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Title: The Romance of Industry and Invention
Editor: Robert Cochrane
Release Date: December 17, 2011 [eBook #38329]
Language: English
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[Illustration: The Rush for the Gold-fields.]
THE ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY AND INVENTION
Selected by
ROBERT COCHRANE
Editor of
'Great Thinkers and Workers,' 'Beneficent and Useful Lives,'
'Adventure and Adventurers,' 'Recent Travel and Adventure,'
'Good and Great Women,' 'Heroic Lives,' &c.
Philadelphia
J. B. Lippincott Company
1897
Edinburgh:
Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
PREFACE.
Our national industries lie at the root of national progress. The first
Napoleon taunted us with being a nation of shopkeepers; that, however,
is now less true than that we are a nation of manufacturers--coal, iron,
and steel, and our textile industries, taken along with our enormous
carrying-trade, forming the backbone of the wealth of the country.
A romantic interest belongs to the rise and progress of most of our
industries. Very often this lies in the career of the inventor, who
struggled towards the perfection and recognition of his invention
against heavy difficulties and discouragements; or it may lie in the
interesting processes of manufacture. Every fresh labourer in the field
adds some link to the chain of progress, and brings it nearer
perfection. Some of the small beginnings have increased in a marvellous
way. Such are chronicled under Bessemer and Siemens, who have vastly
increased the possibilities of the steel industry; in the sections
devoted to Krupp, of Essen; Sir W.G. Armstrong, of the Elswick Works,
where 18,000 men are now employed alone in the arsenal; Maxim, of Maxim
Gun fame; the rise and progress of the cycle industry; that of the gold
and diamond mining industry; and the carrying-trade of the world.
Many of the chapters in this book have been selected from a wealth of
such material contributed from time to time to the pages of _Chambers's
Journal_, but additions and fresh material have been added where
necessary.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Rush for the Gold-fields _Frontispiece_
Nasmyth's Steam-hammer 19
Bessemer Converting Vessel 28
Bessemer Process 30
Krupp's 15.6 Breech-loading Gun (breech open) 47
Josiah Wedgwood 52
Wedgwood at Work 56
Portland Vase 62
The Worcester Porcelain Works 64
Chinese Porcelain Vase 71
Wool-sorters at Work 82
Cotton Plant 101
The Hand-cradle Method of extracting Gold 103
Welcome Nugget 106
Hydraulic Gold-mining 115
Prospecting for Gold 125
Square-cut Brilliant, Round-cut Brilliant, Rose-cut Diamond 136
Kimberley Diamond-mine 139
Some of the Principal Diamonds of the World 145
The _Great Harry_ 153
Gatling Gun on Field Carriage 163
Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz Gun mounted on Ship's Bulwark 164
Lord Armstrong 166
Rifle-calibre Maxim Gun 178
One of the 'Wooden Walls of Old England' 184
The _Majestic_ 186
Section of the Goubet Submarine Boat 190
The Dandy-horse 204
The _Great Eastern_ and the _Persia_ 232
The _Campania_ 237
Clipper Sailing-ship of 1850-60 241
_La France_ 246
The _Great Eastern_ paying out the Atlantic Cable 281
Edison with his Phonograph 291
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
IRON AND STEEL.
PAGE
Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry--Sir Henry Bessemer--
Sir William Siemens--Werner von Siemens--The Krupps of Essen 9
CHAPTER II.
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.
Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware--Worcester Porcelain 51
CHAPTER III.
THE SEWING MACHINE.
Thomas Saint--Thimonnier--Hunt--Elias Howe--Wilson--Morey--
Singer 72
CHAPTER IV.
WOOL AND COTTON.
WOOL.--What is Wool?--Chemical Composition--Fibre--Antiquity
of Shepherd Life--Varieties of Sheep--Introduction into
Australia--Spanish Merino--Wool Wealth of Australia--Imports
and Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce--Woollen Manufacture 81
COTTON.--Cotton Plant in the East--Mandeville's Fables about
Cotton--Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--Columbus finds
Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492--In Africa--Manufacture of
Cloth in England--The American Cotton Plant 91
CHAPTER V.
GOLD AND DIAMONDS.
GOLD.--How widely distributed--Alluvial Gold-mining--Vein
Gold-mining--Nuggets--Treatment of Ore and Gold in the
Transvaal--Story of South African Gold-fields--Gold-production
of the World--Johannesburg the Golden City--Coolgardie
Gold-fields--Bayley's discovery of Gold there 102
DIAMONDS.--Composition--Diamond-cutting--Diamond-mining--
Famous Diamonds--Cecil J. Rhodes and the Kimberley Mines 135
CHAPTER VI.
BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION.
Woolwich Arsenal--Enfield Small-arms Factory--Lord Armstrong
and the Elswick Works--Testing Guns at Shoeburyness--Hiram
S. Maxim and the Maxim Machine Gun--The Colt Automatic Gun--
Ironclads--Submarine Boats 152
CHAPTER VII.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE.
In praise of Cycling--Number of Cycles in Use--Medical
Opinions--Pioneers in the Invention--James Starley--Cycling
Tours 192
CHAPTER VIII.
STEAMERS AND SAILING-SHIPS.
Early Shipping--Mediterranean Trade--Rise of the P. and O. and
other Lines--Transatlantic Lines--India and the East--Early
Steamships--First Steamer to cross the Atlantic--Rise of
Atlantic Shipping Lines--The _Great Eastern_ and the New
Cunarders _Campania_ and _Lucania_ compared--Sailing-ships 205
CHAPTER IX.
POST-OFFICE--TELEGRAPH--TELEPHONE--PHONOGRAPH.
Rowland Hill and Penny Postage--A Visit to the Post-office--
The Post-office on Wheels--Early Telegraphs--Wheatstone and
Morse--The State and the Telegraphs--Atlantic Cables--
Telephones--Edison and the Phonograph 247
[Illustration]
ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY
AND
INVENTION.
CHAPTER I.
IRON AND STEEL.
Pioneers of the Iron and Steel Industry--Sir Henry Bessemer--Sir
William Siemens--Werner von Siemens--The Krupps of Essen.
Francis Horner, writing early in this century, said that 'Iron is not
only the soul of every other manufacture, but the mainspring perhaps of
civilised society.' Cobden has said that 'our wealth, commerce, and
manufactures grew out of the skilled labour of men working in metals.'
According to Carlyle, the epic of the future is not to be Arms and the
Man, but Tools and the Man. We all know that iron was mined and smelted
in considerable quantities in this island as far back as the time of the
Romans; and we cherish a vague notion that iron must have been mined and
smelted here ever since on a progressively increasing scale. We are so
accustomed to think and speak of ourselves as first among all nations,
at the smelting-furnace, in the smithy, and amid the Titanic labours of
the mechanical workshop, that we open large eyes when we are told what
a recent conquest all this superiority is!
There was, indeed, some centuries later than the Roman occupation, a
period coming down to quite modern times, during which English
iron-mines were left almost unworked. In Edward III.'s reign, the pots,
spits, and frying-pans of the royal kitchen were classed among his
majesty's jewels. For the planners of the Armada the greater abundance
and excellence of Spanish iron compared with English was an important
element in their calculations of success. In the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, the home market looked to Spain and Germany for its
supply both of iron and steel. After that, Sweden came prominently
forward; and from her, as late as the middle of the eighteenth century,
no less than four-fifths of the iron used in this country was imported!
The reason of this marvellous neglect of what has since proved one of
our main sources of wealth lay in the enormous consumption of timber
which the old smelting processes entailed. The charcoal used in
producing a single ton of pig-iron represented four loads of wood, and
that required for a ton of bar-iron represented seven loads. Of course,
the neighbourhood of a forest was an essential condition to the
establishment of ironworks; but wherever such an establishment was
effected, the forest disappeared with portentous rapidity. At
Lamberhurst, on the borders of Kent and Sussex, with so trifling a
produce as five tons per week, the annual consumption of wood was two
hundred thousand cords. The timber wealth of Kent, Surrey, and
Sussex--which counties were then the centres of our iron
industry--seemed menaced with speedy annihilation. In the destruction of
these great forests, that of our maritime power was supposed to be
intimately involved; so that it is easy to understand how, in those
days, the development of the iron manufacture came to be regarded in
the light of a national calamity, and a fitting subject for restrictive
legislation! Various Acts were passed towards the end of the sixteenth
century prohibiting smelting-furnaces within twenty-two miles of London,
and many of the Sussex masters found themselves compelled, in
consequence, to break up their works. During the civil wars of the
seventeenth century, a severe blow was given to the trade by the
destruction of all furnaces belonging to royalists; and after the
Restoration we find the crown itself demolishing its own works in the
Forest of Dean, on the old plea that the supply of shipbuilding timber
was thereby imperilled. Between 1720 and 1730 the ironworks of
Worcestershire and the Forest of Dean consumed 17,350 tons of timber
annually, or five tons for each furnace.
'From this time' (the Restoration), says Mr Smiles, 'the iron
manufacture of Sussex, as of England generally, rapidly declined. In
1740 there were only fifty-nine furnaces in all England, of which ten
were in Sussex; and in 1788 there were only two. A few years later, and
the Sussex iron-furnaces were blown out altogether. Farnhurst in
Western, and Ashburnham in Eastern Sussex, witnessed the total
extinction of the manufacture. The din of the iron hammer was hushed,
the glare of the furnace faded, the last blast of the bellows was blown,
and the district returned to its original rural solitude. Some of the
furnace-ponds were drained and planted with hops or willows; others
formed beautiful lakes in retired pleasure-grounds; while the remainder
were used to drive flour-mills, as the streams in North Kent, instead of
driving fulling-mills, were employed to work paper-mills.' The
plentifulness of timber in the Scottish Highlands explains the
establishment of smelting-furnaces, in 1753, by an English company at
Bunawe in Argyllshire, whither the iron was brought from Furness in
Lancashire.
Few of our readers can be unacquainted with the fact that iron-smelting
at the present day is performed not with wood but with coal. It will
readily, then, be understood that the substitution of the one
description of fuel for the other must have formed the turning-point in
the history of the British iron manufacture. This substitution, however,
was brought about very slowly. The prejudice against coal was for a long
period extreme; its use for domestic purposes was pronounced detrimental
to health; and, even for purposes of manufacture, it was generally
condemned. Nevertheless, as wood became scarcer and dearer, a closer
examination into the capabilities of coal came naturally to be made; and
here, as in almost every other industrial path, we find a foreigner
acting as our pioneer. The Germans had long been experienced in mining
and metallurgy; and it was a German, Simon Sturtevant, who first took
out a patent for smelting iron with coal. But his process proved a
failure, and the patent was cancelled. Other Germans, naturalised here,
followed in Sturtevant's footsteps, but with no better results; until at
last an Englishman, Dud Dudley (1599-1684), took up the idea, and gave
it practical success. The town of Dudley was even then a centre of the
iron manufacture, and Dud's noble father, Lord Dudley, owned several
furnaces. But here, also, the forest-wealth of the district was fast
melting away, and the trade already languished under the dread of
impending dissolution. In the immediate neighbourhood, meanwhile, coal
was abundant, with ironstone and limestone in close proximity to it.
Dud, who, as a child, had haunted and scrutinised his father's ironworks
with wondering delight, was placed just at this juncture in charge of a
furnace and a couple of forges, and immediately turned his energetic
mind to the question of smelting with coal. Some careful experiments
succeeded so well that he wrote to his father, requesting him to take
out a patent for the process; and this patent, registered in Lord
Dudley's name, and dated the 22d February 1620, properly inaugurated the
great metallurgic revolution which had made the English iron trade what
it now is. Andrew Yarranton was another pioneer in the iron and
tin-plate industry, and wrote a remarkable work on _England's
Improvement by Sea and Land_ (1677-81).
Nevertheless, even with this positive success on record, the inert
insular mind long refused to follow the path cleared for it. Dud's
discovery 'was neither appreciated by the iron-masters nor by the
workmen;' and all schemes for smelting ore with any other fuel than
wood-charcoal were regarded with incredulity. His secret seems to have
been bequeathed to no one, and for many years after his death the old,
much-abused, forest-devouring system went tottering on. Stern necessity,
however, taught its hard lesson at last, and a period insensibly arrived
when the employment of coal in smelting processes became the rule rather
than the exception, and might be seen here and there on an unusually
large scale--especially at the celebrated Coalbrookdale works, in the
valley of the Severn, Shropshire.
The founder of the Coalbrookdale industries was a Quaker--Abraham Darby
(1677-1717). A small furnace had existed on the spot ever since the days
of the Tudors, and this small furnace formed the nucleus of that
industrial activity which the visitor of Coalbrookdale surveys with such
wonder at the present day.
