References
- Snodgrass , Gabriel . 1935 . The History of American Sailing Ships 10 a working shipwright who had been appointed Surveyor to the East India Company in 1757, contended that ‘a great deal too much has been said in favour of French ships. I cannot, myself, see anything worthy of being copied from them but their magnitude’. (Letter from Gabriel Snodgrass, Esq. to the Right Honorable Henry Dundas, President of the Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, etc., etc., and to the Hon. the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, and Court of Directors of the East-India Company, on the mode of improving the Navy of Great Britain: to which is added an Appendix. Printed by order of the Hon. Court of Directors, 1797, p.) Admittedly, there has always been a persistent tendency to over-estimate the quality of an enemy's or rival's ships and armament. The French were almost equally prone to emphasize the superiority of such English ships as they were able to capture and adopt. On the other hand, Snodgrass was forced to admit the ‘very extraordinary’ fact that several line-of-battle ships and large frigates were being built by government from drafts ‘copied from those ridiculous ships’. Mr George Naish of the National Maritime Museum is inclined to agree with Snodgrass that the Admiralty had no need of French models, and he tells me that he is fortified in his judgement by Howard I. Chapelle's hardening conviction that the Americans followed English rather than French designs. (For an earlier discussion on French influence, see Chapelle's. PP. 78et seq.)
- Fincham , John . 1851 . A History of Naval Architecture 176 London
- 107 – 15 . All the text-books were foreign, since none in English existed. None the less, under the headship of Dr Inman, a Cambridge mathematician, forty-one Admiralty students were graduated before the closing of the school by Sir James Graham in 1832. Not until 1848 did the Admiralty agree to the re-introduction of systematic theoretical training; and the new School of Mathematics and Naval Construction under the guidance of Dr Woolley, with only eight students, initiated in the course of its short five-years' existence a major reformation in merchant marine and naval design and construction. In 1860 the Institution of Naval Architects was founded, but not until 1864 was the teaching of the science of naval architecture resumed, when with Admiralty support, a College of naval architecture was established in South Kensington. In 1873 it was moved to Greenwich, and became an Admiralty school associated with the Royal Naval College, and after 1884 a ‘feeder’ to the newly formed Corps of Naval Constructors. See Sidney Pollard, ‘The Economic History of British Shipbuilding, 1870–1914’, a thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of London, 1951
- Robertson , F. L. The Evolution of Naval Armament 55 – 6 . (London, 1921) pp. For an admirable survey of theoretical advances in naval architecture before 1877, see Sir William White's Manual of Naval Architecture (London, 1877) chap, xi, ‘The Resistance of Ships’; chap, XII, ‘Propulsion by Sails’. At the time of writing, White was instructor in naval architecture at the Royal Naval College
- Mechanism of Waves 276 – 9 . None the less, Russell's study of the (1834) influenced the design of four Royal Mail Company ships, and his work on iron hulls led to the introduction of longitudinal framing and cellular double bottoms. Moreover, it was Russell in alliance with Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who, in 1852, designed and built the Great Eastern, based on the latest scientific and mathematical knowledge. See Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, Naval Development in the Century (London, 1904)
- Pollard . 106 See op. cit.
- A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation 82 In 1800, 1803 and 1813, Bell unsuccessfully sought support for his inventions with the British Government. In 1803, after being informed that the Board of Admiralty were not interested, he forwarded ‘an account of his method of propelling vessels against wind and tide, by the application of steam power’ to most of the European governments, and also to the United States. (Bennett Woodcroft, (London, 1848), p.)Although the United States with some justification has laid claim to the honour of having first applied steam power to long-distance commercial navigation, the first steamer capable of practical, continuous service was the Charlotte Dundas built by William Symington in 1801–2. The engine which was built by Watt drove a stern wheel. In 1807 with information obtained by watching these experiments on the Forth and Clyde Canal, Fulton built the Clermont in a New York yard, and in the autumn of that year the Clermont, with a Boulton and Watt engine, steamed the 130 miles to Albany in thirty-two hours, and subsequently maintained a regular service. Within fifteen years, some three hundred steamers were being used on American lakes and rivers
- 1924 . A History of the English People, 1815 809 London Parliamentary Debates, Vol. xxx, p.; quoted Elie Halévy, p. 45
- 1838 . The Comet 44 of 25 tons had a 40-foot keel, 10½-foot beam, 3 horse-power and a speed of five miles an hour. (Porter, Progress of the Nation, Vol. II (ed., p. B. Woodcroft, op. cit. p. 81.)
- 1847 . An Autobiographical Memoir of 388 – 9 . London Sir John Barrow
- Ibid.
