route, bought out the steamship company. A new, faster and larger ship, the Princess Victoria entered service in May 1890 and reduced the sea crossing to only 2 hours. The new service was an immediate success and was well patronised by businessmen. Furthermore, the Postmaster General recognised the crossing as a supplementary mail route in addition to Holyhead-Kingstown. Traffic increased by 40% between 1875 and 1885 and in July 1891 an additional ship was put on the service during the summer. The BNCR had subscribed a large sum in 1890 and in July 1893 it was able to join the four railways operating the Portpatrick Joint Railway in the newly created Larne & Stranraer Steamship Joint Committee. Edward John Cotton of the BNCR managed the service which continued to be a success. Once the BNCR had absorbed the Ballymena & Larne Railway in 1889 and the Carrickfergus and Larne railway in 1890, it possessed both of the Irish routes leading to the Larne-Stranraer steamer. Tourism Whilst tourism in Ireland was not a new development, it was in the last quarter of the nineteenth century that a great increase occurred with large numbers of tourists making the sea crossing from Great Britain to see the delights of Ireland's scenery. The railways saw that it would be to their advantage to encourage tourist development since this would bring them increased traffic. On the BNCR, its manager, Edward John Cotton, especially recognised the potential value of tourism and was influential in its development throughout the North of Ireland. The BNCR was able to exploit the advantages of the Larne-Stranraer short sea route with its benefit of a daylight crossing in the summer months and the ease with which passengers could transfer to trains alongside the steamer berth at Larne Harbour. Excursions and special attractions The BNCR continued the B&BR's practice of running cheap excursions. Besides excursions organised by the company itself, there were extensive summer programmes of special trains operated on behalf of outside organisations especially Sunday schools and other church organisations. A large number of special trains were chartered by Loyalist organisations around the "Twelfth of July" and the "Twelfth of August". G.L. Baillie, the golfing pioneer, organised golfing excursions that included first class train fare and hotel accommodation to Portrush and Newcastle as well as to the County Donegal links at Rosapenna, Portsalon and Lisfannon. The Giant's Causeway became an even