On this model was arranged a suspended cabin, supported on separate axes, placed at right angles to each other. I obtained a patent in December, 1869, for this invention, which is represented in two sectional engravings, Figs. 81 and 82, on Plate XXXVII.
The cabin, shown in the illustrations, is circular in form, with a
hemispherical ceiling or roof, whose centre coincides with the axis of
suspension. Seats are arranged all around its circumference, with a
gallery above, provided also with
seats, while the circular floor is large enough to serve as a
promenade. A heavy counterbalance weight is suspended vertically below
the floor of the cabin, to retain it in a horizontal plane. In Fig. 81,
the cabin is shown in the position it would naturally assume when the
ship is in dock, and in Fig. 82 in the position it would maintain when
the ship is rolling, that is, with its floor quite horizontal.
Immediately beneath the large pendulous mass which controls the cabin
is shown a concave iron surface, turned quite smooth, and fixed to the
ship. This surface is made with a curve, the centre of which coincides
with that of the axis of the cabin, and the pendulous mass has a heavy
cylindrical weight within it, which is shod with wood. This can be let
down so as to come lightly in contact with the concave dish or surface,
or be pressed down upon it by a screw, if desired, thus acting as a
friction brake to prevent the cabin from acquiring a swinging motion,
or when required, to lock it fast to the ship. There were many other
details planned, which need not be now entered into, as the description
I have already given will serve to show what were the crude ideas
presented to my mind in the early stages of the investigation of this
subject. All this was hurried on in a short time, and I felt
determined to put the general scheme to the test of actual experiment
at sea, trusting to remove defects in the details as experience showed
them to be necessary. I therefore planned a small steamer suitable for
carrying this circular saloon, and entered into a contract with
Messrs. Maudslay, Sons and Field to build it for me for £2,975. This
sum was further augmented by slight alterations of the original plan,
bringing up the net cost of the vessel to £3,061, which was duly paid
on the delivery of the ship to me at Greenwich.
While this small steamer was being built, I continued to study the
subject more deeply, and in doing so, I felt some serious misgivings as
to the motions of translation of certain parts of the ship, depending
on the distance of such parts from the centre about which the vessel
rolled and pitched, and which would tend to set up an oscillating
motion of the cabin. I saw it was necessary to place the axis of the
cabin as near as possible to the point about which the vessel pitched
and rolled, and then the question of absolute personal control of the
cabin by a
steersman arose in my mind. This gradually shaped itself into a
necessity, if perfect quietness in the cabin was to be ensured. These
improvements were of vital importance, and I could not hide from myself
the fact that the small steamship which was then being built for me by
Messrs. Maudslay, Sons and Field could not be so altered as to give
these ideas a fair trial. I therefore abandoned all intention of
fitting up my suspended saloon in it, and I eventually sold it in an
unfinished state for what it would fetch, so I lost about £2,000 by the
first move. I was not, however, discouraged, but on the contrary I felt
more confidence than ever in the success of the plans that time and
study had so far developed.
The fact that I could not venture out to sea to try my experiments was
a great drawback to me, and to meet this difficulty I determined to
make a large working model, to try the mechanical motions and other
details of my plans, on land. For this purpose I constructed the
central part of a fair-sized vessel, omitting the bows and stern
portions, which, as will be hereafter shown, had nothing to do with the
trials to be made.
This model had 20 ft. beam and was 20 ft. long; that is, it represented
a slice cut, as it were, out of the central part of a vessel as large
as the Thames above-bridge passenger steam-boats. It was fitted into a
square opening or pit, formed in the ground to such a depth as to
represent its natural immersion had it been placed in water, the level
of the land surrounding it consequently representing the level of the
water in which the model was assumed to be floating. This structure was
erected in a meadow at the rear of my residence at Denmark Hill, and
was supported on axes in the line of the keel; it was made to roll by a
steam engine actuating a crankshaft and connecting-rod, so arranged as
to give a gentle motion to the whole fabric, which weighed several
tons. The angle of roll was 15 deg. on each side of a horizontal line;
that is, a complete roll of 30 deg. In the central part, and on a level
with the deck of this model ship, was a small saloon 12 ft. by 14 ft.
inside, with seats along each side of it, and a row of small windows
above them. This cabin was large enough to conveniently accommodate a
dozen persons at a time. The ceiling was flat, and its upper surface
formed a little promenade deck, with a light iron hand-rail all round
it. In the centre of the cabin
a small sunk space, surrounded by a railing, permitted the steersman to
stand with his head and shoulders a foot or two above the floor, and
before him was a spirit-level placed in position at right angles to the
axis on which the model ship was made to roll. The steersman had a
small double handle immediately in front of him, very like the steering
bar of an ordinary bicycle; this handle actuated an equilibrium valve,
so easy of motion that a mere child could work it. The valve admitted
water under pressure to one side of a piston, and allowed its escape
from the other side, thus silently and quietly controlling power
capable of holding in absolute check any amount of force tending to put
the floor out of a true horizontal plane. If twelve or fourteen persons
walked suddenly over in a body from one side of the cabin to the other,
it made no perceptible difference, for the steersman had only to watch
the spirit-level, and by gently moving the handle keep the bubble
permanently in the centre, and thus insure absolute steadiness. If the
steersman took his hands off the steering handle, the cabin immediately
partook of the motion of the model, which was fully equal to the roll
of a small ship in a heavy sea. This sudden transition from absolute
quiet to a most unpleasant roll generally resulted in loud shouts of
"Stop her!" from the persons seated in the cabin: an order which, after
well shaking up the passengers, the steersman always attended to. He
applied his hand once more to the lever, when absolute quietness was
restored, to the relief of all. As the mechanical demonstration of my
scheme, the effect was perfect. This experiment was witnessed and the
result admitted by some of the first engineers and scientists of this
country, many of whom will recognise in the two illustrations, Figs. 83
and 84, on Plates XXXVIII. and XXXIX.), a correct representation of the
apparatus they did me the honour to inspect at my house in 1869.
