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Abstract
The idea of the steam-propelled boat can be traced back to the sixteenth century, but it was not until the 1780s that it became a reality. Invention and innovation occurred in a number of different locations in France, America, and Britain from a small group of engineers who had previously (and continued to be) involved in the development of land-based steam power and its applications. In 1817 James Watt jnr. acquired Caledonia which had been built on the Clyde; it was re-engined and re-fitted to become a floating laboratory and, in the same year, after some trial runs on the Thames, he sailed to Rotterdam, taking with him an employee, James Brown, who was to become manager of Boulton Watt & Co.’s London office. The paper discusses whether, and to what extent, the experiment delivered valid results.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge a research grant from The Leverhulme Trust for the project ‘Dilemmas of a Maturing Technology, Boulton Watt & Co and 19th Century Steam Engineering’ which was based at The Universities of Birmingham and Bristol. We are grateful for contributions to the research by Dr Jeremy Stein, Dr James Andrew, Adrian Platts and Dr Roger Owen; for archivists and librarians at Birmingham City Archives, the Science Museum Library, National Archives Kew, Heriot Watt University Archives.
Notes
1. The voyage took place two years before Watt snr’s death, Boulton having died eight years previously in 1809. In 1794 the ownership of the firm Boulton & Watt had formally been transferred to the ownership of the founders’ sons: James Watt jnr., Gregory Watt (died 1804, his share reverting to his brother) and Matthew Robinson Boulton. By 1817 M.R. Boulton was playing only a small part in the engine business and not at all in the marine engineering side.
2. Sailing ship technology, as is well known, continued to be developed until the end of the nineteenth century, C.K. Harley, ‘The Shift from Sailing Ships to Steamships 1850–1890: A Study in Technological Change and its Diffusion’, in Essays on a Mature Economy: Britain after 1840, ed. by D.N. McCloskey (repr.2015, Princeton: Princeton UP), pp. 215–37; L.C. Hunter, Steamboats on the Western Rivers: An Economic and Technological History, (New York: Dover repr,1993), p.100; K.J. Foster, ‘Thames Shipyards and Merchants and the American Civil War 1861–1865’, in Shipbuilding and Ships on the Thames, ed. by R. Owen (West Wickham: Owen, nd,.(c.2005)), pp. 39–67;. by the 1870s UK registered steam vessels accounted for around a quarter of the total UK tonnage, E.C. Smith, A Short History of Marine Engineering, (Cambridge: Babcox & Wilcox, 1937), p. 17. American engineers continued to develop wooden sailing ships for ocean travel, the most notable being the clippers: B. Hindle and S. Lubar, Engines of Change; the American Industrial Revolution 1790–1860 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1986), pp. 116–7.
3. E. Robinson and A.E. Musson, James Watt and the Steam Revolution, A Documentary History, (Bath: Adams & Dart, 1969), p. 5.
4. For example B&W experimented on the power requirements for steam corn milling, Richard Arkwright demonstrated the spindle to hp ration for his water frame, G.A. Lee experimented on the power requirements of spinning mules, Whitbread experimented on the machine to power ratios in several brewery functions: J. Tann, The Development of the Factory (London: Cornmarket Press, 1970), pp. 71–94; J. Tann, ‘Richard Arkwright and Technology,’ History, 58 (1973), 29–44; J. Tann, ‘Borrowing Brilliance, Technology Transfer Across Sectors in the Early Industrial Revolution,’ International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology, 85 (2015), 94–114.
5. K.T. Rowland, Steam at Sea: A History of Steam Navigation (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1970), pp.28–63; C.J. Williamson, Clyde Passenger Steamers, 1812–1901 (1904, repr. Stevenage: Spa Books, 1987), pp.44–66; L.C. Hunter, Steamboats on the Western Rivers (New York: Dover, 1949), pp. 121–70; H.P. Spratt, The Birth of the Steamboat (London: Charles Griffin & Co, 1958), pp. 32–73.
6. This was Caledonia, see below.
7. G. Cantor, ‘The Rhetoric of Experiment’, in The Uses of Experiment, Studies in the Natural Sciences, eds. by D. Gooding, T. Pinch and S. Schaffer (CUP, Cambridge, 1989), pp. 159–80; A. Franklin, ‘The Epistomology of Experiment’ in ibid, pp. 437–60; G.C. Bowker and S.L. Star, Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), pp. 285–317.
