The result of this careful inquiry was the design of the
machinery and boilers of the Oceanic and five sister-ships. They
were constructed on the vertical overhead "tandem" type, with
five-feet stroke (at that time thought excessive), oval
single-ended transverse boilers, with a working pressure of sixty
pounds. We contracted with Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field, of
London, for three of these sets, and with Messrs. George
Forrester and Co., of Liverpool, for the other three; and as we
found we could build the six vessels in the same time as the
machinery was being constructed; and, as all this machinery had
to be conveyed to Belfast to be there fitted on board, whilst the
vessels were being otherwise finished, we built a little
screw-steamer, the Camel, of extra strength, with very big
hatchways, to receive these large masses of iron; and this, in
course of time, was found to work with great advantage; until
eventually we constructed our own machinery.
We were most fortunate in the type of engine we had fixed upon,
for it proved both economical and serviceable in all ways; and,
with but slight modifications, we repeated it in the many
subsequent vessels which we built for the White Star Company.
Another feature of novelty in these vessels consisted in placing
the first-class accommodation amidships, with the third-class aft
and forward. In all previous ocean steamers, the cabin
passengers had been berthed near the stern, where the heaving
motion of the vessel was far greater than in the centre, and
where that most disagreeable vibration inseparable from proximity
to the propeller was ever present.
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