CAST STEEL FOR SHIPBUILDING

Bessemer Steel for Boiler Plates -- Steel for Shipbuilding -- Sir N. Barnaby on Steel Ship-plates -- Tests of Bessemer Steel Boiler-plates at Crewe

Among the almost endless variety of useful purposes to which Bessemer mild cast steel has been applied, there is none more important than its employment in the construction of steam ships for the conveyance of passengers and merchandise, and also of ships of war and fast cruisers. The great strength of this material, as compared with the best brands of iron; its even and homogenous character; its great power of elongation before rupture; and its unequalled amount of elasticity under severe strains; all combine to form a material not only admirably adapted for the plates, beams, and angles of the ship itself, but equally suitable for the construction of her masts and spars, her boilers and her machinery; and for the still more important manufacture of the heavy armour-plates necessary to protect ships of war from the assaults of the enemy.

From a very early period I had become deeply impressed with the importance of the application of my new steel to shipbuilding, and my first impulse was naturally to try and force my own conviction on the British Admiralty, and induce them to employ it in the construction of ships of war. But the remembrance of my treatment at Woolwich came upon me as a warning, for there I had given, at much cost and labour to myself, the most irrefutable proofs of the perfect applicability of my mild steel to the manufacture of ordnance, and all these proofs had been overlooked and thrown aside by the Minister of War in favour of an inferior substitute for steel. This experience determined me not to be foiled a second time by attempting to convince the "How-not-to-do-it" Government official. I therefore preferred to await the more certain and reliable action of mercantile instinct. Private shipbuilders, I had no doubt, would soon find out the merits of steel, and feel a personal interest in its adoption. Boiler-makers, I also felt assured, would recognise its value, and use it instead of iron, many years before the Admiralty officials would wake up and become conscious of the advantages it possessed over the weaker material. Nor did I have long to wait for the verdict of practical men on the value of Bessemer mild cast-steel plates, as applied to the construction of steam boilers; an application which in itself is a sufficient guarantee of their high quality, and their superiority over plates made of the highest brands of British iron. Every person connected with the iron trade is well aware that the articles known to the trade as boiler-plates are superior in quality to those known as ship-plates; in fact, iron ships were never built with the high-class iron used for boilers.

I have already stated that, on the occasion of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers holding one of their annual meetings at Sheffield, in July, 1861, under the presidency of Sir William Armstrong, I read a paper on "The Manufacture of Cast Steel and its Application to Constructive Purposes." I now refer again to that paper, simply to quote a few lines from the speeches made in its discussion, by two eminent practical Lancashire engineers, in order to show what had been done up to that early date in the application of the new steel to the construction of steam boilers. This discussion, be it observed, took place no less than fourteen years prior to the date on which Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, then the Chief Naval Architect at the Admiralty, read his paper before the Institution of Naval Architects, in which he criticised adversely the use of Bessemer steel plates for shipbuilding and boiler-making. Hence it will be interesting to see how far this material had already been employed for boiler-making.

At this meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers above referred to, Mr. Daniel Adamson,*[1] the well-known engineer and manufacturer of steam boilers, whose works were at Hyde, near Manchester, exhibited some beautiful specimens of deep and difficult flanging in some fire-boxes for locomotive boilers. Mr. Adamson said he had already used 200 tons of boiler-plates made from the new steel, and was about to procure a further supply of 70 tons. He found the metal of excellent quality, and of regular character throughout, and it was an admirable material for working. The flanged fire-box plates shown were duplicates of a number that he had used in the manufacture of boilers for very high pressure, with the most satisfactory results. The metal flanged beautifully, and was like copper in this respect,*[2] but with the advantage that it was not so liable as copper to be damaged by overheating. He could fully confirm the statements given as to its strength, having tested it severely. As a precaution every plate had been ordered with a 1-in. margin all round, which was sheared off, and bent double, as a test of the quality of the plate. The metal was found to stand this test well, and bent double, like the specimens exhibited, without cracking at any part of the surface.

