Samuel Smiles

“ When these new ships were first seen at Liverpool, the "old salts" held up their hands. They were too long! they were too sharp! they would break their backs! They might, indeed, get out of the Mersey, but they would never get back! The ships, however, sailed; and they made rapid and prosperous voyages to and from the Mediterranean. They fulfilled all the promises which had been made. They proved the advantages of our new build of ships; and the owners were perfectly satisfied with their superior strength, speed, and accommodation. The Bibbys were wise men in their day and generation. ”

“ But the new ships, because of their length and sharpness, precluded this; for, though they rose sufficiently to an approaching wave for all purposes of safety, they often went through the crest of it, and, though shipping a little water, it was not only easier for the vessel, but the shortest road.
Nature seems to have furnished us with the finest design for a vessel in the form of the fish: it presents such fine lines — is so clean, so true, and so rapid in its movements. ”

“ As everything in the way of saving of fuel was of first-rate importance, we devoted ourselves to that branch of economic working. It was necessary that buoyancy or space should be left for cargo, at the same time that increased speed should be secured, with as little consumption of coal as possible. The Messrs. Elder and Co., of Glasgow, had made great strides in this direction with the paddle steam-engines which they had constructed for the Pacific Company on the compound principle. They had also introduced them on some of their screw steamers, with more or less success. ”

“ There Art labours for the rich alone; here she works for the poor no less. There the multitude produce only to give splendour and grace to the despot or the warrior, whose slaves they are, and whom they enrich; here the man who is powerful in the weapons of peace, capital, and machinery, uses them to give comfort and enjoyment to the public, whose servant he is, and thus becomes rich while he enriches others with his goods." — William Whewell, D.D.
I was born at Scarborough in May, 1831, the sixth of a family of eight. ”

“ I remained for a short time under the tuition of my old master. But as the time was rapidly approaching when I too must determine what I was "to be" in life. I had no hesitation in deciding to be an engineer, though my father wished me to be a barrister. But I kept constant to my resolution; and eventually he succeeded, through his early acquaintance with George Stephenson, in gaining for me an entrance to the engineering works of Robert Stephenson and Co., at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I started there as a pupil on my fifteenth birthday, for an apprenticeship of five years. ”

“ Another thing may be mentioned: the telegraph enables the fact of the sailing of a vessel, with its cargo on board, to be communicated from Calcutta or San Francisco to Liverpool, and from that moment the cargo becomes as marketable as if it were on the spot. There are cases, indeed, where the freight by sailing ship is even greater than by steamer, as the charge for warehousing at home is saved, and in the meantime the cargo while at sea is negotiable. ”

“ Indeed, unless a young fellow takes a real interest in his work, and has a genuine love for it, the greatest advantages will prove of no avail whatever.
It was a good plan adopted at the works, to require the pupils to keep the same hours as the rest of the men, and, though they paid a premium on entering, to give them the same rate of wages as the rest of the lads. ”

“ We have built five ships for the Asiatic Steam Navigation Company, Limited, each of from 1650 to 2059 tons gross; and we are now building for them two ships, each of about 3000 tons gross. In 1883 we launched thirteen iron and steel vessels, of a registered tonnage of over 30,000 tons. Out of eleven ships now building, seven are of steel.
Such is a brief and summary account of the means by which we have been enabled to establish a new branch of industry in Belfast. It has been accomplished simply by energy and hard work. We have been well-supported by the skilled labour of our artisans ”

“ He afterwards became superintendent of all the hydraulic machinery of the Mersey Dock Trust at Liverpool. After my four years had been completed, I went into the drawing-office, to which I had looked forward with pleasure; and, having before practised lineal as well as free-hand drawing, I soon succeeded in getting good and difficult designs to work out, and eventually finished drawings of the engines. Indeed, on visiting the works many years after, one of these drawings was shown to me as a "specimen;" the person exhibiting it not knowing that it was my own work. ”

“ Harland's residence at Ormiston, near Belfast. The cylindrical lifeboat kept perfectly water-tight, and though thrown into the water in many different positions — sometimes tumbled in on its prow, at other times on its back (the deck being undermost) , it invariably righted itself. The screws fore and aft worked well, and were capable of being turned by human labour or by steam power. Now that such large freights of passengers are carried by ocean-going ships, it would seem necessary that some such method should be adopted of preserving life at sea ”

“ But increase of horse-power of engines means increase of heating surface and largely increased boilers, when we reach the vanishing point of profit, after which there is nothing left but speed and expense. It may be possible to fill a ship with boilers, and to save a few hours in the passage from Liverpool to New York by a tremendous expenditure of coal ”

