CHAP. IX. DOCKYARD ECONOMY. 239 



the war with France, which called for more than ordi- 

 nary despatch in the building and repairs of ships of war. 

 In Mr. Rennie's report to the Commission, he inciden- 

 tally mentions mechanical appliances which he was en- 

 gaged at the time in manufacturing for exportation. " I 

 am erecting," he said, " a steam-engine for the royal dock- 

 yard at Copenhagen, for the purpose of blowing all the 

 bellows in the smithies, and another for pumping water 

 out of the docks. I also understand they mean to con- 

 struct machinery there for forging anchor-palms and 

 other large iron work. Rolling-mills for bars, bolts, 

 hoops, &c., might also be employed with advantage. 

 Saw-mills, such as I have constructed at Calicut, on the 

 coast of Malabar, for sawing plank, beams, and other 

 articles, would be very serviceable. Block-machinery 

 and rope-works might likewise be worked by steam- 

 engines, as well as mills for rolling copper, machinery 

 for working cranes, and other purposes." He pointed 

 out, that dockyards ought to be so laid out as to enable 

 work of the same kind to be carried on by continuous 

 operations as in a well-ordered manufactory. He showed 

 that the water at the entrance of all the dockyards, 

 excepting Plymouth, was too shallow to enable large 

 ships to be docked for repairs, without dismantling them 

 and taking out their guns and stores, which was a cause 

 of much delay, damage, and expense ; and he urged 

 the provision of a dockyard in which the largest ships 

 might lie afloat at low water, and be docked and un- 

 docked in all states of the tide. He would also have 

 powerful steam-engines provided, by which any dock 

 might be pumped dry in a few hours, so as to enable 

 repairs to be at once proceeded with. He had no doubt 

 that the cost of constructing such a harbour and dock 

 would be saved to the nation in the course of a very few 

 years. He also urged, as of still greater importance, the 

 necessity for concentrating all dockyard work as much 

 as possible. Himself the head of a large manufacturing 



