CHAPTER II.
TO THE NARROW SEAS.
“I shouldnot like to risk my money in the thing.”
“Nor I, she will never pay.”
“I reckon she will burst up before the day is over.”
“Well, she is about to start now.”A few minutes more, and the smiles on the faces of the speakers changed to expressions of astonishment. The boat was actually “walking the waters like a thing of life,” and gathering speed as she drew away from the pier.
“Why, stranger, this thing’s going to succeed.”
“It does look so.”
Still the speakers gazed, and still the vessel continued to glide along. And shouts and applause burst from the thronging crowd around. The “thing” was succeeding indeed.
They were watching the trial trip of the first practically successful steamboat in America, theClermont. Fulton had been successful, and together with his companion, Livingstone—after whose residence the vessel was named—had launched a satisfactory steamer in America, five years before theCometappeared in Britain. Yet theClermont’sengines were made in Britain by Boulton & Watt, and men from their works helped in mounting the machinery.
Colden, Fulton’s biographer, describing this trial trip, says:—
“The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes—before the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. The man who, while he looked on the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money on such idle schemes, changed the expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf and gained her speed; his complacent smile gradually stiffened into an expression of wonder; the jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough to repress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for the moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multitude which crowded the shores shouts and acclamations of congratulations and applause.”
The scene of the vessel’s exploit was the famous river Hudson, and she came to make several trips between New York and Albany as a passenger boat. She performed the journey from Albany to New York in thirty-two hours, and back in thirty hours; her average speed being five miles an hour. Steamers now perform the passage in about eight hours.
The boat caused great astonishment at the time. Colden says she was described by some who saw her but indistinctly at night as “a monster moving on the water, defying the winds and tide, and breathing flames and smoke.” He states:—“She had the most terrific appearance from other vessels which were navigating the river when she was making her passage. The first steamboats, as others yet do, used dry pine-wood for fuel, which sends forth a column of ignited vapour, many feet above the flue, and whenever the fire is stirred a galaxy of sparks fly off, which, in the night, have an airy, brilliant, and beautiful appearance. This uncommon light first attracted the attention of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were adverse to its approach, they saw, with astonishment, that it was rapidly coming towards them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and the paddles was heard, the crews in some instances shrunk beneath their decks from the terrific sight; and others left their vessels to go on shore; while others, again, prostrated themselves and besought Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited.”
Compare this with the stately passenger boats of the end of the century, gliding along four or five times as fast, but with little noise and less smoke, and beaming forth brilliant electric light from every saloon window.
TheClermontwas 133 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. The cylinder of her engine was 24 inches in diameter, and her piston had a stroke of four feet; her paddle wheels were at first too large, or at allevents dipped too deeply in the water. When improved they appear to have been fifteen feet in diameter. Her engines were 18 horse-power, and the tonnage was but 160.
Fulton was busily engaged in constructing steam vessels until he died in 1815. One of his efforts was the building of a steam war vessel; and so greatly were his efforts esteemed that both Houses of the United States Legislature testified their respect for him by wearing mourning apparel on the occasion of his death.
His work was developed by Mr. R. L. Stevens, whose father, indeed, had a steamer ready, only a few weeks after the success of theClermont. Mr. R. L. Stevens came to grasp the idea that the form of the hull of steamships could be much improved by giving them fine lines instead of full round bows. Stevens, it is said, was able to obtain a speed of thirteen miles an hour; and he also, it is stated, used a different form of engine from that adopted by Fulton.
The engines of those early steamboats were, as a rule, a sort of beam engine. The famousCometwas engined in that manner. John Robertson, who actually set up theComet’sengines, lived to place them subsequently in South Kensington Museum. A beam, or lever, which worked on a pivot at its centre, was placed between the piston on one side, and the connecting rod—which was fastened to the crank—on the other. Thus, one end of the beam, or lever, was attached to the piston rod, and the other to the end of the connecting rod which drove the crank and the wheel.
A development apparently of this beam-engine arrangement was the side-lever engine—a form of which marine engineers were also fond. The side lever seems, in fact, to have been a sort of double beam engine. The cylinder was placed upright, and a cross-piece was fixed to the end of the piston rod. From either end of this cross-piece a rod was connected with a beam or lever on either side of the machinery below.These levers worked on pivots at their centres, and their other ends were joined by a cross-piece united by a rod to the crank-shaft above. The idea in the side-lever engines appears to have been to obtain equal strength on both sides for each paddle wheel. Marine engineers did not apparently at first grasp the idea of a direct-acting engine—that is, simply one connecting rod between the piston and the crank which pulled round the wheel; perhaps the sizes and arrangements of those early steamboats did not permit of this. But in the development of the locomotive, the direct-acting engine did not appear at once. In any case, even the first vessels of the celebrated Cunard Line were of the cumbrous side-lever type.
Now, when Fulton had made hisClermontin 1807, and Bell had put hisCometon the Clyde, some of the English speaking people on both sides of the Atlantic began, we say, to see that there was a future before the new invention. In 1809, theAccommodationploughed the waters of the great St. Lawrence, and two years later a steamer startled the dwellers on the mighty Mississippi. TheElizabethalso followed theCometon the Clyde in 1813.