The other engineer referred to, who took part in the discussion of my paper, was Mr. William Richardson, the active practical partner in the firm of Messrs. John Platt and Company, Engineers, Oldham, in which firm Mr. Richardson had, for over twenty years, the direction and supervision of some five thousand workmen. In the course of the discussion on my paper, Mr. Richardson said, "He had made trial of the Bessemer steel plates for some time in boilers at Messrs. Platt's works at Oldham, where, some years ago, a higher pressure of steam was adopted than was then usual. At that time they frequently found distress at the joints of the boilers, and had adopted double riveting; the furnace plates were frequently blistered, though of a good make of iron. Subsequently three boilers were made of plates of 'homogeneous metal,'*[3] which had been at work three years, but since the Bessemer steel had been produced at a cheaper rate and equally reliable in strength and quality, they had used it extensively, and had now six boilers constructed of the new plates. They had no more trouble from blistered plates and strained joints, while a great saving was effected, owing to the reduced thickness of the metal requiring less fuel to produce the same heating power. They had had only two years' experience of the new-plates, but during that time the results had proved thoroughly satisfactory."

This latter remark of Mr. Richardson shows the high opinion formed, from personal observation, of the new steel, at least two years prior to the date at which it was spoken. Thus, as far back as July, 1859, Mr. Richardson had erected, at the works of Messrs. John Platt, of Oldham, no fewer than six Bessemer steel boilers, of 6 ft. 6 in. in diameter by 30 ft. in length, each having one flue-tube of 3 ft. 10 in. in diameter, with plates 5/16 in. thick, and working at a pressure of 85 lb. per square inch.

These facts will serve to show the high reputation acquired by these mild cast-steel plates, even at this early period: a reputation that steadily increased throughout the country, and which, in the early part of 1863, had so fully convinced the firm of Messrs. Jones, Quiggins, and Company, shipbuilders, of Liverpool, of the suitability of steel as a shipbuilding material, that they determined to put it to a practical test by building a small steam-ship. For this vessel the firm of Henry Bessemer and Company, of Sheffield, produced the steel, which was afterwards rolled by Messrs. Atkins and Company, of Sheffield, this being the first of many extensive orders given us by this enterprising firm for the Bessemer mild cast-steel ship-plates.

I am indebted to the Chief Surveyor of Lloyd's for the following list of Bessemer steel ships, classed by them during the years 1863, 1864 and 1865.

 Name of Vessel.                                Tonnage.      Built in
 
 Screw steam-ship, "Pelican"  ...    ...    ...      329   ...   1863 
 Screw steam-ship, "Banshee"  ...    ...    ...      325   ...   1863 
 Screw steam-ship, "Annie"    ...    ...    ...      330   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Cuxhaven" ...    ...      377   ...   1863 
 Sailing-ship, "Clytenlnestra"       ...    ...    1,251   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Rio de la Plata"        1,000   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Secret"   ...    ...      467   ...   1864 
 Screw steam-ship,  "Susan Bernie"   ...    ...      637   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, " Banshee" ...    ...      637   ...   1864 
 Screw steam-ship, "Tartar"   ...    ...    ...      289   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Villa do Buenos Ayres"    536   ...   1864
 Sailing-ship, "The Alca"   ...      ...    ...    1,283   ...   1864 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Isabel"   ...    ...    1,095   ...   1863 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Curlew"   ...    ...    1,095   ...   1865 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Plover"   ...    ...      410   ...   1865 
 Screw steam-ship, "Soudan" ...      ...    ...      184   ...   1865 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Midland"  ...    ...    1,622   ...   1865 
 Paddle-wheel steam-ship, "Great Northern"  ...    1,622   ...   1865

It will be seen from the foregoing that I had formed a pretty accurate estimate of the inertness and inactivity of the British Admiralty, when I decided on not wasting my time in endeavouring to awaken them to a sense of the vast national importance of employing mild cast steel for shipbuilding.

Private shipbuilders and shipowners had, as I felt assured they would, availed themselves largely of the many advantages possessed by this material, and had set an example of alertness and activity to the officials of the Admiralty, an example which they wholly disregarded. Thus, year after year rolled by, and still there were no signs of the Admiralty waking up to the consciousness of the great metallurgical revolution that was rapidly spreading over Great Britain and the whole continent of Europe, and that had already extended in full force to the energetic people of the United States. In fact, everywhere steel was replacing iron for innumerable structural purposes, varying from viaducts and bridges of large span, down to such small items of domestic hardware as milk-cans and saucepans.

