Reed water tube boiler straight tubes through which water and steam circulated more freely, it was considered by some contemporary writers on the subject such as Leslie S. Robertson as "behind" in its circulation because of the absence of down-comers. Whereas the Yarrow boilers fitted to the armoured cruiser of 1905 evaporated 11.664 pounds (5.291 kg) of water per pound (454 g) of coal at 100 degrees centigrade (212 degrees Fahrenheit) with natural draught, by the same measure a Reed boiler as fitted to the torpedo boat destroyer of 1896 evaporated 12 pounds (5.44 kg). An advantage of the Yarrow boiler was in weight:
Geological history of Earth to about 298.9 ± 0.15 Ma. A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian reversed early in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread epicontinental seas and carbonate deposition of the Mississippian. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwana was glaciated throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the Devonian or not. These conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush coal swamps flourished within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. A mid-Carboniferous drop in sea-level precipitated a major marine extinction, one