‘The First Iron Boat, and its inventor John Wilkinson, the Father of the Iron Trade’ Proceedings of the Manchester Association of Engineers 1886
Thomas Wilson
1781–1873This biography of the originator and true pioneer of conventional iron and steel ship construction must begin by reporting that at the St Alban’s Tavern in London on 14 March 1768, the Duke of Queensberry chaired the first general meeting of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company and one of Britain’s most significant and profitable civil engineering ventures was incorporated. Within two years the ‘cut’ had commenced of a deep-water canal, and by 1790 it was open from sea to sea, and able to take fairly substantial vessels: indeed the dimensions of the traditional Clyde Puffer were defined by the size of locks on the waterway. The success of the undertaking is reflected, first by the share dividend which climbed to 25 per cent in the year 1816, and second by the vast numbers travelling by barge between Edinburgh and Glasgow, a figure which reached 198,000 by 1836.
The Canal Company had always sought the advice of outsiders on technical and other matters, and over the years its consultants sound like a Who’s Who of eminent early nineteenth-century engineers. The list includes James Watt, Vice Admiral John Schanck, and Professor Joseph Black, the investigator of latent heat, and an early mentor of James Watt at Glasgow University. The Admiral in turn had been involved with the trials of the pioneer steamship Charlotte Dundas on the Canal at the turn of the century.
In the years after 1810, the runaway success of the Canal brought problems in its wake, the most serious being congestion. The result of this was increasing levels of damage to the ships of the Canal Company and ever-rising costs for damage repair and maintenance. Again, the company appointed a committee to consider the matter and make recommendations, the group included the ship designer Henry Creighton of Soho and Sir John Robison of Edinburgh, an eminent scientist and member of the influential establishment of that city. After considering various options, their proposals were straight and to the point: Design and build an experimental fast passage barge of iron, then a completely unknown material for serious ship construction. The ‘gestation period’ for the barge was fairly lengthy, being nearly three years, during which time the designs were assessed carefully and a shipwright appointed to take charge of this revolutionary venture. Surprisingly, none of the established iron masters were considered, and the work was placed with a young shipwright Thomas Wilson, a man with no previous experience of working in this new medium.
She e r draught of the world’s first prope rly-built iron ships, the passe nge r barge Vulcan, launche d in 1819. He r le ngth was limite d to just ove r 20m (66ft 6in) in orde r that she could ope rate on the highly succe ssful Forth and Clyde canal. It is inte re sting to note that the draughtsman re alise d an e rror was incorporate d in the drawing, as unde r the profile the dime nsion
re ads 58’-0” ke e l – (drawn 56 fe e t by mistake ). (Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland)
Wilson was born in 1781 at Dunbar, but moved to the Clyde and served a shipwright apprenticeship at the then village of Bowling, about 24km (15 miles) west of Glasgow and on the north bank. The development of the river was only starting, and he must have lived and worked in primitive but sylvan surroundings. On completing his indentures, he moved to the Monkland Canal and at Blackhall became involved in building lighters and scows for inland work. He must have been known to the Canal Company, and as the Monklands was then the centre of the iron trades in Scotland, the choice of shipwright is more understandable.