In Darby's time, the principal cooking utensils of the poorer classes
were pots and kettles made of cast-iron. But even this primitive ware
was beyond native skill, and most of the utensils in question were
imported from Holland. Exercising an effort of judgment, which, moderate
as it was, seems to have been hitherto unexampled, Darby resolved to
pay that country a visit, and ascertain in person why it was that Dutch
castings were so good and English so bad. The use of dry sand instead of
clay for the moulds comprised, he found, the whole secret.
On returning to England, Darby took out a patent for the new process,
and his castings soon acquired repute. The use of pit-coal in the
Coalbrookdale furnaces is not supposed, however, to have become general
until the worthy Abraham had been succeeded by his son; but when it once
did become so, the impetus thereby given to the iron trade and to
coal-mining was immense. It is the latter industry which may
pre-eminently claim to have called the steam-engine into existence. The
demand for pumping-power adequate to the drainage of deep mines set
Newcomen's brain to work; and the engine rough-sketched by his
ingenuity, and perfected by the genius of Watt, soon increased
enormously the production of iron by rendering coal more accessible and
the blast-furnace more efficient.
A son-in-law of Abraham Darby's, Richard Reynolds by name, made a great
stride towards the modern railway by substituting iron for wood on the
tramways which connected the different works at Coalbrookdale; and it
was a grandson of the same Abraham who designed and erected the first
iron bridge.
England, we have seen, borrowed the idea of her smelting processes and
iron-castings from Germany and Holland; but the discovery of that
important material, cast-steel, belongs, at least, to one of her own
sons. Yet even here the relationship is a merely conventional one, for
Benjamin Huntsman (1704-1776) was the child of German parents who had
settled in Lincolnshire.
Huntsman's original calling was that of a clock-maker; but his
remarkable mechanical skill, his shrewdness, and his practical sense,
soon gave him the repute of the 'wise man' of the district, and brought
neighbours to consult him not only as to the repair of every ordinary
sort of machinery, but also of the human frame--the most complex of all
machines! It was his daily experience of the inferior quality of the
tools at his command that led him to make experiments in the manufacture
of steel. What his experiments were we have no record to show; but that
they must have been conducted with Teutonic patience and thoroughness
there can be no doubt, from the formidable nature of the difficulties
overcome.
England, however, long refused to make use of Huntsman's precious
material, although produced in her very midst. The Sheffield cutlers
would have nothing to do with a substance so much harder than anything
they were accustomed to, and Huntsman was actually compelled to look for
his market abroad! All the cast-steel he could manufacture was sent over
to France, and the merit of employing this material for general purposes
belongs originally to that country. The inventions of Henry Cort
(1740-1800) for refining and rolling iron (1785) were the mainspring of
the malleable iron trade, and made Great Britain independent of Russia
and Sweden for supplies of manufactured iron. One authority has stated
that since 1790, when Cort's improvements were entirely established, the
value of landed property in England had doubled. But he was unfortunate
in business life, and in 1811 upwards of forty iron firms subscribed
towards a fund for the assistance of his widow and nine orphan children.
David Mushet (1772-1847) did much for the expansion of the iron trade in
Scotland by his preparation of steel from bar-iron by a direct process,
combining the iron with carbon, and by his discovery of the effect of
manganese on steel.
Steel is the material of which the instruments of labour are
essentially made. Upon the quality of the material, that of the
instrument naturally depends, and upon the quality of the instrument,
that, in great measure, of the work. Watt's marvellous invention ran
great risk, at one time, of being abandoned, for the simple reason that
the mechanical capacities of the age were not 'up' to its embodiment.
Even after Watt had secured the aid of Boulton's best workmen, Smeaton
gave it as his opinion that the steam-engine could never be brought into
general use, because of the difficulty of getting its various parts made
with the requisite precision.
The execution by machinery of work ordinarily executed by hand-tools has
been a gigantic stride in the path of material civilisation. The
earliest phase of the great modern movement in this direction is
represented, probably, by the sawmill. A sawmill was erected near London
as long ago as 1663--by a foreigner--but was shortly abandoned in
consequence of the determined hostility of the sawyers; and more than a
century elapsed before another mill was put up. But the sawmill is
comparatively a rude structure, and the material it operates upon is
easily treated, even by the hand. When we come to deal, however, with
such substances as iron and steel, the benefit of machinery becomes
incalculable. Without our recent machine-tools, indeed, the stupendous
iron creations of the present day would have been impossible at any
cost; for no amount of hand-labour could ever attain that perfect
exactitude of construction without which it would be idle to attempt
fitting the component parts of these colossal structures together.
The first impulse, however, to the improvement of machine-tools for
ironwork was given by a difficulty born not of mass but of minuteness.
Up to the end of the last century, the locks in common use among us
were of the rudest description, and afforded scarcely any security
against thieves. To meet this universal want, Joseph Bramah set his
remarkable inventive faculties to work, and speedily contrived a lock so
perfect, that it held its ground for many a day. But Bramah's locks are
machines of the most delicate kind, depending for their efficiency upon
the precision with which their component parts are finished; and, at
that time, the attainment of this precision, at such a price as to
render the lock an article of extensive commerce, seemed an insuperable
difficulty. In his dilemma, Bramah's attention was directed to a
youngster in the Woolwich Arsenal smithy, named Henry Maudsley, whose
reputation for ingenuity was already great among his fellows. Bramah was
at first almost ashamed to take such a mere lad into his counsels; but a
preliminary conversation convinced him that his confidence would not be
misplaced. He persuaded Maudsley to enter his employment, and the result
was the invention, between them, of the planing-machine, applicable
either to wood or metal, as also of certain improvements in the old
lathe, more particularly of that known as the 'slide-rest.'
In the old-fashioned lathe, the workman guided his cutting-tool by sheer
muscular strength, and the slightest variation in the pressure
necessarily led to an irregularity of surface. The rest for the hand is
in this case fixed, and the tool held by the workman travels along it.
Now, the principle of the slide-rest is the opposite of this. The rest
itself holds the tool firmly fixed in it, and slides along the bench in
a direction parallel with the axis of the work. All that the workman has
to do, therefore, is to turn a screw-handle, by means of which the
cutter is carried along with the smallest possible expenditure of
strength; and even this trifling labour has been since got rid of, by
making the rest self-acting.
Simple and obvious as this improvement seems, its importance cannot be
overrated. The accuracy it insured was precisely the desideratum of the
day! By means of the slide-rest, the most delicate as well as the most
ponderous pieces of machinery can be turned with mathematical precision;
and from this invention must date that extraordinary development of
mechanical power and production which is a characteristic of the age we
live in. 'Without the aid of the vast accession to our power of
producing perfect mechanism which it at once supplied,' says a
first-class judge in matters of the kind, 'we could never have worked
out into practical and profitable forms the conceptions of those
master-minds who, during the past half-century, have so successfully
pioneered the way for mankind. The steam-engine itself, which supplies
us with such unbounded power, owes its present perfection to this most
admirable means of giving to metallic objects the most precise and
perfect geometrical forms. How could we, for instance, have good
steam-engines if we had not the means of boring out a true cylinder, or
turning a true piston-rod, or planing a valve-face?'
It would perhaps be impossible to cite any more authoritative estimate
of Maudsley's invention than the above. The words placed between
inverted commas are the words of James Nasmyth, the inventor of that
wonderful steam-hammer which Professor Tomlinson characterises as 'one
of the most perfect of artificial machines and noblest triumphs of mind
over matter that modern English engineers have yet developed.'
[Illustration: Nasmyth's Steam-hammer.]
This machine enlarged at one bound the whole scale of working in iron,
and permitted Maudsley's lathe to develop its entire range of capacity.
The old 'tilt-hammer' was so constructed that the more voluminous the
material submitted to it, the _less_ was the power attainable; so that
as soon as certain dimensions had been exceeded, the hammer became
utterly useless. When the _Great Western_ steamship was in course of
construction, tenders were invited from the leading mechanical firms for
the supply of the enormous paddle-shaft required for her engines. But a
forging of the size in question had never been executed, and no firm in
England would undertake the contract. In this dilemma, Mr Nasmyth was
applied to, and the result of his study of the problem was this
marvellous steam-hammer--so powerful that it will forge an Armstrong
hundred-pounder as easily as a farrier forges a horse-shoe, and so
delicately manageable that it will crack a nut without bruising its
kernel!
BESSEMER STEEL.
In 1722, Réaumur produced steel by melting three parts of cast-iron with
one part of wrought iron (probably in a crucible) in a common forge; he,
however, failed to produce steel in this manner on a working scale. This
process has many points in common with the Indian Wootz-steel
manufacture.
As we have seen, to Benjamin Huntsman, a Doncaster artisan, belongs the
credit of first producing cast-steel upon a working scale, as he was the
first to accomplish the entire fusion of converted bar-iron (that is,
blister-steel) of the required degree of hardness, in crucibles or clay
pots, placed among the coke of an air-furnace. This process is still
carried on at Sheffield and elsewhere, and is what is generally known as
the crucible or pot-steel process. It was mainly supplementary to the
cementation process, as formerly blister-steel was alone melted in the
crucibles; but latterly, and at the present time, the crucible mode of
manufacture embraces the fusion of other varieties and combinations of
metal, producing accordingly different classes and qualities of steel.
In 1839, Josiah Marshall Heath patented the important application of
carburet of manganese to steel in the crucible, which application
imparted to the resulting product the properties of varying temper and
increased forgeability. He subsequently found out that a separate
operation was not necessary to form the carburet--which is produced by
heating peroxide of manganese and carbon to a high temperature--but that
the same result could be attained by simply in the first instance adding
the carbon and oxide of manganese direct to the metal in the crucible.
He unsuspectingly communicated this after-discovery to his agent--by
name Unwin--who took advantage of the fact that it was not incorporated
in the wording of the patent, and so was unprotected, to make use of it
for his own advantage. The result was one of the most remarkable patent
trials on record, extending over twelve years, and terminating in 1855
against the patentee--a remarkable instance of the triumph of legal
technicalities over the moral sense of right.
A very important development of the manufacture of steel followed the
introduction of the 'Bessemer process,' by means of which a low carbon
or mild cast-steel can be produced at about one-tenth of the cost of
crucible steel. It is used for rails, for the tires of the wheels of
railway carriages, for ship-plates, boiler-plates, for shafting, and a
multitude of constructional and other purposes to which only wrought
iron was formerly applied, besides many for which no metal at all was
used.
Sir Henry Bessemer's process for making steel, which is now so largely
practised in England, on the continent of Europe, and in America, was
patented in 1856. It was first applied to the making of malleable iron,
but this has never been successfully made by the Bessemer method. For
the manufacture of a cheap but highly serviceable steel, however, its
success has been so splendid that no other metallurgical process has
given its inventor so great a renown. Although the apparatus actually
used is somewhat costly and elaborate, yet the principle of the
operation is very simple. A large converting vessel, with openings
called tuyères in its bottom, is partially filled up with from 5 to 10
tons of molten pig-iron, and a blast of air, at a pressure of from 18 to
20 lb. per square inch, is forced through this metal by a blowing
engine. Pig-iron contains from 3 to 5 per cent. of carbon, and, if it
has been smelted with charcoal from a pure ore, as is the case with
Swedish iron, the blast is continued till only from .25 to 1 per cent.
of the carbon is left in the metal, that is to say, steel is produced.
Sometimes, however, the minimum quantity of carbon is even less than .25
per cent. In England, where a less pure but still expensive
cast-iron--viz. hæmatite pig--is used for the production of steel in the
ordinary Bessemer converter, the process differs slightly. In this case
the whole of the carbon is oxidised by the blast of air, and the
requisite quantity of this element is afterwards restored to the metal
by pouring into the converter a small quantity of a peculiar kind of
cast-iron, called _spiegeleisen_, which contains a known quantity of
carbon. But small quantities of manganese and silicon are also present
in Bessemer steel. The 'blow' lasts from 20 to 30 minutes. Steel made
from whatever kind of pig-iron, either by this or by the 'basic'
process, is not sufficiently dense, at least for most purposes, and it
is accordingly manipulated under the steam-hammer and rolled into a
variety of forms. Bessemer steel is employed, as we have said, for heavy
objects, as rails, tires, rollers, boiler-plates, ship-plates, and for
many other purposes for which malleable iron was formerly used.
Basic steel is now largely made from inferior pig-iron, such as the
Cleveland, by the Thomas-Gilchrist process patented in 1878. It is,
however, only a modification of the Bessemer process to the extent of
substituting for the siliceous or 'acid' lining generally used, a lime
or 'basic' lining for the converter. Limestone, preferably a magnesian
limestone in some form, is commonly employed for the lining. By the use
of a basic lining, phosphorus is eliminated towards the end of the
'blow.' Phosphorus is a very deleterious substance in steel, and is
present, sometimes to the extent of 2 per cent., in pig-iron smelted
from impure ore.
