Fortune at length seemed to smile on poor Symington, and his spirits were proportionately elated at the result of these important experiments. He had, in fact, achieved a decided success in the ‘Charlotte Dundas,’—in which he combined together, for the first time, those improvements which constitute the present system of Steam Navigation. Indeed Mr. Woodcroft, a competent judge, says that “the vessel might, from the simplicity of its machinery, have been at work at this day with such ordinary repairs as are now occasionally required to all steamboats.”[376]
Lord Dundas was so well satisfied with the performances of the vessel that he proposed to introduce the inventor to the Duke of Bridgewater, the great canal proprietor, who had expressed to him his wish to employ some method of hauling his boats more effective than horse-power. His Lordship accordingly directed Symington to have a model of his steamboat constructed for the purpose of showing it to the Duke. Symington went up to London himself to explain its mechanical arrangements, and the Duke was so much pleased with it that he ordered eight boats of the same construction to be made as speedily as possible for use upon his canal. Symington returned to Scotland to proceed with the execution of this important order.
But in the moment of his apparent triumph fate again proved hostile to the inventor. Though Lord Dundas was fully satisfied with the performances of the ‘Charlotte Dundas,’ and hailed the use of steam as the beginning of a new era in navigation, the proprietors of the canal became seriously alarmed lest the banks should be washed away by the waves which the steamboat raised in its wake, and they came to the resolution of prohibiting all further experiments. To add to Symington’s vexation, the very same day on which this adverse decision of the canal managers reached him, he received intelligence of the death of the Duke of Bridgewater, and an order to suspend the erection of the eight steamboats until fresh instructions had been given. By this time Lord Dundas had expended about 7000l. on his experiments, and was not disposed to proceed any further with them. The ‘Charlotte Dundas,’ the first successful steamboat, was accordingly laid up at Bainsford, in a creek of the canal; and the attempt to introduce steam navigation on canals was from that time suspended.[377]
Symington’s experiments, though they proved most unfortunate as respected himself, nevertheless led to the adoption of the system of navigation by steam both in America and Scotland. Among the many visitors who inspected the ‘Charlotte Dundas’ were Fulton the American artist, and Andrew Bell the engineer, of Glasgow. Fulton was on board the first vessel in the month of July, 1801, when she made a run of eight miles on the Forth and Clyde Canal in an hour and twenty minutes; on which occasion he narrowly inquired into the action of the engine and paddle-wheels, and made careful sketches of the vessel and her machinery.[378] Andrew Bell also made frequent visits to the ‘Charlotte Dundas,’ as well as to the pattern shop where the models of the machinery were kept; and there is little doubt that, like Fulton, he obtained his ideas of steam navigation principally from what Symington had accomplished. Fulton and Bell were well acquainted with each other,[379] and kept up a correspondence on the subject of steamboats. Bell, according to his own account, supplied Fulton with information and drawings of steamboat machinery; and it was by his recommendation that Fulton ordered the engine for his first successful steamboat from Boulton and Watt.
With the information obtained at Grangemouth, Fulton proceeded to Paris, where we shortly find him in communication with Mr. Livingstone, the United States’ envoy, who, like Fulton, took much interest in the subject of steam navigation. They had a model steamboat built for trial on the Seine; but when on the point of making the first experiment, the weight of the machinery broke the boat in two, and the whole went down together. Fulton’s greatest difficulty, as was to be expected, consisted in finding a suitable engine to propel his proposed boat, and he wrote to his friends in England on the subject. In March, 1802, we find him addressing Dr. Cartwright, who had invented an improvement in the steam-engine, which he thought would render it more suitable for driving vessels, requesting to be informed of the cost of one of six horse power, with particulars of its size and weight. Fulton communicated to his correspondent that, besides his proposed steamboat, he was experimenting on his ‘Nautilus’ or diving-boat for navigating under water; the object of this invention being to blow up the English ships of war which were then blockading the French ports. The experiments with the ‘Nautilus’ under water were said to have proved tolerably successful, though it had not yet succeeded in blowing up any of the English ships.
Not being able to obtain any satisfactory information from Dr. Cartwright, Fulton addressed a letter to James Watt, jun., of Soho, requesting to be informed of the price of a light and compact engine for his proposed vessel. “The object of my investigation,” he said, “is to find whether it is possible to apply the engine to working boats up our long rivers in America. The persons who have made such attempts have commenced by what they call improving Watt’s engine, but without having an idea of the physics which lie hid in it from common observers; but such improvements have appeared to me like the improvements of the preceptor of Alcibiades, who corrected Homer for the use of his scholars. Their ill success, and their never having found a good mode of taking a purchase in the water, are the reasons why they have all failed. Having, during the course of my experiments on submersive navigation, found an excellent mode of taking a purchase on the water, I wish to apply the engine to the movement. The only thing wanting is to arrange the engine as light and compact as possible.”[380]
The information asked for was duly communicated to Fulton, and a few months later he sent Boulton and Watt the drawings of parts of an engine which he requested them to make for him. By this time the rumour had gone abroad of the destructive powers of the ‘Nautilus,’ and Lord Stanhope publicly called attention to the subject in the House of Lords, representing the dangerous character of the invention. On Fulton’s order reaching Soho, Boulton suspected that it might really be intended for the ‘Nautilus,’ and he at once communicated with Government on the subject. To Lord Hawkesbury he wrote,—
“I presume your Lordship is not unacquainted with the name of Fulton. I mean Fulton the engineer and pretended inventor of an infernal machine for destroying the British Navy. He is the same person whom Lord Stanhope alluded to in some of his speeches in the House of Peers.
“I never had any transaction or acquaintance with him. However, he has written to my house (Boulton and Watt) from Paris, and has transmitted drawings of sundry parts of a steam-engine. The remainder, he says, is to be executed under his own directions, and though he orders them to be shipped for America, it is not impossible but they may be transhipped before they reach there.
“The drawings and letter were delivered to my house in London-street by a Mr. Barlow; and as he refers to Sir Francis Baring for payment, I directed my agent (Mr. John Woodward) to call upon Sir Francis, and in consequence thereof he wrote to my house a letter, of which I enclose a correct copy as well as of Mr. Fulton’s.