3-016-843 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Race in the Channel between the Atalanta twin-screw steamer and the Dover mail-packet Empress, 1864. 'The Atalanta...has a pair of screw propellers instead of a single one. There are two engines, independent of each other, each being of 100-horse power. The success of the double-screw principle, which has been already partially adopted by the Admiralty, is no longer a matter of doubt...she crossed over from Calais to Dover, so as to steam back...in company with the Empress, which was appointed to leave with the mail from Dover at 9.30. At forty-five minutes past nine the Empress came out and, the Atalanta having been placed in position as nearly as possible abreast of her, the race across commenced. From the time of starting, the result was never for a moment in doubt. The Empress, pitching her bows into the sea as she got clear of the land, was evidently making hard work of it, and fast dropping astern of the Atalanta, which, without throwing a drop of spray over her deck, was making her way in splendid style and improving her position with every fresh puff of wind and roll of the sea...Calais was reached in 77 minutes by the Atalanta, but the Empress took 107 minutes - being half an hour behind the double screw'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.