The four inventions of this century which have given the greatest
impetus to the manufacture of iron and steel were--the introduction of
the hot blast into the blast-furnace for the production of crude iron,
made by J. B. Neilson, of the Glasgow Gas-works, in 1827; the
application of the cold blast in the Bessemer converter which we have
just described; the production of steel direct from the ore, by Siemens,
in the open hearth; and the discovery of a basic lining by which
phosphorus is eliminated and all kinds of iron converted into steel.
This last was the discovery of G. J. Snelus, of London, and it was made
a practical success by the Thomas & Gilchrist process just described. In
1883, Mr Snelus was awarded the Bessemer gold medal of the Iron and
Steel Institute 'as the first man who made pure steel from impure iron
in a Bessemer converter lined with basic materials.'
SIR HENRY BESSEMER.
Sir Henry Bessemer, the inventor of the modern process of making steel
from iron, which has just been described, was the son of Anthony
Bessemer, who escaped from France in 1792, and found employment in the
English Mint. He was born in 1813, at Charlton, Herts, where his father
had an estate, was to a great extent self-taught, and his favourite
amusement was in modelling buildings and other objects in clay. He came
up to London 'knowing no one, and no one knowing me--a mere cipher in
this vast sea of enterprise.' He first earned his living by engraving a
large number of elegant and original designs on steel with a diamond
point, for patent medicine labels. He found work also as designer and
modeller. He has been a prolific inventor, as the volumes issued by the
Patent Office show. It has been said that he has paid in patent stamp
duties alone as much as £10,000. At twenty he invented a mode of taking
copies from antique and modern basso-relievos in such a way that they
might be stamped on card-board, thousands being produced at a small
cost.
His inventive faculty also devised a ready method whereby those who were
defrauding the government by detaching old stamps from leases,
money-bills, and agreements, and by using them over again, could be
defeated in their purpose.
His first pecuniary success was obtained by his invention of machinery
for the manufacture of Bessemer gold and bronze powders, which was not
patented, but the nature of which was long kept secret. Another
successful invention was a machine for making Utrecht velvet. He also
interested himself in the manufacture of paints, oils, and varnishes,
sugar, railway carriages, ordnance, projectiles, and the ventilation of
mines. In the Exhibition of 1851 he exhibited an ingenious machine for
grinding and polishing plate-glass.
Like Lord Armstrong, Bessemer turned his attention to the subject of the
improvement of projectiles when there was a prospect of a European war
in 1853. He invented a mode of firing elongated projectiles from
smooth-bore guns, but received no countenance from the officials at
Woolwich.
Commander Minié, who had charge of the experiments which Bessemer was
making on behalf of the Emperor of the French, said: 'Yes, the shots
rotate properly; but if we cannot get something stronger for our guns,
these heavy projectiles will be of little use.' This started Bessemer
thinking and experimenting further, and led up, as we will see, to the
great industrial revolution with which his name stands identified. He
informed the Emperor that he intended to study the whole subject of
metals suitable for artillery purposes. He built experimental works at
St Pancras, but made many failures, furnace after furnace being pulled
down and rebuilt. His prolonged and expensive experiments in getting a
suitable ordnance metal were meanwhile using up his capital; but he was
on the eve of a great discovery, and began to see that the refinement of
iron might go on until pure malleable iron or steel could be obtained.
His wife aided and encouraged him at this time as only a true wife can.
After a year and a half, in which he patented many improvements in the
existing systems of manufacture, it occurred to him to introduce a blast
of atmospheric air into the fluid metal, whereby the cast-iron might be
made malleable. He found that by blowing air through crude iron in a
fluid state, it could thus be rendered malleable. He next tried the
method of having the air blown from below by means of an air-engine.
Molten iron being poured into the vessel, and air being forced in from
below, resulted in a surprising combustion, and the iron in the vessel
was transformed into steel. The introduction of oxygen through the fluid
iron, induced a higher heat, and burned up the impurities. Feeling that
he had succeeded in his experiment, he acquainted Mr George Rennie with
the result. The latter said to him: 'This must not be hid under a
bushel. The British Association meets next week at Cheltenham; if you
have patented your invention, draw up an account of it in a paper, and
have it read in Section G.' Accordingly Bessemer wrote an account of his
process, and in August 1856, he read his paper before the British
Association 'On the Manufacture of Malleable Iron and Steel without
Fuel,' which startled the iron trade of the country.
On the morning of the day on which his paper was to be read, Bessemer
was sitting at breakfast in his hotel, when an iron-master to whom he
was unknown, laughingly said to a friend: 'Do you know that there is
somebody come down from London to read us a paper _on making steel from
cast-iron without fuel_? Did you ever hear of such nonsense?'
Amongst those who spoke generously and enthusiastically of Bessemer's
new process was James Nasmyth, to whom the inventor offered one-third
share of the value of the patent, which would have been another fortune
to him. Nasmyth had made money enough by this time, however, and
declined.
In a communication to Nasmyth, Sir Henry Bessemer thanked him for his
early patronage, and described his discovery: 'I shall ever feel
grateful for the noble way in which you spoke at the meeting at
Cheltenham of my invention. If I remember rightly, you held up a piece
of malleable iron, saying words to this effect: "Here is a true British
nugget! Here is a new process that promises to put an end to all
puddling; and I may mention that at this moment there are
puddling-furnaces in successful operation where my patent hollow
steam-rabbler is at work, producing iron of superior quality by the
introduction of jets of steam in the puddling process. I do not,
however, lay any claim to this invention of Mr Bessemer; but I may
fairly be entitled to say that I have advanced along the roads on which
he has travelled so many miles, and has effected such unexpected
results, that I do not hesitate to say that I may go home from this
meeting and tear up my patent, for my process of puddling is assuredly
superseded."'
After giving an account of his failures, as well as successes, Sir Henry
proceeded to say: 'I prepared to try another experiment, in a crucible
having no hole in the bottom, but which was provided with an iron pipe
put through a hole in the cover, and passing down nearly to the bottom
of the crucible. The small lumps and grains of iron were packed round
it, so as nearly to fill the crucible. A blast of air was to be forced
down the pipe so as to rise up among the pieces of granular iron, and
partly decarburise them. The pipe could then be withdrawn, and the fire
urged until the metal with its coat of oxide was fused, and cast-steel
thereby produced.
'While the blowing apparatus for this experiment was being fitted up, I
was taken with one of those short but painful illnesses to which I was
subject at that time. I was confined to my bed, and it was then that my
mind, dwelling for hours together on the experiment about to be made,
suggested that instead of trying to decarburise the granulated metal by
forcing the air down the vertical pipe among the pieces of iron, the air
would act much more energetically and more rapidly if I first melted the
iron in the crucible, _and forced the air down the pipe below the
surface of the fluid metal_, and thus burnt out the carbon and silicum
which it contained.
'This appeared so feasible, and in every way so great an improvement,
that the experiment on the granular pieces was at once abandoned, and as
soon as I was well enough, I proceeded to try the experiment of forcing
the air under the fluid metal. The result was marvellous. Complete
decarburation was effected in half an hour. The heat produced was
immense, but unfortunately more than half the metal was blown out of the
pot. This led to the use of pots with large, hollow, perforated covers,
which effectually prevented the loss of metal. These experiments
continued from January to October 1855. I have by me on the mantelpiece
at this moment, a small piece of rolled bar-iron which was rolled at
Woolwich Arsenal, and exhibited a year later at Cheltenham.
'I then applied for a patent, but before preparing my provisional
specification (dated October 17, 1855), I searched for other patents to
ascertain whether anything of the sort had been done before. I then
found your patent for puddling with the steam-rabble, and also Martin's
patent for the use of steam in gutters while molten iron was being
conveyed from the blast-furnace to a finery, there to be refined in the
ordinary way prior to puddling.'
[Illustration: BESSEMER CONVERTING VESSEL: _a_, _a_, _a_, tuyères;
_b_, air-space; _c_, melted metal.]
Several leading men in the iron trade took licenses for the new
manufacture, which brought Bessemer £27,000 within thirty days of the
time of reading his paper. These licenses he afterwards bought back for
£31,000, giving fresh ones in their stead. Some of the early experiments
failed, and it was feared the new method would prove impracticable.
These experiments failed because of the presence of phosphorus in the
iron. But Bessemer worked steadily in order to remove the difficulties
which had arisen, and a chemical laboratory was added to his
establishment, with a professor of chemistry attached. Success awaited
him. The new method of steel-making spread into France and Sweden, and
in 1879 the works for making Bessemer steel were eighty-four in number,
and represented a capital of more than three millions. His process for
the manufacture of steel raised the annual production of steel in
England from 50,000 tons by the older processes to as many as 2,000,000
tons in some years. It was next used for boiler-plates; shipbuilding
with Bessemer steel was begun in 1862, and now it is employed for most
of the purposes for which malleable iron was formerly used. The
production of Europe and America in 1892 was over 10,000,000 tons, of a
probable value of £84,000,000, sufficient, as has been remarked, to make
a solid steel wall round London 40 feet high, and 5 feet thick. It would
take, according to the inventor, two or three years' production of all
the gold-mines in the world to pay in gold for the output of Bessemer
steel for one year. The price of steel previous to Huntsman's process
was about £10,000 per ton; after him, from £50 to £100. Now Bessemer
leaves it at £5 to £6 per ton. And a process which occupied ten days can
be accomplished within half an hour.
[Illustration: Bessemer Process.]
In his sketch of the 'Bessemer Steel Industry, Past and Present' (1894),
Sir Henry Bessemer says: 'It is this new material, so much stronger and
tougher than common iron, that now builds our ships of war and our
mercantile marine. Steel forms their boilers, their propeller shafts,
their hulls, their masts and spars, their standing rigging, their cable
chains and anchors, and also their guns and armour-plating. This new
material has covered with a network of steel rails the surface of every
country in Europe, and in America alone there are no less than 175,000
miles of Bessemer steel rails.' These steel rails last six times longer
than if laid of iron.
Bessemer was knighted in 1879, and has received many gold medals from
scientific institutions. In addition he has, to use his own words,
received in the form of royalties 1,057,748 of the beautiful little gold
medals (sovereigns) issued by her Majesty's Mint. The method chosen by
the Americans to perpetuate his name has been the founding of the
growing centre of industry called Bessemer in Indiana, while Bessemer,
in Pennsylvania, is the seat of the great Edgar Thompson steel-works.
Thus the man who was at first neglected by government has become wealthy
beyond the dreams of avarice, and his name is immortal in the annals of
our manufacturing industry.
SIR CHARLES WILLIAM SIEMENS AND THE SIEMENS PROCESS.
Another pioneer in the manufacture of steel and iron was CHARLES WILLIAM
SIEMENS, the seventh child of a German landowner, who was born at
Lenthe, near Hanover, 4th April 1823. He showed an affectionate and
sensitive disposition while very young, and a strong faculty of
observation. He received a good plain education at Lübeck, and in
deference to his brother Werner he agreed to become an engineer, and
accordingly was sent to an industrial school at Magdeburg in 1838, where
he also learned languages, including English; mathematics he learned
from his interested brother. He left Magdeburg in 1841 in order to
increase his scientific knowledge at Göttingen, and there he studied
chemistry and physics, with the view of becoming an engineer. Werner,
his elder brother, was still his good genius, and after the death of
their parents counselled and encouraged him, and looked upon him as a
probable future colleague. They corresponded with one another, not only
about family affairs, but also about the scientific and technical
subjects in which both were engrossed. This became a life-long habit
with the brothers Siemens. One early letter from William described a new
kind of valve-gearing which he had invented for Cornish steam-engines.
Then the germ of the idea of what was afterwards known as the
'chronometric governor' for steam-engines was likewise communicated in
this way. Mr Pole says that his early letters were significant of the
talent and capacity of the writer. 'They evince an acuteness of
perception in mechanical matters, a power of close and correct
reasoning, a sound judgment, a fertility of invention, and an ease and
accuracy of expression which, in a youth of nineteen, who had only a few
months' experience in a workshop, are extraordinary, and undoubtedly
shadow forth the brilliant future he attained in the engineering world.'
Werner in 1841 had taken out a patent for his method of electro-gilding,
while William early in 1843 paid his first visit to England, travelling
by way of Hamburg. He took up his abode in a little inn called the 'Ship
and Star,' at Sparrow Corner, near the Minories. In an address as
President of the Midland Institute, Birmingham, on 28th October 1881, he
related his first experiences in England, and how he secured his first
success there.
