170 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[May, 



RANDC M NOTES ON STEAM NAVIGATION. 



"A VERY cursory survey of the various nations into wliicli in tlie 

 designs of Providence this eartli of ours is portioned, c;innot fail to 

 oxcite our wonder and admiration of His master-workings for tliis our 

 favoured hahitation. While the British Isles appear a mere speck, 

 as it were, upon the surface of the ocean, and are gifted with none of 

 what are usually described as the more precious productions of nature, 

 and while Golconda with her diamonds, and Peru with her gold, have 

 ■ scarce yet emerged from the obscurity of barbarism, we are naturally 

 led to the enquiry as to hon- our little nation has surmounted the diffi- 

 culties that might have daunted her energies and baflled h'T progress, 

 and marched triumphantly forward until the clarion other renown and 

 the majesty of her sceptre have awed the very outskirts of the world. 

 With a soil requiring laborious tillage for its culture, but with that 

 al)undautly productive of the necessaries and even the luxuries of life, 

 with mines rich in the baser ores, yet prompting the researches of the 

 chemist, the metallurgist, and the 'manufacturer, to administer to their 

 profitable appropriation, and with such vast resources in her coal fields 

 as have abundantlv sufficed for the efficient development of her other 

 subterraneous resources, her native energies have been kindled through 

 difficulties. Scorning the limits of indigenous productions, the world 

 luis been ransacked for the gratification of her insatiable enterprizers. 

 Nation after nation has bowed to her triumphant sway, while at home 

 she has devi ted herself to such subtle ingenuities as have, at length, 

 evented in her careering through space with the velocity of the eagle, 

 or tramjjling over the ocean as the mighty leviathan."* 



A review of the progress and extension of the art of steam navi- 

 gation would be the highest testimonial of its intrinsic and consum- 

 mate importance Twenty years have scarce elapsed since, amid 

 incredulitv and ridicule, Fulton committed his little steam pinnace to 

 the bosom' of the Hudson ; and long posterior to that event, the idea 

 of traversing the ocean by the agency of steam was regarded as vi- 

 sionary and unattainable. Yet, within a few years, have we witnessed 

 not merely the realization of this idea, but the extension of steam 

 navigation to every part of the habitable globe. Every sea has be- 

 come the scene of its triumphs— every land the recipient of its at- 

 tendant Ijenoficence. The frigid barriers of the pole have been con- 

 strained to attest its power— the dreary wastes of the Atlantic have 

 been compellixl to acknowledge its sovereignty. Art has usurped the 

 dominion of Nature, and subjected even the elements to its sway. It 

 would be difficult to form any adequate estimate ol the effects on the 

 moral and jdivsical condition of mankind which may be expected to 

 arise from the operation of this wonder-working agent. Every line 

 of rapid and commodious communication between nation and nation 

 is a channel through which knowledge, civilization and benignity will 

 flow ; and these main streams, by their subdivision into numerous 

 minute ramifications, will transmit to the most obscure regions a por- 

 tion of their invigorating influence, like the generous river of Egypt, 

 which distributes its waters through innumerable channels to revive 

 and fertilize the thirsty soil. Amid the general enlightenment re- 

 sulting from these influences, national antipathies will be extinguished, 

 and superstition and intolerance will cease to exist, and the irresis- 

 tible progress of knowledge, the stately march of liberty, the happy 

 approach of that period \vhen the gorgeous East shall cease to shower 

 on her kings tmrbaric pearls and gold, may be referrible to the achieve- 

 ments of modern ingenuity in the completion of this its most stupen- 

 dous monument. 



it would be irrelevant to our present purpose to pursue these con- 

 siderations. We therefore proceed at once to announce our intention 

 to embody, in a series of articles, the essential part of whatever infor- 

 mation respecting steam navigation we ourselves possess, to explain 

 tliose scientific principles which are essential to an intimate knowledge 

 of the marine steam engine, and to communicate such practical details 

 and precepts as extensive opportunity of investigation and consider- 

 able experience have enabled us to collect. 



It is a circumstance which has frequently excited surprise and 

 regret, that notwithstanding the important position which steam navi- 

 gation has now universally assumed, there is yet no practically useful 

 treatise devoted to its consideration. Dr. Lardner's elegant treatise 

 on the steam engine is only adapted to the unin'ofessional reader, and 

 the able treatise of Mr. Farey does not, in the only volume that has 

 yet been published, embrace the subject of steam navigation. The 

 recent edition of Tredgold contains much valuable information on the 

 subject of steam navigation in the form of an appendix; but having 

 been communicated by different individuals, it wants unity and some- 

 times consistency. Useful facts and valuable deductions are mixed 



* Xho igl ts on Stea n Leo iioLin, \Ven!e, 1840. 



up with inexact information and irrelevant narrative. To make a ju- 

 dicious selection from such a heterogeneous compilation to appropriate 

 what is important and authentic, and reject what is valueless or inac- 

 curate, |)re-supposes the possession of that knowledge which it is the 

 object of the student to obtain. 