She was bigger than her predecessor, but only of thirty-three tons; she was fifty-eight feet long, and her engine of ten horse-power. She was built by the constructors of theComet, Wood & Company, of Port-Glasgow, under the direction of Mr. Thompson, who had been connected with some of Bell’s experiments.
The next step was the introduction of steamers on the Thames. All things gravitate to London, steamboats among the rest. Passing by some experiments, in which the names of a Mr. Dawson and a Mr. Lawrence appear, we find that George Dodd brought a steamboat from the Clyde to the Thames by sea, using both sails and steam, about the year 1813 or 1814. It is said that Dawson had a steamer plying between London and Gravesend in 1813, and that Lawrence, of Bristol, after using a steamer on theSevern brought her through the canals to the Thames, but was obliged to take her back because of the antagonism of the watermen. It is said also that theMarjorie, built by William Denny, of Dumbarton, was brought to the Thames about 1815 in six days from Grangemouth, having been purchased by some London merchants.
However this may be, the name of George Dodd should take a high place, perhaps next to that of Bell, for the enterprise and effort he showed in seeking to establish steam vessels. His sphere was chiefly the Thames, though he appears to have been also animated with the idea of using them upon the sea. The vessel he brought round from the Clyde was named first theGlasgowand afterwards theThames, and was of about seventy-five tons, with nine feet paddle-wheels, and some fourteen or sixteen horse-power. He had some rough weather in the Irish Sea, and an account of the voyage is given in his book on steamboats. This, presumably in 1813, was the first steamship voyage at sea, as distinguished from steamers’ voyages on rivers.
Such great progress had the introduction of steamboats made in 1818, that according to Dodd there were in that year eighteen on the Clyde, two on the Tay, two at Dundee, two at Cork, two on the Tyne, two on the Trent, two on the Mersey, four on the Humber, three on the Yare, one on the Avon, the Severn, the Orwell, six on the Forth, and actually two intended to run from Dublin to Holyhead. There may have been more than these, but they seem at all events to be the chief. Apparently there were, or had been, several on the Thames. Two, theLondonand theRichmond, according to Dodd’s book, were plying between London and Twickenham, and had carried 10,000 persons in four months. No wonder the watermen were alarmed.
Other vessels also had appeared on the royal river. TheMajesticeven had got as far as Margate, and had ventured across to Calais. TheRegenthad been burned off Whitstable, and theCaledonia, which hadactually two engines, had steamed across to Flushing. Dodd further designed a vessel which seems to have gone to Margate in about seven and a-half hours, speeding along at about ten or eleven miles an hour. No wonder that Bell could say—“I will venture to affirm that history does not afford an instance of such rapid improvement in commerce and civilisation as that which will be effected by steam vessels.” TheRichmondwas a little boat of 50 tons, and 17 indicated horse-power. She was engined by Messrs. Maudslay & Field, of London, and presumably was the first steamer engined on the Thames. She ran from London to Richmond. In the next year Messrs. Maudslay engined theRegentof 112 tons and 42 indicated horse-power, and intended to ply between London and Margate; while, in 1817, this famous firm engined three vessels, including theQuebecof 500 tons and 100 indicated horse-power, intended for Quebec and Montreal. Since then they have engined hundreds of vessels, including screw-propeller ironclads of 20,000 horse-power.
Dodd, alas, though he worked so hard for the establishment of the steamship, does not seem to have profited by his labour. Like some other ingenious men he unhappily fell into poverty.
The next in order of succession, who apparently became the most prominent and among the most useful in the story of the steamship, was David Napier. Russell avers that from 1818 to about 1830 he “effected more for the improvement of steam navigation than any other man.” David Napier ran theRob Roy, a steamer of 90 tons and 30 horse-power, fitted with his own engines, between Greenock and Belfast. It appears that at one of the worst seasons he sailed in a vessel plying between the two ports,—sometimes taking a week to cover the journey, afterwards made in nine hours by steam,—and eagerly watched the effect of the heaving waves on the ship as she was tossed by the storm. Then, assured that there was no overwhelming difficulty for steamers, he started theRob Roy.He also experimented upon the best shape of hull, and, without apparently any communication with Stevens across the Atlantic, came to adopt a wedge-shaped bow, instead of a rounded fore front as common in sailing ships.
In 1819 he put theTalboton the Channel between Dublin and Holyhead. She was built by Wood & Company, and was one of the most perfect vessels of the kind then constructed. She had two engines of 60 horse-power combined, and was 150 tons burthen. She was followed by theIvanhoe, and in 1821 steam vessels were regularly used to carry the mails.
Gradually the length of vessels increased without the beam being proportionately widened. The builders of those early boats did not at first realise the practicability and usefulness of altering the form of vessels for steamers. David Napier altered the bow, and gradually the vessels were lengthened. The idea came gradually to be grasped that as a steamer was forced forward along the line of its keel, and not by a power exerted upon it from without and in various quarters, its form might advantageously be changed. Moreover, it would seem that the best form for steamers is also the best for fast sailers. Russell is of opinion “that the fastest schooners, cutters, smugglers, yachts, and slavers” approach more nearly to the form of the best steamers than any other class of sailing vessels. However this may be, the shape of a steamer as well as its machinery has much to do with its speed, and David Napier appears to have contributed largely to these results in Britain.
Steamers had now sped out from the rivers into the narrow seas around Great Britain. The next step would be into the wide and open ocean. Who would venture to take it?