254 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[August, 



Doubtless tliis trust property has hitherto been honourably appro- 

 priated ; pfill, as there are no ilmibt many now living who would be grate- 

 ful for such aid, and whose cases come within the limited description, 

 it would afford them some satisfaction to know that prior claims alone 

 prevented their participating in the benefit, and I trust such informa- 

 tion may be granted them through the meilium of (his journal. Perhaps 

 also it might be well for the Institute of British Architects to keep a 

 note of the circumstance in their records, for reference on some future 

 occasion of a vacancy : and I trust this bequest may be the nucleus of 

 a much more important provision for those who, in a greater or less 

 degree, may be helpless and destitute. 



I am. Sir, 

 Your very obedient servant, 



July 11, 1S42. A Constant Reader & Subscriber. 



P.S. Allow me to suggest to any of your readers who may possess 

 information of any other similar bequest, that they would be conferring 

 a great benetit by giving it publicity. 



ESVIE^WS. 



IRON SHIP-BUILDING. 



1. Iron as a Material for Ship-huildivg. By John Grantham, C. E. 



London : Simpkin and Slarshall, 1842. 



2. Paper on the same siihject, read before ilie Liverpool Polytechnic 



Society, given at page 124 of this volume. 



It is rather surprising that it should have been reserved until the 

 present dav to apply iron extensively as a material for ship-buildiiig. 

 We havebeen so long acquainted with the capabilityof metals for floata- 

 tion, we have availed ourselves of this property so frequently, both in 

 ordinarv pursuits, and for many important purposes, that the non-ap- 

 plicaticn of it to ship-building appears almost unaccountable. Mili- 

 tary iiier, vre should have thought, would long since have had their 

 attention drawn to it, being familiar with the metal pontoon in the 

 erection of temporary bridges. It is from the beginning of this cen- 

 turv, however, that we must date our history of t'.ie subject, when we 

 find iron boats employed on some of the canals, particularly in Stafford- 

 shire. Mr. Grantharn's firm seems to have engaged in the construction 

 of these boats as early as thirty years ago. In 1S15, a Mr. Jevons,_ of 

 Liverpool, launched a small iron pleasure boat on the Mersey, which 

 completely answered his expectations. It seems to have been mali- 

 ciously sunk in the Duke's Dock, where it was subsequently found 

 ■when the dock was emptied for repairs. In 1S17, Mr. Jevons made 

 arrangements with Mr. Horton for establishing a yard at Liverpool for 

 iron ship and boat-building, and in 1S18, lodged a caveat in the 

 Patent Office with the view of taking out a patent for an iron life- 

 boat, the model of which was exhibited in the underwriter's room at 

 Liverpool. The death of Mr. Horton frustrated these plans. The 

 iron life-boat appears to have met with the fate of its predecessor, 

 having, after a disappearance for some time, been found in the 

 Mersey with holes drilled in her chamtiers ; she was, however, re- 

 paired and sent to the West Indies. In 1S20, Mr. Aaron Manby took 

 out a pater.t for iron steam-boats in France, a measure which appears 

 to have given the first impetus to this branch of metallic industry. A 

 ■vessel cilled the ..-Jaron Manhy was built by the Horsley Company 

 for the Seine, and in 1S22, started from London for Havre. She was 

 commanded by the present Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B., who co- 

 operated with Mr. Manby in the enterprise, and from Havre was 

 navigated to Paris, having been perhaps the first and only vessel of 

 any description which ever went direct between the two capitals. 

 Mr. Manby afterwards established ironw orks at Charenton near Paris, 

 and built other iron boats, which boats continue in work up to the pre- 

 sent lime. The next step we have to notice was the construction of 

 an iron steamer for the Shannon, under the direction of the elder Mr. 

 Grantham. Mr. John Laird of Birkenhead afterwards commenced 

 building iron vessels on a large scale, as did Messrs. Fairbairn and 

 Co., and Ditchburn and Mair of London. At a subsequent period 

 Mr. Fairbairn of Manchester undertook a series of experiments at 

 Glasgow in which iron vessels were employed. Subsequently Pro- 

 fessor Airv,the Astronomer Royal, undertook the task of ascertaining 

 a mode oi' correcting the magnetic compass in iron vessels, and pro- 

 viding against the effects of local attraction. Captain Johnston also 

 investig;ited this subject on the Shannon, and Mr. Grantham at Liver- 

 pool. Mr. Holmes, in his pamphlet on steam navigation with the 

 Indies, seems to have been one of the first to advocate the system of 

 iron steamers on a large scide, and altliough he wrote so late as in 



MiAiiiaLjiLVu ^_'_,.._„. . ..^-. 



