

MURDOCK. 87 



facts may be briefly stated thus. Patrick Miller was the first to 

 successfully propel vessels by paddle-wheels moved by manual 

 labour. He then, in conjunction with William Symington, applied 

 steam to move these paddle-wheels, and constructed two steam- 

 boats, which were publicly tried, on the Forth and Clyde Canal, 

 in the years 1788-89. Although these trials triumphantly proved 

 thi! practicability of steam navigation, further improvements were 

 required before a really successful steam-boat could be said to have 

 been constructed. At this point, unfortunately, Mr. Miller, having 

 already spent large sums of money in his experiments, let the 

 matter drop ; but Symington, about ten years afterwards, under 

 the patronage of Lord Dundas, succeeding in constructing ' The 

 Charlotte Dundas,' a steam-boat which, for the first time, combined 

 together those improvements which constitute the present system 

 of steam navigation. In the narrative written by Patrick Miller, 

 Jun., a good deal of praise, in regard to this matter, is given to 

 James Taylor, before referred to, who is considered by some as 

 having a just claim to participate in the honour awarded to Miller 

 and Symington. Mr. Taylor's merits, however, appear chiefly to 

 consist in having suggested, upon the occasion of a race between 

 one of Miller's boats and a Custom House boat, that they only re- 

 quired the help of a steam-engine to beat their antagonists ; also, 

 in having introduced Symington, whose steam-carriage had ren- 

 dered him famous, to the notice of Mr. Miller ; and although Taylor 

 assisted in the subsequent experiments, he seems to have con- 

 tributed little to their practical success. Narrative of Facts relative 

 to Invention and Practice of Steam Navigation, &c., by Patrick Miller, 

 Jun., ' Edinburgh Philosophical Journal' Vol. 13, July 1825. 

 Narrative by R. Bowie, proving William Symington the Inventor of 

 Steam Land Carriage Locomotion and of Steam Navigation. London, 

 1833. Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam Engine. London, 1829. 

 Descriptive Catalogue of the Museum of the Commissioners of Patents. 



WILLIAM MURDOCK. 



Born 1754. Died November 15, 1839. 



William Murdock was born at Bellow Mill, near Old Cumnock, 

 Ayrshire, where his father carried on the business of a millwright 

 and miller, and likewise possessed a farm on the estate of the Bos- 

 well family of Auchinleck. His mother's maiden name was Bruce, 

 and she used to boast of being lineally descended from Robert 

 Bruce, of Scottish History. Little is known of Murdock's life prior 



