Part 2

The nineteenth century brought every incentive to the development of shipbuilding. Nelson taught the lesson, never to be forgotten, that sea-power is essential to the commercial expansion--even to the existence--of our island kingdom, with its corollary, that the merchant fleet is as necessary to this mastery of the sea as fighting squadrons. The sea became our home; there arose a renewed love of exploration, and an ambition for colonisation. Success brought the chastening influence of responsibility, with a higher appreciation of the advantage of a conciliatory policy towards foreign nations. Contemporaneously with the growth of this conception of empire there arose a war of retaliation in shipping with the newly-formed United States of America, which continued for half a century. Although not without its regrettable incidents, it stimulated a rivalry in the shipping and shipbuilding industries which was ultimately as beneficial as it had been pronounced. The monopoly of the East India Company in the Eastern shipping trade terminated, so far as India was concerned, in 1814, and as regards China in 1834. This removed an influence which had hitherto retarded enterprise in naval construction--especially on the Clyde--due to the Company's preference for building their ships in India, and in the south of England ports. Private owners, too, entered more vigorously into competition with American clippers which had first commenced trade with China in 1788.

With the widening of the maritime interests and the intensification of competition there was awakened a general desire to increase the strength of ships. In this respect, as in others, there had been little advance either in the Navy or in the mercantile marine. It was exceptional for a ship of the eighteenth century to continue in service for more than twelve or fifteen years. This was due partly to defective constructional details, and partly to the ineffective methods of preserving timber.

Ships were then built up[12] of a series of transverse ribs, connected together by the outside planking and by the ceiling. There was no filling between the ribs. The ship's structure thus suffered severely from hogging and sagging stresses. The French tried to improve this by introducing oblique iron riders across the ceiling, or by laying the ceiling and the outside planking diagonally, while in other instances the whole was strengthened with vertical or diagonal riders; but none of these systems gave complete satisfaction. The Sepping system was introduced about 1810, and was early adopted by the Scotts. The bottom of the ship was formed into a solid mass of timber. The beams were connected with the side of the ship by thick longitudinal timbers below the knees, and by other stiffening members. A trussed frame was laid on the inside of the transverse frame in the hold of the ship, and the decks were laid diagonally. These members bound the ship in all directions, so as to resist the stresses due to the ship working in a seaway.

The method of preserving the timber adopted at the beginning of the eighteenth century was to char the inner surface of the log, while the outer surface was kept wet; but this was superseded early in the century by the stoving system, which consisted in placing timber in wet sand, and subjecting it to the action of heat, for such time as was necessary to extract the residue of the sap and bring the timber to a condition of suppleness. This process continued until 1736, after which the timber itself was steamed. Copper sheathing was first employed on warships in 1761; prior to this lead had been used, but only occasionally.

American shipbuilders held an important position, even in the British trade, for some time after the Declaration of Independence; but there was then developed a pronounced spirit of emulation amongst the British firms, which had a marked effect on competition in western seas. At the beginning of the nineteenth century much of the oversea work done by the Scotts was for the West Indian trade. The vessels were not often of more than 600 tons, but the firm continued steadily to develop their business.

Between 1773 and 1829, the period of expansion under the second John Scott, to which we have already referred, the output was 16,800 tons.[13] This output included a succession of fine ships for the West India trade, to the order of some of the old Glasgow companies, amongst the number being Stirling, Gordon and Company; J. Campbell and Company; James Young and Company; and Muir and Fairlie. We may mention as typical ships, the _Grenada_, of 650 tons burden, and the _John Campbell_, of 446 tons, built in 1806, the first ships launched on the Clyde with all rigging in position.

Thus early, too, the Scotts had entered upon the construction of that long series of yachts, sailing and steam, which has brought them considerable repute, and even more pleasure, since they were in successive generations noted yachtsmen. In 1803 they launched the 45-1/2-ton cutter for Colonel Campbell, of the Yorkshire Militia, which was pronounced one of the completest of the kind ever built in Scotland up to that time. It may be incidentally mentioned, that the Scotts also showed thus early their practical sympathy with the auxiliary forces of the Crown by being at the head of the volunteer Sea Fencibles formed on the Clyde in the stormy years of the Napoleonic wars.

