Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 6).djvu/205
twenty-four hours, should she be favoured with tolerably fair weather. The sequel proved the prognostications of those who pinned their faith to daily runs of about 500 miles to be correct, the distances accomplished during the next four days being successively: 508 knots[1] on Saturday, 502 knots on Sunday, 509 knots on Monday, 501 knots on Tuesday, and the remaining distance of 336 knots to Sandy Hook was accomplished before daylight on Wednesday morning—a fine passage for the time of year, though it must be admitted that few voyages across the Atlantic in the early spring have been favoured with such magnificent weather as we enjoyed from first to last of our six days' trip from land to land. The Majestic has previously made a voyage westward, in July, 1891, in five days and eighteen hours, whilst her sister ship of the "White Star Line," the Teutonic, in August of the same year, made the run in five days and sixteen hours.

The Smoking-Room.
From a Photograph.
Any description of the Majestic, however cursory, would be incomplete without some details concerning the really exceptional accommodation provided for all the passengers, including even those in the steerage, where a large number of the poorer class of travellers are, in every way, better treated than is usually the lot of the poor European emigrant. In common with all other parts of this fine ship, the steerage is lighted throughout by electricity, and there is plenty of space on the Majestic, without overcrowding or incommoding, for about a thousand passengers of this class. The married people have their own separate quarters, with separate entrances and dormitories, baths for the women and children, and a smoking-room for the men, together with a large pantry provided with a constant supply of hot and cold water and other comforts.

The Grand Staircase.
From a Photograph.
For daily exercise and recreation the entire upper deck is reserved for the exclusive use of the steerage passengers; and along each side, under the bulwarks, runs a sheltered bench, where they can sit in comfort. In other
- ↑ Equal to 585 statute miles.