2»<» S. NO 91., Sept. 26. '57.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



253 



into the hands of the general readers of " N. & 

 Q.," an extract (p. 234.) connected with the sub- 

 ject before us may be permissible. Mr. W. says : 



"As British steam navigation had its origin in the 

 Clyde at Greenock and Port Glasgow, these places con- 

 tinue to retain unimpaired their acquired precedence in 

 this pi-e-eniinent and all-important branch of British in- 

 dustry. For the enterprise which made steamboats avail- 

 able for purposes of deep-sea navigation, as well as for the 

 supply of most of the early Post Office Stations, which 

 soon became so serviceable at all points of the British 

 coast, this country is indebted to Mr. David Napier (of 

 Glasgow). The establishment in 1818 of his steamboat 

 communication by means of the Rob Roy, of about 90 tons 

 burthen and 30 horse power, to ply between Greenock 

 and Belfast, led the way for other and continually ex- 

 tending lines of traffic. Mr. (John) Wood of Port Glas- 

 gow soon after built the Talbot of 120 tons, which was 

 placed on the station between Holyhead and Dublin. 

 This was immediately followed by that enterprise which 

 brought upon the station between Greenock and Liver- 

 pool an as yet unwitnessed class of steamers. Beginning 

 with the Robert Bruce of 150 tons, with two engines of 

 Mr. Napier, of 30 horse power each, this Scottish pro- 

 prietary at Glasgow and Liverpool has continued, year by 

 year since then, to launch steam ships of increasing 

 beautj' and power, a class of vessels altogether unrivalled, 

 and which in their representatives upon the Liverpool, 

 Halifax, and New York Mail Station — whose splendid 

 line of ships emanates from the same intelligent and 

 spirited men — might be considered to have reached the 

 highest perfection of which the art of steam naval archi- 

 tecture is capable, did not the almost daily production of 

 something in both mould and machinery superior to its 

 predecessor contradict such a belief. Of this magnificent 

 fleet of steam ships, the entire number, with the,exception 

 of one or two fine specimens from the building j'ards of 

 Messrs. Wood, has been constructed at Greenock bj' Mr. 

 Steele, from whose dockyard the first of this leviathan 

 class of vessels intended for the conveyance of large 

 numbers of passengers as well as goods was launched in 

 1826. This was the United Kingdom, 160 feet in length, 

 26^ feet beam, with engines of 200 horse power by Mr. 

 Napier. This large vessel was considered a prodigious 

 step in advance, in her size, power, speed, and the whole 

 style of her furnishings and appointments. She started 

 from Greenock on her first trip on 29th July, 1826, with a 

 hundred and fifty passengers on board, and circumna- 

 vigated the whole of the north and part of the west of 

 Scotland, on her way to Leith, performing the distance, 

 789 miles, in what was considered the incredibly short 

 space of sixty-five hours, deducting stoppages. The cost 

 of her construction was said to have been 40,000/. So 

 great had been the increase of steam vessels up to this 

 time, that in this year, 1826, there were upwards of 

 seventy belonging to the Clyde, and upwards of fifty be- 

 longing to the Mersey, a great proportion of the entire 

 number having been supplied by the dockyards of the 

 former river." 



The great father of the steam-engine, James 

 Watt, had had his own doubts with regard to the 

 practicability of his invention in its application to 

 navigation. It is now curious to refer back to a 

 passage from his letter to Robert CuUen, Esq., 

 Edinburgh, dated Birmingham, April 24, 1790: 

 _ " We conceive (he difiidently says) there may be con- 

 siderable difficulty in making a steam engine to work 

 regularly in the open sea, on account of the undulatory 

 motion of the vessel aflfecting the engine by the via 



inerticB of the matter ; however, this we should endeaYOtu^ 

 to obviate as far as we can." 



^ He had afterwards the opportunity of a trial of 

 his engineering skill in two little river boats, the 

 Princess Charlotte and Prince of Orange, built 

 for a company at Greenock in 1815 or 1816, by 

 Mr. James Munn, with two steam engines o^ four 

 horse power each, contracted for, and made by 

 Boulton and Watt at Soho, and fitted up on 

 board by Soho workmen. In 1816 the mecha- 

 nician on his last visit to his native place along 

 with his friend Mr. Walkinshaw of Greenock, 

 made a trip in one of these vessels from Greenock 

 to Rothesay, and back to Greenock (a distance 

 in all of about forty miles), which occupied the 

 greater portion of a whole day. 



" Mr. Watt entered into conversation with the engineer 

 of the boat, pointing out to him the method of backing the 

 engine. With a foot-rule he demonstrated to him what 

 was meant. Not succeeding, however, he at last, under 

 the impulse of the ruling passion, threw ofi" his overcoat, 

 and putting his hand to the engine himself, showed the 

 practical application of his lecture. Previously to this 

 the back stroke of the steamboat engine was either un- 

 known or not generally acted on." — Memorials, p. 233. 



No information is given whether his old doubts 

 had been removed, but by this experiment with 

 engines from his own shop, he must have been 

 considerably convinced. 



It is a pleasing reminiscence of youth to have 

 watched with much anxiety the trips of the first 

 Comet* of Henry Belt in 1812, as she wended 

 her way on the watery element. The wonder ex- 

 cited Tiundreds of people every day to line the 

 banks of the Clyde as she passed to and fro in 

 what were supposed her perilous journeys. Public 

 confidence, however, gradually took effect in the 

 safety of the invention. No class of people had 

 so much antipathy to it as the Highland boatmen, 

 who represented their craft as " sailiii by the Al- 

 michtys wun\ that, hy the TeeviVs wurC " (wind). 

 The first long voyage I had the hardihood to risk 

 was to the island of lona, about 1817. She was 

 a vessel of considerable draught of water we em- 

 barked in, but with small steam-engine power. 

 The weather was rather boisterous, and after 

 tedious progress and much buffeting we reached 

 Campbeltown, by which time the stock of fuel had 

 become seriously diminished. Resting there a 

 few hours a consultation was held among the pas- 

 sengers whether or not to proceed. With the 

 help of good rigging it was judged we might ride 

 the storm and see the renowned lona ; but the 

 wind blew so unmercifully, that after several hours' 

 tossing we were glad to put back to Campbeltown. 

 On our landing the fishermen aeverely reproached 



* I think it was in 1811 the great celestial comet ap- 

 peared, which may have suggested the name to Bell. 

 The engine lies in the ruins of the Polytechnic Institution, 

 the whole buildings of which were destroyed only a few 

 days since by fire." 