Mr Siemens said: 'That form of energy known as the electric current was
nothing more than the philosopher's delight forty years ago; its first
application may be traced to this good town of Birmingham, where Mr
George Richards Elkington, utilising the discoveries of Davy, Faraday,
and Jacobi, had established a practical process of electroplating in
1842.... Although I was only a young student of Göttingen, under twenty
years of age, who had just entered upon his practical career with a
mechanical engineer, I joined my brother Werner Siemens, then a young
lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian service, in his endeavour to
accomplish electro-gilding.... I tore myself away from the narrow
circumstances surrounding me, and landed at the East End of London, with
only a few pounds in my pocket and without friends, but an ardent
confidence of ultimate success within my breast.
'I expected to find some office in which inventions were examined into,
and rewarded if found meritorious, but no one could direct me to such a
place. In walking along Finsbury Pavement I saw written up in large
letters, "So-and-So"--I forget the name--"undertaker," and the thought
struck me that this must be the place I was in quest of; at any rate, I
thought that a person advertising himself as an "undertaker" would not
refuse to look into my invention, with the view of obtaining for me the
sought for recognition or reward. On entering the place I soon convinced
myself, however, that I came decidedly too soon for the kind of
enterprise there contemplated.' By dint of perseverance, however,
Siemens secured a letter from Messrs Poole and Carpmaell, of the Patent
Office, to Mr Elkington of Birmingham. Elkington and his partner Josiah
Mason both met the young inventor in such a spirit of fairness that, as
he says, he returned to his native country, and to his mechanical
engineering, 'a comparative Croesus.' After the lapse of forty years
his heart still beat quick when thinking of this determining incident in
his career.
The sum which Elkington paid him for his 'thermo-electrical battery' for
depositing solutions of gold, silver, and copper was £1600, less £110
for the cost of the patent. Although quite successful at the time, other
and cheaper processes speedily supplanted it; but the young German had
gained a footing and the money he needed for future experiments. When he
came back to Germany he was looked upon as quite a hero by his admiring
family circle. It was indeed a creditable exploit for a youth of twenty.
When he returned to England again in February 1844, he received so much
encouragement from leading engineers and scientific men for his
'chronometric governor,' that he decided to settle permanently there,
and he became a naturalised British subject in 1859. He joined with a
civil engineer, named Joseph Woods, for the promotion and sale of his
patents. 'Anastatic printing' was one of his early inventions, which,
however, never became profitable. Then came schemes in paper-making, new
methods of propelling ships, winged rockets, and locomotives on new
principles, all of which were a continual drain on his own and his
friends' resources without a corresponding return, so that in 1845 he
took a situation and earned some money by railway work, which enabled
him to pay another visit to Germany. In 1846, undaunted by previous
failures, he threw himself heartily into the study of the action of heat
as a power-giving agent, and invented an arrangement known as the
'regenerator' for saving certain portions of this waste. As afterwards
applied to furnaces for iron, steel, zinc, glass, and other works, it
was pronounced by Sir Henry Bessemer a beautiful invention, at once the
most philosophic in principle, the most powerful in action, and the most
economic of all the contrivances for producing heat by the combustion of
coal. He now secured an appointment in 1849 with Fox & Henderson,
Birmingham, at a fixed salary of £400 a year, and his interest in his
patent. Here he profited largely by the experience gained, but the
engagement terminated in 1851, when he afterwards settled as a civil
engineer in 7 John Street, Adelphi, in March 1852.
His next great achievement was the production of steel direct from the
raw ores by means of his regenerative furnace, which the President of
the Board of Trade in 1883 mentioned in the House of Commons as one of
the most valuable inventions ever produced under the protection of the
English patent law, and he said further that it was then being used in
almost every industry in the kingdom. Siemens had spent fourteen years
in perfecting this regenerative furnace, and it took him other fourteen
to utilise it, and perfect it in making steel direct from the raw ores.
Martin of Sireil, who made one or two additions to the Siemens steel
furnace, has been termed its inventor, but this claim has no foundation.
What is known, however, as the 'Siemens-Martin process' is now competing
very effectively with the Bessemer process. It consists essentially in
first obtaining a bath of melted pig-iron of high quality, and then
adding to this pieces of wrought-iron scrap or Bessemer scrap, such as
crop ends of rails, shearings of plates, &c. These, though practically
non-infusible in large quantities by themselves, become dissolved or
fused in such a bath if added gradually. To the bath of molten metal
thus obtained spiegeleisen or ferro-manganese is added to supply the
required carbon and to otherwise act as in the Bessemer converter. The
result is tested by small ladle samples, and when it is of the desired
quality a portion is run off, leaving sufficient bath for the
continuation of the process.
Siemens took out his patent for the 'open hearth' process of
steel-making (the Forth Bridge is built of steel made in this way) in
1861, and four years later erected sample steel works at Birmingham. The
engineer of the London and North-Western Railway adopted his system at
Crewe in 1868, and the Great Western Railway works followed. In 1869
this process was being carried out on a large scale at the works of the
Landore-Siemens Steel Company and elsewhere in England, as well as at
various works on the Continent, including Krupp's, at Essen.
In 1862, Siemens was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1874
was presented with the Royal Albert Medal, and in 1875 with the Bessemer
Medal in recognition of his researches and inventions in heat and
metallurgy. He filled the president's chair in the three principal
engineering and telegraphic societies of Great Britain, and in 1882 was
President of the British Association. As manager in England of the firm
of Siemens Brothers, Sir William Siemens was actively engaged in the
construction of overland and submarine telegraphs. The steamship
_Faraday_ was specially designed by him for cable-laying. In addition to
his labours in connection with electric-lighting, Sir William Siemens
also successfully applied, in the construction of the Portrush Electric
Tramway, which was opened in 1883, electricity to the production of
locomotion. In his regenerative furnace, as we have seen, he utilised in
an ingenious way the heat which would otherwise have escaped with the
products of combustion. The process was subsequently applied in many
industrial processes, but notably by Siemens himself in the manufacture
of steel.
The other inventions and researches of this wonderful man include a
water-meter; a thermometer or pyrometer, which measures by the change
produced in the electric conductivity of metals; the bathometer, for
measuring ocean depths by variations in the attraction exerted on a
delicately suspended body; and the hastening of vegetable growth by use
of the electric light. He was knighted in April 1883, and died on
November 19 of the same year. There is a memorial window to his memory
in Westminster Abbey.
As the elder brother of Sir William Siemens was so closely connected
with him in business life, and may be said to have encouraged and led
him into the walk of life in which he excelled, he also deserves a
notice here. WERNER VON SIEMENS, engineer and electrician, was born
December 13, 1816, at Lenthe in Hanover. In 1834 he entered the Prussian
Artillery; and in 1844 was put in charge of the artillery workshops at
Berlin. He early showed scientific tastes, and in 1841 took out his
first patent for galvanic silver and gold plating. By selling the right
of using his process he made 40 louis d'or, which supplied him with the
means for further experiments. During the Schleswig-Holstein war, he
attracted considerable attention by using electricity for the firing of
the mines which had been laid for the defence of Kiel harbour. He was of
peculiar service in developing the telegraphic service in Prussia, and
discovered in this connection the valuable insulating property of
gutta-percha for underground and submarine cables. In 1849 he left the
army, and shortly after the service of the state altogether, and devoted
his energies to the construction of telegraphic and electrical apparatus
of all kinds. The well-known firm of Siemens and Halske was established
in 1847 in Berlin, and to them the Russian government entrusted the
construction of the telegraph lines in that country. Subsequently
branches were formed, chiefly under the management of the younger
brothers of Werner Siemens, in St Petersburg (1857), in London (1858),
in Vienna (1858), and in Tiflis (1863). In 1857, Siemens accomplished
the remarkable feat of successfully laying a cable in deep water, at a
depth of more than 1000 fathoms. This was between Sardinia and Bona.
Shortly after he superintended the laying of cables in the Red Sea; and
these successful experiments soon led to the greatest undertaking of
all, the connection of America with Europe. Besides devising numerous
useful forms of galvanometers and other electrical instruments of
precision, Werner Siemens was one of the discoverers of the principle of
the self-acting dynamo. He also made valuable determinations of the
electrical resistance of different substances, the resistance of a
column of mercury, one metre long, and one square millimetre cross
section at 0°C., being known as the Siemens Unit. His numerous
scientific and technical papers, written for the various journals, were
republished in collected form in 1881. In 1886 he gave 500,000 marks for
the founding of an imperial institute of technology and physics; and in
1888 he was ennobled. He died at Berlin, 6th December 1892. A
translation of his _Personal Recollections_ by Coupland appeared in
1893.
* * * * *
Space forbids us mentioning other worthy names in the steel and iron
trade, although we cannot pass by Sir John Brown, founder of the Atlas
Steel-works, Sheffield (1857), and one of the first to adopt the
Bessemer process. He was also the pioneer of armour-plate making. The
immense strides he made in business may be judged from the fact that
when he started in 1857 his employees numbered 200, with a turnover of
£3000 a year; in 1867 they numbered 4000, and the turnover was
£1,000,000. The weekly pay roll amounted to £7000 in 1883, and when he
handed over the business to his successors, he was paid £200,000 for the
goodwill.
KRUPP'S IRON AND STEEL WORKS AT ESSEN.
One of the largest iron and steel manufacturing establishments in the
world is that founded by the late Alfred Krupp, the famous German
cannon-founder, whose name is so well known in connection with modern
improvements in artillery. His principal works are situated at Essen, in
Prussia, in the midst of a district productive of both iron and coal.
The town of Essen, which at the beginning of the present century
contained less than four thousand inhabitants, has become an important
industrial centre, with a population of nearly eighty thousand persons,
this increase being chiefly due to the growth of the ironworks, and the
consequent demand for labour. In the vicinity of the town, numerous coal
and iron mines, many of which are owned by the Krupp firm, are in active
working, and furnish employment to the large population of the
surrounding district. Much of the output of iron ore and coal from these
mines is destined for consumption in the vast Krupp works within the
town. Those works had their origin in a small iron forge established at
Essen in the year 1810 by Frederick Krupp, the father of Alfred Krupp.
The elder Krupp was not prosperous; and a lawsuit in which he became
involved, and which lasted for ten years, though finally decided in his
favour, reduced him nearly to bankruptcy. He died in 1826, in
impoverished circumstances, leaving a widow and three sons, the eldest
of whom was Alfred, aged fourteen. The business was continued by the
widow, who managed, though with difficulty, to procure a good education
for her sons. When the eldest, Alfred, took control of the works in
1848, he found there, as he himself has described, 'three workmen, and
more debts than fortune.'
Krupp's subsequent career affords a remarkable instance of success
attained, despite adverse circumstances, by sheer force of ability and
energy, in building up a colossal manufacturing business from a humble
beginning. On his death in 1887 his only son succeeded him. At the
present time, Krupp's works within the town of Essen occupy more than
five hundred acres, half of which area is under cover. In 1895, the
number of persons in his employ was 25,300, and including members of
their families, over 50,000. Of the army of workers, about 17,000 were
employed at the works in Essen, the remainder being occupied in the 550
iron and coal mines belonging to the firm, or at the branch works at
Sayn Neuwied, Magdeburg, Duisburg, and Engers; or in the iron-mines at
Bilbao, in Spain, which produce the best ores. In Krupp's Essen works
there are one hundred and twelve steam-hammers, ranging in weight from
fifty tons down to four hundred pounds. There are 15 Bessemer
converters, 18 Martin-furnaces, 420 steam-engines--representing together
33,150 horse-power--and twenty-one rolling trains; the daily consumption
of coal and coke being 3100 tons by 1648 furnaces. The average daily
consumption of water, which is brought from the river Ruhr by an
aqueduct, is 24,700 cubic metres. The electric light has been
introduced, and the work ceases entirely only on Sunday and two or three
holidays. Connected with the Essen works are fifty miles of railway,
employing thirty-five locomotives and over 1000 wagons. There are two
chemical laboratories; a photographic and lithographic studio; a
printing-office, with steam and hand presses; and a bookbinding room,
besides tile-works, coke-works, gas-works, &c.
Though, in the popular mind, the name of Krupp is usually associated
with the manufacture of instruments of destruction, yet two-thirds of
the work done in his establishment is devoted to the production of
articles intended for peaceful uses. The various parts of steam-engines,
both stationary and locomotive; iron axles, bridges, rails, wheel-tires,
switches, springs, shafts for steamers, mint-dies, rudders, and parts of
all varieties of iron machinery, are prepared here for manufacturers.
The production is, in Dominie Sampson's phrase, 'prodigious.' In one day
the works can turn out 2700 rails, 350 wheel-tires, 150 axles, 180
railway wheels, 1000 railway wedges, 1500 bombshells. In a month they
have produced 250 field-pieces, thirty 5.7-inch cannon, fifteen
9.33-inch cannon, eight 11-inch cannon, one 14-inch gun, the weight of
the last named being over fifty tons, and its length twenty-eight feet
seven inches. Till the end of 1894 the firm has produced 25,000 cannon
for thirty-four different states.
