12 
rOPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
There was the same double channel port and starboard, in each 
of which worked a paddle-wheel ; only the channel, instead of 
being closed at the bottom and open from end to end, was 
segmental in profile, and open at the bottom. The paddle- 
wheels were moreover arranged as drums instead of open ♦ 
wheels. This plan is just as inefficient in respect of propulsion 
as either Captain Dicey’s or Mr. Mackie’s, and Mr. Leigh has 
moreover encumbered it with a ridiculous plan for harbours, 
and with bad steering apparatus. The device is not worth 
much on its own account, and these appendages are quite ' 
enough to prevent its floating, either mechanically or commer- 
cially. 
Mr. John West, of Liverpool, has published plans* of a 
“ Channel Ferryboat,” 345 ft. long and 43 ft. beam ; breadth 
over all 68 ft., and draught 6 ft. 6 in. The propellers are two 
pairs of paddle-wheels, external, as in Mr. Bessemer’s ship ; 
but the guards extend the full breadth of the paddles through- 
out the whole midship length, as in American river steamers, 
and, as in those, are utilised for cabins and smoke- boxes. The 
boilers, however, are inboard, instead of on the guards. Apart 
from the Bessemer saloon, the plan only differs in detail from 
that designed by Mr. Eeed for Mr. Bessemer. 
I have had before me a large number of schemes, of the 
most varied character, but the greater part of them hopelessly 
and irretrievably bad. Very few inventors will take the 
trouble either of acquiring the knowledge requisite to form an 
exact idea of the problem which they have undertaken to solve, 
or of ascertaining what steps have already been taken towards 
its solution. Hence we get schemes which never could be 
likely to work ; schemes which have already been tried, and 
found to fail ; schemes brought forward as new, which are 
already in common use. From among this chaos I have endea- 
voured to select those which are of the most immediate prac- 
tical interest, and to lay before my readers, frankly and impar- 
tially, what I conceive to be the advantages and disadvantages 
of these. 
My readers may now reasonably turn round and say, “ What 
does the writer mean to indicate as the best ship for the pur- 
pose ?” My answer is : — 
1. For mail service, in very rough weather, a small full- 
powered vessel, which will make everybody sick whose inside 
has not been well salted. 
2. As a mere preventative of sea-sickness, without special 
mechanism, the longest and broadest boat possible. 
3. With reference to safe work, in entering and leaving port, 
* See The Engineer ” for August 30, 1872. 
