In the present construction of iron ships the plates are not proportioned to the strength required at different parts, and nearly 20 per cent, of the total weight is expended in angle irons or frames, which may be useful or convenient in the mere putting together of the whole as a great box, but is almost useless, or very much misapplied, in affecting the strength of the structure as a ship.
All this misconstruction I forbid, and the consequence is that every part has to be considered and designed as if an iron ship had never before been built; indeed I believe we should get on much quicker if we had no previous habits and prejudices on the subject.
March 3.—Mr. Blake [of the firm of Messrs. James Watt and Co.], called, and went fully into the general drawings which he brought. On the necessity of large surfaces he quite concurred with me. The extent to which such a general principle should be carried is of course very difficult to determine; my idea is that it has never yet been approached....
March 10.—Engaged all the afternoon at Millwall.... Settled and signed the drawings of crank and piston rods. Went into many details of ship....
The extracts from Mr. Brunel’s correspondence which follow, have been selected as containing a definition in his own words of the position he held as Engineer to the Company by which the great ship was built.
Letter to the Secretary of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company.
[This letter was written in consequence of a resolution of the Directors, asking Mr. Brunel to recommend them a resident engineer, in order that constant supervision might be exercised over the works, and frequent reports made to the Board.
The Directors rescinded their resolution; but this letter is inserted as showing, in clear and forcible language, Mr. Brunel’s view of the nature of his duties and responsibilities, and as laying down what in his opinion ought to be the relations between the Directors of a Company and their Engineer.]
August 16, 1854.
...It surely cannot be necessary to remind the Directors that the very unusual stake which as a professional man I have been willing, perhaps imprudently, to risk on the success of this project—I mean stake of professional character, not mere pecuniary risk—must secure a much greater amount of attention to any step, and supervision of any detail on my part, than any ordinary professional engagement would obtain; the heavy responsibility of having induced more than half of the present Directors of the Company to join, and the equally heavy responsibility towards the holders of nearly half of the capital, must ensure on my part an amount of anxious and constant attention to the whole business of the Company which is rarely given by a professional man to any one subject, and, as it seems to me, ought to command a proportionate degree of confidence, or rather command entire confidence, in me, if any at all, for in such a case there can hardly be any medium. The fact is, that I never embarked in any one thing to which I have so entirely devoted myself, and to which I have devoted so much time, thought, and labour, on the success of which I have staked so much reputation, and to which I have so largely committed myself and those who were disposed to place faith in me; nor was I ever engaged in a work which from its nature required for its conduct and success that it should be entrusted so entirely to my individual management and control....