Alfred Krupp devoted much attention to the production of steel of the
finest quality, and was the first German manufacturer who succeeded in
casting steel in large masses. In 1862 he exhibited in London an ingot
of finest crucible steel weighing twenty-one tons. Its dimensions were
nine feet high by forty-four inches diameter. The uniformity of quality
of this mass of metal was proven by the fact that when broken across it
showed no seam or flaw, even when examined with a lens. The firm can now
make such homogeneous blocks of seventy-five tons weight if required.
Such ingots are formed from the contents of a great number of small
crucibles, each containing from fifty to one hundred pounds of the
metal. The recent developments of the manufacture of steel by the
open-hearth process have removed all difficulty in procuring the metal
in masses large enough for all requirements, and of a tensile strength
so high as thirty-three to thirty-seven tons to the square inch.
Crucible steel, however, though more expensive, still holds its place
as the best and most reliable that can be produced; and nothing else is
ever used in the construction of a Krupp gun. By the perfected methods
in use at the Essen works, such steel can be made of a tensile strength
of nearly forty tons to the square inch, and of marvellous uniformity of
quality. The ores used in the Krupp works for making the best steel are
red hæmatite and spathic ore, with a certain proportion of
ferro-manganese. The crucibles employed are formed of a mixture of
plumbago and fire-clay, shaped by a mould into a cylindrical jar some
eighteen inches in height, and baked in a kiln. When in use, they are
filled with small bars of puddled metal, mixed with fragments of marble
brought from Villmar, on the Lahn. They are then shovelled into large
furnaces, whose floors are elevated three or four feet above the
ground-level. In the earthen floor of the immense room containing the
furnaces are two lines of pits, one set to receive the molten metal, the
other intended for the red-hot crucibles when emptied of their contents.
When the crucibles have undergone sufficient heating, the furnace doors
are opened simultaneously at a given signal, and the attendant workmen
draw out the crucibles with long tongs, and rapidly empty them into the
pits prepared for the reception of the metal. The empty crucibles when
cooled are examined, and if found unbroken, are used again; but if
damaged, as is usually the case, are ground up, to be utilised in making
new ones.
The production of steel by this method furnishes employment for eight or
nine hundred men daily in the Krupp works. The Bessemer process for
converting iron into steel is also largely used there for making steel
for certain purposes. All material used in the different classes of
manufactures is subjected at every stage to extreme and exact tests; the
standards being fixed with reference to the purpose to which the metal
is to be applied, and any material that proves faulty when suitably
tested is rigorously rejected.
The guns originally manufactured by the Krupp firm were formed from
solid ingots of steel, which were bored, turned, and fashioned as in the
case of cast-iron smooth-bore cannon. With the development of the power
of artillery, the greater strain caused by the increased powder-charges
and by the adoption of rifling--involving enhanced friction between the
projectile and the bore--had the result of demonstrating the weakness
inherent in the construction of a gun thus made entirely from one solid
forging, and that plan was eventually discarded. Artillerists have
learnt that the strain produced by an explosive force operating in the
interior of a cannon is not felt equally throughout the thickness of the
metal from the bore to the exterior, but varies inversely as the square
of the distance of each portion of the metal from the seat of effort.
For example, in a gun cast solid, if two points be taken, one at the
distance of one inch from the bore, and the other four inches from the
bore, the metal at the former point will during the explosion be
strained sixteen times as much as that at the distance of four inches.
The greater the thickness of the material, the greater will be the
inequality between the strains acting at the points respectively nearest
to and farthest from the interior. The metal nearest the seat of
explosion may thus be strained beyond its tensile strength, while that
more remote is in imperfect accord with it. In such a case, disruption
of the metal at the inner surface ensues, and extends successively
through the whole thickness to the exterior, thus entailing the
destruction of the gun.
This source of weakness is guarded against by the construction of what
is termed the built-up gun, in which the several parts tend to mutual
support. This gun consists of an inner tube, encircled and compressed
by a long 'jacket' or cylinder, which is shrunk around the breech
portion with the initial tension due to contraction in cooling. Over the
jacket and along the chase, other hoops or cylinders are shrunk on
successively, in layers, with sufficient tension to compress the parts
enclosed. The number and strength of these hoops are proportionate to
the known strain that the bore of the gun will have to sustain. The
tension at which each part is shrunk on is the greater as the part is
farther removed from the inner tube; the jacket, for example, being
shrunk on at less tension than the outer hoops. The inner tube, on
receiving the expansive force of the explosion, is prevented by the
compression of the jacket from being forced up to its elastic limit; and
the jacket in its turn is similarly supported by the outer hoops; and on
the cessation of the internal pressure the several parts resume their
normal position.
This system of construction originated in England, and is now in general
use. The first steel guns on this principle were those designed by
Captain Blakely and Mr J. Vavasseur, of the London Ordnance Works. At
the Exhibition of 1862, a Blakely 8.5-inch gun, on the built-up system,
composed wholly of steel, was a feature of interest in the Ordnance
section. The plan devised by Sir W. Armstrong, and carried into effect
for a series of years at Woolwich and at the Armstrong Works at Elswick,
consisted in enclosing a tube of steel within a jacket of wrought iron,
formed by coiling a red-hot bar round a mandrel. The jacket was shrunk
on with initial tension, and was fortified in a similar manner by outer
hoops of the same metal. The want of homogeneity in this gun was,
however, a serious defect, and ultimately led to its abolition. The
difference in the elastic properties of the two metals caused a
separation, after repeated discharges, between the steel tube and its
jacket, with the result that the tube cracked from want of support. Both
at Woolwich and at Elswick (described on a later page), therefore, the
wrought-iron gun has given place to the homogeneous steel built-up gun,
which is also the form of construction adopted by the chief powers of
Europe and by the United States of America.
The failure of some of his solid-cast guns led Krupp, about 1865, to the
adoption of the built-up principle. With few exceptions, the inner tube
of a Krupp gun is forged out of a single ingot, and in every case
without any weld. The ingot destined to form the tube has first to
undergo a prolonged forging under the steam-hammers, by which the utmost
condensation of its particles is effected. It is then rough-bored and
turned, and subsequently carefully tempered in oil, whereby its
elasticity and tensile strength are much increased. It is afterwards
fine-bored and rifled, and its powder-chamber hollowed out. The latter
has a somewhat larger diameter than the rest of the bore, this having
been found an improvement. The grooves of the rifling are generally
shallow, and they widen towards the breech, so that the leaden coat of
the projectile is compressed gradually and with the least friction. The
jacket and hoops of steel are forged and rolled, without weld, and after
being turned and tempered, are heated and shrunk around the tube in
their several positions, the greatest strength and thickness being of
course given to the breech end, where the force of explosion exerts the
utmost strain. The completed gun is mounted on its appropriate carriage,
and having been thoroughly proved and tested and fitted with the proper
sights, is ready for service. The testing range is at Meppen, where a
level plain several miles in extent affords a suitable site for the
purpose.
For many years all guns of the Krupp manufacture have been on the
breech-loading system, and he has devoted much time and ingenuity to
perfecting the breech arrangements. The subject of recoil has also
largely occupied his attention. In the larger Krupp guns the force of
recoil is absorbed by two cylinders, filled with glycerine and fitted
with pistons perforated at the edges. The pistons are driven by the
shock of the recoil against the glycerine, which is forced through the
perforations. In England a similar arrangement of cylinders, containing
water as the resisting medium, has been found effective; and in America,
petroleum is employed for the same purpose. The advantages of the use of
glycerine are that in case of a leak it would escape too slowly to lose
its effect at once, and it is also more elastic than water, and is less
liable to become frozen.
The resources of Krupp's establishment are equal to the production of
guns of any size that can conceivably be required. He has made guns of
one hundred and nineteen tons weight. The portentous development of the
size and power of modern ordnance is exemplified by these guns and the
Armstrong guns of one hundred and eleven tons made at Elswick. Amongst
the class of modern cannon, one of the most powerful is Krupp's
seventy-one-ton gun. This, like all others of his make, is a
breech-loader. Its dimensions are--length, thirty-two feet nine inches;
diameter at breech end, five feet six inches; length of bore,
twenty-eight feet seven inches; diameter of bore, 15.75 inches; diameter
of powder-chamber, 17.32 inches. The internal tube is of two parts,
exactly joined; and over this are four cylinders, shrunk on, and a ring
round the breech. Its rifling has a uniform twist of one in forty-five.
It cannot possibly be fired until the breech is perfectly closed. Its
maximum charge is four hundred and eighty-five pounds of powder, and a
chilled iron shell of seventeen hundred and eight pounds.
[Illustration: Krupp's 15.6 Breech-loading Gun (breech open).]
Krupp did much to promote the welfare and comfort of his workpeople. For
their accommodation, he erected around Essen nearly four thousand family
dwellings, in which more than sixteen thousand persons reside. The
dwellings are in suites of three or four comfortable rooms, with good
water-arrangements; and attached to each building is a garden, large
enough for the children to play in. There are one hundred and fifty
dwellings of a better kind for officials in the service of the firm.
Boarding-houses have also been built for the use of unmarried labourers,
of whom two thousand are thus accommodated. Several churches, Protestant
and Catholic, have also been erected, for the use of his workmen and
their families. There have likewise been provided two hospitals, bathing
establishments, a gymnasium, an unsectarian free school, and six
industrial schools--one for adults, two for females. In the case of the
industrial schools, the fees are about two shillings monthly, but the
poorest are admitted free. A Sick Relief and Pensions Fund has been
instituted, and every foreman and workman is obliged to be a member. The
entrance fee is half a day's pay, the annual payment being proportioned
to the wages of the individual member; but half of each person's
contribution is paid by the firm. There are three large surgeries; and
skilful physicians and surgeons, one of whom is an oculist, are employed
at fixed salaries. For a small additional fee each member can also
secure free medical aid for his wife and children. The advantages to
members are free medical or surgical treatment in case of need, payment
from the fund of funeral expenses at death, pensions to men who have
been permanently disabled by injuries while engaged in the works,
pensions to widows of members, and temporary support to men who are
certified by two of the physicians as unable to work. The highest
pension to men is five pounds monthly, the average being about two
pounds sixteen shillings monthly. The average pension to widows is
about one pound fourteen shillings monthly.
The firm have made special arrangements with a number of life insurance
companies whereby the workmen can, if they choose, insure their lives at
low rates. They have formed a Life Insurance Union, and endowed it with
a reserve fund of three thousand pounds, from which aid is given to
members needing assistance to pay their premiums. An important
institution in Essen is the great Central Supply Store, established and
owned by the firm, where articles of every description--bread, meat, and
other provisions, clothing, furniture, &c.--are sold on a rigidly cash
system at cost price. Connected with the Central Store are twenty-seven
branch shops, in positions convenient for the workpeople, placing the
advantages of the system within the easy reach of all.
The original name, 'Frederick Krupp,' has been retained through all
vicissitudes of fortune as the business title of the firm. The small
dwelling in which Alfred Krupp was born is still standing, in the midst
of the huge workshops that have grown up around it, and is preserved
with the greatest care. At his expense, photographs of it were
distributed among his workmen, each copy bearing the following
inscription, dated Essen, February 1873: 'Fifty years ago, this
primitive dwelling was the abode of my parents. I hope that no one of
our labourers may ever know such struggles as have been required for the
establishment of these works. Twenty-five years ago that success was
still doubtful which has at length--gradually, yet wonderfully--rewarded
the exertions, fidelity, and perseverance of the past. May this example
encourage others who are in difficulties! May it increase respect for
small houses, and sympathy for the larger sorrows they too often
contain. The object of labour should be the common weal. If work bring
blessing, then is labour prayer. May every one in our community, from
the highest to the lowest, thoughtfully and wisely strive to secure and
build his prosperity on this principle! When this is done, then will my
greatest desire be realised.'
* * * * *
Germany has become a formidable competitor to Great Britain in the iron
and steel trade, and German steel rails, girders, and wire come in
freely to this country. From reports we learn that Great Britain
produced in 1882 8-1/2 million tons of iron and 5 million tons of
finished iron and steel, while the production of Germany was then less
than 3-1/2 and 2-1/2 million tons respectively. English production had
fallen to 7-1/2 million tons of iron and 4 million tons of finished iron
and steel in 1895, while Germany had risen to 5 million tons and 6
million tons respectively.
Contrary to what has been commonly believed, it appears that the
difference all round in wages amongst ironworkers, as between England
and Germany, is not great.
Chicago, Pittsburg, Buffalo, and New York are the chief centres of the
American iron and steel trade, the production of pig-iron in 1895 being
about 9-1/4 million tons, whereas in 1880 it was well under 4 million.