The production of a useful practical treatise upon the subject of 

 steam machiiiery requires the agency of an able practical engineer, 

 and there are few skilful engineers who cannot more bene fici.dly occupy 

 their time than in suljjecting themselves to the unrequited labours of 

 authorship. Among the makers of steam engines there are some who 

 possess the requisite knowledge for the production of an able and 

 valuable treatise upon the machinery of steam vessels, but indepen- 

 dently of the importance of their time, there exists the strongest dis- 

 inclination to reveal the mysteries of their profession, or to furnish 

 any information relative to the qualities or nature of particular modes 

 of construction. Each maker considers that he possesses some superior 

 contrivance, arrangement or adjustment, the secret of which he desires 

 to retain for his individual benefit, and the nature of which he endea- 

 vours to keep unknown even to his own workmen. Some regard the 

 setting of the valves as .their forte— others the proportion of their 

 boilers, and others the peculiar mode of finishing or fastening certain 

 parts of the machinery. The acquisition of a competent knowledge 

 of the business of an engineer is in consequence an achievement of the 

 utmost difficulty — information has often to be clandestinely obtained, 

 and of the few who by dint of assiduity and good fortune, succeed in 

 forcing their way into the sacred penetralia, appeared desirous to 

 avenge himself for the labour, by excluding as many as possible of his 

 neighbours. 



We cannot but regard the secrecy which has been attempted to be 

 preserved upon these subjects, as a reproach to the present liberal 

 and enlightened age. It is a remnant of the ancient policy which 

 nearly a century ago governed Boulton and Watt's establishment, and 

 which, though at that time circumstances might perhaps have rendered 

 it prudent and advisable, is at the present day inexcuseable and ridi- 

 culous. What secrets are they which the makers of steam engines 

 have it in their ))ower to conceal? Their works go abroad to the 

 world, are cast in the course of events into the hands of other engi- 

 neers, by whom they are dissected and criticised, when every pecu- 

 liarity they possess is at once recognized and made public. Is it then 

 expedient to reveal the existence of an illiberal spirit where it is im- 

 practicable to exercise an illiberal policy? Is it wise to proclaim to 

 the v\orld that we would desire to repress the interchanges of know- 

 ledge, and restore the ancient dominion of ignorance and empiricism? 

 Have we the hardihood or the indiscretion to confess that with us 

 impotency is the only limitation to restriction ? " The whole tendency 

 of eni|)irical art is to bury itself in technicalities, and to place its pride 

 in particular short cuts and mysteries known only to adepts ; to sur- 

 prise and astonish by results, but to conceal processes. The character 

 of science is the direct contrary. It delights to lay itself open to in- 

 quiry, and is not satisfied with its conclusion till it can make the road 

 to them broad and beaten: and in its applications it preserves the 

 same character; its whole aim being to strip away all technical mys- 

 tery, to illuminate every dark recess, and to gain free access to all 

 processes, with a view to improve them upon rational principles.*" 

 But it would be vain to expect that engineers will become converts to 

 these enlightened views so long as their supposed interests lie in 

 another direction — so long as they imagine the exercise of a craft to 

 be more profitable than the practice of a i]rofessioii, and that it is 

 practicable to conceal, and yet employ the secrets of which they ima- 

 gine themselves to be possessed. The constitution of human nature is 

 opposed to such a consuinm ition ; and it would be too much to expect 

 that our mechanical engineers should be an exception to the general 

 disinclination to sacrifice accredited private interest to the cause of 

 philantlirophy or of public duty. 



The extinction of this spirit would be productive not merely of 

 benefit to the community, but would enliance the reputation and pro- 

 mote the interests of our leading engineers themselves — we shall ac- 

 complish an object which we conceive ought to be generally acceptable, 

 if we contribute to the obliteration of this, the only blot with which 

 their fdr fame is sullied. 



It will be manifest from the title we have chosen, that in the obser- 

 vations we have to offer, we do not bind ourselves to an adherence to 

 systematic arrangement —nevertheless we shall endeavour to thread 

 all our memorandums upon the same string, and that too with some 

 apj.roximation to order. For the sake of continuity it will often be 

 necessary to repeat what may have been said before: indeed we ad- 

 vance no pretensions to originality, although we are sensible it maybe 



• Sir J. Ilcrschcll. 



