In another essential, the development of steam-transport on land and sea provides a more striking contrast. The main features of George Stephenson’s “Rocket” showed in 1830, in however crude a form as regards detail and design, the leading principles of the modern locomotive engine and boiler; but the history of the marine engine, as of the steam-ship which it propels, has been one of radical change.
The earliest attempts were made, naturally enough, in the face of great opposition. Every one will remember Stephenson’s famous retort, when it was suggested to him that it would be awkward for his engine if a cow got across the rails, that “it would be very awkward—for the cow”;—and at sea it was the rule for a long while to regard steam merely as auxiliary to sails, to be used in calms. While ships were still built of wood, and while the early engines consumed a great deal of fuel in proportion to the distance covered, it was impossible to carry enough coal for long voyages, and a large sail-area had still to be provided. Progress was thus retarded until, in 1843, the great engineer Brunel proved by the Great Britain that the day of the wooden ship had passed; and the next ten years were marked by the substitution of iron for wood in shipbuilding.
Thenceforward the story of the steam-ship progressed decade by decade. Between 1855 and 1865 paddle-wheels gave place to screw propellers, and the need for engines of a higher speed, which the adoption of the screw brought about, distinguished the following decade as that in which the “compound engine” was evolved. Put shortly, “compounding” means the using of the waste steam from one cylinder to do further work in a second cylinder. The extension of this system to “triple expansion,” whereby the exhaust steam is utilised in a third cylinder, the introduction of twin screws, and the substitution of steel for iron in hull-construction, were the chief innovations between 1875 and 1885. The last fifteen years of the century saw the tonnage of the world’s shipping doubled, and the main features of mechanical progress during that period were another step to “quadruple expansion” and the application of “forced draught,” which gives a greater steam-pressure without a corresponding increase in the size of the boilers. The first decade of the present century has been already devoted to the development of the “turbine” engine.
I have to thank the Institute of Marine Engineers at Stratford, E., for much valuable assistance and for placing its Transactions at my disposal; if I have not acknowledged every item derived therefrom I trust that this general acknowledgment will suffice. To Mr. J. Kennedy, author of “The History of Steam Navigation”; Mr. A. J. Maginnis, author of “The Atlantic Ferry”; and Captain James Williamson, author of “The Clyde Passenger Steamer,” I am greatly indebted for their kind permission to draw freely upon their books: and to the publishers of the two latter, Messrs. Whittaker and Co. and Messrs. MacLehose and Sons respectively, for the loan of illustrations. Special thanks are also due to Mr. E. A. Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S.A., not only for information concerning the experiments made by Colonel Stevens with the screw propeller, but also for the loan of some unique photographs of early American boats. Mr. A. J. Dudgeon, M.I.N.A., M.I.C.E., son of the well-known Thames shipbuilder, has revised a large amount of my work, and was good enough to place at my disposal his valuable scrap-books, from the pictures in which my friend Mr. Ernest Coffin has drawn several charming line-illustrations and the initial letters to the chapters. For various assistance I have to thank other friends and correspondents: Mr. James A. Smith, M.I.N.A; Mr. Harry J. Palmer, formerly of Shipping Illustrated, New York, and now assistant to Captain Clark, Lloyd’s agent at New York; Mr. J. W. Little, of Messrs. Little and Johnson; and Mr. James Gallagher of Paris for his researches at the Academy of Sciences and elsewhere.
For permission to reproduce many illustrations of models, &c., in the Science Museum at South Kensington, I am indebted to the Board of Education; while for particular information I am glad to acknowledge the especial courtesy of Messrs. Barclay, Curle and Co., Ltd., of Whiteinch, Messrs. R. and W. Green, Ltd., Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd.; and, for revising the portion relating to Floating Docks and supplying illustrations thereof, to Messrs. Clark and Standfield. To many other famous shipbuilding firms who have supplied material or illustrations thanks must also be tendered: Messrs. Harland and Wolff of Belfast; Messrs. A. and J. Inglis of Glasgow; Messrs. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd.; the Carron Company; Messrs. Yarrow; Messrs. Eltringham and Co., Ltd.; Messrs. Smith’s Docks Co., Ltd.; Messrs. Palmer’s Shipbuilding and Iron Co., Ltd.; Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., Ltd.; the Parson’s Marine Steam Turbine Co., Ltd.; the Thames Iron Works and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.; the Vulcan Shipbuilding Co. of Stettin; Messrs. W. Denny and Brothers, Ltd., of Dumbarton; Messrs. Osbourne Graham and Co., Ltd.; Messrs. William Gray and Co., Ltd.; Sir Raylton Dixon and Co. of Middlesbrough; Messrs. W. Doxford and Sons of Sunderland; and the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, U.S.A.
To many shipowning firms I and my publishers are alike indebted for information and the loan of illustrative material; the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., Ltd.; The Cunard Company; the White Star Line; the American Line; the Pacific Steam Navigation Company; the Orient Line; Messrs. Shaw, Savill and Co., Ltd.; Lund’s Blue Anchor Line; the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company; Messrs. Elder, Dempster and Co., Ltd.; the General Steam Navigation Company; the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, Ltd.; the principal Railway Companies owning steam-ships; the Anchor Line; the Allan Line; Messrs. Brocklebank and Co.; the Bibby Line; Messrs. George Thompson and Son’s Aberdeen Line; the North German Lloyd, and the Hamburg-American Line.
Certain illustrations appear by arrangement with the editors of the Magazine of Commerce, the Shipping World, the Syren and Shipping, the Master, Mate, and Pilot (of New York), the Engineer, and the Shipbuilder. The photograph of the Minas Geraes is reproduced by special permission of his Excellency the Chief of the Brazilian Naval Commission.
R. A. Fletcher
June 1910