The Century of Inventions of the Marquis of Worcester / from the Original MS., with Historical and Explanatory Notes and a Biographical Memoir

by Marquis of Edward Somerset Worcester

No. XCIII.

An engine, whereby one man may take out of the water a ship of five hundred tons, so that it may be caulked, trimmed, and repaired, without need of the usual way of stocks, and as easily let it down again.

NOTE.

Beckman, in his History of Inventions, says, that a machine of this description was invented by a citizen of Amsterdam, in the year 1690, and was by him called the water camel. It consisted of two half ships, and on the deck of each were placed horizontal windlasses from which proceeded ropes made to pass under the keel of the vessel intended to be raised. The two sides of the camel having been sunk by the admission of water, the ropes were drawn tight, and the pumps being put in motion, the vessel was gradually raised to the surface. It appears to have been principally employed in crossing the bar of the Zuyderzee.