The British Association for the Advancement of Science held its sixth meeting at Bristol in August 1836; and, as Dr. Lardner was announced to lecture on Transatlantic Steam Navigation, great interest was felt in Bristol on the occasion.
After some postponement, he delivered his lecture on August 25, to a crowded meeting of the Mechanical Section. The proceedings of the Association unfortunately do not give any report of Dr. Lardner’s observations; but, as in his latest work on the subject[120] he speaks in commendatory terms of the report given in the ‘Times’ newspaper, that account may be relied on as correct.
In the ‘Times’ of August 27, 1836, it is stated that in the course of his lecture Dr. Lardner said,—
Let them take a vessel of 1,600 tons, provided with 400 horse-power engines. They must take 2⅓ tons for each horse-power, the vessel must have 1,348 tons of coal, and to that add 400 tons, and the vessel must carry a burden of 1,748 tons. He thought it would be a waste of time, under all the circumstances, to say much more to convince them of the inexpediency of attempting a direct voyage to New York, for in this case 2,080 miles was the longest run a steamer could encounter: at the end of that distance she would require a relay of coals.
There is no detailed report remaining of the animated discussion which followed the lecture, and in which Mr. Brunel took part. He exposed several errors in Dr. Lardner’s calculations, but failed to produce any effect upon the majority of those present, who were powerfully impressed by the lecturer’s dogmatic assertions.
Those assertions seem to have had a wide circulation beyond the walls of the lecture-room; and if Dr. Lardner’s arguments were sound, and if transatlantic steamers ought to have taken their departure from ‘the most western shore of the British Isles,’ the enthusiastic advocate of a railway scheme in Ireland might well exclaim,—
The promoters of this vast object stand forewarned of defeat. Dr. Lardner, who has bestowed a great deal of pains in arguing the bearings of this undertaking, has pronounced it impracticable; and I entirely agree with him in his conclusions. The effort, nevertheless, will be made; the genius of English enterprise will hazard the consequences; and every honest spirit that shall hear of the brave British crew which will embark upon that perilous expedition will feel his heart beating high for the merchant-sailor, whom nothing can deter. He will sail; but, though dangers will encompass him, and destruction appear, there is yet a hope for his ultimate success. Let us cheer ourselves with the expectation that, as the exhausted mariner returns, he will fall in with the western shores of Ireland; that, worn out and hopeless of home and comfort upon earth, the Shannon will win him to her bosom; that, invited by the graceful sinuosities of that noble stream, and the rich and fertile lands around, he will advance to this convenient and improving city; and as he rests within its walls that he will exclaim, ‘This is the place from which I ought to have set out, for here have I returned with ease and safety!’[121]
Dr. Lardner’s views are repeated in an article in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ for April 1837 (vol. lxv.); and in the report of the proceedings of the British Association for 1836 (p. 130 of the proceedings of the sections), the reader is referred to this article, apparently as a substitute for an abstract of the lecture.
The following résumé is there given of the lecture:—
The conclusions at which he arrived were briefly these: that, in the present state of the steam-engine as applied to nautical purposes, he regarded a permanent and profitable communication between Great Britain and New York by steam-vessels making the voyage in one trip as in a high degree improbable; that since the length of the voyage exceeds the present limits of steam-power, it would be advisable to resolve it into the shortest practicable stages; and that, therefore, the most eligible point of departure would be the most western shores of the British Isles, and the first point of arrival the most eastern available parts of the western continent; and that, under such circumstances, the length of the trip, though it would come fully up to the present limit of this application of steam-power, would, nevertheless, not exceed it, and that we might reasonably look for such a degree of improvement in the efficiency of marine engines as would render such an enterprise permanent and profitable. (P. 119.)