The whole of the following day (Wednesday) was occupied in showing the capabilities of the steamer to the Port-Admiral and to the naval officers who went on board.
The Thames left Plymouth at noon on Thursday for Portsmouth, where she arrived at 11 o’clock on Friday morning, having steamed 155 miles in twenty-three hours. At Portsmouth she created a greater sensation than at any of the ports she had visited. Tens of thousands of spectators assembled to gaze at her; and the number of vessels that crowded around her was so great, that it became necessary to request the Port-Admiral to assign the voyagers a guard, in order to preserve some degree of order. The Thames steamed into the harbour in the most brilliant style, travelling with the aid of wind and tide at the rate of between twelve and fourteen knots an hour. A court-martial was sitting at the time on board the Gladiator frigate, but the novelty of the steam-boat presented an irresistible attraction, and the whole court went off to her (except the president). At an early hour next morning (Saturday), the Port-Admiral, Sir Edward Thornborough, sent his band and a guard of marines on board, and soon afterwards followed in person, accompanied by three admirals, eighteen post-captains, and a large number of ladies. The morning was spent very pleasantly in steaming amongst the fleet, and running over to the Isle of Wight. The Admiral, and all the naval officers, expressed themselves delighted with the Thames.
From Portsmouth the steamer proceeded to Margate, which was reached on Sunday morning. She remained at Margate until the following day, when she started on the final portion of her voyage at half-past eight in the morning, and reached her destination (Limehouse), about six o’clock the same evening, having accomplished the ninety miles run from Margate in about nine hours. The Thames carried fifteen tons of coal, her consumption being, on the average, a ton for every hundred miles. So ended this memorable voyage, practically the first ever attempted by a steamboat on the open sea.
Dodd’s after career was a most melancholy one. Talented, enterprising and courageous though he undoubtedly was, yet he never succeeded in his enterprises. And in his later years, instead of seeking that divine help which would have enabled him to meet his disappointments with fortitude, he sought to forget them in intemperance, and almost literally died a beggar in the streets.
FOOTNOTES:
[10] “Chambers’ Journal,” 25th April, 1857.
Chapter V.
1816 to 1818.—Rivals to the Thames, the Defiance (1815), Majestic and Regent (1816).—Loss of the Regent (1817).—Liverpool Steam-boats: the Runcorn Packet, the Princess Charlotte, Liverpool to Eastham (1816). Regulator and Etna, Liverpool to Tranmere (1817).—Parkgate to Bagillt, N.W., the Ancient Briton (1817).—First Spanish Steamer, Royal Ferdinand (1817).—Siberian Steam-boats (1817).—Loss of the Regulator (1818).—David Napier.—Greenock and Belfast Steamer, Rob Roy.—First Steamer between England and Ireland, the Hibernia (1816).
The successful voyage from the Clyde to the Thames achieved by Captain Dodd, and the less-known one by the Runcorn Packet from the Clyde to the Mersey, gave a great impetus to steam-packet building, and created active opposition, especially on the London and Margate service. The Thames, after being refitted, opened the service in July, 1815. She had a monopoly of the station for about three months, when the Defiance was put on in opposition. The following year saw the Majestic placed on the River Thames, and this vessel was probably the first steamer employed in towing ships. She towed, on Wednesday, 28th August, 1816, the large Indiaman, the Hope, from Deptford to Woolwich at the rate of three miles per hour against the wind.
On the 29th June of the same year, a new steamboat, named the Regent, was tried on the Thames. She was built under the supervision of the eminent engineer Brunel, by Maudsley (founder of the famous engineering firm of Maudsley and Field). Her burden was 112 tons, and she was propelled by engines of 24 horse power. On her trial trip she steamed from Blackfriars Bridge to Battersea Bridge in 30 minutes, and back through London Bridge in 52 minutes. Her machinery was remarkably light. Her engines, paddle-wheels, and all connections necessary to give and convey the motive power, weighing only five tons. The Regent had a very short existence. On the 2nd July, 1817, she left London for Margate, with between 40 and 50 passengers on board. Although it was blowing a gale, all went well until the vessel arrived off Whitstable, about 18 miles from Margate. The Regent was keeping well out in mid-channel, and was about three miles from land, when she was discovered to be on fire amidships. The force of the wind had carried away the funnel, and the wood-work at the bottom of the funnel (nearly breast high from the deck for the protection of the passengers), caught fire. The vessel’s life-saving equipment consisted of one small boat, barely sufficient to accommodate her crew; and the only available means of extinguishing the fire was by hand buckets, dipped overside. To add to the alarm of the passengers, the buckets one after the other were either broken against the side of the steamer, or carried away by the turbulent waves. The passengers bore themselves bravely, as Britons should in the face of danger, and did not give way to panic. Perfect discipline appears to have been maintained amongst the crew. Seeing that he had no means of keeping the fire under, the Captain collected all the passengers forward and headed the Regent for the nearest shore with the intention of beaching her. This he succeeded in doing without the loss of a single life, but the vessel herself was almost totally destroyed.