As soon as the monopoly of the East India Company was removed in 1814, private shipowners entered the lists, and the Scotts were early occupied in the construction of Indo-China clippers. In 1818 they built the _Christian_, and in 1820 the _Bellfield_, the latter, of 478 tons register, for the London and Calcutta trade. She was one of the first of a long series. The _Kirkman Finlay_, of 430 tons, built in 1834, suggests the name of a firm long and honourably associated with the development of trade in our great Eastern dependency. The effect of competition was a reduction in the average rate of freight per ton from India to Britain from £32 10s. about 1773 to £10 in 1830.

The East India Company about the year 1813 paid £40 per ton for their ships, as against about £25 per ton by other traders; the latter sum was about the same as that paid in America. The East Indiaman had a crew in the ratio of one to 10 or 12 tons, while one to 25 tons sufficed for the West Indiaman. The speed of the western ship was greater, largely by reason of the difference in proportions and lines. The clipper built on the Clyde and in America had a length equal to five or six times the beam, against four times the beam in the case of the East India Company's ships. In the design of these clippers the Scotts took an important part. Charles Cuningham Scott was then at the head of the concern. An ingenious method of making model experiments in the graving dock at the works was evolved in the 'forties, whereby the firm were able to arrive at the most satisfactory form of hull to give the minimum of resistance, and at the same time a large capacity for cargo per registered ton. In this latter respect they were more successful than the designers of the East Indiamen, notwithstanding the bluff form of the latter.

As rapidity in answering the helm was a most important element in tacking, and therefore in speed, the firm about this time prepared full-rigged models, about 5 ft. long, for experimental trials as to the ship's form and rudder, on Loch Thom, on the hill above Greenock, in an exposed place where the conditions of wind were analogous to those at sea. The results proved satisfactory. In fact, in these years, when the _Minerva_, _Acbar_, and other noted clippers were built, the care used in design and construction was almost as great as that now devoted in the case of racing yachts.

The Scotts, in the first half of the nineteenth century, continued to produce a long series of successful sailing ships, while at the same time taking a creditable part in the evolution of the steamship. Steam, however, was not possible in long-distance voyages until pressures had been increased, and coal consumption reduced to moderate limits; and thus it came that, although the steam engine was used in the early years of the nineteenth century in river, and later in coasting, craft, the sailing ship continued supreme almost until the middle of the century. We do not propose, however, to refer to all of the later sailing ships built by the Scotts, but it may be interesting to give some details of the construction.

American rock elm was largely used. The frames were in three sections with scarfed joints, bolted together, the scantlings being reduced towards the top, so as to lower the centre of gravity. Inside the frames there were at various heights longitudinal timbers, to add to the fore-and-aft strength. The top sides were of greenheart, the beams of oak or greenheart, with wrought-iron knees; the height between the beams was made to admit of two hogsheads of sugar being placed in the hold. There were side-stringers, sometimes 10 in. thick, between the floor and the beams, which were half-checked into the stringers. On the top of the beams there were deck-stringers. There was a most effective transverse and longitudinal binding, brass bolts being extended right through the knee, stringer, frame, and skin of the ship. The decks were of yellow or Dantzig white pine. An 800 or 1000-ton West Indiaman occupied about nine months in construction. The last wooden ship built in Greenock was the _Canadian_, completed by the Scotts in 1859.[14]

