34 CONGREVE. 



engineering. Amongst the most important of these were the fol- 

 lowing : ' A Treatise on the various inventions for effecting ascents 

 in rivers ;' ' Hints on the necessity of Legislative interference for 

 registering the extent of workings in the Coal Seams, and prevent- 

 ing such accidents as arise from want of that knowledge ;' ' An Essay 

 on Cordage ;' and ' A Treatise on the preservation of Timber from 

 premature decay.' Mr. Chapman also took out a patent for an im- 

 provement upon Captain Huddart's system of manufacturing ropes. 

 This method was successfully carried into effect in all the rope 

 grounds on the river Tyne, and in some of those on the Wear and 

 Tweed. His next invention was for an expeditious and easily prac- 

 ticable method of lowering coal waggons, with their contents, im- 

 mediately over the hatchways of ships, so as to prevent the great 

 breakage of coals which attended the usual method of shooting them 

 through long spouts ; this system, after the expiration of the patent 

 became universal upon the Tyne. 



- Mr. Chapman possessed a robust constitution, and practised through 

 life the most temperate habits ; he was thus enabled to retain the full 

 enjoyment of his faculties, and to continue employed upon various 

 public works, in drainages, canals, and harbours, up till within a very 

 short period of his decease, which occurred in 1832, in the eighty- 

 third year of his age. Life of Chapman. London, John "Weale. 



SIR WILLIAM CONGREVE, BART., F.R.S. 



Born in Middlesex, May 20, 1772. Died May 3, 1828. 



Sir William Congreve was the son of the first baronet, an Artillery 

 officer of the same name. He entered early into the branch of 

 military service his father had pursued, and, in 1816, attained in it 

 the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was also at this time equerry 

 to the Prince Regent, which office he retained on the occasion of his 

 quitting the military service in 1820. Congreve very early dis- 

 tinguished himself by his inventions in the construction of missiles. 

 He invented the rocket which bears his name in the year 1808, and 

 succeeded in establishing this destructive engine of warfare as a 

 permanent instrument in military and naval tactics, both at home 

 and abroad. It was used by Lord Cochrane in his attack on the 

 French squadron in the Basque roads, in the expedition against 

 Walcheren, at Waterloo, and with most serviceable effect in the 

 attack on Algiers. It was also used at the battle of Leipzig in 1813, 

 and for its service on this occasion the Order of St. Anne was con- 

 ferred on Sir William by the Emperor of Russia. Since that time 