To facilitate entering and leaving the cabin at all times,
notwithstanding the continued rolling motion of the model, half a dozen
steps led to a small fixed staging supported by posts driven into the
ground. Between this platform and the moving hull were two stout
circular steel rods, working in sockets at each end, horizontally
parallel to each other. A number of flat oak bars, having a small round
hole near each end, were slipped on to these steel bars, a rubber
washer between adjacent
bars keeping them a short distance apart, and the whole forming a sort
of grille extending from the fixed stage to the moving hull, and
gradually partaking of the slope of the latter; thus, any person could
walk with perfect ease from the fixed to the moving part, or vice
versa.
My idea of an improved Channel service became generally known, and I
had the satisfaction of seeing that I was not alone in my opinions as
to its ultimate results. My plans were submitted to the judgment of
practical men of the highest mechanical ability . All was said that
could be said theoretically on the subject, pro and con., and the time
for action had now arrived. I therefore laid my plans before the
well known financial agents, Messrs. Chadwick, Adamson, and Co., who
undertook the formation of a limited joint stock company, to run
steamships between England and France, provided with saloons steadied
by the hydraulic apparatus secured under my patents. The prospectus was
issued, and in due course the company was registered, with a nominal
capital of £250,000, the amount actually subscribed being much below
that required even to build the first ship: a fact to which I objected,
but which I was assured, was an everyday occurrence. My original
intention as patentee was to grant licenses to shipbuilders and
passenger steam companies to use my invention, charging a small extra
sum for all passengers booking for the saloon. But the company just
formed insisted on having the entire monopoly of the ships running
between the English and French ports, thus absorbing a great part of
the value of the patent, and shutting it up until after their first
ship came into use. In order to meet this sweeping demand, I consented
to take 10 per cent. on the cost of the ships, which was to be paid
concurrently with the remittances to the shipbuilders, and I further
conceded to the company a share of my half-crown per head royalty. I
thus received no cash payment for this share or participation in my
patent, although I had already spent considerably over £5,000 in the
construction of a steam-ship and other models, trials and patents, etc.
Notwithstanding this, I was among the first subscribers to the
company's capital, and as soon as the shares were ready for issue, I
applied for £10,000 in ordinary shares, which on allotment I paid for
in cash, the best evidence I could give of my
entire confidence in the Bessemer Saloon Ship Company.
At the time when the company was formed, I was much pressed to become
its chairman, but I declined to do so, or even to take the position of
director, because I had not only a great interest in the Saloon Ship
Company, but I had other interests as a patentee, which might possibly
come in conflict with those of the company. I felt well assured that no
man can serve two masters, and I emphatically declined to place myself
in so false a position. At the same time, I also declined to make
myself the servant of the company in any way; but as they desired my
advice and opinion on matters connected with the saloon and its
machinery, I accepted the office of Consulting Engineer without fees.
Mr. (afterwards Sir) E. J. Reed, who then held an important position in
Earle's Shipbuilding Company at Hull, was appointed Naval Constructor
to the Bessemer Saloon Ship Company, and we also had on our Board of
Directors, Admiral Sir Spencer Robinson, who was an influential
Director of Earle's Shipbuilding Company. It was understood that the
ship in all its details should be designed by Mr. Reed, subject to such
modifications as the necessities of the saloon imposed, and which were
few and simple, although they undoubtedly introduced important
structural difficulties.
First, I decided that the saloon, as far as hydraulic control was
concerned, should move on axes parallel with the line of the keel, and
that pitching in the short sea of the channel should be reduced, as far
as possible, by the great length of the ship. It occurred to me that
the bows of the ship would not be lifted so high in meeting a high
wave, or mound, of water, in front of her, if she had a low freeboard.
The forecastle would then receive part of the weight of the mound of
water, and not be floated upward to the same extent as if constructed
with high bows, which might be surrounded by a heavy rising wave. This
was simply a landsman's view of the conditions to be met, in which,
however, Mr. Reed concurred, and designed his ship with a low freeboard
at both ends, as she was intended to run in and out of the harbours
without turning round.
Secondly, to reduce the amount both of pitching and rolling of the
saloon, I required a space equal to 70 ft. in length and 30 ft. in
breadth
in the centre of the ship for the reception of the saloon, which was to
extend so low down as to bring its turning axis as near as possible on
the line about which the centre would roll. These conditions were
provided for by Mr. Reed, and it only remained for me to design the
saloon and the governing machinery required, all the drawings and plans
for which occupied many months of close application. Here it may be
desirable to refer generally to the means employed for governing the
motions of the saloon; for this purpose I have given an engraved copy
from one of my old drawings (Fig. 85, Plate XL.), showing a
cross-section through the centre.
Two large A-shaped frames, shown partly by dotted lines, were securely
bolted to the main framing of the ship; these frames were several feet
apart, and were held together by stretcher-bars, which passed through
curved slots in the webs of a horizontal pair of large "working beams."
There were strong angle-brackets formed on the upper side of these
beams, which supported the axis about which the saloon moved, similar
axes being provided at or near each end of the saloon floor coinciding
in position with the central axis, as shown on the engraving, thus
firmly supporting the weight of the saloon by strong axes and carrying
frames at three points in its length. It will be seen that at each end
of the large working beams, and coupled in the space between them, were
two hydraulic cylinders hanging vertically from massive girders
connected with the main deck frames, so that any movement or
oscillation of the working beams permitted these hydraulic cylinders
and their piston rods to oscillate slightly, and follow the radial
motion of their beam ends. A suitable set of hydraulic force pumps,
driven by a separate steam engine, was so arranged as to furnish a
constant supply of water under any required uniform pressure.