Wilson started the construction in 1818 and employed two excellent blacksmiths, John and Thomas Smellie, who completed the work in time for her launch on 14 May 1819. They must have formed a good working team, as every detail of this ship was an innovation, requiring thorough planning coupled with a courageous approach to a new technology. The new passenger passage barge, appropriately named Vulcan, was laid down just outside Coatbridge on the bank of the Monkland Canal, a feeder waterway for the cross-Scotland link. She was 20.2m (66ft 6in) long and 3.3m (11ft) broad and built throughout with plates and sections, forged from puddled iron
blooms. As there were no iron-rolling mills, every item had to be forged by the two blacksmiths on the anvil, making Vulcan probably the most labour-intensive ship of all time. The constructional technique differed little from all later iron and steel vessels, with keel, keelson and angle iron frames at 61cm (24in) centres. Everything was riveted, with plates also being 61cm (24in) broad and fitted vertically up round the frames and flush butted. The only appreciable change in construction came in later years when plates became longer as quality standards improved and then they were fitted in longitudinal strakes. The new vessel was an outstanding success, working first as a horse-drawn passenger vessels between the two main Scottish cities. In keeping with the passage barges and also some of the fast ‘fly-boats’ she had two cabins as well as a small galley and the modern convenience of two toilets – one for ladies and the other for gentlemen – which flushed directly into the canal! In later years, passenger numbers fell as the influence of the railways began to be felt. The Vulcan was stripped down and became a cargo carrier and was to be seen not only on the canal, but also on the River Forth and the River Clyde. After over half a century of service, she was broken up in 1873, clear proof of the longevity of wrought iron in the marine environment. Thomas Wilson was appointed Inspector of Works for the Forth and Clyde Canal Company in 1822. He was regarded highly by all who knew him, and before his death moved to Grangemouth where he superintended the building of the dock system. He died in 1873, the same year that his masterpiece Vulcan was broken up. Few men can claim such a vital part in our maritime history, and Thomas Wilson deserves to be remembered and honoured for as long as iron and steel ships are constructed. SOURCES: Gilchrist, A Early Examples of Iron Shipbuilding Scottish Shipbuilders’ Association, 1864–5 Walker, Fred M ‘Early Iron Shipbuilding – a reappraisal of the Vulcan and other pioneering vessels’ Transactions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland Vol 133 (1989–90)
Henry Eckford
1775–1832Henry Eckford was a notable shipwright, a superb designer and a man who became renowned for teaching apprentices destined to make their mark in American shipbuilding. According to H I Chapelle (the noted naval architect and historian) his most important attribute was being ‘a master of the art of high speed production of ships’. Born in Ayrshire, Scotland, Henry Eckford spent sixteen years in the small village of Kilwinning before setting off across the North Atlantic for Canada. His destination was Quebec where he would join his uncle John Black, and serve a shipwright apprenticeship under him. In the 1790s and the following decades, Quebec was a significant shipbuilding area with a growing number of yards. Skill levels were high, raw material was to hand and export work for Britain and other parts of Europe kept employment at consistently high levels.
Clearly Eckford had little mind to settle down, as by 1796, aged about twenty-one, he had made his way to New York where he took employment from time to time in various shipyards, then in 1799 he married and shortly after took out American citizenship. For the next few years he worked as manager of the shipyard of Christian Bergh (1763–1843) and also operated under his own name. His ability to design, to build well and best of all to deliver at speed and on time made his name on the East River. Demand for ships fell in the latter years of the Napoleonic Wars owing to the American embargoes on trade, but as soon as these were dropped in 1809, business picked up and Eckford opened another yard in
New York.
Clearly his time with the Quebecois and the New Yorkers had made him feel less disposed towards the United Kingdom and in 1812 when the USA declared war on Britain, Eckford felt able to accept a major project for his new country. Fearing invasion from Canada, the American government decided to build fleets to protect their shores in the Great Lakes. A yard was to be set up on the southern shore Lake Ontario, and men, equipment and raw materials were dispatched with Eckford in full charge. It was said that the US Navy Secretary could not have made a better decision regarding the man in charge. Two further yards, under Eckford’s overall supervision were set up at Lake Erie and at Lake Champlain.
For this task Eckford recruited men from all over as well as a goodly number from his own yard, including an apprentice, Isaac Webb, the father of the future shipbuilder and philanthropist William
HWebb. They travelled part of the way up the River Hudson on one of Robert Fulton’s steamships. At
Lake Ontario, a shipyard was laid out and the positions of launchways settled. Their first ship, the USS
Madison, named after the President, was launched on 1 November 1812 just nine weeks after her timbers
had been felled as lumber. In times of war, building with green timber was not regarded as serious, and as is now known is less disadvantageous than believed previously. Having promised two ‘line of battle ships’ in sixty days the yard was geared for an immense effort. With 1,200 workmen, the New Orleans of 130 guns had been built high enough for eighty gun ports to show before work was stopped when peace was declared. The New Orleans lay on the shores of Lake Ontario until 1884, when broken up.
