Steamships and their story

by E. Keble Chatterton

But at the same time that Ericsson was working at his idea, Francis Smith, an Englishman, who was afterwards knighted, was also engaged at the same problem, though his method of solution was of a different nature, as will be seen by a reference to the last illustration on the first line of [the plate facing page 118]. His patent was granted in the same year as Ericsson’s, and was tried with success the year after on the Paddington Canal. Smith was a farmer at Hendon, and had already experimented with a model driven by clockwork on a farm pond, just as Fulton had carried out his early experiments with a clockwork model in a tank. The next step was to repeat the experiment on a six-ton boat which was driven by a steam engine, the propeller being, like those of the modern aeroplanes, of wood. It was while thus experimenting that an interesting accident happened, for about one-half of the screw thus shown in the illustration was broken off, and to everyone’s surprise the boat instantly began to leap forward at a quicker speed. Later the boat was fitted with a screw having one turn instead of two, and made of metal instead of wood, and in this small craft Smith cruised as far as Folkestone. Her speed was 5½ knots.

THE “ROBERT F. STOCKTON” (1838).

Photograph supplied by Messrs. Cammell, Laird & Co., Limited, Birkenhead.

THE “ARCHIMEDES” (1839).

From a Contemporary Print.

From these satisfactory results made by the six-tonner Francis Smith, sufficient interest was aroused to form a syndicate to test the proposition commercially, and to purchase Smith’s patents. The result was that the Archimedes, of 240 tons, was launched from Limehouse in November, 1838, and fitted with Smith’s screw. It must be recollected that the same old obstinacy was still very much alive that had hindered other inventions connected with the ship, and it was not until the Archimedes had toured round Great Britain, and steamed across the Bay of Biscay and back without mishap, that people began to believe in this new method of propulsion. To-day everyone knows how entirely dominated by the screw the steamship now is, and that the paddle-wheel belongs almost exclusively to the excursion passenger steamer.

Of course, Smith’s propeller was very different in expression from the shape in use to-day, but the last word as to the ideal shape and size of the screw has even yet to be said. It would be interesting to detail all the attempts which have been made by different inventors to deal with the screw, but their name is legion, and our space will not permit. An idea, however, can be obtained of the various forms of screw propellers patented in England before 1850 from [the plate facing page 118], to which we have already called attention.

[The lower illustration facing page 120], which is taken from a contemporary aquatint, shows the Archimedes on her voyage from London to Portsmouth in the year 1839, when she attained a speed of eight knots against both wind and tide. [Facing page 122] is reproduced a model of her stern framing before being planked up. As a further test of this screw idea Wimshurst, who had built the Archimedes, launched the Novelty in 1839, a much larger vessel than her predecessor. The Novelty will be seen in [the next illustration], and in her we see the “screw” vanishing and becoming more assimilated to the modern propeller. Originally the corkscrew shape entitled it to be called a screw; but the evolution of time and experience has now considerably altered this. It will be noticed that in the Archimedes the screw is a little distance away from the stern-post, but as seen in the Novelty the propeller is put right close up against it. This Novelty was the first cargo steamer fitted with a screw, and made her inaugural trading voyage from London to Constantinople and back with entire success. She is interesting also as having been the first ship to be fitted with an iron mast. This material was employed for the mizen, the other masts were of wood; her rig was that of a barque. For some years after the introduction of the screw, and so long as sails were still retained as auxiliaries, there had to be some means of overcoming the resistance of the screw when not in use and the ship was proceeding under sail power. This was done either by fixing the blades so that they caused the minimum drag, or by lifting the screw into a well. The Novelty lifted hers on deck over the quarter by means of davits. This arrangement will also be seen in the illustration. This idea is now obsolete, since sails are but rarely employed as auxiliaries.