The "steersman," or controller, was provided with a handle controlling
a set of delicately-balanced equilibrium valves, forming a connection
between the water in the air vessel, or pressure chamber, of the force
pumps and the vertical hydraulic cylinders , which were always kept
full of water on both sides of their pistons by means of a loaded valve
at the discharge end of the exhaust pipe, but with a very much greater
pressure on one side of each piston than on the other. Things being
thus arranged, it will be readily understood that if the ship were in
harbour and at rest, the steersman by moving his handle so as to admit
water under great pressure into the lower part of the left-hand
cylinder, would expel the water which was above the piston through the
loaded valve. At the same time the left-hand end of the beam would be
forced downwards; and the valve would have admitted water under great
pressure on the upper side of the piston contained in the right-hand
cylinder, thus forcing or lifting up the right-hand end of the working
beams, and so on. It will be seen that if the floor of the saloon could
be thus made to oscillate on its axis by means of the hydraulic
cylinders when the ship was in dock, the reverse would take place when
the ship was rolling at sea; that is while the ship rolled, the use of
the hydraulic cylinders would enable the floor of the saloon to remain
horizontal. The distance through which a roll takes place, and the time
occupied in performing the roll, constantly vary; but by means of
equilibrium valves under personal control, this variation could be
easily provided for. The spirit-level directly under the eye of the
steersman instantaneously indicated to him any movement of the floor
from a true horizontal plane, by the travel of the bubble from the
centre towards one end. A slight turn of the handle by the steersman
prevented further movement. All he had to do was to keep the bubble in
the centre of the gauge; and it was found in the working model erected
at Denmark Hill that, when going as fast as ten complete rolls per
minute, and rolling through an angle of 30 deg., a position of the
floor not deviating more than 1 in. or 2 in. from the horizontal was
maintained with ease, and with absolute freedom from jerks, a result
which the vis inertiæ of the heavy mass forming this large saloon
would tend to still more favourably secure. The larger the flywheel
attached to irregularly-moving machinery the more perfectly are these
irregularities controlled by it; and it must always be borne in mind
that all oscillating motions in nature commence very slowly and acquire
a maximum velocity, gradually becoming less rapid, until motion
absolutely ceases in that direction. Then the infinitely slow reaction
in the opposite direction takes place, and goes on until a maximum
velocity is again arrived at. Let anyone for a minute or two watch the
beautiful motions of the pendulum of a common clock; there is no jerk,
it does not travel through
its whole range at a uniform speed and then start back in the same way,
but, like the oscillations of all heavy bodies, obeys those laws which
bring the control of oscillations in such bodies within the sphere of
applied mechanics.
To prove the confidence felt by my colleagues in the certain success of
my scheme, I cannot do better than reproduce here a letter from that
eminent authority, Sir E. J. Reed; this letter was published in The
Times on November 26th, 1872.
TO THE EDITOR OF "THE TIMES."
SIR,
The discussion upon Channel steamers has proceeded so far and taken
such a form in your columns that it seems proper for me, as the
designer of the vessels which are to carry Mr. Bessemer's saloon, to
submit the following observations upon the subject. I should have said
nothing about the Dicey project had not one of the directors of the
Dicey Company made it necessary for the proposers of the Bessemer
vessels to defend their work; and even now I shall offer but a very few
words upon it, as the able letter of Colonel Strange, which you
published on Saturday, contains nearly all that it is necessary to say.
I believe the "Dicey" ship to be wrong for the following reasons:--
First, where one of the primary objects is to secure small draught of
water, and therefore lightness of structure, the plan in question
renders a very unusual weight of hull necessary, because it gives the
ship four sides instead of two, and introduces a heavy superstructure
for the purpose of yoking the two half ships together; secondly, unless
this superstructure is extremely well designed and very strongly built,
it will not keep the two half ships effectually together in a heavy
storm; and their separation would be fatal to both; thirdly, there is
great reason to suppose that two half ships of equal size and large
proportions, placed 30ft. apart, and yoked together, however propelled,
would be circumstanced very unfavourably for high speed, because of the
interference with each other of the waves of displacement in retreating
from the inner bows; fourthly, there is also much reason, and some
experience, to suppose that such a vessel, propelled by an interior
wheel, would be under very great additional disadvantages as regards
the obtaining of extreme speed -- such vessels have, in fact, failed
from want of speed; and, fifthly, the Dicey ship, being made (by the
separation of the twin portions) of very unusual breadth from stem to
stern, is peculiarly unadapted for entering the narrow harbours of
Calais and Folkestone in bad weather. I will only further add that the
experiment which Admiral Elliot promises with a twin Dicey steamer no
bigger altogether than a "Citizen" boat will throw little or no light
upon any one of the above questions; and the very fact that such a
vessel is being prepared for the purpose of proving to the public that
the Dicey ship is right, when great size and speed are to be realized,
strongly inclines me to believe that its advocates have neither
considered nor understood the real difficulties that will oppose their
success and frustrate their good intentions. In seeking to reduce
rolling they have looked past other equally important conditions. I
know Admiral Elliot has attempted to silence the objections of mere
ship-builders and engineers like myself by telling us that
it is as a sailor that he contradicts us, and that it is in the name of
sailors that he speaks; but I do not consider that a sailor is any
better entitled than other persons to pronounce dogmatically upon such
questions as these, nor do I believe that Admiral Elliot has authority
to speak in the name of the naval profession in this matter.
I now come to the Bessemer ship, and will state as briefly as I can
what she is to be, and why she has been made so.