After ten years of indifference on the part of the Admiralty, it was discovered that, notwithstanding the fact that the Bessemer process was a British invention, the more active and more enterprising officials of the French Admiralty had fully recognised the value of steel for the construction of ships of war, and that the French Government were far advanced with the large iron-clad, "Redoubtable," then being built of steel at L'Orient, and that they were also pushing forward two other large steel vessels of war, the "Tempete" and the "Tonnerre," which were then being built of steel in French ports. When this important fact came upon our quietly-sleeping Admiralty officials, then, and not until then, did they rub their eyes, and wake up sufficiently to recognise their position. They knew that this important fact could not long be concealed from the public press, and would thus come to the ears of John Bull, who is apt to demand a scapegoat when he finds that his country has allowed itself to be beaten in the race with other nations. Possibly it was felt by the Admiralty that some reason or other ought to be advanced for their not having commenced to build a single steel war ship, while our nearest neighbour had nearly completed three magnificent steel ironclads. Whether this surmise be accurate or not, it is certain that, with the consent of the Admiralty, Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, then the Chief Naval Architect of the Royal Navy, read, in 1875, a paper on "Iron and Steel for Shipbuilding," before the Institution of Naval Architects, in which paper the alleged "uncertainties and treacheries of Bessemer steel in the form of ship and boiler plates" were explained to the public. This comprehensive summing up of the uncertain quality and undesirable characteristics of the material was still further emphasised by Sir Nathaniel Barnaby holding up to the meeting an isolated example of the failure of a thin piece of plate metal, said to be a part of a Bessemer steel ship-plate, which had cracked when it was bent to a very small angle.

As represented in Fig. 72, Plate XXXI., this shocking example proved too much; it was, in fact, so bad a plate that, if originally made of such an unheard-of quality, it could never have been either rolled or sheared in the makers' works without proclaiming its utterly valueless character to every workman engaged in its manufacture. It must not be forgotten that it is physically impossible for the Bessemer process to produce a single isolated plate of such a bad quality, for the simple reason that Bessemer steel is never made in less than 5-ton batches, every part of each "blow" being equally good or bad. Now, after deducting 20 per cent. for waste in shearing, these five tons of homogeneous fluid steel will produce twenty-three ship-plates, 8 ft. long by 3 ft. wide and 3/8 in. in thickness. All of these twenty-three plates must, therefore, be equally good or bad, so that one bad plate alone could not be made, though any number of good plates may be spoiled by an ignorant, careless, or designing workman. The exhibition at a public meeting of such an unheard-of specimen of steel plate, and the proclamation of the "uncertainties and treacheries" of Bessemer steel, together with other damaging statements, by a person holding high authority, compels me to discuss the above-named paper at some length, and in justice to myself, to show that Bessemer steel is now and was then, in reality, a metal immensely superior to ordinary puddled iron, and that the example exhibited at the meeting in no way represented its true character and properties.

In order to clearly understand this question of bad plates, it is important to bear in mind that the iron plates used by shipbuilders were infusible in any of the heating furnaces that were to be found in shipyards at that date. Hence an iron plate worker could leave an iron plate in the furnace, and make it very hot with impunity. But cast steel, as its name implies, has undergone fusion, and if ever it again be subjected to an unnecessarily high temperature, approaching its point of fusion, its molecules rearrange themselves, and the valuable qualities conferred on the cast ingot by hammering and rolling are lost in proportion to the amount of overheating it may have been subjected to; so that, at a temperature quite possible to be given to it by a careless or ignorant workman, it becomes almost like the normal unwrought ingot from which it was formed. But this property of cast steel is so well understood by the practised steel-smith that he will pass hundreds of plates, or other articles, through any of the processes of heating in the furnace, tempering, hardening, or annealing, without the smallest injury to any one of them. It is the unpractised iron-worker, who does not understand the properties and mode of working steel, who makes mistakes of this kind.

It must also be observed that neither at the date about which I am writing, nor at any subsequent date, has it been possible to make cast steel which could not, either by ignorance, carelessness, or design, be rendered unfit for use by overheating it. Such liability to damage is not peculiar to steel made by the Bessemer process, since this quality is common to cast steel, however manufactured. When the molten cast iron in the Bessemer converter has been decarburised by blowing air through it, and has been poured into an ingot mould, the Bessemer process is complete; and such an ingot, like every one made in crucibles, or by the Siemens or open-hearth process, may be treated properly and make an excellent plate, or it may be treated improperly and be rendered worthless. The Bessemer process, like all others, may also make bad steel, if raw material of inferior quality be used in its manufacture. Sir Nathaniel Barnaby neglected to use the most perfect, and, at the same time, the only possible, means at his disposal of proving beyond dispute if the particular piece of plate, which he held up to the meeting, owed its bad quality to the Bessemer process, or to improper treatment after it had left the converter in a pure state. If he had had this sample of steel carefully analysed before he condemned it publicly, he and his audience would have known whether it contained such an amount of phosphorus, sulphur, or any other deleterious matter, as would account for the extraordinary cracking at so slight an angle, or whether the steel was free from these deleterious matters; or if it was of excellent quality when it left the converter, and had been spoiled afterwards by its treatment in the shipyard. Unfortunately, nothing was told us in this incomplete paper as to how, or by whom, this little sample was prepared for exhibition. Was the workman who made it a steel-smith, or was he an iron-worker, ignorant of the nature and proper treatment of cast steel?