8. S. Lindqvist, ‘Laboratories in the Woods: The Quantification of Technology during the Late Enlightenment’, in The Quantifying Spirit in the Eighteenth Century, ed. by T. Frangsmyr, T. Heilbron, J.L. Rider and E. Robin (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1990), pp. 219–314. Until 1796, when engine production commenced at Soho Foundry, B&W subcontracted the manufacture of the majority of engine parts to a range of specialist founders and fabricators. Even after 1796 some parts were still subcontracted, J. Tann ’Boulton and Watt’s Organisation of Steam Engine Production before the Opening of Soho Foundry’ in S.Pollard, ed., The Metal Fabrication and Engineering Industries (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), pp. 307–20.
9. R.E. Schofield, The Lunar Society of Birmingham (Oxford,1963), pp. 250–89; J. Uglow, The Lunar Men: The Friends who made the Future (London: Faber & Faber, 2002), pp. 126–38.
10. A.E. Musson and E. Robinson, Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1969), pp. 87–189; H.W. Dickinson and R. Jenkins, James Watt and the Steam Engine (1927, repr. Ashbourne: Moorland Publishing, 1981), pp. 348–57; E. Robinson, ‘James Watt, Engineer by Act of Parliament,’ in Bicentenary of the James Watt Patent, Proceedings of a Two Day Symposium, ed. by R. Donaldson (Glasgow: University of Glasgow, 1969), pp.18–19; E. Robinson and A.E. Musson, James Watt and the Steam Revolution (London: Adams & Dart, 1969), pp. 23–38; J. Smeaton, Reports of the Late John Smeaton F.R.S. vol 2 (London: Adams & Dart, 1812), pp. 375–435.
11. Musson (endnote 10), pp. 87–189; J. Tann, The Selected Papers of Boulton & Watt, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981) p. 1.
12. Lindqvist (endnote 8), pp. 219–314.
13. D.S.L. Cardwell, Technology, Science and History (London, 1972), quoted in Lindqvist, (note 8), p. 312; M.N. Wise ed., The Values of Precision (Princeton, 1995), pp. 6–9; T. Porter, ‘Precision and Trust: Early Victorian Insurance and the Politics of Calculation’ in Wise, ibid, p. 191; A.J. Sharp, Distance Run: A History of the Patent Ship-Log (Weymouth: Brassbounders, 1999), pp.1–11; H.A. Klein, The Science of Measurement: A Historical Survey (New York: Dover, 1974), pp. 53–73.
14. D. Mackenzie, ‘From Kwajalein to Armageddon? Testing and the Social Construction of Missile Accuracy’ in The Uses of Experiment, ed. by D. Gooding, T. Pinch and S. Schaffer (Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 1989), pp. 412–7.
15. H.M. Collins, Changing Order: Replication and Induction to Scientific Practice (London, 1985), pp. 80–83, 103–4; Y. Gingras, ‘The Experimenters’ Regress: from Scepticism to Argumentation’, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 33 (2002), 137–52.
16. Mackenzie (note 14), pp. 412–7.
17. See the example of early-twentieth aviation: W.G. Vincenti, ‘Technological Knowledge without Science, the Innovation of Flush Riveting in American Airplanes c.1930–c.1950’ Technology and Culture, 25 (1984), 540–76; Mackenzie (note 14), pp. 412–7; Lindqvist (note 8), pp. 219–314.
18. P.H. Spratt, The Birth of the Steamboat (London: Charles Griffin, 1958), pp. 65–8.
19. Ibid, pp. 75–6.
20. J. Armstrong and D.M. Williams, ‘The Beginnings of a New Technology: The Constructors of Early Steamboats 1812–1822,’ International Journal for the History of Engineering and Technology, 81 (2001), 1–21.
21. Watt met the brothers by chance when walking in the hills near Keswick and ‘being struck with their sharpness’ invited them to Birmingham ‘where they grew up to be most useful assistants.’ Although both brothers travelled for B&W, it was Henry who was more usually based in a major area of B&W’s business. Hence their letters – those from Henry to William being the ones surviving in the Houldsworth MSS. J. Tann, ‘Two Knights at Pandemonium: a Worm’s-Eye View of Boulton Watt & Co., c.1800–1820,’ History of Technology, 20 (1998).
22. Spratt (note 18), pp. 48–50.
23. Glasgow Museum of Transport, Houldsworth MSS, H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 21 July 1813.
24. R. Armstrong, Powered Ships, I, The Beginnings (London: Benn, 1974), p. 43; H. Pearson, The Early History of Hull Steam Shipping (1896, repr. Howden: Mr Pye Books, 1984), pp. 4–8; D. Napier, ed., David Napier, Engineer 1790–1869, An Autobiographical Sketch with Notes (Glasgow, 1912), pp.18–20; P. Riden, The Butterley Co. (Chesterfield, 1990), pp. 42, 74, 145; J. Williamson, Clyde Passenger Steamers (1904, repr. Stevenage: Spa Books, 1987), pp. 24–43; J. Tann, ‘Steam and Sugar: The Diffusion of the Stationary Steam Engine to the Caribbean Sugar Industry 1770–1840,’ History of Technology, 19 (1997), pp. 63–83.
