98 THE SEA. 



bread, as God has destined all men to do, by ' the sweat of their brow/ . . . Along 

 those banks there is now annually constructed a much larger amount of steam tonnage 

 than in all the other ports of Europe combined, those of England alone excepted." These 

 great private yards have been and will be invaluable in war times. Take such a firm r.s 

 that of John Elder and Co., Fairfield, Glasgow, whose works cover sixty acres of ground. 

 They have built vessels in the course of a year aggregating 35,000 to 40,000 tons, and 

 have contracted for as many as six 4,000-ton steam-ships at a time. One of these was 

 delivered to her owners complete and ready for sea, with steam up, within thirteen months 

 of the time she was contracted for. Bell's Comet was only of thirty tons, and its engine but 

 of four-horse power ! Mr. James Deas, C.E., in a work on the Clyde and its commerce, &c., 

 says : " It was no uncommon occurrence for the passengers, when the little steamer was 

 getting exhausted, to take to turning the fly-wheel to assist her."* Poor Bell, like so many 

 of the pioneers of grand and important undertakings, did not profit much by his successful 

 application of steam to navigation, and in his declining years was chiefly supported by 

 an annuity of 50 granted by the Clyde trustees. 



While the public, after the successful experiments already mentioned, and others which 

 followed, were beginning to appreciate the value of steamers, the Admiralty would 

 have nothing to do with them, and it took them about forty years before they reluctantly 

 applied steam to war vessels. The absolutely first steam vessel built for the Royal Navy 

 was a tug, also named the Comet. She was constructed in 1819, after some experiments 

 had convinced Lord Melville arid Sir George Cockburn of the value of steam power in 

 towing men-of-war. " At this period, Mr. Ronnie, who planned the breakwater at Plymouth 

 and new London Bridge, was ' advising engineer ' to the Admiralty, and on every occasion 

 urged the application of steam power* to vessels of war. More than this, he hired at his 

 own cost the Margate steam-boat, the Eclipse, and successfully towed the Eastings, 74, 

 against the tide from Woolwich to Gravesend, June 14th, 1819. On this, the Admiralty, 

 supported by Lord Melville, gave up their objections." f 



Still, practically, it was not till after the Crimean war that steam became the leading 

 motive power in our war navy. The merchants were more sensible. Mr. David Napier had, 

 in 1818, launched a steamer of ninety tons burden the JKoi Roy from the yard of Mr. William 

 Denny, of Dumbarton. For two years she ran between Glasgow and Belfast, carrying the 

 mails, and was the first regular sea-going steamer which had been built in either Europe or the 

 United States. But she also calls for particular mention for another reason : she was subse- 

 quently transferred to the English Channel as a packet-boat between Dover and Calais. And 

 there are still, no doubt, many travellers or residents of those towns who can remember the 

 inauguration of what is now a most important service. The same Napier, whose name is very 

 intimately connected with the history of the marine engine, which he was constantly striving to 

 improve, inaugurated, with the assistance of capitalists, a line between Liverpool, Greenock, and 

 Glasgow. Next followed a line from London to Leith, which commenced with two steamers, 

 each fitted with engines of fifty horse-power. Now came an immense advance, for in 

 182G, the first of the then considered "leviathan" class of steamers the United Kingdom 



* The engine of this vessel is to be seen in the Patent Office Museum, 

 t Smiles' " Lives of the Engineers." 