The present discomforts of the Channel passage are almost wholly due to
the smallness of the present steamers, which have been kept of small
dimensions and light draught to enable them to frequent the French
harbours of Calais and Boulogne; and being so small, they knock about
terribly in rough weather. I will not say that these vessels are the
best that can be produced of their dimensions, but some of them are
well designed, and no improvements without increase of size would make
them even approximately fit for the Channel passenger service. The
first thing to be done, therefore, is to build much larger vessels, --
that is to say, vessels of much greater length and breadth, for the
draught of water must not be substantially increased. The limit of
length has hitherto been fixed by the breadth of the harbours, because
the vessels, which must of necessity run in bow first, have had to be
turned round into the opposite direction, with bow seaward, before
starting again.
We must first, therefore, dispense with this necessity of turning the
vessels round within the harbours, and the only way to do this is to
make them capable of steaming equally well in either direction. Now,
this, although not by any means so easy a thing to do as many suppose,
is nevertheless quite practicable. Both ends of such a vessel can be
made quite efficient as a bow, and equally efficient as a stem,
provided the necessary steps are taken. This has frequently been
attempted, only to result in failure; it has less frequently been done
successfully. Those who underrate the difficulties fail; those who
truly estimate them and take the necessary pains to meet them succeed.
They occur in the hull, in the rudder, in the steering gear, in the
locking apparatus, in the engines, and in the paddle-wheels, and we
believe that in the Bessemer ship we have well considered and carefully
met them all, and thus have secured the power of leaving harbour
without turning round. We have consequently escaped from the limit of
length hitherto imposed, and have been made free to go to larger
dimensions. This is the first important step.
The dimensions we have adopted are: length, 350 ft.; breadth at deck
beam, 40 ft.; outside breadth across paddle-boxes, 65 ft.; draught of
water, 7 1/2 ft. On these dimensions we have been able to provide for
the Bessemer Saloon (the extra weight of which, with all its
appliances, is, in fact, not great), and for engines and boilers which
will deliver more than 4000 horse-power. At this stage the Bessemer
Saloon claims primary consideration, and we have allotted to it the
central part of the ship for 70 ft. in length. This splendid saloon,
and all connected with it, has been so well described already in your
columns that I will not add a word respecting it, except to say that if
the mechanical difficulties of working it were far greater than they
really are, the mechanical genius of Mr. Bessemer would be fully equal
to their mastery. My chief duty is to make the ship thoroughly capable
of sustaining the saloon, and of giving ample support to its bearings.
This duty has required, of course, novel and well considered structural
arrangements; but more difficult things have been done in our
ironclads, and I need not, therefore, dwell upon it. The saloon being
in the centre, we had to place the engines and boilers in some other
position. They have been placed in duplicate portions
immediately before and abaft the saloon, the vessel consequently having
two sets of paddle-wheels. I anticipate some disadvantage in point of
speed from this arrangement, and have accordingly provided somewhat more
steam power than would otherwise have been needed; not much, however,
because the loss will not, in my opinion, be more than a small
fraction. As a compensation we have the great advantages of avoiding
the risks that attend the use of very large forgings in paddle engines,
and of securing the ship against total disablement by engine
accidents. The importance of this latter advantage to the owners of
such a vessel is great.
I now come to the low freeboard at the extremities. This feature was
suggested during the progress of the design by Mr. Bessemer, who
considered that it would promote the longitudinal steadiness of the
vessel, or, in other words, reduce pitching. Now, had the vessel been
intended for ocean purposes, I should have altogether dissented from
this proposal, had Mr. Bessemer made it, as he probably would not in
that case have done. I feel as strongly as Admiral Elliot can possibly
do that a low freeboard at the bow of a fast ocean steamer, or indeed
of any ocean steamer, is utterly wrong. In the case of the
"Devastation" I incurred much odium because I insisted on giving her a
forecastle, and I carefully predicted that even with the forecastle she
would be deeply deluged forward by Atlantic seas I have seen the
Holyhead packets, which have additional rather than reduced freeboard
forward, steam down the long slope of a great wave in the Irish Sea
until one-fourth of their length disappeared from view under the
succeeding wave. I am no advocate, therefore, for low bows in heavy
seas; but the case of the steamer to run between Dover and Calais is a
very different one. There the waves, even in the worst weather, are
comparatively short -- so short as to present an altogether different
set of conditions. The pitching of a well-designed ship, 350 ft. long,
could there never be great, and the problem that Mr. Bessemer and I had
to solve was, not to reduce extreme pitching motions, but to make
pitching motions, already necessarily small, still smaller. For this
purpose I believe the low freeboard will prove advantageous, or, to say
the least, innocuous; and if we should be mistaken on this point the
low freeboard can easily be got rid of by prolonging the upper deck and
the sides to the extremities -- an inexpensive addition. I do not,
however, believe this addition will prove desirable, and I hope it will
not, because we have gained another very great advantage indeed by
adopting the low freeboard at the ends. That advantage is this:
although the ship is 350 ft. long in the water, she is only 250 ft.
long above the water, where she is exposed to the wind; so that not
only shall we escape the risk which other long ships will be exposed to
of being blown across the harbour entrance in a gale, but we shall
positively be better off than smaller vessels in this respect, because,
while we shall have a comparatively small surface exposed to the wind,
we shall have a greatly-lengthened surface immersed in the water to
resist the leeway resulting from the wind's action. This is a great
advantage which the Bessemer ship will possess, and which no other
competing vessel that I know of does possess.
I will not seek to further trespass upon your space by dwelling upon
other features of the Bessemer vessel. For my part, I do not put her
forward as a perfect remedy for sea-sickness in all cases, although I
think she will be found a sufficient remedy in the Straits of Dover.
Her advantages seem to me to be that she will be large enough herself
to escape all but very small movements as regards lifting bodily and
pitching. The moderate pitching which she would otherwise experience
will be diminished by the low ends, and what remains of it will
scarcely be felt at all in the centre saloon. The rolling of the ship,
which is the only remaining movement of importance, will be perfectly
neutralised by Mr. Bessemer's hydraulic arrangements
In other respects the ship will be fast, capacious, well furnished, and
well ventilated. I am, therefore, of opinion that, although she may not
fulfil every random prophecy that has been printed respecting her, she
will thoroughly fulfil the object which the travelling public desire --
namely, that of enabling us to cross to and from the Continent with
health, decency, and comfort, instead of being subjected, as we now are
in bad weather, to conditions which violate all these, and are in every
respect disgraceful to the age we live in.
