Men of Invention and Industry Part 3

The Petts are said to have been connected with shipbuilding in the Thames for not less than 200 years. Fuller, in his 'Worthies of England,' says of them--"I am credibly informed that that mystery of shipwrights for some descents hath been preserved faithfully in families, of whom the Petts about Chatham are of singular regard. Good success have they with their skill, and carefully keep so precious a pearl, lest otherwise amongst many friends some foes attain unto it."

The late Peter Bolt, member for Greenwich, took pride in being descended from the Petts; but so far as we know, the name itself has died out. In 1801, when Charnock's 'History of Marine Architecture'

was published, Mr. Pett, of Tovil, near Maidstone, was the sole representative of the family.

Footnotes for Chapter I.

[1] This was not the first voyage of a steamer between England and America. The Savannah made the pa.s.sage 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 113 days; and in 1828, the Curacoa 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.

[2] "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.

[3] The last visit of the plague was in 1665.

[4] Roll of Edward the Third's Fleet. Cotton's Library, British Museum.

[5] Charnock's History Of Marine Architecture, ii. 89.

[6] State Papers. Henry VIII. Nos. 3496, 3616, 4633. The princ.i.p.al kinds of ordnance at that time were these:--The "Apostles," so called from the head of an Apostle which they bore; "Curtows," or "Courtaulx"; "Culverins" and "Serpents"; "Minions," and "Potguns"; "Nurembergers,"

and "Bombards" or mortars.

[7] The sum of all costs of the Harry Grace de Dieu and three small galleys, was 7708L. 5s. 3d. (S.P.O. No. 5228, Henry VIII.)

[8] Charnock, ii. 47 (note).

[9] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 126.

[10] The Huguenots: their Settlements, Churches, and Industries, in England and Ireland, ch. iv.

[11] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii. 156.

[12] Ibid. ii. 85.

[13] Picton's Selections from the Munic.i.p.al Archives and Records of Liverpool, p. 90. About a hundred years later, in 1757, the gross customs receipts of Liverpool had increased to 198,946L.; whilst those of Bristol were as much as 351,211L. In 1883, the amount of tonnage of Liverpool, inwards and outwards, was 8,527,531 tons, and the total dock revenue for the year was 1,273,752L.!

[14] There were not only Algerine but English pirates scouring the seas. Keutzner, the German, who wrote in Elizabeth's reign, said, "The English are good sailors and famous pirates (sunt boni nautae et insignis pyratae)." Roberts, in his Social History of the Southern Counties (p. 93), observes, "Elizabeth had employed many English as privateers against the Spaniard. After the war, many were loth to lead an inactive life. They had their commissions revoked, and were proclaimed pirates. The public looked upon them as gallant fellows; the merchants gave them underhand support; and even the authorities in maritime towns connived at the sale of their plunder. In spite of proclamations, during the first five years after the accession of James I., there were continual complaints. This lawless way of life even became popular. Many Englishmen furnished themselves with good ships and scoured the seas, but little careful whom they might plunder." It was found very difficult to put down piracy. According to Oliver's History of the city of Exeter, not less than "fifteen sail of Turks"

held the English Channel, snapping up merchantmen, in the middle of the seventeenth century! The harbours in the south-west were infested by Moslem pirates, who attacked and plundered the ships, and carried their crews into captivity. The loss, even to an inland port like Exeter, in ships, money, and men, was enormous.

[15] Naval Tracts, p. 294.

[16] This poem is now very rare. It is not in the British Museum.

[17] There are three copies extant of the autobiography, all of which are in the British Museum. In the main, they differ but slightly from each other. Not one of them has been published in extenso. In December, 1795, and in February, 1796, Dr. Samuel Denne communicated to the Society of Antiquaries particulars of two of these MSS., and subsequently published copious extracts from them in their transactions (Archae. xii. anno 1796), in a very irregular and careless manner. It is probable that Dr. Denne never saw the original ma.n.u.script, but only a garbled copy of it. The above narrative has been taken from the original, and collated with the doc.u.ments in the State Paper Office.

[18] See, for instance, the Index to the Journals of Records of the Corporation of the City of London (No. 2, p. 346, 15901694) under the head of "Sir Walter Raleigh." There is a doc.u.ment dated the 15th November, 1593, in the 35th of Elizabeth, which runs as follows:--"Committee appointed on behalf of such of the City Companies as have ventured in the late Fleet set forward by Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, and others, to join with such honourable personages as the Queen hath appointed, to take a perfect view of all such goods, prizes, spices, jewels, pearls, treasures, &c., lately taken in the Carrack, and to make sale and division (Jor. 23, p. 156). Suit to be made to the Queen and Privy Council for the buying of the goods, &c., lately taken at sea in the Carrack; a committee appointed to take order accordingly; the benefit or loss arising thereon to be divided and borne between the Chamber [of the Corporation of the City] and the Companies that adventured (157). The several Companies that adventured at sea with Sir Waiter Raleigh to accept so much of the goods taken in the Carrack to the value of 12,000L. according to the Queen's offer. A committee appointed to acquaint the Lords of the Council with the City's acceptance thereof (167). Committee for sale of the Carrack goods appointed (174). Bonds for sale to be sealed (196)....

Committee to audit accounts of a former adventure (224 b.)."

[19] There were three sisters in all, the eldest of whom (Abigail) fell a victim to the cruelty of Nunn, who struck her across the head with the fire-tongs, from the effects of which she died in three days. Nunn was tried and convicted of manslaughter. He died shortly after. Mrs.

Nunn, Phineas's mother, was already dead.

[20] It would seem, from a paper hereafter to be more particularly referred to, that the government encouraged the owners of ships and others to clear the seas of these pirates, agreeing to pay them for their labours. In 1622, Pett fitted out an expedition against these pests of navigation, but experienced some difficulty in getting his expenses repaid.

