[156] Captain Harrison’s command of the ‘Great Eastern’ after she left the river was unhappily of but short duration, as he was drowned by the accidental upsetting of his boat in Southampton Water on January 21, 1860, four months after Mr. Brunel’s death.
[157] With this paper Mr. Brunel enclosed a letter, in which he points out with great earnestness the responsibility of his own position.
After calling the Directors’ attention to the important step they were about to take, he proceeds:—
‘I am not pointing out a danger without being prepared to propose a remedy. The same man who, after he has been selected and appointed on account of his previous character as a sailor, and as an experienced naval man, would probably feel disposed to reject advice coming from those who do not profess to be sailors, and to resist directions which might appear to him as trenching upon his authority, or as implying doubts of his ability, could have no such feeling (if he is a sensible man and fit for the position) if his attention had been drawn to these views before his appointment, and if he accepts the trust reposed in him on the understanding that he is expected to pay attention to these opinions, and if, as I shall urge upon the Directors to ascertain, he entertains no objection to the adoption of them, and agrees to follow the principles of action which I hope to induce the Directors to adopt as rules in the navigation of the ship.
‘I propose therefore to lay before the Directors the result of my anxious consideration of this subject, to urge upon them the adoption of my views, and, if they adopt them, to urge that they should make it a condition in the selection and appointment of a commander that such views are approved of and adopted by him.
‘This is a strong and plainly stated request, but not more strongly put than I feel that the occasion requires.
‘I have an immense stake in the success of this enterprise. I do not refer merely to my pecuniary investment; but, as affecting my professional reputation, my stake is much deeper; as, although I was accidentally led by circumstances into proposing the plan we have adopted, and the Company was not originally formed to carry it out, and although the plan when proposed was well weighed and considered by men competent to judge, at all events, upon the prospects as a commercial speculation, and although it was adopted by them, and therefore they must share in the responsibility, and although many may share with me in the credit of our success; yet there is no doubt that I should have to bear solely and very heavily the blame of a failure. On this ground alone, therefore, the Directors, I am sure, will willingly allow me to urge my views strongly, and will excuse the length at which I do so. But I shall rely upon satisfying them that my views and opinion should command their concurrence on their own merits; and with this preface, which has already reached an undue length, I will lay before them a paper on the subject, most of which has been written for some time in anticipation of the present circumstances, and having been thus written at different periods is, I fear, somewhat disjointed, and wanting in arrangement, and therefore much longer than it might have been.’
[158] Shortly after the publication of this report, Mr. Brunel received a letter from Mr. G. W. Bull, of Buffalo, U.S.A., encouraging him to adopt the plan of launching sideways, as that was the way in which the large steamboats of the American lakes were launched. In the course of a correspondence which ensued, Mr. Bull gave much information as to the manner in which these launches were effected. He advocated a free launch for the ‘Great Eastern.’
[159] For an account of this and other experiments and observations on friction, see [note A] at the end of this chapter.
[160] The power mentioned here as applied for starting the ship was two hydraulic presses, to overcome adhesion at the first start. The river tackle was relied on to overcome the friction.