I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient Servant, E. J. REED.
The general appearance of the Bessemer saloon steam-ship is clearly
shown in Fig. 86, Plate XLI. Her low freeboard at each end is
distinctly seen, and the position of her boilers and engines fore and
aft of the long saloon, which is to a great extent hidden by a line of
deck cabins extending from one pair of paddle wheels to the other.
Separate tenders for the construction of the ship, and for the engine
and boilers, were issued, and that for the ship by Earle's Shipbuilding
Company, of Hull, was accepted. The contract for the engines and
boilers was given to Messrs. John Penn and Company, of Greenwich.
Knowing, as I did, what a light and compact class of engine this firm
turned out, I was satisfied that we should be sure of admirable design
and splendid workmanship. Here, unfortunately, began the first of a
series of antagonisms naturally arising from powerful dual interests.
Mr. Reed and Sir Spencer Robinson expressed the opinion that it would
be difficult to tow the saloon ship from Hull to Greenwich to be
engined, but they did not suggest that it would be easy to send Mr.
Penn's engines in parts to Hull, as steam-engines are sent all over the
world. Finally, the tender of Mr. J. Penn was, by his consent, given
up, and the construction of the engines and boilers was handed over to
Earle's Shipbuilding Company.
Unfortunately, financial difficulties and misapprehensions occurred at
this early stage; some of the latter were so erroneous that I find it
impossible to pass over this subject (as I should have wished to do) in
silence, but will content myself by simply stating facts which the
Company's books, the list of shares issued, and my vouchers for
payment, render absolutely indisputable. Several months after the
formation of the Company, the amount of cash in the bank was getting
very low, and I subscribed first £3,000, and then £2,000 more in the
purchase of shares, thus bringing up the amount of my ordinary shares
of the Company to £15,000. Very soon after this, and for the same
reason, I took a further sum of £5,000 in Debenture Bonds, raising my
investment to £20,000.
In the interim, I had received from the Company £3,000, being 10 per
cent. on the early payments to the shipbuilders (Earle's Shipbuilding
Company, Hull); but for more than a year afterwards, the Saloon Ship
Company, although they found money to pay Earle's, could not do so to
fulfil their engagements with me. At last, I consented to take £6,000
more in Debentures, in lieu of the cash then owing to me on the 10 per
cent. account. The Company were still short of funds, and as none of
the large capitalists connected with it would take any more of the
Debentures, I had again to put my hand into my pocket for another
£5,000, for which I accepted Debentures at par, bringing up my
investment to £31,000. This money was soon absorbed, and tradesmen who
had done work on the ship, or had supplied goods to the Company, could
not be paid, and they were becoming clamorous for their money. I
naturally felt much annoyed to find this state of things going on in a
concern with which my name was so intimately connected, and, in spite
of my knowledge of the embarrassed state of the Company, I offered to
lend them £3,000 for a week or ten days, as money was expected within
that time. They accepted my offer, but handed me a bill at three
months' date for the amount; and having waited that time I was
requested not to present it, as there were no funds provided to meet
it. I accordingly held it over, but firmly determined not to allow my
sympathy with the objects of the Company to draw me into further risks.
But very soon after this prudent resolve there came a worse pinch than
ever. The boat was lying in the Millwall Docks; the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway Company wanted to run it for the holidays; but it
must be insured before it could safely be sent round to Dover. There
was the further difficulty that the debentures could not be legally
issued, for one of the conditions attached to them was that the boat
should be insured for £100,000, and the premium on this insurance was
no less than £7,000. There appeared to be no means of raising this sum:
all the shares were fully paid up, debentures could not be issued, for
no one could be induced to take them. I knew the Company was deeply
in debt, and wholly without the means of paying, and that, therefore,
they could give me no sound security for my further advances. But, on
the other hand, a collapse was imminent, and to prevent this
catastrophe I lent the £7,000 to cover the insurance and get the boat
round to Dover, thus bringing up my total investment and advances to
the Company to £41,000. This sum of £7,000 was borrowed from me under
promise of a special resolution of the Board, stating that the two sums
of £3,000 and £7,000 should be repaid as soon as £10,000, which had
been promised to be placed to the credit of the Company on the security
of £20,000 in Debentures, had been received. In due course this £10,000
was placed to the credit of the Company, and a cheque was drawn for me
-- not, however, for the £10,000 owing me, but for £7,000 only. I
pressed hard for the £3,000 in cash, which by a special resolution of
the Board I had a right to, and which was in their possession; but I
failed to get the money, and after a time I was glad to take £3,000 in
Debentures, in lieu of the money lent them, although I knew at the time
that these Debentures were of very questionable value. I, therefore,
held in the Company £15,000 in Ordinary Shares and £19,000 in
Debentures.
I have shown that by Agreement and Deed of License I was only to give
my advice and opinion, but being above all things desirous for the
success of the enterprise, I took upon myself an immense amount of
practical detail. I had been some years without doing any actual work
at the drawing-board; my staff of assistants was scattered, and I
feared to entrust so important a matter as the arrangement of all the
details of the saloon machinery to strangers. I consequently went to
the drawing-board myself, working long hours for many weeks together.
