t 



Steam in the Navy 95 



As a matter of fact, from the year 1821, 

 when they purchased the small paddle- 

 steamer named the Monkey, to the coming 

 of the Nimrod, in 1839, tne Y h ac * built or 

 purchased over sixty steam vessels. 



Space does not admit of details of these 

 craft, nor are they of great interest, since, 

 as previously explained, they were all of 

 small size, and, with one or two excep- 

 tions, intended for non-combatant duties. 



In 1839 the first iron warship was 

 turned out from the yards of Messrs. 

 Laird, of Birkenhead, a very old estab- 

 lished firm and still to-day one of our 

 best shipbuilding corporations. I do not 

 know that it is quite fair for me to claim 

 the Nimrod as a unit of the British Navy, 

 because she really belonged to the East 

 India Company, but as this company was 

 to all intents and purposes British Agent 

 for India at that time, and was superseded 

 by the Government within a few years of 

 the Nimrod' s launch, I have claimed her 

 for the Navy. 