If an actual plate, which had failed in the course of shipbuilding, had been shown at the meeting, it would have been much more satisfactory than a sample-piece, by whomsoever made, and such an actual plate could have been most easily produced, if such plates were common enough to justify what was said of the material in Sir Nathaniel Barnaby's paper. In the early part of this paper, the author damned Bessemer steel with faint praise; he said, "No doubt, excellent steel is produced in small quantities by the converter." Quite so; the small quantity of Bessemer steel made in England alone was, during the year in which this paper was read, over 700,000 tons, or more than one hundred times the total production of cast steel in Great Britain prior to the introduction of the process. These 700,000 tons were worth £6,000,000 or £7,000,000 sterling; so that the great commercial importance that Bessemer steel had attained at the date when Sir Nathaniel publicly denounced it as a treacherous material, could not be hidden by calling it a "small quantity." Or did Sir Nathaniel Barnaby desire his hearers to understand that only very little of this 700,000 tons was good steel? One per cent. of this small quantity would have supplied the Admiralty with 7000 tons, or enough to build two of the largest ships of war ever -- up to that time -- constructed; so the smallness of the quantity was no excuse for not using; it.

Again, Sir Nathaniel Barnaby said: "Our distrust of it is so great that the material may be said to be altogether unused by private shipbuilders, except for boats, and very small vessels, and masts and yards." This statement was absolutely unwarranted.

We were also told that "Marine engineers appear to be equally afraid of it." Every Englishman who reads this will be surprised at this confession of want of courage, on the part of our marine engineers. However this may be, it was very gratifying to know that we had among us eminent practical engineers in Great George Street, who had the courage of their opinions, and under whose sanction and advice hundreds of thousands of tons of Bessemer steel were at that time being used for structural purposes. At the meeting, when this paper was read, there was present Mr. Francis William Webb, the well-known Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London and North-Western Railway, who was kind enough to bring for exhibition several test-pieces illustrative of the tests to which every plate of the locomotive boilers made under his supervision at Crewe was subjected before it was used. These test-pieces consisted of strips of boiler-plate, doubled up quite into close contact while cold; and other pieces of plate, each having a hole 3/4 in. in diameter punched into it, which hole was then expanded or "drifted" out to 2 1/3 in. in diameter, by driving a conical punch or "drift," with a hammer, into the small hole first made.

Mr. Webb told those present at the meeting, that in their testing-house at Crewe they had 11,000 sets of these test-pieces, all duly stamped and numbered, each one referring to a corresponding number stamped on 11,000 Bessemer steel plates that had been worked up into locomotive boilers at Crewe, all of which had stood the ordeal of these bending and "drifting" tests. Further, he said that Bessemer steel had entirely superseded iron plates for boiler-making at Crewe, although his company had previously bought the best iron that could be found in this country. He also said that the London and North-Western Railway Company had, at the time this paper was read, no less than three hundred locomotive boilers in daily use, and that they were building at Crewe rather more than six steel boilers every week. All the steel plates were punched and worked, and then flanged into various shapes with steel hammers; they were not tickled with copper hammers, as Sir Nathaniel Barnaby had told his audience was a necessary precaution in French shipbuilding.

I may add that the London and North-Western Railway Company had, at that date, established extensive Bessemer steel works at Crewe, and made their own steel; thus demonstrating what could be accomplished for a great commercial company, advised by a thoroughly practical engineer, not given to fear and doubting.

Now, I would ask any reasonable man what there was to prevent the Admiralty from using such a simple and infallible mode of testing every steel plate brought into the shipyard, the responsible officials thus assuring themselves, beyond the possibility of doubt, that every plate in their ships was of the high standard quality contracted for, and so ending all the ridiculous suspicions of the treacherous nature of a material that was being daily used so successfully?

