As we have been led, in writing about ships of the navy, to refer to
steam, we turn aside at this point to treat of that tremendous
motive-power.
One night, in the year 1807, a terrible sight was witnessed by the
inhabitants of the banks of the river Hudson in America.
Men love what is marvellous, and they will go a long distance out of
their way to see that which is terrific and horrible; but on the night
in question there was no need to go far. The farmers had only to look
out of their windows, and the sailors of the shipping had only to lift
their heads above the bulwarks, to behold a sight that appalled the
stoutest hearted, and caused the very hair on the craniums of the timid
to stand on end.
The object that created so much consternation was--a "monster of the
deep!" At some parts of the river, men could not tell what it was like,
for the night was dark when it passed, but a dark, shadowy idea they
obtained by the light of the fire which the creature vomited from its
jaws; and they formed a tremendous conception of its size and power from
the speed at which it travelled, the splashing which it made, and the
hideous groans with which it burdened the night-air.
This "fiery monster of the deep" was the _first_ river-steamer, the
_Clermont_!
Before going further into the details of this the first of a class of
ships which have, within the last fifty years, almost completely changed
the whole system of navigation, let us take a cursory glance at the
first attempts made to propel ships by means of steam.
The subject has occupied mankind much longer than many people suppose.
So long ago as the year 1543, a naval captain of Spain applied an engine
to a ship of about two hundred tons, and succeeded in moving it at the
rate of about two miles an hour. The nature of his engine the captain
kept secret; but it was noted that part of it consisted of a caldron of
boiling water.
This we are told by Thomas Gonzales, the director of the Royal Archives
of Simancas; but his veracity is now called in question,--at any rate,
nothing further was afterwards heard of the discovery.
The first authentic record we have of steam navigation occurs in a work
written by the Marquis of Worcester in 1665, in which allusion is made
to the application of engines to boats and ships, which would "draw them
up rivers against the stream, and, if need be, pass London Bridge
against the current, at low-water."
Many attempts, more or less successful, were made by ingenious men from
time to time. Papin of France in 1690 constructed a steamboat, the
success of which may be gathered from the fact that it was ultimately
broken up by enraged and jealous watermen! Jonathan Hulls in 1736, and
M. Genevois in 1759, were each successful, to a certain extent, in
constructing working models, but nothing definite resulted from their
labours. Yet we would not be understood to undervalue the achievements
of such men. On the contrary, it is by the successive discoveries of
such inquiring and philosophical men that grand results are at last
attained. The magnificent structures that crowd the ocean were not the
creations of one era, or the product of one stupendous mind. They are
the result of the labours of thousands of men whose names have never
been known to fame.
The men who, working upon the materials supplied by preceding
generations, brought the propulsion of boats by steam nearest to
perfection, _just before_ the commencement of navigation, were Mr
Miller of Dumfries, Mr Taylor, his friend, and tutor in his family, and
Mr Symington. All of these were, in a very important degree,
instrumental in ushering in the great event. Symington, in 1788, fitted
an engine to a large boat, in which he attained the speed of seven miles
an hour.
The man to whom the credit belongs of introducing _steam navigation_ is
undoubtedly Mr Fulton of America. This gentleman, who was contemporary
with those just mentioned, visited France and England, in the former of
which countries he endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to carry out his
projects, while in the latter he met with Symington, and obtained much
valuable information from him.
We have no sympathy whatever with those who seem to rake in to the
credit of their own country every discovery and invention they possibly
or plausibly can. We did much _towards_ the commencement of steam
navigation, but we did not begin it. We pushed considerably in advance
of other nations in the invention of apparatus by which boats might be
propelled by steam; we constructed models, tried it on a small scale,
and found the thing to answer admirably: but we rested there.
Meanwhile, an enterprising American came and saw our achievements,
ordered an engine in England, carried it across the Atlantic, and
_commenced_ the era of steam navigation, on the river Hudson, by
building and launching: