80 



t'ARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



lars stated, that it must be flat-bottomed in the 

 cross section, pretty well curved upwards at stem 

 and stern, and very \\gh\. With tliis tbrm, the 

 quicker it is moved, the less water it will draw. 

 At a very high velocity, it will merely skim the 

 water as it were; the displacement of the fluid 

 will reach only a few inches down ; and this cir- 

 cumsiance, with the quick motion of the l)ont, 

 causing a re-adjustment of the equilibrium of the 

 water equally rapid, the necessary time will be 

 vvaiuing lor the motion to propu<)-ate itself beyond 

 tiie narrow zone ol" water which immediately en- 

 cun)passes the boat. Such is our hypothesis, sup- 

 posing the liict to be stated. We liave a strona' 

 impression, however, that the result depends 

 chiefly on the l()rm of the boat, and that a much 

 greater de|)th than five feet vviil be no material 

 disadvantage, except where the canal is extreniel}' 

 narrow. 



"Some months ago, by the suirfrpstion of Mr. 

 William Houston, of Johnstone, the committee of 

 iTiiUiairement of the Ardrossan and Paisley canal 

 were induced to make certain experimenis li')r as- 

 certaining th(! rate ol' the velocit)-, at which a light 

 giiT-boat miizht i)e propelled along that canal. 

 The ex[)erimeri!s were made with a o'ig rowinif 

 boat of about iliirty il»et in lengl'i, constructed bv 

 Hunter, boat-builder, Brown streiit, Glasgow ; and 

 this boat, with ten men on biiard, was drawn 

 along the Ardrossan and Pai.-iy canal, in the 

 space of less than ten minutes, without raisin": any 

 s.irge or commotion on thewatjr — the force em- 

 ployed being one horse, rode by a canal driver. 

 No account of this trial has ever been given to j 

 tlie public, but it was so satisfactory as to induce' 

 the committee of the Ardrossan cunal to contract 

 with' Mr. Wood, of Port-Glasgow, (or a nlg- 

 shaped passage-boat, sixty liiet in length, and five 

 in breadth, fiited to carry from thirty -six to forty 

 passengers. In the month of April last, a num- 

 ber of experiments were made in the Forth and 

 Clyde canal with two gig-boats fixed together, 

 constructed by Mr. Hunter, and thus forming 

 what is called a twin-boat. The object of these 

 trials was to ascertain the rate of speed at wiiich 

 vessels might be propelled along that canal, and 

 the eti'ecl of a liirht double, or twin-boat, in liv- 

 ing that deirree of steadiness which it was appre- 

 hended would be so much wanting in a light sin- 

 gle boat. A statement of these "expermients on 

 the Forth ami Clyde canal has already appeared 

 in the newspapers, and the oidy fact therein men- 

 tioned, which it seems necessary to repeat here, is 

 the remarkable circumstance, that the quicker the 

 boats were propelled through the water, the less 

 appearance there was of surge or waves on the 

 sides of the canal. The result of the experiments 

 was so satisfactory, that a twin-boat of a gig- 

 shape, sixty leet in length, and nine feet broad, 

 Avas buiit by Mr. Hunter, Brown street, Glasijow, 

 and launched in the Forth and Clyde canal in the 

 course of the Rillowing month. 



"The single gig-shaped passage-boat contract- 

 ed lor by the Ardrossan canal committee, was 

 launched at Port-Glasgow, on Wednesdnv, the 

 2d of June, and she was towed up to the Bromi- 

 law, and thence carried to Port-Eirlington the day I 

 following; and on Friday, the 4th of June, a 

 trial, of which the Ibllowinrr is an account, took I 

 place. The boat is sixty fi^et long, lour feet six I 

 inches breadth of beam, and drew on an avera"-e, 1 



including a deep keel, ten inches when light : — 

 "From the great hurry in which this trial was 

 made, it was done under many disadvantages. 

 The boat started from Port-Eglington for Paisley 

 a fiiw minutes after one o'clock, wiih twenty per- 

 sons on board, and the distance iiom Port-Eirbng- 

 loii to Puisly being seven miles, was accomplished 

 in one hour and seven minutes. The rider was 

 ordered to start and proceed the first mile or so at 

 a very moderate pace, but even at this moderate 

 pace the wave raised in li-ont of the boat was very 

 considerable. A high wave was seen on the ca- 

 nal preceiling the boat, about eighty or nineiy fijet 

 in fi'ont, and in some cases further, and causing an 

 overflow at the bridges and in the narrow parts of 

 the canal. The surge or the cutting wave t)ehind 

 the boat was, however, con)[;aratively sliirht, and, 

 except the curves, would not have caused much 

 injury to the canal banks. The horse vvus very 

 much exhausted when he got to Paisly, though by 

 no means so exhausted us he was about the mid- 

 dle of llie journey, havirig sensibly recovered af- 

 ter the first four or five miles. 



"Two post horses were hired there ; and lighter 

 towing lines being attached to the boat, it started 

 again, on its return to Glasgow, with iwenty-lbur 

 persons on board, lour of whom were boys, and 

 arrived at Glasgow, a distance of seven miles, in 

 forty- five minutes. The greatest speed attained 

 during the journey, was two miles in eleven 

 minutes. During this vo\'iige the surge behind 

 was entirely got quit of, even at the curves, where 

 it was reduceii to nothing ; and ihere was no fiont 

 wave except at the bridges. It appeared only at 

 the bridges, and just as the boat was about to 

 enter under the bridge, and disaipeured as the 

 stern of the boat cleared the bridge. T'le quicker 

 the boat went, the /itorc entire was the diiappeaaiice 

 of all leave and surge, except where the water 

 escajied in the centre of" the canal j and met in two 

 very noisy and rapid currents from each side of 

 the boat at rudder. This noi.se and rush of waier 

 was so great behind as to induce persons on iioard 

 to look around expeciing lo see a great wave or 

 surge on the banks of the canal, but on the hanks 

 there was hardly a ripple. The two rapid noisy 

 currents seemed to be completely spent niul ex- 

 hausted by the shock of their concourse behind 

 the boat. Here, therefore, there was no room lo 

 doubt the correctness of the reports of the Forili" 

 and Clyde canal experiments. It was not merely 

 to be said, that the greater the speed the less 

 sur<re or wave, but is demonstrated, tiiat, at a high 

 rate of speed surge and wave were done away with 

 altogether. Unluckily, there was no dynamome- 

 ter attached to the rope, so as lo.iscertam wheihei' 

 contrary to all theory, the strain or pull was not, 

 equally with the wave, and the tuiiging labor of 

 the two horses, lessened instead of increased, by 

 the accelerated rate at which they drew the boat. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that witli one 

 trained horse, properly attached, the distance 

 could be done in a period un<ler Ibrty minutes. 

 Contrary to expectation, Mr. Wood's boat was 

 quite steady in the water, and by no means crank. 

 It may be proper to mention that the Ardrossan 

 canal is throughout very narrow; at the lirigde, 

 and many other places it is only nine feet broad. 

 It has a o'reat number of turns, and rnnny of them 

 very sudden." — (Brit-) Mining Jtmrnal. 