At my then time of life, and with the effects of my former efforts
still hanging about me, this work proved too much. I suffered
constantly from severe headache and want of sleep, and at last my
health broke down so completely that my friends became alarmed, and I
consulted
Dr. Jenner, who ordered me at once to leave home and all business
matters for some months, enjoying perfect quiet and repose. I, however,
held on, and got such further professional assistance as was necessary
to finish the work before I left London. I also went to the cost of
many photographs and two large coloured drawings of the interior of the
saloon, by means of which the Directors were enabled to see precisely
what was intended to be done. Everyone seemed to pride himself on the
beautiful saloon, and not a word was raised about the expense of it;
each of the contracts for oak carving, cartoon paintings, and gilt
decorations passed the Board with full approval.
I may mention that, during my study of the best means of governing the
saloon, I proposed to employ a gyroscope, driven at a very high speed
by a steam turbine on the same axis. There was enough doubt about so
novel a contrivance to prevent me from feeling quite justified in
advising the Company to go to the expense of trying it; and, on the
other hand, I believed it would be a splendid success if it acted at
all in the way proposed, and seeing that the cost of the apparatus
would not exceed £500, I volunteered to go to this expense, and had a
beautiful instrument made on a large scale; I also went to the further
expense of taking out patents, at home and abroad, so as to secure its
use to the Bessemer Saloon Ship Company. But when the latter fell into
liquidation, this beautiful instrument, which was chiefly constructed
of gun-metal, was sold as old metal; only the fly-wheel remained to
give an idea of its size.
The Bessemer Saloon Ship Company were most fortunate in finding in Mr.
Forbes and Capt. Godbold, of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway
Company, gentlemen who not only thoroughly appreciated the advantages
to the Channel service promised by the Saloon Steamboat, but who also,
with enlightened liberality, seldom equalled in a public body, gave the
most valuable help on all occasions: lending the services of their
experienced Commodore, Captain Pittock, and in a dozen other ways
affording the most generous assistance.
Among other things they organised a trial trip of the Saloon boat, to
take place on the 8th May, 1875, having invited the most influential
officers and others connected with their Company and with the Channel
service. Now, what was the result of this elaborately-organised trial
trip, from which so much had been expected? On a beautiful calm day, in
broad daylight, at a carefully-chosen time of the tide, and with all
the skill of the best Channel navigator, the ship dashed into the pier
at Calais for the second time out of three attempts to enter the
harbour, doing damage for which the authorities claimed £2,800 (a sum
greatly in excess of the injury done); and for this an undertaking had
to be given before the vessel was allowed to depart. On this run, with
every effort, she did not steam faster than the small boats, although
from the huge columns of smoke issuing from the funnels it was evident
to all on board that she was consuming coal at a furious rate. The fact
that the boat did not answer her helm was sworn to by Captain Pittock
before the Consul at Calais.
That this mishap did in no way arise from any failure of the saloon
itself, or from any inefficiency in the machinery used to control it, I
have the testimony of Mr. E. J. Reed (the Company's Naval Architect),
as well as that of Admiral Sir Spencer Robinson. The facts of the case
were given by these gentlemen in the most clear and emphatic terms.
During the week immediately following the catastrophe at Calais I
remained in Paris, and on my return to England I had placed before me,
by the Secretary of the Saloon Ship Company, a letter for my approval,
which, as endorsed thereon, was intended to be sent to all the London
daily papers. The letter was written by no less an authority than Mr.
E. J. Reed, and it had also been approved by Admiral Sir Spencer
Robinson, who had, at his own discretion, made some additions to the
latter part of the letter, leaving intact, and without one word of
alteration, all the part of it having reference to the saloon and its
machinery, which I therefore quote as being purely independent
evidence, written without my knowledge or suggestion, and intended to
convey to the world, through the medium of the public press, the simple
facts of the case. This letter was to appear in the papers as if
written by the Secretary under the authority of the Board, and to be
signed by him; but as Captain Davis (one of the Directors) did not
agree with some of the statements made in the latter part of the letter
in reference to the steering powers of the boat, the publication of it
was postponed, and it was never sent to the press.
Here follows a correct copy of so much of the letter in question as
refers to the Saloon and its machinery:
THE BESSEMER.
I am instructed by the Board of this Company to request your kind
insertion of the following remarks upon a subject which appears to be
of sufficient public interest to justify this request.
The facts that the Bessemer is not yet running between England and
France, and that on two occasions the pier of Calais has been injured
by her in entering, have led some persons to state that the vessel has
failed, and that the object which the Company had in view cannot be
accomplished. That this is a hastily-drawn inference will appear from
the following.
The Bessemer was built primarily for the purpose of showing that the
rolling motion of a passenger steamer might be neutralised in a saloon
supported upon axles and controlled by hydraulic power. It is well
understood that this was a great experiment, and all reasonable
persons expected that the totally novel machinery required for keeping
the saloon at comparative rest, however successful in principle, would
require some experience, and probably some minor modifications, in
order to put it successfully to work.
Now up to this present moment Mr. Bessemer and his representatives have
been able to make but extremely few trials, and there does not appear
to be the slightest ground for alleging that he will fail in his
object. He has amply proved the sufficiency of his machinery for
applying to the Saloon all the power that is requisite for the purpose.
The only changes which he has yet found desirable have been of a minor
kind, and connected only with the valves and levers. These improvements
have not yet been properly tried, for it is not an easy thing,
particularly at this season of the year, to find suitable opportunities
for working the cabin at sea, and for making such adjustments as
experiment only can indicate. Any supposition of failure, therefore,
with regard to Mr. Bessemer's plans, is altogether premature and
without proper foundation.