The highest conception of the iron sailing ship, as built by the firm, was probably embodied in the _Lord of the Isles_, completed in 1856. She had a length between perpendiculars of 185 ft., a breadth of 29 ft.--the proportion being thus 6.4 of length to 1 of beam--with a depth of hold of 18 ft. Her registered tonnage was 691 tons, and her builders' measurement 770 tons. Although a fine-ended ship she carried a large cargo on board, and made her first trip to Sydney in seventy days, which had not then been surpassed.[15] She made the passage from Shanghai to London in eighty-seven days, with 1030 tons of tea on board. In one trip she averaged 320 nautical miles for five consecutive days. When engaged in the celebrated race for the delivery of the season's teas from Foo-chow-foo to London, in 1856, the _Lord of the Isles_ beat two of the fastest American clippers, of almost twice her tonnage. She "delivered her cargo without one spot of damage, and thus British ships regained their ascendency in the trade which their American rivals had far too long monopolised."[16] From that time the British sailing ships gradually gained a complete superiority over the American vessels, and carried all before them, until they in turn were supplanted by the British steamship. From time to time an occasional sailing ship was constructed of steel; the latest, the _Archibald Russell_, is illustrated. Built for Messrs. John Hardie and Company, this vessel has a length, between perpendiculars, of 278 ft., a beam of 43 ft., and a depth, moulded, of 26 ft., and carries 3930 tons of deadweight cargo on a draught of 21 ft. 7-1/2 in. But less than 1 per cent. of ships now constructed depend upon the unbought but uncertain winds, and then only for special trades. On regular routes the steamer is now almost paramount, and it was, therefore, appropriate in the highest degree that the first vessels to steam regularly to China, _viâ_ the Cape, should, like the _Lord of the Isles_, be built by the Scotts; but that belongs to another story.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Campbell's "Historical Sketches of the Town and Harbour of Greenock," vol. i., page 18.

[3] Sir Nathaniel Barnaby's "Naval Development in the Century," page 23.

[4] Brown's "Early Annals of Greenock," page 136

[5] Williamson's "Memorials of James Watt," 1856.

[6] "The Gazetteer of Scotland," 1842, vol. i., page 709.

[7] "Journals of the House of Commons," 1792, page 357.

[8] Holmes' "Ancient and Modern Ships," page 152.

[9] Williamson's "Old Greenock," page 148.

[10] Campbell's "Historical Sketches of the Town and Harbour of Greenock," page 68.

[11] The following figures are taken for 1701 from "Chambers' Estimates," pages 68, 69, and 90; for 1793 from Lindsay's "History of Merchant Shipping"; for 1803 from "Porter's Progress of the Nation," page 626; and for 1901 from the "Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom."

1701. 1793. 1803. 1901. Number of ships 3,281 16,079 20,893 20,258 Tonnage 261,222 1,540,145 2,167,863 15,357,052 Seamen 27,196 118,286 -- 247,973

The Scottish fleet, which is not included for 1701 and 1793, was much smaller, alike in the size of units and aggregate tonnage.

[12] Holmes's "Ancient and Modern Ships," page 130.

[13] Weir's "History of Greenock."

[14] Brown's "Early Annals of Greenock," page 138.

[15] Murray's "Shipbuilding in Iron and Wood," page 60.

[16] Lindsay's "Merchant Shipping," vol. iii, page 294.

The Development of the Steamship.

A close association existed between the Scotts and the family of James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine: the founder of the Scotts' shipbuilding firm and the father of Watt were identified with several schemes for the improvement of Greenock; and the signature of John Scott, of the third generation, whose portrait is the second reproduced on Plate II., is taken from a document in connection with some intromissions of town's funds, to which also is adhibited the signature of Watt's father.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Scotts were early close students of Watt's inventive work, and among the first to enter upon the building of steamships; while at the same time, as we have shown in the preceding pages, building many of the fine sailing ships which established British shipping supremacy in the early half of the nineteenth century, and raised Greenock by 1829 to a port having trade with every part of the world.

