may add "In the 'Charlotte Dundas' there was an engine with the steam acting on both sides of the piston (Watt's patented invention), working a connecting rod and crank (Pickard's invention), and the union of the crank to the axis (Millar's improved paddle-wheel)."

Obstacles of another kind now interposed to prevent the results thus achieved bringing their legitimate reward to the ingenious and enterprising pioneers in steam navigation. The directors of the canal became apprehensive that the wave occasioned by the action of the paddles would injure the banks, and they not only compelled Lord Dundas to give up his project of working the traffic on the canal by steam, but to abandon all further steam-boat experiments on the canal. The idea that steam navigation was practicable in the open sea, or the estuary of rivers, seems not yet to have been entertained; although we have the authority of Mr. David Napier, now of Worcester, late of London, and originally of Glasgow-who was on board the "Char lotte Dundas," which he calls an experimental steamer, in 1803-for saying that from this vessel, constructed by Wm. Symington, Henry Bell, of Glasgow, and Robert Fulton, of America, acquired their first ideas of steamers. But the scheme abandoned by Lord Dundas, in consequence of the opposition of the directors of the Forth and Clyde Canal, was taken up by the Duke of Bridgewater, "the father of inland navigation," and but for his untimely death in 1803; would no doubt have been prosecuted with the enterprise for which he was so celebrated, and on a scale which would have conclusively demonstrated either its success or its impracticability. He was not deterred by the apprehensions which influenced the "canny Scots" from ordering of Wm. Symington eight steamers similar to the "Charlotte Dundas," to be used on the Bridgewater canals. His death, and the different views of those by whom he was succeeded, prevented the execution of the order, and the name of Wm. Symington appears no more in the annals of steam naviga tion. But to this humble and worthy man, and clever mechanician, belongs the honour of having converted the steam-boat "from an awkward piece of experimental apparatus into a practically useful machine."

The river Seine, at Paris, was the theatre of the next experiments in steam navigation. Robert Fulton, the American engineer, had been for some time resident with

Mr. Livingstone, the American minister at Paris, and under his auspices experimented on the Seine with a steamboat constructed after Symington's design. The success of these experiments does not seem to have been very decided; but they were so far satisfactory that in 1805 Mr. Fulton and his patron procured in America a patent for steam navigation; and in the following year Fulton returned to his native country, and commenced building a steam-boat for use upon the river Hudson. This vessel was 133 feet long, 18 feet wide, and 7 deep, and was of 160 tons burden. It was launched in the spring of 1807, and was fitted up with paddles 15 feet in diameter, with floats 4 feet long, dipping 2 feet into the water. The vessel proved very successful, and soon began to ply regularly between New York and Albany. It was the first vessel that established the practicability of river steam navigation; and it was soon followed by others on the Hudson and Delaware, which were improved in construction by successive inventors, until in a few years a speed was attained of 13 miles an hour.

The Clyde, in Scotland, in proximity to which Symington's first successful experiments were made, became, in a few years after the launch of Fulton's steam-boat on the Hudson, the scene of Henry Bell's successful venture, the "Comet," which was the first introduction of commercial steam navigation into Europe. The "Comet" was launched in 1812. It was a much smaller vessel than the "Hudson," being only 40 feet keel, 10 feet beam, and 25 tons burden; and it was fitted up with paddles propelled by an engine of only 3 horse power. The paddles of the "Comet" were very unlike the paddle wheels of the modern steam-ship. They were really "paddles"-the floats being scoops formed somewhat after the model of malt shovels--and four were fitted on to each end of the shaft, to which the engine imparted a rotary motion. The first trial of the "Comet" realised a speed of 5 miles an hour, and Henry Bell placed his steam-boat on the Clyde as a regular trader between Glasgow and Helensburgh, then, as now, a thriving watering place at the mouth of the Gareloch, opposite Roseneath. An advertisement under date 5th August 1812, headedThe Comet' steam-boat for passengers only," and signed "Henry Bell," thus appeals to the patronage of the public in support of the new and expeditious mode of conveyance between Glasgow and Helensburgh:

"The subscriber having, at much expense, fitted up a handsome vessel to ply upon the river Clyde, between Glasgow, Greenock, and Helensburgh, to sail by the power of wind, air, and steam, he intends that the vessel shall leave the Broomielaw on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, about midday, or at such hour thereafter as may answer from the state of the tide. The elegance, comfort, safety, and speed of this vessel, require only to be proved to meet the approbation of the public; and the proprietor is determined to do everything in his power to merit public encouragement. The terms are for first cabin 4s., second 3s.; but beyond these rates nothing is to be allowed for servants or any other person employed about the vessel."

The "Comet" steamer, as thus fitted up with its revolving scoops, continued to trade with "passengers only" during the summer and autumn of 1812; but before the opening of the following season, the scoop paddles had given place to paddle wheels, similar to those which have ever since been used as propellers in paddle steam-ships.