After this second collision with the Calais pier, nothing was done to
test the powers of the hydraulic machinery; not a single thing was done
or alteration made, not even a screw was undone or touched, so that the
saloon and its hydraulic governing machinery still remains an untried
mechanical problem. And it is important that it should be understood
how it happened that the machinery connected with the saloon was
prevented from being completed by a similar accident, or collision,
with the Calais pier about three weeks prior to the fatal smashing of
the pier on the public trial on May 8th, 1875. The simple facts are
these :-
Immediately after this public trial-trip had been decided upon, the
Saloon Ship Company thought it prudent to have a rehearsal, and it was
arranged that Captain Pittock, the able Commander of the Chatham and
Dover steamboats, should run the boat into Calais harbour at mid-day,
and return at once to Dover. Matters being thus arranged, Captain
Pittock started from Dover for this private trial-trip about the middle
of April; and, notwithstanding his long experience in daily navigating
the Channel for twenty years, in daylight and in darkness, in calm and
in storm, yet on a bright Spring morning, with a gentle breeze, he
failed to steer safely into Calais Harbour, which he knew so well, and
where at all states of the tide, and in all weathers, he had steered
his Channel ships thousands of times without a mishap of any kind. On
this rehearsal trial he was unable to keep the Bessemer ship off the
pier, which she crashed into, not with her bows but with her
paddle-wheels, doing much damage to the pier, but still more damage to
one paddle-wheel and adjacent parts of the ship. He was, however, able
to back out of the harbour that he had partially entered, and by the
aid of the other pair of paddle-wheels to crawl back again into Dover
Harbour, thus deranging the whole programme, and altering all that had
been decided to be done during the three weeks pending the great
demonstration advertised to be made on the 8th May, and which could not
be put off.
The saloon machinery was nearly completed, but the whole of its working
parts had never once been put together, and the trial referred to in
the letter written by Mr. Reed had reference only to the testing of
joints and connections, steam pumps, etc.; no trial whatever up to the
present hour has ever been made with the complete apparatus, which, in
fact, was never finished. The interval of about three weeks between the
middle of April and May 8th would have enabled me to complete my work,
and also to get a first rehearsal of the saloon with its machinery
absolutely finished, prior to the public use of it on the 8th May, had
it not been for the smashing of the paddle-wheel. But the first thing
to be done after the accident was to render the ship itself capable of
performing the advertised voyage, and with this object every available
man was put on the repairs of the disabled paddle-wheel, and the other
parts of the vessel injured in its collision with the pier. There was
scarce time, by working night and day, to get the ship
again in good order for the 8th of May. It was impossible that time
could be allowed me to have a trial-trip and a proper rehearsal of the
Saloon machinery, and I did not feel justified in subjecting our
visitors to the first trial of so novel an invention, with a steersman
absolutely without practice. Seeing this was to be the case, I employed
the few hands that could be spared in riveting some plates and stays to
the underside of the saloon, and securing their opposite ends to the
main ribs and bottom of the ship, thus making the saloon, for the time
being, a part and parcel of the ship itself, like any other fixed
cabin, and quite safe for persons to go into it, or crowd upon its
upper open deck, as they did on the journey to Calais.
Thus, owing to the want of control of the rudder, this first smash of
the Calais pier destroyed the only opportunity I ever had of trying the
action of the saloon with all its mechanical arrangements complete.
With the rigidly-fixed saloon the invited company started for Calais;
everyone was charmed with it, the proportions being so unlike the cabin
of a Channel boat. It formed a room 70 ft. long by 30 ft. wide, with a
ceiling 20ft. from the floor; its beautiful morocco-covered seats; its
fine carved-oak divisions and spiral columns; its gilt, moulded
panels, with hand-painted cartoons; its groined ceiling, tastefully
decorated, gave an idea of luxury to the future Channel passage which
all seemed to appreciate.
I have given an illustration of the interior of the saloon (see Fig.
87, Plate XLII.) in section, taken from a large water-colour painting,
closely following all the details of the structure; but it requires a
very fertile imagination, when looking at this small black-and-white
illustration, to fill in the exquisite oak carving and arabesques in
its numerous panels, its bold cartoon filling each space between the
spiral oak columns, with the beautiful colouring intermixed, with just
enough gilding to convert the decorations into one harmonious whole,
pleasing to the eye but not distracting to the senses: a room which did
infinite credit to its able and truly artistic decorators, Messrs. E.
Simpson and Son. Everyone on board on that fatal 8th of May roamed
over the various small cabins connected with the saloon, and ascended
to the upper deck. They all had gone over the ship, and commented,
according to their different tastes
and ideas, on the many novelties in this new structure; and in the
interim we had arrived -- very slowly, it must be admitted -- at the
entrance of Calais Harbour. I, knowing what had occurred on a previous
occasion, held my breath while the veteran Captain Pittock gave his
orders to the man at the helm. But the ship did not obey him, and crash
she went along the pier side, knocking down the huge timbers like so
many ninepins!
I knew what it all meant to me. That five minutes had made me a poorer
man by £34,000; it had deprived me of one of the greatest triumphs of a
long professional life, and had wrought the loss of the
dearly-cherished hope that buoyed me up and helped to carry me through
my personal labours. I had fondly hoped to remove for ever from
thousands yet unborn the bitter pangs of the Channel passage, and thus
by intercourse, and a greater appreciation of each other, to strengthen
the bonds of mutual respect and esteem between two great nations, while
it still left us the silver streak for our political protection. All
this had gone for ever.
It will be readily understood that this second catastrophe at Calais
finally determined the fate of the Bessemer Saloon Steamboat Company,
which had thus become hopelessly discredited; its financial position
was equally bad, and there only remained the formal act of winding up
the Company, from which I withdrew myself, much disappointed.
Had this unfortunate ship been able to steam rapidly and steer safely,
all might still have been saved, for Captain Godbold, the Foreign
Traffic Manager of the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Company,
distinctly stated to me that had the Bessemer been capable of steering
safely into Calais Harbour at the promised speed, his Company would
have run her regularly on this station, even if her saloon had always
been kept locked fast to the boat, on terms that would have yielded a
handsome profit to the Saloon Company, and thus have afforded ample
opportunities between her trips across the Channel for practising and
perfecting the controlling apparatus, and training two or three men to
this new occupation.
