PROPERTY OF THE

CITY OF NEW YORK.

MEN OF INVENTION AND INDUSTRY.

CHAPTER I.

PHINEAS PETT.

BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.

"A speck in the Northern Ocean, with a rocky coast, an ungenial climate, and a soil scarcely fruitful, this was the material patrimony which descended to the English race-an inheritance that would have been little worth but for the inestimable moral gift that accompanied it. Yes; from Celts, Saxons, Danes, Normans-from some or all of them have come down with English nationality a talisman that could command sunshine, and plenty, and empire, and fame. The 'go' which they transmitted to us--the national vis-this it is which made the old Angle-land a glorious heritage. Of this we have had a portion above our brethren - good measure, running over. Through this our island-mother has stretched out her arms till they enriched the globe of the earth. . . . Britain, without her energy and enterprise, what would she be in Europe?"-Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1870).

IN

...

N one of the few records of Sir Isaac Newton's life which he left for the benefit of others, the following comprehensive thought occurs :

"It is certainly apparent that the inhabitants of this world are of a short date, seeing that all arts, as letters, ships, printing, the needle, etc., were discovered within the memory of history."

If this were true in Newton's time, how much truer is it now. Most of the inventions which are so greatly influencing, as well as advancing, the civilization of the

world at the present time, have been discovered within the last hundred or hundred and fifty years. We do not say that man has become so much wiser during that period; for, though he has grown in knowledge, the most fruitful of all things were said by "the heirs of all the ages" thousands of years ago.

But as regards physical science, the progress made during the last hundred years has been very great. Its most recent triumphs have been in connection with the discovery of electric power and electric light. Perhaps the most important invention, however, was that of the working steam-engine, made by Watt, only about a hundred years ago. The most recent application of this form of energy has been in the propulsion of ships, which has already produced so great an effect upon commerce, navigation, and the spread of population over the world.

Equally important has been the influence of the railway, now the principal means of communication in all civilized countries. This invention has started into full life within our own time. The locomotive engine had for some years been employed in the haulage of coals; but it was not until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in 1830, that the importance of the invention came to be acknowledged. The locomotive railway has since been everywhere adopted throughout Europe. In America, Canada, and the colonies it has opened up the boundless resources of the soil, bringing the country nearer to the towns, and the towns to the country. It has enhanced the celerity of time, and imparted a new series of conditions to every rank of life.

The importance of steam navigation has been still more recently ascertained. When it was first proposed, Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, said: "It is a pretty plan, but there is just one point over

Steam Navigation.

3

looked-that the steam-engine requires a firm basis on which to work." Symington, the practical mechanic, put this theory to the test by his successful experiments, first on Dalswinton Lake, and then on the Forth and Clyde Canal. Fulton and Bell afterwards showed the power of steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain.

After various experiments, it was proposed to unite England and America by steam. Dr. Lardner, however, delivered a lecture before the British Association, in 1838, "proving" that steamers could never cross the Atlantic, because they could not carry sufficient coal to raise steam enough during the voyage. But this theory was also tested by experience in the same year, when the Sirius, of London, left Cork for New York, and made the passage in nineteen days. Four days after the departure of the Sirius the Great Western left Bristol for New York, and made the passage in thirteen days five hours.* The problem was solved, and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous streams between the shores of England and America.

In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for another. The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle-wheels, but these are now almost entirely superseded by the screw. And this, too, is an invention almost of yesterday. It was only

*This was not the first voyage of a steamer between England and America. The Savannah made the passage from New York to Liverpool as early as 1819; but steam was only used occasionally during the voyage. In 1825 the Enterprise, with engines by Maudslay, made the voyage from Falmouth to Calcutta in one hundred and thirteen days; and in 1828 the Curaçoa made the voyage between Holland and the Dutch West Indies. But, in all these cases, steam was used as an auxiliary, and not as the one essential means of propulsion, as in the case of the Sirius and the Great Western, which were steam voyages only.

in 1840 that the Archimedes was fitted as a screw yacht. A few years later, in 1845, the Great Britain, propelled by the screw, left Liverpool for New York, and made the voyage in fourteen days. The screw is now invariably adopted in all long ocean voyages.

It is curious to look back and observe the small beginnings of maritime navigation. As regards this country, though its institutions are old, modern England is still young. As respects its mechanical and scientific achievements, it is the youngest of all countries. Watt's steam-engine was the beginning of our manufacturing supremacy; and since its adoption inventions and discoveries in art and science, within the last hundred years, have succeeded each other with extraordinary rapidity. In 1814 there was only one steam-vessel in Scotland, while England possessed none at all. Now the British mercantile steamships number about five thousand, with about four millions of aggregate tonnage.*

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In olden times this country possessed the materials for great things, as well as the men fitted to develop them into great results. But the nation was slow to awake and take advantage of its opportunities. There was no enterprise, no commerce, no go" in the people. The roads were frightfully bad, and there was little communication between one part of the country and another. If anything important had to be done, we used to send for foreigners to come and teach us how to do it. We sent for them to drain our fens, to build our piers and harbors, and even to pump our water at London Bridge. Though a seafaring population lived round our coasts, we did not fish our own seas,

*"In 1862 the steam-tonnage of the country was 537,000 tons; in 1872 it was 1,537,000 tons; and in 1882 it had reached 3,835,000 tons.”—Mr. Chamberlain's Speech, House of Commons, 19th May, 1884.

Beginnings of English Commerce.

5

but left it to the industrious Dutchmen to catch the fish and supply our markets. It was not until the year 1787 that the Yarmouth people began the deep-sea herring fishery; and yet these were the most enterprising among the English fishermen.

English commerce also had very slender beginnings. At the commencement of the fifteenth century England was of very little account in the affairs of Europe. Indeed, the history of modern England is nearly coincident with the accession of the Tudors to the throne. With the exception of Calais and Dunkirk, her dominions on the Continent had been wrested from her by the French. The country at home had been made desolate by the Wars of the Roses. The population was very small, and had been kept down by war, pestilence, and famine.* The chief staple was wool, which was exported to Flanders in foreign ships, there to be manufactured into cloth. Nearly every article of importance was brought from abroad, and the little commerce which existed was in the hands of foreigners. The seas were swept by privateers, little better than pirates, who plundered without scruple every vessel, whether friend or foe, which fell in their way.

The British navy has risen from very low beginnings. The English fleet had fallen from its high estate since the reign of Edward III., who won a battle from the French and Flemings in 1340, with two hundred and sixty ships; but his vessels were all of moderate size, being boats, yachts, and caravels, of very small tonnage. According to the contemporary chronicles, Weymouth, Fowey, Sandwich, and Bristol were then of nearly almost as much importance as London,t

*The last visit of the plague was in 1665.

† Roll of Edward the Third's Fleet. Cotton's Library, British Mu

seum.