Miller and Taylor commenced their experiments at Dalswinton in 1788, with a steam engine driving paddle-wheels in boats[17]. Symington's steam tug, _Charlotte Dundas_, by its success in 1802 on the Forth and Clyde Canal[18], removed any remaining doubt; but it was not until 1812 that Henry Bell, with his _Comet_, proved the commercial utility of the steam system, although without profit to the promoter.[19] The building of steamships, evolved by experiments by various workers in Britain--and in America also--was readily adopted on the Clyde. Within four years of the completion of the _Comet_, it was not unusual for five hundred or six hundred passengers to enjoy in the course of one day water excursions on the river.[20] The fares were practically five times those prevailing to-day. Among the earliest of the Clyde steamers were the _Active_, of 59 tons, and _Despatch_, of 58 tons, built by the Scotts. In calculating the tonnage in those early days, an average allowance of one-third was deducted for the machinery. In 1816 the firm built the _Shannon_, of a length between perpendiculars of 77 ft. 7 in., of a beam of 15 ft. 3 in., and of a depth moulded of 9 ft. 1 in. She had fore-and-aft cabins. Her engines were of 14 horse-power nominal. She plied on the Shannon between Limerick and Kilrush. By 1818--six years after the completion of the _Comet_--thirty-two steamers were running on the Clyde, and some of these were sent ultimately for traffic on the coast and on other rivers.[21] The largest of these was of 112 tons, with engines of 40 nominal horse-power.

The Scotts had built many sailing craft for the Clyde and Belfast trade, for the Glasgow and Liverpool service, and for the Liverpool and Drogheda, and other coasting routes; and it was natural when steam was introduced that the same firm should supply the side-paddle boats.

In three successive years--from 1819 to 1821--the largest steamer in the kingdom came from Scotts' Works. The record was marked in 1819 by the _Waterloo_, of over 200 tons, with engines of 60 nominal horse-power; in 1820, by the _Superb_ of 240 tons register, with engines of 72 nominal horse-power, which cost about £37 per ton, and steamed 9 miles per hour, using 1670 lb. of Scotch coal per hour; and in 1821, by the _Majestic_, of 345 tons register, with engines of 100 horse-power, which cost over £40 per ton, and steamed 10 miles per hour for a consumption of 2240 lb. of Scotch coal. Although the modern steamer is fifty times the size of these pioneers, with a cost per ton of less than one-fourth, and a fuel consumption per unit of work done of not more than a seventh, the records of these and other early ships are worthy of full reference.

The advantage of steam navigation for channel service was at once recognised. A Parliamentary return issued in 1815 showed that for the space of nine days in the previous year only one mail packet could sail between Holyhead and Dublin owing to adverse winds, and even then the average passage was twenty-four hours. Lord Kelvin, in his memorable Address as Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, in 1905, recalled the fact that early in the century his father often took three or four days to cross from Belfast to Greenock in a smack, as she was frequently becalmed. With favourable winds, rapid passages were made, a revenue cutter occasionally doing the Belfast and Greenock run in ten hours.

The Greenock and Belfast route was among the first around the coast to come under the influence of the mechanical system of propulsion. The _Rob Roy_, which was the outcome, so far as form of hull was concerned, of probably the first model experiments ever made--undertaken by David Napier in the Canal at Camlachie[22]--was in 1818 the pioneer in the Glasgow and Belfast steam service, and later in the Dover and Calais steam service.

There followed in 1819 three notable vessels from Scotts' Works: the _Waterloo_,[23] the _Robert Bruce_, and the _Sir William Wallace_. The particulars and performances of these vessels, taken from contemporary records, principally the "Greenock Advertiser," which faithfully reported each incident in the development of the steamship, are especially interesting as illustrative of early work.

The _Waterloo_, which, as we have already said, was the largest steamer of her year (1819), had a beam equal to one-fifth of her length, the measurement between perpendiculars being 98 ft. 8 in. In addition to a large number of passengers, she carried under ordinary conditions a cargo of 100 tons, on a draught of 8 ft. 6 in. against 7 ft. 3 in. without cargo. Three months were required, between the launch of the ship and her trials, for the fitting on board of engines each of 30 nominal horse-power, which gave her a speed of between 8 and 9 miles per hour. Sails, however, were still carried to assist in driving the ship, and this vessel was of schooner rig. She inaugurated the steam service between Belfast and Liverpool.

