706 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1913. 



tion to which he had referred the members were indebted to their 

 friend James Forrest, and he was sure the heart of many who recol- 

 lected his sway would go out to him on the present occasion, when 

 they heard the first " James Forrest " lecture that had been given in 

 the theater of the new building. He was old enough to recollect 

 some of the fathers of naval architecture, and he could not help 

 casting his mind back far beyond the 20 years, which had been the 

 purview of the lecture on the present occasion, to the much more 

 distant years — the fifties and sixties — when the great pioneers of 

 naval architecture were among them. He alluded in particular to 

 their vice president, I. K. Brunei, who showed the way to the timid 

 naval architects of the period. Although he was a widely educated 

 engineer in every branch of his profession, he had a particular love 

 for naval architecture, and showed how it was possible to design 

 steamships which could make long voyages across the Atlantic when 

 such an idea was scoffed at as chimerical. He did not think, on such 

 an occasion, the members ought to forget the name of I. K. Brunei, 

 the designer, in the first instance, of the Great Western, then of the 

 Great Britain, and lastly of that extraordinary ship for her period, 

 the Great Eastern, which had a tonnage of something like 17,000 

 or 18,000 tons, and was immensely in advance of any kind of naval 

 architecture which had then been even dreamt of. He was also 

 pleased to be able to recall the memorj^ of his dear old friend, Mr. 

 William Froude, who, he thought, rendered to naval architecture 

 greater services than any other Englishman who ever lived, intro- 

 ducing science and exactitude into a profession which had been up 

 to that time more or less empirical. He could not help recollecting 

 those things, because, happy as the recollections of the last 20 years 

 were, members should certainly not forget those gi'eat pioneers who 

 showed the way 60 years ago ; and he was sure they would all remem- 

 ber the luster of Brunei's achievements and look back with pleasure 

 upon the remarkable success he achieved with the Great Eastern. It 

 was important to bear in mind that that fine vessel, the Great 

 Eastern, embodied almost all the principles which had been laid 

 down by the lecture that evening as to strength of hull, watertight- 

 ness, protection against accident, and the girder principle. That 

 was a great achievement which should never be forgotten whenever 

 naval architecture was under consideration at tlie present time. 



Before sitting down he desired to be allowed to congratulate the 

 members on being assembled for the first time in the present theater, 

 and occupying their fine building during the first period of its exist- 

 ence. In congratulating everybody who was present as member, as- 

 sociate member, associate, or student, he could not help also thinldng 

 of the exertions which had been made by many people to bring about 

 that very happy result. The members ought to be very grateful to 