- Beamish , R. 1933 . Memoir of the Life of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel 142 – 3 . See (London, 1862), pp. Only in the thirties can it be said that government took the initiative in encouraging steam navigation, often by subsidizing mail steamers. Cf. C. E. Fayle, History of the World's Shipping Industry (London, p. 229
- 1869 . Melville Papers 229 – 30 . Mi : Ann Arbor . Nicholas Vansittart to Melville, 31 July 1820; Clements Library, chigan, U.S.A. ‘The slow progress which the naval service has made towards its present ameliorated state’, wrote Lord Cochrane (subsequently Tenth Earl of Dundonald) in later and soberer years, ‘…has not permitted any one Board of Admiralty in my time to stand pre-eminently distinguished for decisive improvements. These have rather been effected by the gradual changes which time occasions, or by following the example of America, or even of France than by encouraging efforts of native genius….This timidity as to change caused many years to elapse, after the commercial use of steam-vessels, before the naval department possessed even a tug-boat.’ (Letter of 7 June 1842; in Thomas (Eleventh Earl of) Dundonald and H. R. Fox Bourne, The Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, Vol. 11 (London, pp.)
- Young , G. M. , ed. 1934 . The Comet Vol. 1 , 305 – 6 . which the Navy fitted with four 9-pounders, had a boiler capable of raising steam pressure of about pounds, a long bell-mouthed chimney and a single-cylinder reciprocating engine pointing upwards and slowly turning a pair of unboxed paddle-wheels. The whole apparatus was hand-made in hammered iron, and provided a speed of four to five knots. (See G. A. Ballard, ‘The Navy’, in Early Victorian England 1830–1865, vol., London, pp.)
- Smith , E. C. 1844 . A Short History of Naval and Marine Engineering 84 (Cambridge, 1838), p.; see also, E. Miles, An Epitome, Historical and Statistical, Descriptive of the Royal Naval Service of England (London, p. 35
- Letter of 8 April 1836; Broadlands Papers. I am indebted to Professor Sir Charles Webster for this quotation
- 1852 . Our Navigation and Mercantile Marine Laws 78 London
- Church , William C. 1890 . The Life of John Ericsson Vol. 1 , 89 – 91 . See 2 vols. (London, Vol.
- 1917 . Galatea Vol. 1 , 105 Mi : Ann Arbor . ‘I have really much doubt whether we ought not to go further with the fitting of Paddles…wrote Admiral Cockburn to John Wilson Croker in 1830, in the course of advising the second secretary of the Amiralty to go aboard Captain Napier's 42-gun frigate at Spithead, and inspect the paddle machinery. ‘Your opinion upon it’, he went on, ‘would be most useful to us in helping us to some ultimate decision upon it—and Napier would be delighted to shew off his hobby to you’. (12 September 1830; Cockburn-Croker Correspondence, in the Clements Library, chigan.) Croker visited the ship on 14 September (see Sir Henry Keppel, A Sailor's Life under Four Sovereigns, 3 vols. (London, 1899) Vol., p.). Napier's experiments were conducted by means of winches set up on each side, and along the whole length of the main deck. To set the paddles in motion two-thirds of the ship's company were required to man the winches. (H.N. Williams, The Life and Letters of Admiral Sir Charles Napier (London, p. 66.)
- Halstead , E. P. 1850 . The Screw Fleet of the Navy 6 – 7 . London
- It was announced only recently (1955) that the Admiralty had ordered the building of several paddle-tugboats for use in congested or restricted harbours such as Portsmouth
- 1851 . On Naval Warfare with Steam 40 See General Sir Howard Douglas, (London, 1858), p.; C. N. Nixon, Observations on Steam Ships and the Use of Iron, etc. (London, 1847), p. 10; also, James Peake, Rudiments of Naval Architecture; or an Exposition of the Practical Principles of the Science in its Application to Naval Construction (London, p. 144
- 1850 . The Screw Fleet of the Navy 47 London
- Colomb , P. H. Vice-Admiral . 1856 . Memoirs of Admiral The Right Honble Sir Astley Cooper Key 228 See (London, 1898), p.; and John Bourne, A Catechism of the Steam Engine 4th ed. (London, p. 405
- 1847 . Basilisk Vol. 617 , 8 See General Report upon the trials between H.M. shipsNiger, Captain E. P. Halsted to Secretary of Admiralty, 1 October 1849; Public Record Office, Admiralty 7, vol., Case 132. Although it was accepted before the Crimean War that steam would have a fundamental effect on warfare especially in narrow seas, the steam vessel was regarded even after the Crimean War as an ‘auxiliary’ rather than a ‘principal’ in any scheme of naval manœuvre. See, for example, the views of Captain Bowles, Remarks on the Conduct of the Naval Administration of Great Britain since 1815 3rd ed. (London
- Nixon , C. N. Observations on Steam Ships 8 – 9 .
- A Catechism of the Steam Engine 407 4th ed.
