 1t tcstihes that " the beauty and
mystery Of the ships and the magic Of the sea"
are rs potent as ever. Certainly sailing YES
sci with all her canvas spread is more glori-
Gus and picturesque object than the long black
frame Of an Atlantic greyhound, but perhaps no
other continuance OF mans hands is so i'm
pressve an embodiment Of stupendouS power
as an ocean steamship In motion. Hamerton,
| abiding to the use Of sails, counts among the
greatest of the early achievements Of the race
" the conquest Of tho adverse windn; but that
| triumph seems less majestic than the operation
of a force which takes no account of tempests.
Assuming that the City of Paris will set a
new standard of speed in the course of the
summer, tho question arises What is to BIO the
ultimate limit? No doubt other companies are
already considering the possibility of building
steamships which will be able to show their
heels to anything aAoat. This competition can
not very well go on forever. Sooner or later
owners may agroe to let the record stand. No
one is able to say just how fast locomotive can
be made to go, but the practical limits of speed
under various conditions have been pretty we'll
established. The rival express trains from
London to Edinburgh last summer attained at
some points on the route an absolutely fright
full velocity, but it is impossible to declare that
they could not have gone faster They went
! too fast, rs it was, for the profit Of the CON-
panies and the comfort of the passengers, and
probably also for safety. In the case of swift
ships the problem is somewhat differentin these
respects, at least, that travelling may be Just
as comfortable at go knots an hour as at 10,
and there is no roadbed TO be worn out But
the strain on the machinery which produces
such speed may be equally improbable on
sea and on land, and the elements of danger,
though different in kind, may not DO less
numerous.
Aside from the question Of direct earning
capacity, reoord-breaking steamships have, in
the present condition Of the popular mind great
value as an advertisement, and it is for the
owners rather than the public to calculate the
net gain or loss Of maintaining that sort of
prestige. The City of Paris is supposed to have
cost not less than $4,000 900. II the addi-
tional cost of an extra knot an hour suppoSing
that increase of speed to be attainable, under
such conditions of size and equipment as are
considered most economical in the long run, is
from $500, 900 to 100000, a limit of ex-
penditure which capital will shrink from ex.
ceeding must be reached before very long