As a steam collier the Q.E.D. can scarcely have been a success or her engines would not have been taken out of her. Probably the first real steamer to which the title can be applied was the John Bowes, built at Messrs. Palmer’s yard, formerly in the possession of Mr. Cootes. Messrs. Palmer Brothers and Co. established the fifth yard on the Tyne for iron shipbuilding purposes and the John Bowes was their first vessel. Two steam colliers of a sort had already been built on the Mersey, but they were little better than steam barges. This, the first seagoing steam collier with a screw propeller, was 167 feet over all, 25 feet 7 inches beam, 15 feet 6 inches depth, and of 270 tons register. The firm started in 1851, and about this period the working of the new Midland coalfields began seriously to affect the sale of north country coal, which had hitherto been conveyed to London in small collier brigs. It now became imperative in the interests of colliery owners to devise some means by which the staple produce of the district could be conveyed to the metropolis expeditiously and regularly. Sir (then Mr.) Charles Palmer, who was connected with several large collieries in Northumberland and Durham, therefore designed the John Bowes with a carrying capacity of 650 tons, and capable of steaming nine miles an hour. She was launched on June 30, 1852. The experiment proved a complete success, and to it may be attributed the important development of iron shipbuilding on the north-east coast which afterwards took place. The John Bowes was the forerunner of a long list of screw colliers, and was speedily followed by the William Hutt, the Countess of Strathmore, and numerous vessels of a similar type.
Captain Blackett, R.N., speaking at the launch of the John Bowes, expressed the opinion that paddle-wheel ships were doomed altogether. The chairman, Mr. Charles M. Palmer, referred to the superiority of the vessel over the sailing brigs, and added: “The application of iron to shipbuilding, especially to colliers, gives great advantages. There being much more space than is required for cargo, the surplus in the John Bowes is available for water-ballast, by placing an inner bottom, with compartments, thus saving much detention and expense, the water being pumped out by the engine used for the screw propeller. When this description of collier is brought into general use, and the coal merchants can be supplied with regularity, and, moreover, cannot take advantage of the fleets, they will no doubt purchase from the coalowners at a price on board in the north, and thus obviate the ruinous speculations now existing, and present the most effectual mode of regulating the trade. I am aware that in substituting iron screw steamers for wooden sailing vessels we are running counter to the wishes of many shipowners, but I am satisfied we are taking the right course; we have the public with us: and I am confident of success.” His confidence is justified by the history of the Tyne.
The “John Bowes.” Launched 1852.
The “John Bowes,” 1906
(passing Palmer’s Shipyard, where she was launched, 1852.)
Numerous attempts were made to solve the problem of the proper application of the screw propeller. Most of them were fantastic and a few were even absurd. The difficulties that inventors had to surmount were so great that it is no wonder many gave up the struggle in despair, notwithstanding the obvious advantages of this method. They had to decide where the propeller should be placed so as to give the best results, without interfering with the steering powers of the rudder. They had to ascertain the best material for the bearings of the propeller shaft in order to avoid the wearing away or the overheating of the shaft and bearings through the friction caused by its revolutions; for worn bearings meant leakage and excessive vibration, and the latter meant an ever-increasing strain on the structure of the ship, this being particularly the case with wooden vessels.
By degrees these obstacles were overcome, but the questions of the number, size, and shape of the blades, their pitch, or theoretical forward movement in making a complete turn, their degree of immersion and their most efficacious speed, are taxing the brains of the most skilled naval engineers and architects of the present day. Obviously, these questions are of the highest importance to all students of marine engineering no less than to steam-ship owners. As the power of the engines increased other considerations had to receive attention, including the best material for the construction of the propeller and the best methods of building or casting it to stand the enormous strains imposed upon it by the work it had to perform.
Almost simultaneously John Ericsson, the famous Swedish inventor, and Francis Pettit Smith, a Middlesex farmer, were engaged in experiments. Mr. (afterwards Sir) F. P. Smith made, in 1836, a clockwork model of a boat with a screw propeller, and it was so successful that he built a steam launch in order to try the experiment on a larger scale. This boat, the F. P. Smith, was about 29 feet long and 5 feet 9 inches beam, and was tried in the Paddington Canal in 1837; its power was derived from a steam-engine with a cylinder having a diameter of 6 inches and a stroke of 15 inches. The propeller was of wood with two full turns, and was placed some distance in front of the sternpost, where it was driven by a system of bevel wheels from the engine to the shaft. The propeller lost a blade on one of its trips, thereby adding to the speed of the vessel, and this led Mr. Smith to instal another screw with one turn only, or a half-turn on each blade. A metal propeller was afterwards substituted, and the boat went from London to Folkestone and other places on the coast at an average speed of five to five and a half knots.
It is stated Mr. Smith built a vessel of 60 tons[83] which, with a screw propeller, attained a speed of seven or eight miles an hour and went from Blackwall to Margate in eight and a half hours, and that she also towed the British Queen steamer into the West India Dock. This probably refers to the F. P. Smith, the assertion that she was of 60 tons being erroneous. The results of the experiment were so satisfactory that a syndicate was formed which took the matter up and brought out the Ship Propeller Company, to whose capital Messrs. Rennie, the shipbuilders, subscribed £2000.