In November 1855, the Directors proceeded to appoint a commander to the ship; and their choice fell upon Mr. William Harrison, one of the most distinguished of the captains of the Cunard Company’s steamers.
This appointment gave Mr. Brunel great satisfaction; he found in Captain Harrison a warm and faithful friend, and an able adviser on all matters connected with the completion and equipment of the ship.[156]
Before they came to a decision, the Directors asked Mr. Brunel to communicate to them his views on the considerations which ought to influence them in their choice.
The memorandum he drew up on the management of the great ship, and a letter on the duties of the chief engineer, are inserted at length, as forming a complete record of the principles which, in his opinion, should be followed ‘in the use of this new machine,’ while employed on the voyages which she was specially designed to make.
Memorandum on the Management of the Great Ship.
October, 1855.
The question of the principles to be followed in the use of this new machine, for such it must be considered, and the character and the qualifications of the man to whom it is to be entrusted, and the points to which his attention must be particularly devoted, have long been subjects of deep and serious consideration with me.[157]
And the difficulties are complicated by the consideration that public opinion, and those established and universally received opinions which, being the result of experience, cannot be called prejudices, have to be considered, and must be yielded to to a great extent, even when somewhat opposed to sound reasoning, or to conclusions deliberately formed upon a due consideration of the novel circumstances under which we have to act; but, while conceding much to past experience, and to preconceived opinions, the real requirements of the case must have the first consideration.
Thus, as it is a ship that we have to navigate, public opinion, if nothing else, requires that we should have a sailor of undoubted experience and skill to command her; but although seamanship may be one of the essential conditions or qualifications for the commander, I think we shall find, upon examination, that the work we have to do, and the duties to be performed, and the qualifications we consequently require in the man who is to conduct this work, are so peculiar that mere seamanship, in the ordinary sense of the term, if it were to be solely relied upon, would be even a disadvantage rather than otherwise, and that we require much that is not necessarily found in the most perfect specimen of a seaman, and much that is far more difficult to find than the ordinary qualifications.
I wish particularly to impress this upon you: the subject has occupied long, frequent, and serious deliberations. I have come to the conclusion which you will no doubt readily acquiesce in, that our first practical mechanical success, upon which so much of our financial success hangs (although others might reap the benefit even of our failure in the first instance), will depend mainly upon the skilful management in our earliest voyages of the machine we are about to set afloat; but I have also come to the conclusion, the correctness of which may not be so immediately apparent to you, that this machine, though nominally a ship, not only admits of, but requires, a totally different management from that which may have successfully navigated ordinary ships, and that most of the habits, feelings, and sensations, amounting to instinct, possessed by a good sailor, and the peculiar power of skilful adaptation of expedients to emergencies, which constitute the merits of a first-rate sailor, have to be put aside for a time rather than applied in the first instance to make a successful commander of the vessel.