At present over 4 millions of tons are produced of Bessemer pig-iron.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER II.
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.
Josiah Wedgwood and the Wedgwood Ware--Worcester Porcelain.
When Mr Godfrey Wedgwood, a member of the famous firm of potters at
Etruria, near Burslem, Staffordshire, went to work about forty years
ago, his famous ancestor and founder of the world-famed Wedgwood ware
was still named amongst the workmen as 'Owd Wooden Leg.' A son of Mr
Godfrey Wedgwood, now in the firm, is the fifth generation in descent,
and the manufactory is still carried on in the same buildings erected by
Josiah Wedgwood one hundred and twenty years ago.
One hundred years ago Josiah Wedgwood, the creator of British artistic
pottery, passed away at Etruria, near Burslem, surrounded by the
creations of his own well-directed genius and industry, having
'converted a rude and inconsiderable manufacture into an elegant art and
an important part of national commerce.' His death took place on 3d
January 1795, the same year in which Thomas Carlyle saw the light at
Ecclefechan, and one year and a half before the death of Burns at
Dumfries. During fifty years of his working life, largely owing to his
own successful efforts, he had witnessed the output of the Staffordshire
potteries increased fivefold, and his wares were known and sold over
Europe and the civilised world. In the words of Mr Gladstone, his
characteristic merit lay 'in the firmness and fullness with which he
perceived the true law of what we may call Industrial Art, or, in other
words, of the application of the higher art to Industry.' Novalis once
compared the works of Goethe and Wedgwood in these words: 'Goethe is
truly a practical poet. He is in his works what the Englishman is in his
wares, perfectly simple, neat, fit, and durable. He has played in the
German world of literature the same part that Wedgwood has played in the
English world of art.'
[Illustration: JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.]
Long ago, in his sketch of Brindley and the early engineers, Dr Smiles
had occasion to record the important service rendered by Wedgwood in the
making of the Grand Trunk Canal--towards the preliminary expense of
which he subscribed one thousand pounds--and in the development of the
industrial life of the Midlands. Since that time Smiles has himself
published a biography of Wedgwood, to which we are here indebted.
More than once it has happened that the youngest of thirteen children
has turned out a genius. It was so in the case of Sir Richard Arkwright,
and it turned out to be so in the case of Josiah Wedgwood, the youngest
of the thirteen children of Thomas Wedgwood, a Burslem potter, and of
Mary Stringer, a kind-hearted but delicate, sensitive woman, the
daughter of a nonconformist clergyman. The town of Burslem, in
Staffordshire, where Wedgwood saw the light in 1730, was then anything
but an attractive place. Drinking and cock-fighting were the common
recreations; roads had scarcely any existence; the thatched hovels had
dunghills before the doors, while the hollows from which the potter's
clay was excavated were filled with stagnant water, and the atmosphere
of the whole place was coarse and unwholesome, and a most unlikely
nursery of genius.
It is probable that the first Wedgwoods take their name from the hamlet
of Weggewood in Staffordshire. There had been Wedgwoods in Burslem from
a very early period, and this name occupies a large space in the parish
registers during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; of the fifty
small potters settled there, many bore this honoured name. The ware
consisted of articles in common use, such as butter-pots, basins, jugs,
and porringers. The black glazed and ruddy pottery then in use was much
improved after an immigration of Dutchmen and Germans. The Elers, who
followed the Prince of Orange, introduced the Delft ware and the salt
glaze. They produced a kind of red ware, and Egyptian black; but
disgusted at the discovery of their secret methods by Astbury and
Twyford, they removed to Chelsea in 1710. An important improvement was
made by Astbury, that of making ware white by means of burnt flint.
Samuel Astbury, a son of this famous potter, married an aunt of Josiah
Wedgwood. But the art was then in its infancy, not more than one hundred
people being employed in this way in the district of Burslem, as
compared with about ten thousand now, with an annual export of goods
amounting to about two hundred thousand pounds, besides what are
utilised in home-trade. John Wesley, after visiting Burslem in 1760, and
twenty years later in 1781, remarked how the whole face of the country
had been improved in that period. Inhabitants had flowed in, the
wilderness had become a fruitful field, and the country was not more
improved than the people.
All the school education young Josiah received was over in his ninth
year, and it amounted to only a slight grounding in reading, writing,
and arithmetic. But his practical or technical education went on
continually, while he afterwards supplemented many of the deficiencies
of early years by a wide course of study. After the death of his
father, he began the practical business of life as a potter in his ninth
year, by learning the throwing branch of the trade. The thrower moulds
the vessel out of the moist clay from the potter's wheel into the
required shape, and hands it on to be dealt with by the stouker, who
adds the handle. Josiah at eleven proved a clever thrower of the black
and mottled ware then in vogue, such as baking-dishes, pitchers, and
milk-cans. But a severe attack of virulent smallpox almost terminated
his career, and left a weakness in his right knee, which developed, so
that this limb had to be amputated at a later date. He was bound
apprentice to his brother Thomas in 1744, when in his fourteenth year;
but this weak knee, which hampered him so much, proved a blessing in
disguise, for it sent him from the thrower's place to the moulder's
board, where he improved the ware, his first effort being an ornamental
teapot made of the ochreous clay of the district. Other work of this
period comprised plates, pickle-leaves, knife-hafts, and snuff-boxes. At
the same time he made experiments in the chemistry of the material he
was using. Wedgwood's great study was that of different kinds of
colouring matter for clays, but at the same time he mastered every
branch of the art. That he was a well-behaved young man is evident from
the fact that he was held up in the neighbourhood as a pattern for
emulation.
[Illustration: Wedgwood at Work.]
But his brother Thomas, who moved along in the old rut, had small
sympathy with all this experimenting, and thought Josiah flighty and
full of fancies. After remaining for a time with his brother, at the
completion of his apprenticeship Wedgwood became partner in 1752, in a
small pottery near Stoke-upon-Trent: soon after, Mr Whieldon, one of the
most eminent potters of the day, joined the firm. Here Wedgwood took
pains to discover new methods and striking designs, as trade was then
depressed. New green earthenware was produced, as smooth as glass, for
dessert service, moulded in the form of leaves; also toilet ware,
snuff-boxes, and articles coloured in imitation of precious stones,
which the jewellers of that time sold largely. Other articles of
manufacture were blue-flowered cups and saucers, and varicoloured
teapots. Wedgwood, on the expiry of his partnership with Whieldon,
started on his own account in his native Burslem in 1760. His capital
must have been small, as the sum of twenty pounds was all he had
received from his father's estate. He rented Ivy House and Works at ten
pounds a year, and engaged his second-cousin, Thomas, as workman at
eight shillings and sixpence a week. He gradually acquired a reputation
for the taste and excellence of design of his green glazed ware, his
tortoiseshell and tinted snuff-boxes, and white medallions. A specially
designed tea-service, representing different fruits and vegetables, sold
well, and, as might be expected, was at once widely imitated. He hired
new works on the site now partly occupied by the Wedgwood Institute, and
introduced various new tools and appliances. His kilns for firing his
fine ware gave him the greatest trouble, and had to be often renewed.
James Brindley, when puzzled in thinking out some engineering problem,
used to retire to bed and work it out in his head before he got up. Sir
Josiah Mason, the Birmingham pen-maker, used to simmer over in his mind
on the previous night the work for the next day. Wedgwood had a similar
habit, which kept him often awake during the early part of the night.
Probably owing to the fortunate execution of an order through Miss
Chetwynd, maid of honour to Queen Charlotte, of a complete cream service
in green and gold, Wedgwood secured the patronage of royalty, and was
appointed Queen's Potter in 1763. His Queen's ware became popular, and
secured him much additional business.
An engine lathe which he introduced greatly forwarded his designs; and
the wareroom opened in London for the exhibition of his now famous
Queen's ware, Etruscan vases, and other works, drew attention to the
excellence of his work. He started works besides at Chelsea, supervised
by his partner Bentley, where modellers, enamellers, and artists were
employed, so that the cares of his business, 'pot-making and
navigating'--the latter the carrying through of the Grand Trunk
Canal--entirely filled his mind and time at this period. So busy was he,
that he sometimes wondered whether he was an engineer, a landowner, or a
potter. Meanwhile, a step he had no cause to regret was his marriage in
1764 to Sarah Wedgwood, no relation of his own, a handsome lady of good
education and of some fortune.
Wedgwood had begun to imitate the classic works of the Greeks found in
public and private collections, and produced his unglazed black
porcelain, which he named Basaltes, in 1766. The demand for his vases at
this time was so great that he could have sold fifty or one hundred
pounds' worth a day, if he had been able to produce them fast enough. He
was now patronised by royalty, by the Empress of Russia, and the
nobility generally. A large service for Queen Charlotte took three years
to execute, as part of the commission consisted in painting on the ware,
in black enamel, about twelve hundred views of palaces, seats of the
nobility, and remarkable places. A service for the Empress of Russia
took eight years to complete. It consisted of nine hundred and fifty-two
pieces, of which the cost was believed to have been three thousand
pounds, although this scarcely paid Wedgwood's working expenses.
Prosperity elbowed Wedgwood out of his old buildings in Burslem, and led
him to purchase land two miles away, on the line of the proposed Grand
Trunk Canal, where his flourishing manufactories and model workmen's
houses sprang up gradually, and were named _Etruria_, after the Italian
home of the famous Etruscans, whose work he admired and imitated. His
works were partly removed thither in 1769, and wholly in 1771. At this
time he showed great public spirit, and aided in getting an Act of
Parliament for better roads in the neighbourhood, and backed Brindley
and Earl Gower in their Grand Trunk Canal scheme, which was destined,
when completed, to cheapen and quicken the carriage of goods to
Liverpool, Bristol, and Hull. The opposition was keen: and Wedgwood
issued a pamphlet showing the benefits which would accrue to trade in
the Midlands by the proposed waterway. When victory was secured, after
the passing of the Act there was a holiday and great rejoicing in
Burslem and the neighbourhood, and the first sod of the canal was cut by
Wedgwood, July 26, 1766. He was also appointed treasurer of the new
undertaking, which was eleven years in progress. Brindley, the greatest
engineer then in England, doubtless sacrificed his life to its success,
as he died of continual harassment and diabetes at the early age of
fifty-six. Wedgwood had an immense admiration for Brindley's work and
character. In the prospect of spending a day with him, he said: 'As I
always edify full as much in that man's company as at church, I promise
myself to be much wiser the day following.' Like Carlyle, who
whimsically put the builder of a bridge before the writer of a book,
Wedgwood placed the man who designed the outline of a jug or the turn of
a teapot far below the creator of a canal or the builder of a city.
In the career of a man of genius and original powers, the period of
early struggle is often the most interesting. When prosperity comes,
after difficulties have been surmounted, there is generally less to
challenge attention. But Wedgwood's career was still one of continual
progress up to the very close. His Queen's ware, made of the whitest
clay from Devon and Dorset, was greatly in demand, and much improved.
The fine earthenwares and porcelains which became the basis of such
manufactures were originated here. Young men of artistic taste were
employed and encouraged to supply designs, and a school of instruction
for drawing, painting, and modelling was started. Artists such as Coward
and Hoskins modelled the 'Sleeping Boy,' one of the finest and largest
of his works. John Bacon, afterwards known as a sculptor, was one of his
artists, as also James Tassie of Glasgow. Wedgwood engaged capable men
wherever they could be found. For his Etruscan models he was greatly
indebted to Sir W. Hamilton. Specimens of his famous portrait cameos,
medallions, and plaques will be found in most of our public museums.
The general health of Wedgwood suffered so much between 1767 and 1768
that he decided to have the limb which had troubled him since his
boyhood amputated. He sat, and without wincing, witnessed the surgeons
cut off his right leg, for there were then no anæsthetics. 'Mr Wedgwood
has this day had his leg taken off,' wrote one of the Burslem clerks at
the foot of a London invoice, 'and is as well as can be expected after
such an execution.' His wife was his good angel when recovering, and
acted as hands and feet and secretary to him; while his partner Bentley
(formerly a Liverpool merchant) and Dr Darwin were also kind; and he was
almost oppressed with the inquiries of many noble and distinguished
persons during convalescence. He had to be content with a wooden leg
now. 'Send me,' he wrote to his brother in London, 'by the next wagon a
spare leg, which you will find, I believe, in the closet.' He lived to
wear out a succession of wooden legs.
Indifference and idleness he could not tolerate, and his fine artistic
sense was offended by any bit of imperfect work. In going through his
works, he would lift the stick upon which he leaned and smash the
offending article, saying, 'This won't do for Josiah Wedgwood.' All the
while he had a keen insight into the character of his workmen, although
he used to say that he had everything to teach them, even to the making
of a table plate.
