Part 32 (1/2)
Brunel's first interview with Lord Minto; and she was then delivered to Messrs. Maudslay in the roughest possible state.
Except during the time that Mr. Brunel was prevented from attending to business by the half-sovereign accident, he was in constant communication with the dockyard authorities on matters relating to the construction of the s.h.i.+p, with Messrs. Maudslay as to the multiplying-gear and engines, and with Mr. F. P. Smith as to the forms of the various screws to be tried.
The engines and screw were fitted in the s.h.i.+p, after considerable delay; and, on October 24, 1843, Mr. Brunel reported on them in their completed state. On the 30th, the experiments were commenced.
More than twenty trials were made between that date and the following October, when the 'Rattler' went to sea, and Mr. Brunel could not of course any longer personally superintend the experiments; but, except on one or two occasions when his place was supplied by an a.s.sistant, all the trials that were made during the first year were conducted in his presence, and he transmitted the results from time to time to the Admiralty.[137]
The performance of the 'Rattler' was found to be satisfactory; and the position of the engines and screw being below the water line was so pre-eminent an advantage, that in 1845 the Lords of the Admiralty ordered more than twenty vessels to be fitted with the screw;[138] and since that time it has gradually superseded the paddlewheel for s.h.i.+ps of war.
The services which Mr. Brunel rendered to the country during the whole of these proceedings were given entirely without pecuniary recompense, and in the face of opposition and discouragement; but he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had been mainly instrumental, not only in introducing the screw propeller into the mercantile navy, but also in securing its adoption in Her Majesty's fleet.
CHAPTER XI.
_STEAM NAVIGATION--THE 'GREAT EASTERN' STEAM-s.h.i.+P, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE UNDERTAKING TO THE LAUNCH._
A.D. 1851--1857. aeTATIS 46--52.
INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS--THE AUSTRALIAN STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY--STATEMENT OF MR. BRUNEL'S PROJECT OF A LINE OF LARGE s.h.i.+PS (JUNE 10, 1852)--ADOPTION OF HIS PLANS BY THE EASTERN STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY--EXTRACT FROM A LETTER DESCRIBING THE SCHEME (JULY 1, 1852)--LETTER TO J. SCOTT RUSSELL, ESQ., ON THE FORM AND DIMENSIONS OF THE GREAT s.h.i.+P (JULY 13, 1852)--REPORT ON MODE OF PROCEEDING (JULY 21, 1852)--REPORT ON ENQUIRIES RELATING TO THE DRAUGHT AND FORM OF THE VESSEL (OCTOBER 6, 1852)--REPORT ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO CONSIDER MR. BRUNEL'S PLANS (MARCH 21, 1853)--TENDERS INVITED FOR THE s.h.i.+P AND ENGINES--REPORT ON TENDERS (MAY 18, 1853)--PREPARATION OF THE CONTRACTS AND SPECIFICATIONS--EXTRACTS FROM MR. BRUNEL'S MEMORANDA (A.D. 1852, 1853, 1854)--LETTER ON HIS POSITION AND DUTIES AS ENGINEER OF THE COMPANY (AUGUST 16, 1854)--LETTER ON AN ARTICLE IN A NEWSPAPER (NOVEMBER 16, 1854)--REPORT ON THE UNDERTAKING (FEBRUARY 5, 1855)--ARRANGEMENTS PROPOSED FOR OBTAINING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS--LETTER TO G. B. AIRY, ESQ., ASTRONOMER ROYAL (OCTOBER 5, 1852)--APPOINTMENT OF MR. WILLIAM HARRISON TO THE COMMAND OF THE s.h.i.+P--MEMORANDUM ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE GREAT s.h.i.+P (OCTOBER, 1855)--LETTER ON THE DUTIES OF THE CHIEF ENGINEER (MARCH 19, 1857)--SUSPENSION AND RESUMPTION OF THE WORKS.
Mr. Brunel's earlier labours in connection with the progress of Ocean Steam Navigation have been described in the chapters on the 'Great Western' and 'Great Britain' steam-s.h.i.+ps.[139] The 'Great Eastern' is but the result of the application, under different circ.u.mstances, of the same principles which had guided him in his previous under-takings, the practical working out of the 'idea which he had frequently entertained, that, to make long voyages economically and speedily by steam, required the vessels to be large enough to carry the coal for the entire voyage at least outwards; and, unless the facility for obtaining coal was very great at the out port, then for the return voyage also; and that vessels much larger than had been previously built could be navigated with great advantage from the mere effect of size.'[140]
In 1851, four years after the release of the 'Great Britain' from Dundrum Bay, Mr. Brunel became again connected with the construction of steam-s.h.i.+ps. In that year he was consulted by the Directors of the Australian Mail Company upon the cla.s.s of vessels which it would be advantageous for them to purchase, in order to carry out their contract for the conveyance of the mails to Australia. He advised them to have s.h.i.+ps of from 5,000 to 6,000 tons burden, in order that they might only have to touch for coal at the Cape.
