IRON SHIPS. 



101 



had bravely battled with the storm from the days of Noah, and were these,, they sneeringly 

 asked, to be supplanted by a material which in itself would naturally sink? Such was the 

 reasoning- of the period; and, indeed, the best of the arguments against the use of iron 

 rested on scarcely more solid foundation " * 



It is true that so early as 1809, Richard Trevethick and Robert Dickenson had proposed 

 to build " large ships with decks, beams, and sides of plate iron," and had even suggested 

 <( masts, yards, and spars " of iron, which latter are now by no means uncommon. " But/' 

 says Lindsay, " as these inventors or patentees did not put their ideas into practice, no 



SECTION AND PLAN OF THE STERN OF A SCREW STEAMER. 



other person (if, indeed, any other person gave even a passing thought to the subject) was 

 convinced that any craft beyond a boat or a river-barge could be constructed of iron, much 

 less that if made in the form of a ship, this material would oppose more effectual resistance 

 to the storms of the ocean, or, if dashed upon the strand, to the angry fury of the waves, 

 than timber, however scientifically put together. But though no available substance 

 can withstand the raging elements with less chance of destruction than plates of iron 



* In an able pamphlet, " The Fleet of the Future," by Mr. Scott Russell, published by Longmans & Co. in 1861, 

 the author remarks (p. 20) : " A good many years ago, I happened to converse with the chief naval architect of one 

 of our dockyards on the subject of building ships of iron. The answer was characteristic, and the feeling it expressed 

 so strong and natural that I have never forgotten it. ' Don't talk to me about iron ships, it's contrary to nature.' 

 There was at one time almost as great a prejudice against Indian teak as a material for shipbuilding, as this wood is 

 heavier than water, and, in the form of a log, will not float.'' 