- Colomb . Memoirs of Cooper Key 225 See
- Archimedes By 1840, satisfactory unofficial tests with packets, and finally the successful trials of the (232 tons and 80 horse-power) jolted even the more stiff-necked of the Admiralty into approval and action. Between 1842 and 1845 the experimental screw-sloop Rattler showed herself by trials (which included a tug-of-war with the paddlewheeler Alecto’) a handier and more efficient ship than a paddle sloop of similar size, lines and power
- 1851 . Basilisk 565 General Report upon the trials between H.M. ShipsNiger, loc. cit. For further analysis of evidence, see Report of the House of Commons
- Colomb . 1955 . Memoirs of Cooper Key 221 footnote, p. See also Geoffrey Penn, Up Funnel, Down Screw, The Story of the Naval Engineer (London, p. 50
- Hoseason , J. C. 1853 . The Steam Navy: and the Application of Screw Propellers to Sea-going Line of Battle Ships 7 – 8 . London See pp., 19, 49
- Mends , B. S. Life of Admiral Sir IF. R. Mends 232 (London, 1899), pp., 244–5
- Colomb . Cooper Key, op. cit. 307
- Froude . Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects 287 – 94 . (1810–79) became Vice-President of the Institution of Naval Architects. A brief biography taken from the Vol. xx, is contained in Barnaby, Naval Development of the Century, pp. A leading article on Froude in The Engineer of 13 July 1934 contains the following speculation: ‘We suppose no useful estimate of the economy which has resulted from tank testing can ever be made, but it may at any rate be said that it would have to be made in millions of pounds sterling, no lesser unit being adequate for the magnitude of the computation.’ (Quoted in Engineer Captain E. C. Smith, A Short History, op. cit. p. 357.)
- Bourne , John . 1892 . A Treatise on the Steam-Engine 803 – 80 . See 10th ed. (London, 1872), p.; also, his Catechism of the Steam Engine 4th ed. (London, 1856), pp. 75; and Treatise on the Screw Propeller (London, 1867). For a simple account, with diagrams of the side-lever engine and the system of gearing for screw engines, see Arthur J. Maginnis, The Atlantic Ferry, Its Ships, Men and Working (London, pp. 175–8
- Ibid. 305 – 10 .
- The Himalaya was built at Blackwall in 1853–340 ft. long, 46 ft. wide, and with a displacement of 4690 tons. She had a single-screw 18 ft. in diameter. As H.M.S. Himalaya she served throughout the latter part of the Crimean War as a naval transport, eventually ending her days as a coal hulk
- 1867 . The Fouling and Corrosion of Iron Ships 8 London Quoted in C. F. T. Young
- Pollard . 32 See op. cit. p. According to Engineer Captain E. C. Smith, ‘Iron ship-building owed nothing to official encouragement, and its rise was entirely due to private enterprise’. (Short History, p. 95.)
- A Manual of Naval Architecture, op. cit. 326 – 9 . In the beginning, iron ships were built in the same way as wooden ones; indeed, frames were often fitted together and spliced like frame timbers, with the ribs built upwards, instead of longitudinally to provide girder-strength. Gradually as the principles of iron ship construction became better understood considerable savings in weight of hull were effected even in the ironclad along with an increase in structural strength. In merchant ships the change from wood to iron meant a saving of from 30 to 40 per cent. See W. H. White, pp., 369–70
- The Fouling and Corrosion of Iron Ships 16 In 1863 the Controller of the Navy in a published statement on the comparative advantages of wood and iron in the construction of ships, remarked on ‘the extreme uncertainty as to the quality of the material used, in fact, the small quantity of real good iron of the best ship-building qualities that can be found in the market.’ C. F. T. Young, p. See also Pollard, op. cit. p. 38
- 1933 . Postscript—Iron Defences 5 – 9 . As early as 1842 General Sir Howard Douglas was consulted by Sir Robert Peel, as to the ‘use and efficiency of a certain half-dozen iron frigates, two of which were finished and four constructing by contract’. Douglas replied that ‘vessels wholly constructed of iron were utterly unfit for all the purposes of war, whether armed or as transports for the conveyance of troops. I stated that a shot striking with great velocity would drive into the ship numerous splinters of the disk struck—that shot striking with reduced velocity, as when fired from a distance, would make large jagged holes that could not be plugged from the inside….’ According to Douglas, he afterwards accompanied Admiral Sir George Cockburn to Woolwich to watch some experiments. Subsequently, he reported to Peel, and exhibited some of the fragments and splinters. In Douglas's opinion, the report plus the evidence put an end to the construction of iron vessels at that time. (2nd ed., London, 1861, p.) The Douglas view was widely shared in Admiralty circles, and the proponents of iron were for long regarded, in the words of the former Admiralty secretary, Sir John Barrow, as ‘a dangerous set of projectors….’ (Autobiography, p. 445.) In 1861 Scott Russell, in a pungent and conclusive answer to Douglas's Postscript, remarked that if the iron warship had been introduced at the time when Douglas ‘sedulously and systematically opposed their introduction’, the money spent on a semi-obsolete fleet ‘would already have given to England a fleet more powerful than the combined navies of the world’, and with an enormous saving in naval expenditure. (The Fleet of the Future, Iron or Wood (London, 1861), p. 6.) Douglas was reluctantly ‘converted’ to the ironclad in 1861. (See J. P. Baxter 3rd, The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship (Cambridge, Mass., pp. 168.)
- 1877 . Manual of Naval Architecture 364 – 5 .
- Anon . 1851 . A Standing Navy 101 London