CHAP. XI. STEAM POWER IN THE ROYAL NAVY. 267 



tion afforded him of recommending the employment of 

 steam power in the Royal Navy. His advice met with 

 the usual reception from the inert official mind : first 

 indifference ; next passive resistance ; then active oppo- 

 sition when he pressed the matter further. Naval officers, 

 who had grown old in sailing tactics, could ill brook the 

 idea of navigating ships of war by a mechanical inven- 

 tion like the steam-engine, by which skill in seamanship, 

 of which the old salts were so proud, would be entirely 

 superseded. The navy had done well enough heretofore 

 without steam ; why introduce it now ? It was a smoky 

 innovation, and if permitted, would only render ships 

 liable to the constant risk of being blown up by boiler ex- 

 plosions. Lord Melville, however, listened to Mr. Rennie's 

 suggestions, and at length consented to the employment 

 of a small steam-vessel as a tug for a ship of war, by way 

 of experiment. Mr. Rennie accordingly hired the Mar- 

 gate steamboat, Eclipse, to tow the Hastings, 74, from 

 Woolwich to two miles below Gravesend, against a rising 

 tide. The experiment was made on the 4th of June, 

 1819, and proved so successful that the Admiralty were 

 induced to authorise a steamboat to be specially built at 

 Woolwich for similar service. This vessel was named 

 the Comet ; it was built after the designs and under the 

 direction of the late Mr. Oliver Lang, assisted to a consider- 

 able extent by Mr. Rennie, who attended more particu- 

 larly to the designing and fitting of the engines, which 

 were made by Boulton and Watt. The Comet, though a 

 small vessel, was the parent of other royal ships of vastly 

 greater dimensions . She was only 1 2 feet long between the 

 perpendiculars, and 2 2 feet 6 inches in extreme breadth ; 

 the draught of water was about 6|- feet, and the power of 

 her engines about 40 horses. The Admiralty had great 

 doubts as to the width of the paddle-boxes ; but Mr. 

 Rennie encouraged them to make the experiment after 

 his design. " Steam-vessels," he observed, " are as yet 

 only in their infancy, and can scarcely be expected to 