The simple mode of testing used by the London and North-Western Railway Company in 1875 is illustrated by Fig. 73, where (1) shows the irregular-shaped plate as it leaves the rolls; (2) shows it when sheared on three of its sides, a dotted line indicating where the fourth side is to be sheared; and (3) shows the plate sheared on all four sides. Now, if the Admiralty had ordered every plate delivered to them from the steel-maker to have one side left unsheared, as shown in (2), their own people could have sheared this one side, and cut three pieces, numbered respectively 5, 6, and 7, as marked on the sheared-off piece shown on an enlarged scale at (4). Having done so, the prover would have taken (5) and hammered it into close contact while quite cold, as shown in (8); he might then have taken the piece marked (6), made it red-hot, and while at the proper temperature for working, hammered it into close contact, as shown in (9); these two tests would have proved or disproved the workable quality of the plate, both hot and cold. The piece marked (7) would then have had a 3/4-in. hole punched in it, and a conical steel plug, or "drift," would have been driven into this hole until it was expanded to a given standard size, as shown at (10); this would have proved whether the plate would, or would not, bear punching. Any failure to stand these three usual tests would have justified the return of the plate to the manufacturer, and thus no loss would have been incurred by the Admiralty. With the certainty of perfect safety which these proofs afforded, the London and North-Western Railway Company, acting under the advice of their engineer, and under the responsibility of the directors, did not hesitate to stake the lives of many thousands of persons every day, for whole years together, daily transporting them over hundreds of miles of Bessemer steel rails, over which rolled thousands of Bessemer steel tyres, drawn by hundreds of locomotives having Bessemer steel boilers, steel axles, steel cranks, steel piston-rods, steel guide-bars, steel connecting-rods, etc ., etc. All this went on hourly, weekly, and for years, and had been going on for ten years under the eyes of the British Admiralty and their officials. Mr. Webb and his directors were fully justified in this extensive use of Bessemer steel, for they had carefully and tentatively put it to a long and continuous practical test, and proved to demonstration that no iron made in this country was equal to this Bessemer steel in toughness, strength, and endurance under severe strains.

It would be very instructive to the British taxpayer to know how many hundreds of thousands of pounds were expended by our Admiralty in the construction of iron ships of war during their ten years' abstention from the use of steel, and how much the efficiency of the vessels was reduced by the extra weight involved.

In his paper, Sir Nathaniel Barnaby further stated that the steel shipbuilders at L'Orient scrupulously avoided the use of iron hammers, and that they had various mechanical devices for "coaxing and humouring this material." Why did not the author give the meeting some account of what had been done nearer home? Why did he steer clear of Liverpool, where the material of eighteen steel ships had been shaped and fashioned with steel hammers wielded by the powerful arms of the practised steelsmith, without any coaxing and humouring?" The meeting was also informed that the ordinary steel angles in use at L'Orient cost £27 per ton, and the double-tee bars about £41 per ton; and to this there was to be added the cost of such careful labour as he had described. But private shipbuilders and ship-owners were not deterred by the price of Bessemer steel from using it even ten years before the date at which this paper was written, when Bessemer steel was at least 30 per cent. dearer than in 1875. Would it not have been far better to have quoted the then prices of Bessemer steel in England, instead of giving the absurdly high prices said to obtain in France?

I was present at the reading of Sir Nathaniel Barnaby's paper, when he held up to the meeting the piece of steel plate, which he called "the treacherous Bessemer steel," illustrated in Fig. 72, Plate XXXI. I invite my readers to compare this illustration with the various examples I have had photographed of Bessemer steel tests of gun-forgings (see Figs. 69 and 70, Plates XXVIII. and XXIX.) and with the 11,000 test pieces then accumulated at Crewe. But even more striking than these were the specimens I had prepared thirteen years before. Few would believe, without ocular demonstration, the extraordinary fact that a thin steel plate, 11 in. in diameter and 1/16 in. thick, can be brought without rupture into the forms shown in Fig. 74, Plate XXXII.,

while Fig. 75, Plate XXXIII. shows various pieces of Bessemer steel, of our regular daily manufacture at Sheffield, tested cold. The former are examples of what is called "spinning;" the cold steel plate is made to revolve in a lathe, and is pressed heavily upon by a blunt instrument as it revolves, just as a piece of soft clay revolving on a potter's wheel is pressed upon by his thumb and fingers, and is fashioned into a vase. As the thin cold steel plate revolves it yields to the pressure exerted upon it by the blunt instrument forced dexterously against it, and by degrees its particles are expanded in some directions and contracted in others, the solid cold steel flowing, like its prototype the potter's clay, and forming almost any variety of circular form which the workman desires to give it. This wondrous change of position of the several parts of the original flat plate takes place without the smallest symptom of a crack or failure at any part of its surface.

