92 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



that full credit had Dot been publicly given to him for his 

 scientific improvements in ship-building, applied, only two 

 months before her death, to Mr. Napier for a copy of the 

 correspondence which had taken place in 1857. Hence 

 Mr. Scott Kussell's letter just cited came into the pos- 

 session of the writer of this memoir, together with the one 

 from Mr. Assheton Smith, from which we have just given 

 an extract, and also with a letter from Mr. Napier himself 

 to Mrs. Assheton Smith, which we will now proceed to 

 transcribe : — 



"West Shandon, ith April, 1859. 

 " Dear Mrs. Smith, — Your much esteemed kind letter of 

 the 26th ult. I duly received, but could not till this morning 

 lay my hands on the accompanying correspondence in 1857, 

 regarding Mr. Scott EusselFs claims to the hollow lines of 

 the Fire-king. There are two of the letters. I cannot find 

 Mr. Smith's first letter, requesting me to write to Mr. Russell, 

 and the copy of the letter I did write. There is, however, 

 enough to show your friend how matters stand with 

 Mr. Scott Russell. All that Mr. Smith says to me about 

 the trial of the Fire-king, in his letter of 13th May, 1857, 

 is quite true, and I am sure Mr. Lloyd, the Admiralty 

 chief engineer, who was on board at the trial, would cor- 

 roborate the same. You will notice from Mr. Scott Russell 

 that he claims the merit of the hollow lines, and that in 

 1834 he had read some papers on the subject before the 

 British Association, and had also had a vessel, seventy-five 

 feet long by six feet broad, built and experimented upon, 

 (fee. All this may be true, that these theoretical experiments 

 had been tried ; but so far as known to me, I never heard 

 of a single practical result that ever flowed from these 

 scientific experiments ; and although Mr. Scott Russell 

 says Mr. Smith had seen an account of his lines in the 

 Athenceum, I never heard Mr. Smith say so, except with 

 great disapprobation of Mr. Russell attempting to say the 

 hollow lines were his plan. 