On his return to New York, Eckford continued shipbuilding under his own name, but in addition carried out both production and design tasks for the nearby New York Navy Yard. Assignments included the design of a ‘no-frills’ 26-gun sloop and the design and oversight of several gun vessels where emphasis was on the largest possible pieces of ordnance. His most famous ship, launched in May 1820 was the 74- gun USS Ohio, regarded by many as one of the United States Navy’s finest sailers – she is even mentioned
in Rudyard Kipling’s great novel of the sea Captains Courageous! In the late 1820s Henry Eckford was invited to Turkey where he designed and built several ships of the line and frigates for the Ottoman Empire. SOURCES: Beach, Edward L The United States Navy: a 200-year history New York, 1986 Chapelle, Howard I The History of the American Sailing Navy New York, 1949
Sir William Symonds
1782–1856 William Symonds, Surveyor of the Navy from 1832 to 1848, is both a controversial and enigmatic figure. The two main contributions to the Royal Navy during his time at the helm were first experimentation in hull shapes to ensure higher sea speeds through the introduction of sharper entries, steeper floors and elliptical sterns, and secondly the badly-needed standardisation of rigging ‘establishments’. In almost all other matters he was ultra-conservative and prejudiced against scientific thinking. William Symonds took over the post of Surveyor at the beginning of Sir James Graham’s tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty. Many changes were afoot including the abolishment of the old Navy Board, and the much less welcome closure of the ‘First’ School of Naval Architecture at Portsmouth. The outgoing Surveyor was Sir RobertSeppings, a first-rate shipwright with wide experience and an active interest in the improvement of the
manner.
Symonds was born at Taunton in September 1782. His family were from the local aristocracy. When aged fourteen, he joined the Royal Navy, served in many theatres, witnessed the mutiny at the Nore in 1797, and rose to the rank of Captain. He married twice; his first wife died in the West Indies. It is interesting to note that following his death, a Memoir – akin to an autobiography – was, on the direction of his will, prepared from his papers, edited by a Mr Sharp and published in 1858.
On reading the many reports of this controversial period, one finds several vastly differing opinions on the effectiveness of William Symonds. He had cultivated a name as an amateur naval architect and had designed (or possibly overseen the designing) of some small fast craft, including the fast and elegant HM S
Columbine which had brought him to public attention. The position of Surveyor to the Navy was almost a
natural development for a man who was politically aligned with the Whig (but deeply conservative) Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty.
The positive aspects of Symonds’ work include the design of fast hulls, work which was overseen by John Eyde, the Assistant Surveyor and a properly-trained and educated shipwright. Here Symonds had success and the ships proved excellent provided they were handled by good commanders with drive and verve. On the administrative side, enormous improvements came through the review of the Rigging Establishments; these were the standards laid down for rigging ships of which there had been eighty-eight in 1832, but happily only twenty when Symonds retired. He changed the design of the ‘waist’ of ships of the line, closing as far as possible the opening amidships on the weather and gun decks, but most surprisingly he introduced steam assistance for deck work on ships of the line. For the lovers of the sailing navy designs of the time he is held esteem for the beautiful and effective brigs and hermaphrodite brigs of the 1830s. These ships, with their lower prismatic coefficients, had poorer inherent stability.
Clearly the First Lord and Symonds saw ‘eye-to-eye’ on many matters, and the closure of the Portsmouth School of Naval Architecture must have pleased the amateur ship designer who was Surveyor of the Navy. Clearly he disliked not only the young students, but also the school. As he wrote in his memoirs: ‘It is said that its members were too proud of their own theories, of which they held a monopoly, to listen with deference to the suggestions of seamen of experience and practical information [sic].’ How many older graduates in naval architecture can remember while apprentices being at the receiving end of similar jibes from older shipbuilders?
Symonds opposed all new shipbuilding methods; he hated steam power and described iron ships as ‘monstrous’. However, he accepted election as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1835 and promotion to Rear Admiral in 1854. Most remarkable of all, he authorised the laying-down at Devonport of HM S Sans
Pareil in 1843 using the lines of the ship of the same name captured from the French on the First of June
1794, some forty-nine years earlier.
Symonds was eventually ousted and his place taken by another career seaman, Captain Baldwin Walker, who was in post from 1848 to 1860. The atmosphere changed, old enmities were healed and Walker, an able manager was supported fully by a qualified shipwright Isaac Watts who took over from him later with the designated title of Chief Constructor. As a final irony, the Sans Pareil was recalled to the Dockyard and retrofitted with a steam engine and screw. SOURCES: Clowes, Sir William Laird The Royal Navy: A History from the Earliest Times to 1900, Volume 6, London, 1901 Symonds, Sir William (ed J A Sharp) Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear Admiral Sir William Symonds etc London, 1858