90 KEMINISCENCES, ETC. 



on the wave principle in 1834, and completed it in 1835. 

 It was an iron vessel 75 feet long, and was called The 

 Wave. In 1835, I tried this " wave vessel" against three 

 other vessels at equal speeds, and proved her resistance to 

 be less than any of them.' I had this vessel moved at 

 seventeen miles an hour and I find the following record of 

 the first trial of the wave vessel in 1835 : 'It is a remark- 

 able fact, that even when deeply laden and when urged to 

 a velocity of seventeen miles an hour, there is no spray, no 

 foam, no surge, no head of water at the prow, but the 

 water is parted smoothly and evenly asunder.' 



" I communicated these results publicly to the meeting 

 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 at Dublin, in the following year, 1836. In this year I built 

 an iron steam-vessel 120 feet long by 12 feet wide, and of 

 30-horse power, on the wave lines, with numerous trans- 

 verse bulk-heads, and with longitudinal stringers, and 

 without frames. This vessel possessed the same qualities 

 of perfectly smooth passage through the water, and of least 

 resistance. From this time I made no further trials for my 

 own satisfaction, but considered the wave principle esta- 

 blished as a permanent truth. I reported the results to the 

 meeting of the British Association, 1837. In April of this 

 year, a full account of the wave principle, with drawings of 

 the lines and the details of experiments, was published in 

 the Transactions of the Eoyal Society of Edinburgh, 1838. 

 In this year the large gold medal of the Royal Society was 

 awarded to me for the foregoing paper. Now, if you will 

 be good enough to refer to the above paper, which you will 

 find in the college library, you will there see the engraving 

 of the vessel called The Wave; you will see the long 

 hollow bow, the full after-lines, and the greatest section 

 abaft the middle, and all the qualities of least resistance 

 and of least disturbance, clearly and unmistakably given, 

 along with most accurate and laborious proofs by actual 

 experiment of the true measure of resistance at various 



