However, the Collins line met the exaction bravely.

Four vessels were built, the "Atlantic," "Pacific," "Arctic," and "Baltic," and the time of the fleet for the westward passage averaged eleven days, ten hours and twenty-one minutes, while the British ships averaged twelve days, nineteen hours and twenty-six minutes--a very substantial triumph for American naval architecture.

The Collins liners, furthermore, were models of comfort and even of luxury for the times.

They averaged a cost of $700,000 apiece, a good share of which went toward enhancing the comfort of passengers.

To our English cousins these ships were at first as much of a curiosity as our vestibuled trains were a few years since.