The _Robert Bruce_ was the first steamer to trade between the Clyde and Liverpool.[24] She was followed by the _Sir William Wallace_. Both were built by the Scotts, and had engines of 60 nominal horse-power. They began service in the summer of 1819; and the record of the maiden voyage of the former, in August, 1819, showed that two and a-half hours were occupied in the run from Glasgow to Greenock, about 22 miles; and within 26 hours thereafter the vessel took on her pilot at the north-west lightship outside the Mersey Bar. The return voyage was equally satisfactory. To quote again from contemporary records, "the passengers, both out and home, were so highly gratified with the performance of this vessel and their treatment on board that they unanimously expressed their entire satisfaction with Captain Paterson's exertions to render them comfortable and happy, their conviction of the seaworthiness of the vessel, and their admiration of the powers of the engines, capable of propelling so large a body at the rate of 7 knots per hour, in the face of a strong north-northwest wind and high sea for at least two-thirds of the way from Liverpool, her rate thither being nearly 9 knots."[25]

In 1820, the _Superb_, of 240 tons and 72 horse-power, followed the _Sir William Wallace_, and marked a still further improvement. She had a copper boiler, and in the three cabins sleeping accommodation was provided for sixty-two passengers. She was "the finest, largest, and most powerful steam vessel in Great Britain.[26] The average duration of the passage from the Clyde to Liverpool did not exceed 30 hours."

The _Majestic_, also for the Clyde and Liverpool service, was built in 1821, and was 134 ft. 11 in. long between perpendiculars, 22 ft. 8 in. beam, and 14 ft. 5 in. depth, moulded. Her draught, 10 ft. 6 in. forward and 12 ft. aft, was too great for the upper reaches of the Clyde, and passengers were brought from Glasgow to Greenock in a tender. In her four cabins there was greatly-increased accommodation for the passengers. She was probably the first steamer with a sleeping apartment exclusively for ladies. The copper boiler worked at a pressure of 4 lb. per square inch, and the engines ran at 56 revolutions. The fares[27] to Liverpool in those days were £2 15s., as compared with 11s. to-day; of course, very much better accommodation is now provided.

The _City of Glasgow_ was built in 1822 for the Liverpool service. This vessel, which cost £15,000, had a speed of over 10 knots, and was reputed the fastest afloat. Her length was 110 ft. 4 in., beam 22 ft. 4 in., and depth, moulded, 13 ft. She was arranged like the _Majestic_, and the two were long the most important vessels in the Clyde and Liverpool trade. She was subsequently bought by McIver, and inaugurated the competition with the Burns line, commenced in 1829.[28] The McIver and Burns lines were subsequently combined.

The Scotts rendered similar service in the development of the mail route between Holyhead and Dublin. The first vessel built by them for this service was the _Ivanhoe_, constructed in 1820. The steam service had been opened between these two ports in 1819 by the _Talbot_, the first steamer fitted with feathering floats.[29] The _Ivanhoe_,[30] a larger steamer than the _Talbot_, was of 170 tons burden, her length between perpendiculars being 97 ft. 4 in., beam 19 ft., and depth, moulded, 14 ft. 6 in. She had various improvements in her machinery, which was of 60 nominal horse-power. She left Scotts' yard in May, 1820, and made the voyage to Howth (200 miles), in 26-1/2 hours.

Thus the Scotts continued to improve on each successive ship, and to widen the area of their influence. The Clyde continued to largely monopolise the industry of steam shipbuilding, and it was not until the summer of 1822 that a steamer--not built in Scotland--appeared on the Clyde. This was the _Saint George_, from Liverpool, and the _City of Glasgow_, already referred to, her competitor in the Liverpool trade, raced her and greatly excelled.