ADDRESS. IxXXvii 



Among the many names connected with the early progress in the con- 

 struction of steamboats, perhaps none is more worthy of remembrance than 

 that of Patrick Miller, who, with the assistance of Symington, an engineer, 

 and Taylor, who was his children's tutor, constructed a small steamboat. 

 Shortly afterwards Lord Dundas, who saw the value of the application of 

 steam for the propulsion of boats, had the fii'st really practical steamboat 

 constructed with a view to using it on the Forth and Clyde Canal. The pro- 

 prietors, however, objected, and the boat lay idle. Again another attempt to 

 make practical use of the steamboat failed through the death of the Duke of 

 Bridgewater, who, with his characteristic foresight, had seen the value of 

 steam as a motive power for boats, and had determined to introduce steamboats 

 on the canal which bears his name. 



The increase in the number of steamboats since the time when the 'Sirius' 

 first crossed the Atlantic has been very great. Whereas in 1814 the United 

 Kingdom only possessed two steam-vessels, of together 456 tons burden, in 

 1872 there were on the register of the United Kingdom 3,662 steam- vessels, 

 of which the registered tonnage amounted to over a million and a half of tons*, 

 or to nearly half the whole steam tonnage of the world, which did not at that 

 time greatly exceed three million tons. 



As the number of steamboats has largely increased, so also gradually has 

 their size increased until it culminated, in the hands of Brunei, in the ' Great 

 Eastern.' 



A triumph of engineering skill in ship-building, the ' Great Eastern ' has 

 not been commercially so successful. In this, as in many other engineering 

 problems, the question is not how large a thing can be made, but how large, 

 having regard to other circumstances, it is proper at the time to make it. 



If, as regards the dimensions of steamboats, we have at present somewhat 

 overstepped the limits in the ' Great Eastern,' much still remains to be done 

 in perfecting the form of vessels, whether propelled by steam or driven by the 

 force of the wind. A distinguished member of this Association, Mr. Eroude, has 

 now for some years devoted himself to investigations carried on with the view 

 to ascertain the form of vessel which will offer the least resistance to the water 

 through which it must pass. So many of us in these days are caUed upon to 

 make journeys by sea as well as by land, that we can well appreciate the value 

 of Mr. Fronde's labours, so far as they tend to curtail the time which we must 

 spend on our ocean journeys ; and we should aU feel grateful to him if from 

 another branch of his investigations, which relates to the rolling of ships, it 

 should result that the movement in passenger vessels could be reduced. A 

 gallant attempt in this direction has lately been made by Mr. Bessemer ; 

 whether a successful one yet remains to be proved. In any event, he and 

 those who have acted with him deserve our praise for an experiment which 

 must add to our knowledge. 



« Board of Trade Return, 15th Jiily, 1874, Table 8, 