I have already explained the conditions under which I granted a
monopoly of a portion of my patent rights to the Saloon Company, and
for which I was to receive 10 per cent. on the cost of the ships built
by them. Now, if there is any force in a sealed contract, deliberately
entered into by men of business, I had a clear right, both moral and
legal, to the advantages secured by that contract. I state this
distinctly, so that there may be no mistake, and that no one shall be
able to say that my determination never to apply to my own private use
one shilling of the money so obtained from the Saloon Company, was
because I had any doubts of my moral and legal rights thereto. It was
purely because I would not put into my own pocket one shilling earned
by my invention, while there were tradesmen and manufacturers who had
done work and supplied material to the Saloon Company, but who remained
unpaid their just debts.
As before stated, I had received £3000 in cash, and had been obliged to
take £6000 in debentures in lieu of that amount in cash. These I was
fortunate to sell for £3000, making my gross receipts from the Company
£6000. I held only three-fourths of the saloon patents, and I
therefore handed over £1500 to my friends who held the remainder, thus
reducing the amount personally received by me to £4500.
I then requested my solicitor to write to each of the creditors of the
Bessemer Saloon Steamboat Company, fixing a day, viz., Wednesday, June
23rd, 1875 -- when, on applying at the offices of Messrs. Watkin, Baker,
Bayllis, and Baker, of 11, Sackville Street, their accounts would be
paid in full. It appeared that there were twenty-one creditors, whose
united claims on the Company amounted to the sum of £3328 18s. 9d.,
which was duly paid to them. I am, at the time of writing, still in
possession of all the receipts given by these creditors.
The payment of these twenty-one accounts left me with a balance of
£1172 out of the monies I had received from the Saloon Company, and
which sum I had proposed to hand over to some public charity, but one
of the unfortunate shareholders suggested that "Charity begins at
home," and I therefore handed over this balance to the liquidators. All
these details would for ever have been buried in oblivion but for the
fact that I had, through no fault of my own, been identified with the
affairs of this bankrupt company; and I consequently feel bound to
vindicate my character, and to show that I had, time after time, helped
with a liberal hand to extricate the Company from its financial
difficulties by taking further shares. I desire also to show that I had
not benefited by my connection with the Company to the extent of a
single shilling, either for my arduous personal services or for the
sale of a portion of my patent rights to them. And, further, that the
collapse of the Company was not caused by any failure of my invention,
which remains to this hour an untried mechanical problem, in which I
have still the most perfect confidence. Indeed, nothing has happened to
lessen or destroy the confidence with which I had followed it up from
its first inception to the time of the Calais smash; and, even when all
seemed lost, I could not resist one more attempt to save the Company
and the unfortunate shareholders. We were not bound to that particular
ship, and if an opportunity could only be obtained to show that the
Saloon when finished would do what was expected of it, all might yet be
well. But who was to lead this forlorn hope? I, if anyone. But how dare
I run such a ship on my own responsibility? I was not mad enough for
this; but the ship was worth so little that the liquidators might be
induced to risk taking her to sea, after the completion of the Saloon
machinery had been effected, and I was willing to risk yet another
£1000 to get this done and the device properly tried at sea. For this
purpose I proposed to place the sum of £1000 in the London Joint Stock
Bank in the names of Mr. J. O. Chadwick, one of the liquidators, and
Captain Henry Davis, a director of the Saloon Company. In order that
the fund thus provided should be applied in a manner that would be
satisfactory to the liquidators, I proposed to form a committee of
three competent engineers -- viz., Mr. John Beckwith, manager of
Messrs. Galloway and Sons, who made all the hydraulic apparatus for the
saloon; Mr. Robert Charles May, of Great George Street, Westminster, an
eminent civil engineer, and myself. These three persons were to decide
by a majority on all the steps to be taken, and to draw cheques on this
£1000 for the payment of fitting up, completing, and working
experimentally the hydraulic apparatus at sea. I insisted, however,
that I, personally, should not be held responsible for any damage the
Saloon ship might do to
herself, or to other vessels she might collide with or run into, etc.
This offer, if accepted, would in all human probability have saved the
whole property of the Company from wreck by proving the success of the
saloon machinery, but it was refused by the liquidators, who thus gave
the final coup to this most unfortunate undertaking.
In writing an account of the more salient incidents of my professional
career, it was impossible for me to omit the story of the Saloon
Steam-ship, about which the general public very naturally came to the
conclusion that my system of controlling the motion of the saloon by
hydraulic power had proved an entire failure, and that the collapse of
the Saloon Steam-boat Company had consequently ensued. Nothing could be
more absolutely untrue, but a simple denial of that fact on my part
would have had no weight against the fact that the Company had
collapsed. I was, therefore, obliged to choose between two
alternatives; I must either for ever remain under the stigma of this
supposed failure, or I must combat that erroneous impression by placing
unreservedly the leading facts of the case before the public, and thus
bring home, even to the untechnical reader, evidence that no
fair-minded person can hesitate to accept. It must be borne in mind
that I had personally expended over model ships, patents, and
experiments, some £5000 prior to the formation of the Saloon Company.
Now this Company ought certainly to have been a source of gain or
profit to me, or, at any rate, have recouped my initial outlay; but, on
the contrary, I had to prop it up, taking an undue amount in shares,
and ultimately losing £34,000 on them. This may be said only to show
great confidence in the invention on my part, but when all was over,
and the Company was in liquidation, while still smarting under my
pecuniary losses, and still more so over my loss of professional
reputation, by the supposed failure of the untried Saloon, what could
have induced me to place £1000 in the bank to give my invention a
trial, if it had already proved a failure? This is, at least, a point
upon which the common-sense of unscientific people will enable everyone
to form a sound opinion, and accept the fact that my hydraulic
controlling apparatus was never completed, was never tested at sea, and
consequently never failed.
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