WITH AUTHENTIC TABLES OF THE EXTENT OF THE STEAM MARINE OF ALL PARTS OF THE GLOBE,
CONTRASTED WITH THE STEAM POWER OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE ;

IMPERFECTIONS OF THE PRESENT SYSTEM OF STEAM NAVIGATION,

AND

SYMINGTON'S INVENTIONS.

WITH DRAWINGS OF THE ORIGINAL STEAM BOATS, AND LATEST IMPROVEMENTS.

BY BOYMAN BOYMAN, ESQ.

“Mankind, just now, seem wrapt in meditation,
On Constitutions, and Steam Boats of vapour.

With all kinds of mechanics, and full soon,
Steam Engines will conduct him to the Moon."

D. J., xii. and x.

LONDON:

A. H. BAILY & CO., 83, CORNHILL.

APOLOGETICAL PREFACE.

THE reader will observe, with surprise perhaps, that the first pages of this pamphlet are taken up with a detailed account of the imperfections of the present system of Steam Navigation, and with the description of an invention to obviate them. The design with which it was written precluded the first part appearing in its proper position at the end, after the account of the rise and progress of this great power had naturally led the reader to take more interest in an inquiry into its chief drawbacks, and the means of their prevention. No apology is necessary for dwelling upon them at length, since these evils were considered of sufficient magnitude to deserve the attention of eminent engineers in England, France, and America; of their respective governments, of their first chemists, and philosophical inquirers. The causes that produce them have been well investigated, and are well ascertained; but they have not led to the discovery of a remedy by any of that body. Excepting, indeed, the safety-lamp of Sir Humphrey Davy, the useful arts are but little indebted, for practical results, to the class called philosophers. The Cartwrights, Comptons, Arkwrights, Watts, Symingtons, and Whitneys, who, within the short space of thirty years,

a

have made discoveries more wonderful than all others put together since the creation, excepting only two, the art of printing, and the polarity of the magnet: these benefactors of mankind, inventas qui vitam excoluêre per artes, have proceeded from a distinct class, the theoretic-practical mechanics, if I may coin the only word that can describe them. But as salt water was considered, at one time, the chief prevention of the application of steam to general navigation, no history of this improvement in commercial intercourse would be complete without some explanation of the evils sea or impure water has been found to produce, and which are of such extent that those alone can sufficiently estimate who are practically acquainted with them through their pocket. The evidence of Mr. Farraday and others, on this subject, given before a committee appointed by Government, and the causes of the many lamentable accidents, have never before been brought before the public, except in voluminous Reports. It will not, then, be found uninteresting to the inquiring mind, to have, in a convenient form, the substance of many bulky folios, and a collection of Tables, comprising a complete, though concise, history of this curious and singular power, from its origin down to its present state in all parts of the globe. Concluding, from my own solitary experience, that a Preface is the last part written, I avail myself of the custom, or make one, to explain the bad arrangement of these pages.

I commenced this pamphlet for the express purpose, alone, of introducing, to the parties interested, an invention which appeared to me deserving of the investigation of older and wiser heads than my own, as a remedy for serious accidents, and a means of extending the natural limits to the usefulness of Steam Navigation. I wished to excite the discussion of competent judges in the scientific