He was no monopolist, and the only patent he ever took out was for the
discovery of the lost art of burning in colours, as in the Etruscan
vases. 'Let us make all the good, fine, and new things we can,' he said
to Bentley once; 'and so far from being afraid of other people getting
our patterns, we should glory in it, and throw out all the hints we can,
and if possible, have all the artists in Europe working after our
models.' By this means he hoped to secure the goodwill of his best
customers and of the public. At the same time he never sacrificed
excellence to cheapness. As the sale of painted Etruscan ware declined,
his Jasper porcelain--so called from its resemblance to the stone of
that name--became popular. The secret of its manufacture was kept for
many years. It was composed of flint, potter's clay, carbonate of
barytes, and _terra ponderosa_. This and the Jasper-dip are in several
tones and hues of blue; also yellow, lilac, and green. He called in the
good genius of Flaxman in 1775; and, for the following twelve years, the
afterwards famous sculptor did an immense amount of work and enhanced
his own and his patron's reputation. Flaxman did some of his finest work
in this Jasper porcelain. Some of Flaxman's designs Wedgwood could
scarcely be prevailed upon to part with. A bas-relief of the 'Apotheosis
of Homer' went for seven hundred and thirty-five pounds at the sale of
his partner Bentley; and the 'Sacrifice to Hymen,' a tablet in blue and
white Jasper (1787), brought four hundred and fifteen pounds. The first
named is now in the collection of Lord Tweedmouth. Wedgwood's copy of
the Barberini or Portland Vase was a great triumph of his art. This
vase, which had contained the ashes of the Roman Emperor Alexander
Severus and his mother, was of dark-blue glass, with white enamel
figures. It now stands in the medal room of the British Museum alongside
a model by Wedgwood. It stands 10 inches high, and is the finest
specimen of an ancient cameo cut-glass vase known. It was smashed by a
madman in 1845, but was afterwards skilfully repaired. Wedgwood made
fifty copies in fine earthenware, which were originally sold at 25
guineas each. One of these now fetches £200. The vase itself once
changed hands for eighteen hundred guineas, and a copy fetched two
hundred and fifteen guineas in 1892.
[Illustration: Portland Vase.]
Josiah Wedgwood now stood at the head of the potters of Staffordshire,
and the manufactory at Etruria drew visitors from all parts of Europe.
The motto of its founder was still 'Forward;' and, as Dr Smiles
expresses it, there was with him no finality in the development of his
profession. He studied chemistry, botany, drawing, designing, and
conchology. His inquiring mind wanted to get to the bottom of
everything. He journeyed to Cornwall, and was successful in getting
kaolin for chinaware. Queen Charlotte patronised a new pearl-white
teaware; and he succeeded in perfecting the pestle and mortar for the
apothecary. He invented a pyrometer for measuring temperatures; and was
elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Amongst his intimate friends were
Dr Erasmus Darwin, poet and physician (the famous Charles Robert Darwin
was a grandson, his mother having been a daughter of Wedgwood's),
Boulton of Soho Works, James Watt, Thomas Clarkson, Sir Joseph Banks,
and Thomas Day.
We have an example of the generosity of Wedgwood's disposition in his
treatment of John Leslie, afterwards Professor Sir John Leslie of
Edinburgh University. He was so well pleased with his tutoring of his
sons that he settled an annuity of one hundred and fifty pounds upon
him; and it may be that the influence of this able tutor led Thomas
Wedgwood to take up the study of heliotype, and become a pioneer of
photographic science, even before Daguerre. How industrious Wedgwood had
been in his profession is evident from the seven thousand specimens of
clay from all parts of the world which he had tested and analysed. The
six entirely new pieces of earthenware and porcelain which, along with
his Queen's ware, he had introduced early in his career, as painted and
embellished, became the foundation of nearly all the fine earthenware
and porcelains since produced. He had his reward, for besides a
flourishing business, he left more than half a million of money.
WORCESTER PORCELAIN.
One of the most artistic and interesting industries in this country is
the manufacture of porcelain in the ancient city of Worcester. There is
no special local reason for the establishment of such works there, but
Worcester has been noted as the home of the famous porcelain for more
than a century. It was in 1751 that Dr Wall, a chemist and artist,
completed his experiment in the combination of various elements, and
produced a porcelain which was more like the true or natural Chinese
porcelain than any ever devised. This was the more remarkable because
kaolin had not then been discovered in this country. The inventor set up
his factory in Worcester, close to the cathedral, and for a long time he
produced his egg-shell and Tonquin porcelain in various forms, chiefly,
however, those of table services. Transfer-printing was introduced later
on, and was executed with much of the artist's spirit by experts who
attached themselves to the Worcester works after the closing of the
enamel works at Battersea. It was a remarkable century in its devotion
to ceramic art; and it was characteristic of the ruling princes of the
Continent that they should patronise lavishly various potteries of more
or less repute. Towards the end of the century the first sign of this
royal favour was vouchsafed to Worcester. George III. visited the
factories, and under the impetus given by his patronage, the wares of
the city advanced so much in popularity that, in the early part of this
century, it is said, there were few noble families which had not in
their china closets an elaborate service of Worcester, bearing the
family arms and motto in appropriate emblazonment. In 1811, George IV.
being then Prince Regent, several splendid services of Worcester
porcelain were ordered to equip his table for the new social duties
entailed by his regency, and one of these alone cost £4000. In the
museums at the Worcester works there are specimens of many beautiful
services, designed in accordance with the contemporary ideas of pomp and
stateliness. The porcelain artists in those days must have been well
versed in heraldry; for their chief duties seem to have been the
reproduction of crests and coats-of-arms. Some of the services have
interesting stories. There is one of deep royal blue, beautifully
decorated, and bearing in the centre an emblematical figure of Hope. The
story ran that it was ordered by Nelson for presentation to the Duke of
Cumberland, and that the figure of Hope was really a portrait of Lady
Hamilton. This, however, was an error: the service was ordered by the
Duke himself in the ordinary way, and though Lord Nelson did order a
service of Worcester porcelain, he died before it could be completed,
and it was afterwards dispersed. Another story attaches to a plate
adorned with a picture of a ship in full sail approaching harbour. The
Imaum of Muscat sent many presents to the Prince Regent, and hinted that
he would like a ship of war in return. The English authorities, however,
did not see fit to give attention to this request, and sent him instead
many beautiful things, including a service of Worcester ware, bearing on
each piece a scene showing the royal yacht which bore the gifts entering
the cove of Muscat. When the potentate heard, however, that his dearest
wish had been thwarted in this way, he refused to allow the vessel to
enter the harbour, and all the presents had to be brought back again.
The picture on the plate, therefore, is more imaginative than accurate.
[Illustration: The Worcester Royal Porcelain Works.]
The Worcester porcelain began to develop in fresh directions soon after
the Great Exhibition of 1851, which gave an impulse to the efforts of
the artists, and the decorative side of the work was brought into a much
more prominent position. For instance, the 'Worcester enamels,' in the
style of those of Limoges, were introduced, and an illustration of this
work is to be seen in a pair of remarkable vases, bearing enamel
reproductions of Maclise's drawings, founded on the Bayeux tapestries.
About this time, too, after several years of experiment, the ivory
ware--an idea inspired by the lovely ivory sculptures in the
Exhibition--was brought to perfection. It is a beautiful, creamy,
translucent porcelain, singularly fitted for artistic treatment, and it
is now the most characteristic of the later developments of the
Worcester work. In fact, the art directors of the enterprise will not
issue now any new wares in the style of those which found favour at an
earlier period, for they know that they would instantly be palmed off on
the unwary as the genuine products of the bygone times.
To trace the process of the manufacture, from the mixing of the
ingredients to the burning of the last wash in the decorated piece, is
very interesting. It is a process freely shown to visitors, and forms
one of the principal lions in the sober old town which has lain for so
many centuries on the banks of the Severn. The materials are brought
from all parts of the world. Kaolin, or china clay, which is the felspar
of decomposed granite washed from the rocks, is brought from Cornwall,
so is the Cornish or china stone; felspar is brought from Sweden, and
though of a rich red, it turns white when burnt; marl and fire-clay come
from Broseley, in Shropshire, and Stourbridge; flints are brought from
Dieppe; and bones--those of the ox only--come all the way from South
America to be calcined and ground down. The grinding is a slow matter;
each ingredient is ground separately in a vat, the bottom of which is a
hard stone, whereon other hard stones of great weight revolve slowly.
From twelve hours' to ten days' constant treatment by these remorseless
mills is required by the various materials, some needing to be ground
much longer than others before the requisite fineness is attained. It is
essential that all the ingredients should be reduced to a certain
standard of grain; and the contents of each vat must pass through a lawn
sieve with four thousand meshes to the square inch. When the materials
are sufficiently ground to meet this test, they are taken to the
'slip-house,' and mixed together with the clays, which do not need
grinding. A magnet of great strength is in each mixing trough, and draws
to itself every particle of iron, which, if allowed to remain in the
mixture, would injure the ware very much. When properly mixed, the water
is pressed out, and the paste or clay is beaten so that it may obtain
consistency. Then it is ready to be made into the many shapes which find
popular favour.
The process of manufacture depends on the shape to be obtained. A plain
circular teacup may be cast on a potter's wheel of the ancient kind.
When it is partly dried in a mould, it is turned on a lathe and trimmed;
then the handle, which has been moulded, is affixed with a touch of the
'slip'--the porcelain paste in a state of dilution is the cement used in
all such situations--and the piece is ready for the fire. A plate or
saucer, however, is made by flat pressing; a piece of clay like a
pancake is laid on the mould, which is set revolving on a wheel; the
deft fingers of the workmen press the clay to the proper shape, and it
is then dried. But the elaborate ornamental pieces of graceful design
are made in moulds, and for this process the clay is used in the thin or
'slip' state. The moulds are pressed together, the slip is poured into
them through a hole in one side, and when the moisture has been absorbed
by the plaster moulds sufficiently, the piece is taken out. It is often
necessary, in making a large or complicated piece, to have as many as
twenty or thirty castings. In moulding a figure, for instance, the legs
and arms and hands, even the thumbs in many cases, are cast separately,
and with many other parts of the design are laid before a workman, who
carefully builds up the complete figure out of the apparent chaos of
parts, affixing each piece to the body with a touch of slip. When these
wares are complete, they have to be fired for the first time; and they
are taken to a kiln, and placed with great care and many precautions in
the grim interior. The contraction of the clay under fire is a matter to
which the designers must give much study; and the change which takes
place during forty hours' fierce firing in the kiln is shown by
contrasting an unburnt piece and a piece of 'biscuit' or burnt ware, and
marking the shrinkage. Your ware must be calculated to shrink only so
much; if it shrink a shade further, the whole process may be spoiled.
There is a loss of twenty-five per cent. sometimes in these kilns, in
spite of the assiduous care of the workmen. When the biscuit ware has
cooled, it is dipped in the glaze, which is a compound of lead and borax
and other materials--virtually a sort of glass--and then it is fired for
sixteen hours in the 'glost oven.' There is no contraction in this
ordeal; but there is a risk none the less from other causes. In fact,
there is the danger of injury every time the ware goes to the fire, and
as the highly decorated pieces have to go to the kiln many times, it may
be inferred that the labour of weeks and even months is sometimes
nullified by an untoward accident in the burning.
It is during the process of decoration that the ornate vases and figures
make so many trips to the fire. The artist department is a very large
and important one. The designers, however, are a class of themselves.
They project the idea; it is the business of the artist, in these
circumstances, to execute it. The painters are taken into the works as
lads and trained for the special service. What you remark chiefly in
going through the decorating rooms is the great facility of the artists.
You see a man with a plate or vase on which he is outlining a landscape,
and you marvel at the rapid, accurate touches with which he does the
work. Flowers, birds, and figures they can reproduce with great skill,
and many of them are artists not merely in facility but in instinct.
They work with metallic colours only. They rely on copper, for
instance, to give black and green, on iron to yield red hues, and so on;
and the gold work is done with what seems to be a dirty brown paste, but
is really pure gold mixed with flux and quicksilver. When the first wash
is put on, the piece must be fired, so that the colours shall be burnt
into the glaze. Then it returns to the painter, who adds the next
touches so far as he can; the firing again follows; the piece is
returned to him once more; and so on it goes till the work is complete.