1S38, his view's then seemed in advance of the day; subsequent ex- 

 perience, however, has gone far to prove their correctness. Two 

 years ago Mr. Crenze, of Portsmouth Dockyard, fnok up the subject, 

 and was one of the first to treat it practically. We may mention in- 

 cidentally that the late Mr. Egerton Smith, of Liverpool, took a 

 share at an early period in the advocacy of this, as of so many im- 

 provements. Mr. Grantham read a paper on the subject of iron ship- 

 building before the Polytechnic SoAety of Liverpool, of which he is 

 the President, and this paper has swollen into a goodly treatise now 

 lying before u«, and to which we are indebted for the materials on 

 which our present remarks are based. Thus dismissing the litera- 

 ture of the subject, we sliall resume its history by reminding our 

 readers of the great progress made of late years. The Government 

 has begun an iron steam navy, the powers of which have been tested 

 and established on the coasts of Syria and China. The East India 

 Company have followed the same example. To the East and West 

 Indies and to South America, iron sailing vessels of a large size have 

 been sent, and have overcome the difficulties and prejudices which 

 were opposed to them. One of the largest of this class is the John 

 Garrow, of 711 tons, and we cannot refrain from saying that the 

 owners, Messrs. Anderson, Garrow, and Co., are deserving of a high, 

 meed of praise for having steadily and perseveringly prosecuted 

 their exertions under most discouraging circumstances. The Join 

 Garrorc, from bad construction, turned out a heavy sailer, and it be- 

 came necessury to lengthen her and remodel her lines. The bold 

 attempt of Mr. Brunei in the plan of the Great Britain steamer, is one 

 of those events which have fixed public attention, and the issue of 

 which is anxiously regarded. For sea and river navigation, and for 

 towing, the iron steam-hoat has shewn very great capabilities, and 

 has established itself on the Thames, the .Shannon, the Mersey and the 

 Clyde, on the Seine and the Elbe, on the Nile and the Ganges. 



To appreciate the causes which of late years impeded the exten- 

 sion of iron ship-building, we must consider the serious prejudices 

 arrayed against it. It was represented, that however serviceable the 

 iron boat might be on the river, that on the ocean it perilled the life 

 of the mariner, and the property of the owner. It was said that the 

 disturbance of the compass by the mass of the vessel was irremediable, 

 and that the seaman was thus deprived of his greatest safeguard. Be- 

 yond this a disposition to drift to leeward, and unsteadiness under the 

 helm, were charges scarcely less formidable. It was said, too, that 

 the speed of the vessel would be impeded by fouling, as the metal 

 surface of the hull became covered with barnacles and weeds. Nay, 

 the vessel itself was held forth as perilous, as liable to corrosion from 

 the sea-water, and consequent destruction of its substance. The stiff- 

 ness of the hull is another imputed defect, tending to the diminution 

 of the sailing power of the vessel. These serious charges produced 

 their due effect; from whatever cause emanating, whether from the 

 interested suggestions of timber ship-builders, or the spontaneous 

 effusion of timid ignorance, the seaman was alarmed, the ship-owner 

 deterred, and the underwriter raised the premium of insurance. Thus 

 an accumulation of dirticulties was created, which the energy, enter- 

 prise, and public spirit of those engaged has alone been able to re- 

 move, however groundless the charges have turned out to be. The 

 phenomena of magnetism, as connected with iron vessels, are but little 

 known, but it has been established by the experiments of Captain 

 Johnson that an iron-ship becrmes a large permanent magnet, having a 

 strong magnetic current in the direction of the ship's length, and causing 

 a serious "disturbance to the general polar direction towards which the 

 needle points, and to which it must be made again to turn itself. This 

 Professor Airy has successfully effected, and many long voyages have 

 been made in iron vessels with compasses so corrected. The careless- 

 ness of captains of ships has occasionally thwarted this measure, but 

 its soundness has not been impugned. Professor Airy mentions a 

 singular instance with regard to this question. The compasses in an 

 iron ship had been corrected by one of the Messrs. Simms, the mathe- 

 matical instrument makers, and the ship left the docks in the Thames 

 for Gravesend ; at this latter place the Captain stopped and rode up 

 to London in a state of frenzy, having found the action of his com- 

 passes most erroneous. Tlie person who had corrected the compass 

 instantly went to Gravesend, and there to his astonishment found that 

 betvieen the time of having corrected the compass and that of the 

 sailing of the vessel, a large iron stove had been erected near tlie bin- 

 nacle. Professor Airy truly observes : — " This vessel might have been 

 lost on the shoals of the Thames on her first voyage, and not a word 

 would have been heard about the iron stove." In treating of the mag- 

 netic action in the compass, Mr. Grantham takes the opportunity of 

 mentioning that an iron vessel is formed of an immense number of 

 plates and bars of different forms, having varying degrees of mag- 

 netic force, and the electric currents running in various directions. 

 As a curious question arises as to tlie period at vfliicU the current 



K. 