These examples demonstrate the marvellous toughness of the Bessemer cast steel when manipulated by a skilful workman.

The small vase on the left, 4 1/2 in. in height and 3 1/2 in. in diameter (Fig. 74, Plate XXXII), is by no means a solitary example. It was one of a group of vases of various forms exhibited by me at the International Exhibition of 1862, that is, thirteen years before Sir Nathaniel Barnaby held up to the public meeting an isolated example of a maltreated plate as a representation of the "treacherous Bessemer steel," which he seemed to think was sufficient to excuse the British Admiralty for their ten years' indifference and apathy. During those ten long years, twenty-four Bessemer steel works had been erected in England alone, having 112 converting vessels with their powerful blast engines, steel-rolling mills, and other expensive plant and buildings, producing annually 700,000 tons of Bessemer steel.

At the time at which I write (1896), when we look into the present state of British shipbuilding, we find that merchant sailing-ships and passenger steam-ships are, in all cases, built of mild cast steel, which is admitted to be the most suitable of known materials for their construction. The way in which mild cast steel (Bessemer and open-hearth) has absolutely superseded iron is proved by the annexed extracts from Lloyds Register of British Shipbuilding for the year 1895.

During 1895, exclusive of war ships, 579 vessels of 950,967 tons gross (viz., 526 steamers of 904,991 tons and 53 sailing vessels of 45,976 tons) have been launched in the United Kingdom. The war ships launched at both Government and private yards amount to 59 of 148,111 tons displacement. The total output of the United Kingdom for the year has, therefore, been 638 vessels of 1,099,078 tons.

As regards the material employed for the construction of the vessels included in the United Kingdom returns for 1895, it is found that, of the steam tonnage, nearly 98.8 per cent. has been built of steel and 1.2 per cent. of iron. The iron steam tonnage is practically made up of trawlers, and comprises no vessel of more than 425 tons. Of the sailing tonnage, 97.0 percent. has been built of steel, and 3.0 per cent. of wood. No iron sailing vessel appears to have been launched during the year.

Can any evidence more clearly show how the opinions of shipbuilders and shipowners, including the great passenger steam-ship owners and the Admiralty itself, have practically condemned iron as a shipbuilding material, with the consequent adoption of mild cast steel in its stead? In considering this evidence it must not be forgotten that mild Bessemer steel has not undergone the smallest alteration in manufacture, or any improvement in quality, since the completion of the eighteen Bessemer steel ships which were built at Liverpool. All that we did then we do now, and consequently the steel was as well adapted for the building of ships at that period as it is at the present day. From 1875 up to 1896 -- that is, a period of twenty years -- the London and North-Western Company have built no less than 4000 Bessemer steel locomotive boilers, and during these twenty years of constant wear and tear, not one of these has ever been treacherous enough to burst. It may further be recorded that the London and North-Western Railway Company made all the Bessemer steel plates used for building their splendid fast Dublin and Holyhead passenger boats, which have so long been in constant use.

Although I have unavoidably used words of censure in speaking of that abstraction, the British Admiralty, no one can doubt that its officials are gentlemen of honour and integrity. They are liable, like the rest of humanity, to errors of judgment, while the traditions of the office, and the conditions under which they work, must tend to develop the conservative side of their character, and render them averse to experiment. But the course they pursue, whether it be technically the wisest or not, represents, I am sure, their honest opinion, and under no circumstances whatever would they stoop to the meanness of attempting to escape the consequences of any errors of judgment by making a scapegoat of the man through whose energy and perseverance the construction of mild cast-steel ships was rendered commercially possible, and whose invention has so greatly benefited the nation generally, and the British Admiralty in particular. Although that great department of the State failed for so long to recognise the merits of my steel, I have received the most ample recognition of the value of my inventions, alike from reigning sovereigns, from the learned societies, and scientific institutions of every State in Europe, all of which I acknowledge with every expression of profound gratitude.

Footnotes
[1] Died January 13th, 1890.

[2] Copper is thus frequently referred to by metallurgists as an example of extreme toughness.

[3] A beautifully tough, but very expensive kind of iron, made of charcoal bar-iron melted in crucibles, and first introduced by Messrs Howell and Company, of Sheffield.