“ Although there was an increase of speed by this means through the uniform revolutions of the machinery in the heaviest sea, yet there was an objectionable amount of vibration at certain parts of the vessel, so that we found it necessary to return to the ordinary fixed propeller, working in the line of direction of the vessel. Comfort at sea is of even more importance than speed; and although we had succeeded in four small steamers working on the new principle, it was found better to continue in the larger ships to resort to the established modes of propulsion. ”

“ When passing through Newcastle, while still a young man, on one of his journeys to the University at Edinburgh, and being desirous of witnessing the operations in a coal-mine, a friend recommended him to visit Killingworth pit, where he would find one George Stephenson, a most intelligent workman, in charge. ”

“ To a young firm, a repetition of orders like these was a great advantage, — not only because of the novel design of the ships, but also because of their constructive details. We did our best to fit up the Egyptian, Dalmatian, and Arabian, as first-rate vessels. Those engaged in the Mediterranean trade finding them to be serious rivals, partly because of the great cargos which they carried, but principally from the regularity with which they made their voyages with such surprisingly small consumption of coal. ”

“ Models and drawings were more carefully worked out on the 1⁄4-in. scale than heretofore. The stern frames were laid off and put up at once correctly, which before had been first shaped by full-sized wooden moulds. I also contrived a mode of quickly and correctly laying off the frame-lines on a model, by laying it on a plane surface, and then, with a rectangular block traversing it — a pencil in a suitable holder being readily applied over the curved surface. This method is now in general use.
Even at that time, competition as regards speed in the Clyde steamers was very keen. ”

“ We have accordingly, during the last few years, built some of the largest iron and steel sailing ships that have ever gone to sea. The aim has been to give them great carrying capacity and fair speed, with economy of working; and the use of steel, both in the hull and the rigging, facilitates the attainment of these objects. In 1882 and 1883, we built and launched four of these steel and iron sailing ships - the Waiter H. Wilson, the W. J. Pirrie, the Fingal, and the Lord Wolseley — each of nearly 3000 tons register, with four masts, - the owners being Mr. Lawther, of Belfast ”

“ The largest Cunard steamers were built and engined there. Tod and Macgregor were the foremost in screw steamship — sthose for the Peninsular and Oriental Company being splendid models of symmetry and works of art. Some of the fine wooden paddle-steamers built in Bristol for the Royal Mail Company were sent round to the Clyde for their machinery. I contrived to board all these ships from time to time, so as to become well acquainted with their respective merits and peculiarities. ”

“ This became known in Liverpool as the "Belfast bottom;" and it has been generally adopted. This form not only serves to give stability, but also increases the carrying power without lessening the speed.
While Sailor Jack and our many commercial rivals stood aghast and wondered, our friends gave us yet another order for a still longer ship, with still the same beam and power. The vessel was named the Persian; she was 360 feet long, 34 feet beam, 24 feet 9 inches hold. More cargo was thus carried, at higher speed. ”

“ Alexander Wilson, younger brother of the manager who had been formerly a pupil of Messrs. Macnab and Co., of Greenock, and was thoroughly able for the work — to make a number of voyages in steam vessels fitted with the best examples of compound engines.
The result of this careful inquiry was the design of the machinery and boilers of the Oceanic and five sister-ships. They were constructed on the vertical overhead "tandem" type, with five-feet stroke (at that time thought excessive) , oval single-ended transverse boilers, with a working pressure of sixty pounds. We contracted with Messrs. ”

“ Besides these and other sailing ships, we have built for Messrs. Ismay, Imrie and Co. the Garfield, of 2347 registered tonnage; for Messrs. Thomas Dixon and Son, the Lord Downshire (2322) ; and for Messrs. Bullock's Bay Line, the Bay of Panama (2365) .
In 1880 we took in another piece of the land reclaimed by the Belfast Harbour Trust; and there, in close proximity to the ship-yard, we manufacture all the machinery required for the service of the steamers constructed by our firm. In this way we are able to do everything "within ourselves" ”

“ Another feature of novelty in these vessels consisted in placing the first-class accommodation amidships, with the third-class aft and forward. In all previous ocean steamers, the cabin passengers had been berthed near the stern, where the heaving motion of the vessel was far greater than in the centre, and where that most disagreeable vibration inseparable from proximity to the propeller was ever present. ”

“ Others were trying the same principle in various forms, by the use of high-pressure cylinders, and so on; the form of the boilers being varied according to circumstances, for the proper economy of fuel. ”