Some of the Directors would not hear of so startling a proposition; but they nevertheless asked Mr. Brunel to become their Engineer; and he retained the post till February 1853. Two s.h.i.+ps were built under his direction by Mr. J. Scott Russell--the 'Victoria' and the 'Adelaide.'
It was, no doubt, his connection with the Australian Mail Company that led Mr. Brunel to work out into practical shape the idea of 'a great s.h.i.+p' for the Indian or Australian service, which had so long occupied his mind; and it appears that in the latter part of 1851 and the beginning of 1852 he devoted much time and thought to the subject. He collected facts relating to the trade with India and Australia which demonstrated the advantages to be gained by a rapid and direct communication for the conveyance of pa.s.sengers and troops, as well as of merchandise. It was with these enlarged views that Mr. Brunel entered upon the construction of the 'Great Eastern.' He writes in February 1854, 'In February and March 1852 I matured my ideas of the large s.h.i.+p with nearly all my present details, and in March I made my first sketch of one with paddles and screw. The size I then proposed was 600 70, and in June and July I determined on the mode of construction now adopted of cellular bottom; intending then to make the outer skin of wood for the sake of coppering.'
In the spring of 1852 he communicated the results at which he had arrived to Mr. John Scott Russell, Captain Claxton, and other scientific friends, and also to several Directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company.
This Company had been formed in January 1851 for the purpose of establis.h.i.+ng an additional line of steam communication by the overland route, for the conveyance of mails, pa.s.sengers, &c., between England, India, and China, with a branch to Australia. However, in March 1852 the Government determined to grant the contract for the whole service to the Peninsular and Oriental Company. The Directors of the Eastern Steam Company were therefore obliged to report to their shareholders that the object for which the Company had been incorporated could not be carried out.
At about this time Mr. Brunel's scheme was brought before the Directors, and he submitted to them a detailed statement of his project.
After describing the size and capacities of the vessels then used on the route between England and the East, and the amount and cost of the coals they consumed, he continued:--
June 10, 1852.
The same amount of capital and the same expenditure in money for fuel now required for a line of s.h.i.+ps of the present dimensions would build and work s.h.i.+ps to carry in the year double the number of pa.s.sengers, with far superior accommodation, and in about half the time, and two or three times the amount of cargo; the whole difference being produced simply by making the vessel _large enough to carry its own coal_, exactly as when the 'Great Western' was projected for the New York line, the pa.s.sage had been considered an impossible one for steamboats, or, if possible, only at a total sacrifice of all return for the cost. Certainly, no steamboat then built could get across except by a chance fair weather pa.s.sage, and then only by being completely filled with coals and leaving no room for pa.s.sengers or cargo. Simply by building a s.h.i.+p of the size necessary to take the coal, over and above the accommodation required for a due number of pa.s.sengers and a reasonable quant.i.ty of cargo, the pa.s.sage was rendered perfectly easy and certain, and has since become a mere matter of course, and an ordinary and profitable trading voyage.
The increased size, instead of being a disadvantage, was found, as predicted by the projectors, to be a great benefit, and gave increased speed, even beyond that proportionate to the power; and this steamboat, built in 1836, is still as good as any of her size afloat.
Nothing more novel is proposed now, but again to build a vessel _of the size required to carry her own coals for the voyage_. The use of iron, which has since 1836 become common, removes all difficulty in the construction, and the experience of several years has proved, what was believed before by most unprejudiced persons, that size in a s.h.i.+p is an element of speed, and of strength, and of safety, and of great relative economy, instead of a disadvantage; and that it is limited only by the extent of demand for freight, and by the circ.u.mstances of the ports to be frequented.
A Committee was appointed to confer with Mr. Brunel and with Mr. Scott Russell, 'who was fully acquainted with all Mr. Brunel's plans, and had ably a.s.sisted him in maturing them.'[141]
The Committee reported to the Directors that they had met on the day after their appointment, when, Mr. Brunel being unavoidably absent, Mr.
Russell had attended and entered into a very full explanation of Mr.