undertake anything novel, untried, and contrary to routine.

There was the usual shaking of the head and the shrugging of the
shoulders, as if the inventor were either a mere dreamer or a

projector eager to lay his hands upon the public purse. The
surveyor of the navy was opposed to the plan, because of the

impossibility of making a vessel steer which was impelled from
the stern. "Screw" Smith bided his time; he continued undaunted,

and was determined to succeed. He laboured steadily onward,
maintaining his own faith unshaken, and upholding the faith of

the gentlemen who had become associated with him in the
prosecution of the invention.

At the beginning of 1838 the Lords of the Admiralty requested Mr.
Smith to allow his vessel to be tried under their inspection.

Two trials were accordingly made, and they gave so much
satisfaction that the adoption of the propeller for naval

purposes was considered as a not improbable contingency. Before
deciding finally upon its adoption, the Lords of the Admiralty

were anxious to see an experiment made with a vessel of not less
than 200 tons. Mr. Smith had not the means of accomplishing this

by himself, but with the improved prospects of the invention,
capitalists now came to his aid. One of the most effective and

energetic of these was Mr. Henry Currie, banker; and, with the
assistance of others, the "Ship Propeller Company" was formed,

and proceeded to erect the test ship proposed by the Admiralty.
The result was the Archimedes, a woodenvessel of 237 tons

burthen. She was designed by Mr. Pasco, laid down by Mr.
Wimshurst in the spring of 1838, was launched on the 18th of

October following, and made her first trip in May 1839. She was
fitted with a screw of one turn placed in the dead wood, and

propelled by a pair of engines of 80-horse power. The vessel was
built under the persuasion that her performance would be

considered satisfactory if a speed was attained of four or five
knots an hour, where as her actual speed was nine and a half

knots. The Lords of the Admiralty were invited to inspect the
ship. At the second trial Sir Edward Parry, Sir William Symonds,

Captain Basil Hall, and other distinguished persons were present.
The results were again satisfactory. The success of the

Archimedes astonished the engineering world. Even the Surveyor
of the Royal Navy found that the vessel could steer! The Lords

of the Admiralty could no longer shut their eyes. But the
invention could not at once be adopted. It must be tested by the

best judges. The vessel was sent to Dover to be tried with the
best packets between Dover and Calais. Mr. Lloyd, the chief

engineer of the Navy, conducted the investigation, and reported
most favourably as to the manner of her performance. Yet several

years elapsed before the screw was introduced into the service.
In 1840 the Archimedes was placed at the disposal of Captain

Chappell, of the Royal Navy, who, accompanied by Mr. Smith,
visited every principal port in Great Britain. She was thus seen

by shipowners, marine engineers, and shipbuilders in every part
of the kingdom. They regarded her with wonder and admiration;

yet the new mode of navigation was not speedily adopted. The
paddle-wheel still held its own. The sentiment, if not the plant

and capital, of the engineering world, were against the
introduction of the screw. After the vessel had returned from

her circumnavigation of Great Britain, she was sent to Oporto,
and performed the voyage in sixty-eight and a half hours, then

held to be the quickest voyage on record. She was then sent to
the Texel at the request of the Dutch Government. She went

through the North Holland Canal, visited Amsterdam, Antwerp, and
other ports; and everywhere left the impression that the screw

was an efficient and reliable power in the propulsion of vessels
at sea.

Shipbuilders, however, continued to "fight shy" of the screw.
The late Isambard Kingdon Brunel is entitled to the credit of

having first directed the attention of shipbuilders to this
important invention. He was himself a man of original views,

free from bias, and always ready to strike out a fresh path in
engineering works. He was building a large new iron steamer at

Bristol, the Great Britain, for passenger traffic between England
and America. He had intended to construct her as a paddle

steamer; but hearing of the success of the Archimedes, he
inspected the vessel, and was so satisfied with the performance

of the screw that he recommended his directors to adopt this
method for propelling the Great Britain. His advice was adopted,

and the vessel was altered so as to adapt her for the reception
of the screw. The vessel was found perfectly successful, and on

her first voyage to London she attained the speed of ten knots an
hour, though the wind and balance of tides were against her. A

few other merchant ships were built and fitted with the screw;
the Princess Royal at Newcastle in 1840, the Margaret and Senator

at Hull, and the Great Northern at Londonderry, in 1841.
The Lords of the Admiralty made slow progress in adapting the

screw for the Royal Navy. Sir William Symonds, the surveyor and
principaldesigner of Her Majesty's ships, was opposed to all new

projects. He hated steam power, and was utterly opposed to iron
ships. He speaks of them in his journal as "monstrous."[7] So

long as he remained in office everything was done in a
perfunctory way. A small vessel named the Bee was built at

Chatham in 1841, and fitted with both paddles and the screw for
the purposes of experiment. In the same year the Rattier, the

first screw vessel built for the navy, was laid down at
Sheerness. Although of only 888 tons burthen, she was not

launched until the spring of 1843. She was then fitted with the
same kind of screw as the Archimedes,that is, a double-headed

screw of half a convolution. Experiments went on for about three
years, so as to determine the best proportions of the screw, and

the proportions then ascertained have since been the principal
guides of engineering practice.

The Rattler was at length tried in a water tournament with the
paddle-steamer Alecto, and signally defeated her. Francis Pettit

Smith, like Gulliver, may be said to have dragged the whole
British fleet after him. Were the paddle our only means of

propulsion, our whole naval force would be reduced to a nullity.
Hostile gunners would wing a paddle-steamer as effectuaily as a

sportsman wings a bird, and all the plating in the world would
render such a ship a mere helpless log on the water.

The Admiralty could no longer defer the use of this important
invention. Like all good things, it made its way slowly and by

degrees. The royal naval authorities, who in 1833 backed the
side paddles, have since adopted the screw in most of the

ships-of-war. In all long sea-going voyages, also, the screw is
now the favourite mode of propulsion. Screw ships of prodigious

size are now built and launched in all the ship-building ports of
Britain, and are sent out to navigate in every part of the world.

The introduction of iron as the material for shipbuilding has
immensely advanced the interests of steam navigation, as it

enables the builders to constructvessels of great size with the
finest lines, so as to attain the highest rates of speed.

One might have supposed that Francis Pettit Smith would derive
some substantial benefit from his invention, or at least that the

Ship Propeller Company would distribute large dividends among
their proprietors. Nothing of the kind. Smith spent his money,

his labour, and his ingenuity in conferring a great public
benefit without receiving any adequatereward; and the company,

instead of distributing dividends, lost about 50,000L. in
introducing this great invention; after which, in 1856, the

patent-right expired. Three hundred and twenty-seven ships and
vessels of all classes in the Royal Navy had then been fitted

with the screw propeller, and a much larger number in the
merchant service; but since that time the number of screw

propellers constructed is to be counted by thousands.
In his comparatively impoverished condition it was found