Great was the change which the establishment of steamboats effected in the means of communication on the Clyde. The intelligent editor of "The Chronicles of St. Mungo" says:"Prior to the year 1812, the vehicles of communication to the port of Greenock-which can now (1843) be reached per mare in the space of an hour and a-half-were a species of wherry-built nutshells, designated 'Fly-boats,' the justice of which appellation will be sufficiently apparent when it is considered that they generally completed the voyage in the short space of ten hours! The conveyances for goods and passengers to places more remote, were a more ambitious sort of machine, generally known by the name of 'Packet,' which, with a fair wind, could reach the Isle of Bute in three days; but when adverse, thought it 'not wonderful' to plough the billowy main for as many weeks!"

The favourite watering-place of Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, which even with a fair wind could only be reached by the "Packet" in three days from Glasgow, is now reachable by the "crack" steamers of the Clyde in three hours. But much inferior to the days of the "Packet" must have been the means of communication in 1691, when an act passed in the Convention of Royal Burghs at Edinburgh, for a commission to visit the burghs as to their trade, exempted Rothesay "on account of the difficulty of

access.

Henry Bell's "Comet" was the precursor of river steam navigation in Great Britain. One season's experience proved that it was capable of being made a commercially profitable undertaking; and the trade thus inaugurated was rapidly developed. But the capability of the steam-boat for ocean navigation was still an unsolved problem. The credit of this further step in the history of steam navigation is due to Mr. David Napier, whom a committee of the House of Commons, of which the late Sir Henry Parnell was chairman, decided to be the first that proved the practicability of successfully navigating the open sea by the power of steam. But this is anticipating.

There has been of recent date a considerable amount of friendly disputation as to the first steam-boat that ever appeared in English waters. But the priority claimed on the one side, and denied on the other, is only a priority of a few months, and cannot lessen the interest with which all must look back at these early efforts in steam navigation. The engineer of the "Comet”—the practical mechanic who made and fitted up the engine in the "Comet," now upwards of 50 years ago was John Robertson, a man of genius and enterprise, who is still living in Glasgow, but in an indigent condition. In 1814 he had spirit enough, and sufficient faith in this new application of steam power, to get two vessels built at Dundee, by Mr. Smart, shipbuilder, which he fitted up with engines and paddles, and conveyed, by carefully threading his way along the coast, from the Tay to the Humber. One vessel was named the "Caledonia," and arrived in the Humber in Sept. 1814, where it was at once seized by the Custom-house authorities, the unfortunate owner having set out from Dundee without obtaining a register or certificate. A delay of a fortnight enabled him to procure this necessary document from the port whence he had sailed in ballast, and then he formally applied to the Board of Customs for the release of his vessel.

In this application he stated "that the "Caledonia' was built at Dundee for a passenger boat in any river where employment could be found," and further, "that the vessel was intended to ply for passengers in the Humber and adjacent rivers." The application was successful, and by an order dated 25th October, 1814, the customs authorities decided that the vessel should be given up on the owner obtaining a license to trade, as stated in his application for

tlie release of his vessel. The oversight which led to this delay and unpleasantness in the case of the "Caledonia," was avoided in the case of the other vessel, which was named the "Humber," and which the enterprising owner successfully navigated, in a similar manner, from the Tay to the Humber about three months after. The two steamers thus taken from Dundee into English waters, plied for some time on the Humber, the one between Hull and Selby and the other between Hull and Gainsborough, and enjoyed a fair share of patronage and success.

But the priority in the navigation of English waters by steam-boats, which I have thus accorded to the "Caledonia" and the "Humber," built on the Tay, is also claimed for the "Margery," built on the Clyde. This was a vessel built by the late Mr. W. Denny, who carried on business as a shipbuilder at Dumbarton, where his sons have now a large establishment, of world-wide celebrity; and the owners were Messrs. W. Anderson and John McCubbin, merchants, of Glasgow. The vessel was named the "Margery," in honour of Mr. Anderson's eldest daughter, who performed the ceremony at the launching, which is somewhat profanely termed christening. It was in the spring of 1814 that this vessel was launched, and after plying on the Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock for a month or two, negociations were entered into and successfully concluded for the transference of the new steamer from the Clyde to the Thames. The agents in thus altering the original destination of the "Margery" were Captain Anthony Cortis, of the parish of Mary-le-bone, and Mr. John Cathcart, merchant, London, who were associated with Mr. Thomas Hall, of Kennington Cross, Kennington, and Mr. James Hartley, solicitor, London, under the designation of "The London Steam Engine Packet Company." The two first named gentlemen proceeded to Glasgow, and on behalf of the company," bargained with Messrs. Anderson and McCubbin for three-fifths of the "Margery;" and further bargained that the vessel should be taken to London for the purpose of plying on the Thames. The formal agreement, to be found in the records of the sheriff court at Glasgow, between the partners-the four gentlemen forming "The London Steam Engine Packet Company," and the two original owners of the vessel,-stipulates "that the said steam engine vessel, or packet, belonging to them, shall be