25. Birmingham Libraries, B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to W. Creighton(repr. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 2014).
26. Ibid, R. O’Brien to Watt jnr. 23 Nov 1824.
27. J. Farey, A Treatise on the Steam Engine vol. 1, (1827 repr. Newton Abbott: David & Charles, 1971), p. 677.
28. Houldsworth MSS, H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 14 Dec 1815.
29. Ibid, H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 22 Dec 1815.
30. Quoted in ibid, H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 24 Dec 1815.
31. Tredgold published a diagram of a side-lever engine, the accompanying notes to which state: ‘This plate is an isometrical projection of the steam boat engine, in the manner they were first arranged by Messrs Boulton and Watt; and nearly the same principle of construction is followed by all the best manufacturers.’ T. Tredgold, The Steam Engine: its Invention and Progressive Improvement, an Investigation of its Principles, and its Application to Navigation, Manufactures, and Railways, vol. 2 (London, 1838), p. 347, plate XVIII; J. Tann, ‘Two Knights …’ (note 21, repr. CUP, Cambridge, 2014), p. 63.
32. H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 4 Jan 1816.
33. Cantrell and Cookson, Henry Maudslay & the Pioneers of the Machine Age (Stroud: Tempus Publishing, 2002). p. 171.
34. H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 17 Feb 1816; 9 March 1816; 4 March 1818.
35. W. Creighton to H. Creighton, 24 Dec 1815; A. Rees, Cyclopaedia; or Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences (1802–1820).
36. H. Creighton to W. Creighton, nd. Jan 1816; 9 March 1816.
37. Creighton transcribed the table and underneath it wrote: This table is founded upon Col Beaufoy’s Exps – he found that a vessel having one sq foot section & shaped as a well formed vessel, required a force of abt 401 lbs to move it 8 miles pr hour/the weight moving thro the same space & the resistance being as the square of the velocity.’ H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 27 May 1817.
38. Encyclopaedia Britannica (London, 1771), p. 111; Sharp (note 13), pp. 5–11.
39. J. Smeaton, The Miscellaneous Papers of John Smeaton Civil Engineer FRS. Comprising his Communications to the Royal Society Printed in Philosophical Transactions, Forming a Fourth Volume to his Reports (London: Longman, 1814), p. 21.
40. H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 10 Jan 1816.
41. J. Farey, An Approximate Rule for calculating the Velocity with which a Steam Vessel will be impelled through still Water, by the Exertion of a given Amount of Mechanical Power, or Forcible Motion by Marine Steam Engines (London, 1833), pp. 111–2.
42. H. Creighton W. Creighton, 23 Jan 1817; 7 Jan 1818.
43. Williamson (note 5), pp. 24–43.
44. H. Creighton to W. Creighton nd.1817.
45. B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, 9 Sep 1817.
46. Ibid, Watt jnr. to J. Brown, 23 Aug 1817.
47. B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, nd. 1817; H. Creighton to W. Creighton, 30 Oct 1817.
48. B&W MSS Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, 9 Sep 1817; Watt jnr. to J. Watt, nd (1817).
49. Heriot Watt University, James Brown MSS, Diary.
50. Ibid; B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to J.Watt, 1 Feb 1818.
51. Ibid.
52. B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to W. Creighton 23 July 1819; W. Creighton noted that ‘the flying Dutchman’, probably the Moerdyke, achieved on 6 mph, while in the same year the James Watt reached only 7 mph, a performance described by Creighton as ‘miserable’, W. Creighton to J. Brown, 2 May 1822; W. Creighton to J. Brown, 9 May 1822.
53. B&W MSS, Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, 25 May 1821.
54. Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, 16 Aug 1820; Watt jnr. to W. Creighton, 22 June 1821.
55. C. Macleod et.al, ‘Making Waves:The Royal Navy’s Management of Invention and Innovation in Steam Shipping,’ History and Technology,16 (2000), pp. 307–33.
56. National Archives, ADM 106/164C/76/29; R.A. Buchanan and M.W. Doughty, ‘The Choice of Steam Engine Manufacturers by the British Admiralty, 1822–1852,’ The Mariner’s Mirror, 64 (1978), pp. 327–47.
57. Boulton and Watt MSS, Engine Books and Engine Day Books, 1815–1832.