Page:Walker - An Unsinkable Titanic (1912).djvu/185

AN UNSINKABLE TITANIC of the passenger-carrying vessels chiefly depend for their revenue.

On the other hand, the main features of warship protection may be so applied to the large merchant ship as to render her as proof against collision with icebergs, derelicts, or with other vessels, as the warship is against the blow of the ram, the mine, or the torpedo. And the merchant ship of the size of our largest ocean liners has the great advantage over the warship (provided that the average size of her compartments be not too greatly increased) that her great size is in itself a safeguard against sinking.

By way of showing what can be done in applying warship principles of subdivision to merchant vessels, we shall consider in some detail three notable ships, the Mauretania, the Kronprinzessin Cecilie, and the recently launched Imperator.

The Mauretania and her sister, the Lusitania, were built under an agreement with the British Government, who stipulated that they would provide a sum sufficient to pay for the new vessels not to exceed $13,000,000, secured on debentures at 2¾ per cent, interest. The two [ 165 ]