[21] See grant S.P.O., 29th May, 1605.

[22] An engraving of this remarkable ship is given in Charnock's History of Marine Architecture, ii. p. 199.

[23] The story of the Three, or rather Two Ravens, is as follows:--The body of St. Vincent was originally deposited at the Cape, which still bears his name, on the Portuguese coast; and his tomb, says the legend, was zealously guarded by a couple of ravens. When it was determined, in the 12th century, to transport the relics of the Saint to the Cathedral of Lisbon, the two ravens accompanied the ship which contained them, one at its stem and the other at its stern. The relics were deposited in the Chapel of St. Vincent, within the Cathedral, and there the two ravens have ever since remained. The monks continued to support two such birds in the cloisters, and till very lately the officials gravely informed the visitor to the Cathedral that they were the identical ravens which accompanied the Saint's relics to their city. The birds figure in the arms of Lisbon.

[24] The evidence taken by the Commissioners is embodied in a voluminous report. State Paper Office, Dom. James I., vol. xli. 1608.

[25] The Earl of Northampton, Privy Seal, was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports; hence his moving in the matter. Pett says he was his "most implacable enemy." It is probable that the earl was jealous of Pett, because he had received his commission to build the great ship directly from the sovereign, without the intervention of his lordship.

[26] This Royal investigation took place at Woolwich on the 8th May, 1609. The State Paper Office contains a report of the same date, most probably the one presented to the King, signed by six ship-builders and Captain Waymouth, and counter signed by Northampton and four others.

The Report is headed "The Prince Royal: imperfections found upon view of the new work begun at Woolwich." It would occupy too much s.p.a.ce to give the results here.

[27] Alas! for the uncertainties of life! This n.o.ble young prince--the hope of England and the joy of his parents, from whom such great things were antic.i.p.ated--for he was graceful, frank, brave, active, and a lover of the sea,--was seized with a serious illness, and died in his eighteenth year, on the 16th November, 1612.

[28] Pett says she was to be 500 tons, but when he turned her out her burthen was rated at 700 tons.

[29] This conduct of Raleigh's was the more inexcusable, as there is in the State Paper Office a warrant dated 16th Nov., 1617, for the payment to Pett of 700 crowns "for building the new ship, the Destiny of London, of 700 tons burthen." The least he could have done was to have handed over to the builder his royal and usual reward. In the above warrant, by the way, the t.i.tle "our well-beloved subject," the ordinary prefix to such grants, has either been left blank or erased (it is difficult to say which), but was very significant of the slippery footing of Raleigh at Court.

[30] Sir Giles Overreach, in the play of "A new way to pay old debts,"

by Philip Ma.s.singer. It was difficult for the poet, or any other person, to libel such a personage as Mompesson.

[31] Pett's method is described in a paper contained in the S.P.O., dated 21st Oct., 1626. The Trinity Corporation adopted his method.

[32] Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear-Admiral Sir William Symonds, Kt., p. 94.

[33] Pett's dwelling-house at Rochester is thus described in an anonymous history of that town (p. 337, ed. 1817):--"Beyond the Victualling Office, on the same side of the High Street, at Rochester, is an old mansion, now occupied by a Mr. Morson, an attorney, which formerly belonged to the Petts, the celebrated ship-builders. The chimney-piece in the princ.i.p.al room is of wood, curiously carved, the upper part being divided into compartments by caryatydes. The central compartment contains the family arms, viz., Or, on a fesse, gu., between three pellets, a lion pa.s.sant gardant of the field. On the back of the grate is a cast of Neptune, standing erect in his car, with Triton blowing conches, &c., and the date 1650."

[34] Symonds, Memoirs of Life and Services, 94.

CHAPTER II.

FRANCIS PETt.i.t SMITH: PRACTICAL INTRODUCER OF THE SCREW PROPELLER.

"The spirit of Paley's maxim that 'he alone discovers who proves,' is applicable to the history of inventions and discoveries; for certainly he alone invents to any good purpose, who satisfies the world that the means he may have devised have been found competent to the end proposed."--Dr. Samuel Brown.

"Too often the real worker and discoverer remains unknown, and an invention, beautiful but useless in one age or country, can be applied only in a remote generation, or in a distant land. Mankind hangs together from generation to generation; easy labour is but inherited skill; great discoveries and inventions are worked up to by the efforts of myriads ere the goal is reached."--H. M. Hyndman.

Though a long period elapsed between the times of Phineas Pett and "Screw" Smith, comparatively little improvement had been effected in the art of shipbuilding. The Sovereign of the Seas had not been excelled by any ship of war built down to the end of last century.[1]

At a comparatively recent date, ships continued to be built of timber and plank, and impelled by sails and oars, as they had been for thousands of years before.

But this century has witnessed many marvellous changes. A new material of construction has been introduced into shipbuilding, with entirely new methods of propulsion. Old things have been displaced by new; and the magnitude of the results has been extraordinary. The most important changes have been in the use of iron and steel instead of wood, and in the employment of the steam-engine in impelling ships by the paddle or the screw.

So long as timber was used for the construction of ships, the number of vessels built annually, especially in so small an island as Britain, must necessarily have continued very limited. Indeed, so little had the cultivation of oak in Great Britain been attended to, that all the royal forests could not have supplied sufficient timber to build one line-of-battle ship annually; while for the mercantile marine, the world had to be ransacked for wood, often of a very inferior quality.

Take, for instance, the seventy-eight gun ship, the Hindostan, launched a few years ago. It would have required 4200 loads of timber to build a ship of that description, and the growth of the timber would have occupied seventy acres of ground during eighty years.[2] It would have needed something like 800,000 acres of land on which to grow the timber for the ships annually built in this country for commercial purposes.