1864. | SamvELson on Steam Navigation. 237 
the world, of nourishing the poor with better food, or of providing 
fresh comforts and luxuries for the rich; but greatly as we may plume 
ourselves as Englishmen upon the share we have had in its rapid 
development, still it behoves us, in the spirit of impartial chroniclers, 
to award the merit of the first discovery not to one of our own nation, 
but to an intelligent and enterprising foreigner—a Spaniard. 
Perhaps the earliest account we have of a vessel being propelled 
by steam power is contained in some manuscripts in the archives of 
Salamanca; these appear to prove that in the year 1543 a naval 
captain, named Don Blasco de Garray, invented a machine moved by 
steam, and capable of propelling ships independently of oars or sails. 
The apparatus referred to was fitted to a vessel of about 200 tons, 
called ‘ La Santissima Trinidada,’ and an experiment was conducted in 
Barcelona Roads on the 17th June, 1543, in the presence of the Emperor 
Charles V., his son, Philip [., and many illustrious persons, which 
resulted in the ship’s attaining a speed of one league per hour; but the 
apparatus appears to have been condemned, and no further attention 
was given to it, on account of the apprehension of explosion from the 
boiler, and the great complexity and expense of the machine ; although 
the Emperor is stated to have reimbursed De Garray for all the 
expenses he had incurred in making his experiment. 
In 1736, Jonathan Hull took out a patent for applying the steam- 
engine as a motive power to propel ships; and quoting from the 
description of the invention, we have the following :—“ It has been 
demonstrated that when the air is driven out of a vessel of 30 inches dia- 
ineter, the atmosphere will press on it to the weight of 4 tons 16 ewt. ; 
and when proper instruments are applied to it, it must drive a vessel 
with great force.” He also described the machinery for working a pair 
of paddle-wheels, and a drawing was given, representing a tug towing 
a two-decker against the wind, this tug having a chimney from which 
smoke issued, and in the after part of the boat was an engine working 
two paddle-wheels attached to spars abaft each quarter. But the 
steam engine was at this time in a very imperfect state, so that no 
practical success was attained, although a vast number of experiments 
were made by many ingenious men. 
It was not until the towering genius of Watt had made the steam- 
engine the complete and elegant machine that it now is, that steam 
navigation began to exhibit any signs of success; and we therefore pass 
over the various experiments (many of them unsuccessful) which were 
made, until we come to those of William Patrick Miller, who in 1787 
took out a patent for paddle-wheels (very similar to those at present 
used) for propelling vessels ; and a Mr. Symington having about this 
time patented a new application of the steam-engine, was introduced to 
Mr. Miller; and they between them contrived to make a small steamer, 
which moved at the rate of five miles per hour; but this was little 
more than a toy, as the cylinder was only 4 inches diameter. It may 
be interesting to the reader to know that the engine last referred to 
may be seen in the South Kensington Museum. 
In 1788, John Fitch obtained a patent for the application of steam 
to navigation in the states of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, 