It is therefore a highly technical business, especially as the colours
change very much in the fire, and the painter has to work with full
knowledge of the chemical processes in every firing. There is one form
of the decorative process which is very singular--that is, the piercing
work. The artist has the vase in the dried state before the firing, and
with a tiny, sharp-pointed knife he cuts out little pieces according to
the design in his mind, and produces an extremely beautiful perforated
ware, the elaborate pattern and the lace-like delicacy of which almost
repel the idea that the work is done by the unaided hand of man. In the
colour processes, the work is virtually complete when the dull gold has
been burnished; and the porcelain is then ready to be transferred to the
showrooms, or exported to America, which is the greatest patron, at
present, of Worcester art. America, however, failed to retain one lovely
vase no less than four feet high, the largest ever made in the works; it
was taken to the Chicago Exhibition and back without accident, and was
then sold in England for one thousand pounds.
It is important to remember the distinction between 'pottery' and
'porcelain:' the porcelain is clay purified by the fire, whereas pottery
leaves the oven as it entered it--clay. The purification of the ware is
really an illustration of the process which sustains the artistic
inspiration of the work. The gross, the vulgar, the mean are
eliminated; a standard of beauty is set up, and to it every article must
conform. It is to this ideal, sustained by a long succession of artists
through a century and a half, that Worcester owes its world-wide
reputation as the birthplace of some of the loveliest porcelain ever
burnt in a kiln.
[Illustration: Chinese Porcelain Vase.]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER III.
THE SEWING-MACHINE.
Thomas Saint--Thimonnier--Hunt--Elias Howe--Wilson--Morey--Singer.
Although the sewing-machine has not put an end to the slavery of the
needle, and although 'The Song of the Shirt' may be heard to the
accompaniment of its click and whirr, just as it was to the 'stitch,
stitch' of Tom Hood's time, yet has it unquestionably come as a boon and
a blessing to man--and woman. Its name now is legion, and it has had so
many inventors and improvers that the present generation is fast losing
sight of its original benefactors. Indeed, we take the sewing-machine
to-day as an accomplished fact so familiar as to be commonplace. And yet
that fact is a product of as moving a history as any in the story of
human invention.
It is the growth of the last half-century, prior to which the real
sewing-machine was the heavy-eyed, if not tireless, needlewoman, whose
flying fingers seemed ever in vain pursuit of the flying hours.
Needlework is as old as human history, for we may see the beginnings of
it in the aprons of fig-leaves which Mother Eve sewed. What instrument
she used we know not, but we do know from Moses that needles were in use
when the tabernacle was built. Yet, strange to say, it was not until
the middle of last century that any one tried to supersede manual labour
in the matter of stitching. It is said that a German tailor, named
Charles Frederick Weisenthal, was the first to attempt it, but for
hand-embroidery only--with a double-pointed needle, eyed in the middle.
This was in 1755, and fifty years later, one John Duncan, a Glasgow
machinist, worked out Weisenthal's idea into a genuine embroidering
machine, which really held the germ of the idea of the 'loop-stitch.'
But neither of these was a sewing-machine, and before Duncan's invention
some one else had been seized with another idea.
This was a London cabinetmaker called Thomas Saint, who in or about 1790
took out a patent for a machine for sewing leather, or rather for
'quilting, stitching, and making shoes, boots, spatterdashes, clogs, and
other articles.' This patent, unfortunately, was taken out along with
other inventions in connection with leather, and it was quite by
accident that, some eighty years later, the specification of it was
discovered by one who had made for himself a name in connection with
sewing-machines. Even the Patent Office did not seem to have known of
its existence, yet now it is clear enough that Thomas Saint's
leather-sewing-machine of 1790 was the first genuine sewing-machine ever
constructed, and that it was on what is now known as the 'chain-stitch'
principle. Rude as it was, it is declared by experts to have anticipated
most of the ingenious ideas of half a century of successive inventors,
not one of whom, however, could in all human probability have as much as
heard of Saint's machine. This is not the least curious incident in the
history of the sewing-machine.
In Saint's machine the features are--the overhanging arm, which is the
characteristic of many modern machines; the perpendicular action of the
Singer machine; the eye-pointed needle of the Howe machine; the
pressure surfaces peculiar to the Howe machine; and a 'feed' system
equal to that of the most modern inventions. Whether Saint's machine was
ever worked in a practical workshop or not, it was unquestionably a
practicable machine, constructed by one who knew pretty well what he was
about, and what he wanted to achieve.
Now note the date of Thomas Saint's patent (1790), and next note the
date of the invention of Barthelmy Thimonnier, of St Etienne, who is
claimed in France as the inventor of the sewing-machine. In 1830,
Thimonnier constructed a machine, principally of wood, with an
arrangement of barbed needles, for stitching gloves, and in the
following year he began business in Paris, with a partner, as an army
clothier. The firm of Thimonnier, Petit, & Co., however, did not thrive,
because the workpeople thought they saw in the principal's machine an
instrument destined to ruin them; much as the Luddites viewed
steam-machinery in the cotton districts of England. An idea of that sort
rapidly germinates heat, and Thimonnier's workshop was one day invaded
by an angry mob, who smashed all the machines, and compelled the
inventor to seek safety in flight. Poor Thimonnier was absent from Paris
for three years, but in 1834 returned with another and more perfect
machine. This was so coldly received, both by employers and workmen in
the tailoring trade, that he left the capital, and, journeying through
France with his machine, paid his way by exhibiting it in the towns and
villages as a curiosity. After a few years, however, Thimonnier fell in
with a capitalist who believed in him and his machine, and was willing
to stake money on both. A partnership was entered into for the
manufacture and sale of the machine, and all promised well for the new
firm, when the Revolution of 1848 broke out, stopped the business, and
ruined both the inventor and the capitalist. Thimonnier died in 1857,
in a poorhouse, of a broken heart.
This French machine was also on the chain-stitch principle, but it was
forty years later than Saint's. In between the two came, about 1832, one
Walter Hunt, of New York, who is said to have constructed a
sewing-machine with the lock-stitch movement. Some uncertainty surrounds
this claim, and Elias Howe is the person usually credited with this
important, indeed invaluable invention. Whether Howe had ever seen
Hunt's machine, we know not; but Hunt's machine was never patented,
seems never to have come into practical working, and is, indeed, said to
have been unworkable. There is, besides, in the Polytechnic at Vienna,
the model of a machine, dated 1814, constructed by one Joseph
Madersberg, a tailor of the Tyrol, which embodies the lock-stitch
idea--working with two threads. But this also was unworkable, and Elias
Howe has the credit of having produced the first really practical
lock-stitch sewing-machine.
His was a life of vicissitude and of ultimate triumph, both in fame and
fortune. He was born at a small place in Massachusetts in 1819, and as a
youth went to Boston, there to work as a mechanic. While there, and when
about twenty-two years old, the idea occurred to him at his work of
passing a thread through cloth and securing it on the other side by
another thread. Here we perceive the germ of the lock-stitch--the two
threads. Howe began to experiment with a number of bent wires in lieu of
needles, but he lacked the means to put his great idea to a thorough
practical test. Thus it slumbered for three years, when he went to board
and lodge with an old schoolfellow named Fisher, who, after a while,
agreed to advance Howe one hundred pounds in return for a half share in
the invention should it prove a success. Thus aided, in 1845 Howe
completed his first machine, and actually made himself a suit of
clothes with it; and this would be just about the time of Thimonnier's
temporary prosperity in alliance with the capitalist, Mogrini.
Feeling sure of his ground, Howe took bold steps to 'boom' his
invention. He challenged five of the most expert sewers in a great
Boston clothing factory to a sewing match. Each of them was to sew a
certain strip of cloth, and Howe undertook to sew five strips, torn in
halves, before each man had completed his one strip. The arrangements
completed, the match began, and to the wonder of everybody, Howe
finished his five seams before the others were half done with one seam.
But murmurs instead of cheers succeeded the victory. He was angrily
reproached for trying to take the bread out of the mouth of the honest
working-man, and a cry was raised among the workers (as it has been
heard time and again in the history of industrial development) to smash
the machine. Howe, indeed, had much difficulty in escaping from the
angry mob, with his precious machine under his arm.
In Howe's experience we thus see one parallel with Thimonnier's; but
there was another. The American was quite as poor and resourceless as
the Frenchman, and the next step in Howe's career was that he went on
tour to the country fairs to exhibit his machine for a trifling fee, in
order to keep body and soul together. People went in flocks to see the
thing as a clever toy, but no one would 'take hold' of it as a practical
machine. And so, in despair of doing any good with it in America, Elias
Howe, in 1846, sent his brother to England to see if a market could not
be found for the invention there. The brother succeeded in making terms
with one William Thomas, staymaker, in Cheapside, London, and he sent
for Elias to come over.
The price to be paid by Thomas for the patent was two hundred and fifty
pounds, but Howe was to make certain alterations in it so as to adapt
it to the special requirements of the purchaser. While engaged in
perfecting the machine, he was to receive wages at the rate of three
pounds per week, and this wage he seems to have received for nearly two
years. But he failed to achieve what Thomas wanted, and Thomas, after
spending a good deal of money over the experiments, abandoned the thing
altogether. Howe was thus astrand again, and he returned to America as
poor as ever, leaving his machine behind him in pawn for advances to pay
his passage home. And yet there were 'millions in it.'
This was in the year 1849, and just about the time when Howe was
returning to America, another American, named Bostwich, was sending over
to England a machine which he had invented for imitating hand-stitching,
by means of cog-wheels and a bent needle. And a year or two after Howe's
return, one Charles Morey, of Manchester, attempted to carry out the
same stitch on a somewhat different plan, but failed to find sufficient
pecuniary support. Indeed, poor Morey had a tragic end, for, taking his
machine to Paris in the hope of finding a purchaser there, he incurred
some debt which he could not pay, and was clapped into the Mazas prison.
While there, he inadvertently broke the rules, and was shot by the guard
for failing to reply to a challenge which he did not understand.
When Howe got back to the United States, he found a number of ingenious
persons engaged in producing or experimenting in sewing-machines, and
some of them were trenching on his own patent rights. He raised enough
money, somehow, to redeem his pawned machine in England, and then raised
actions against all who were infringing it. The litigation was
tremendous both in duration and expense, but it ended in the victory of
Elias Howe, to whom, by the finding of the court, the other patentees
were found liable for royalty. It is said that Howe, who as we have seen
left London in debt, received, before his patent expired in 1867,
upwards of two million dollars in royalties alone.
But ingenious men were now busy in both hemispheres in perfecting what,
up till about fifty years ago, was regarded as nothing better than a
clever toy. Besides Morey, the Manchester man we have mentioned, a
Huddersfield machinist, named Drake, brought out a machine to work with
a shuttle. About the same time, or a little later, a young Nottingham
man, named John Fisher, constructed a machine with a sort of lock-stitch
movement, which he afterwards adapted to a double loop-stitch. But
Fisher's machine was intended rather for embroidering than for plain
sewing.
Passing over some minor attempts, the next great development was that of
Allen Wilson, who, without having heard either of Howe's or of any other
machine, constructed one in 1849, the design of which, he said, he had
been meditating for two years. His first machine had original features,
however much it may have been anticipated in principle by Howe's patent.
In Wilson's second design, a rotary hook was substituted for a
two-pointed shuttle, and by other improvements he achieved a greater
speed than had been attained by other inventors. Later still, he added
the 'four-motion feed,' which is adopted on most of the machines now in
general use.
This idea was an elaboration of a principle which seems to have first
occurred to the unfortunate Morey. In Morey's machine there was a
horizontal bar with short teeth, which caught the fabric and dragged it
forward as the stitches were completed. It took nearly thirty years,
however, to evolve the perfect 'feed' motion out of Morey's first crude
germ.
While Wilson was working away, perfecting his now famous machine, an
observing and thoughtful young millwright was employed in a New York
factory. One day a sewing-machine was sent in for repairs, and after
examining its mechanism, this young man, whose name was Isaac Singer,
confidently expressed his belief that he could make a better one. He did
not propose either to appropriate or abandon the principle, but to
improve upon it. Instead of a curved needle, as in Howe's and Wilson's
machines, he adopted a straight one, and gave it a perpendicular instead
of a curvular motion. And for propelling the fabric he introduced a
wheel, instead of the toothed bar of the Morey design.
It need hardly be said that the Singer machine is now one of the most
widely known, and is turned out in countless numbers in enormous
factories on both sides of the Atlantic. It is not so well known,
perhaps, that Singer, who was a humble millwright in 1850, and who died
in 1875, left an estate valued at three millions sterling--all amassed
in less than twenty-five years!
The machines of Howe, Wilson, and Singer were on the lock-stitch
principle, and the next novelty was the invention of Grover and Baker,
who brought out a machine working with two needles and two continuous
threads. After this came the Gibbs machine, the story of which may be
briefly told.
About the year 1855, James G. Gibbs heard of the Grover and Baker
machine, and having a turn for mechanics, began to ponder over how the
action described was produced. He got an illustration, but could make
nothing of it, and not for a year did he obtain sight of a Singer
machine at work. As in the case of Singer with Wilson's machine, so
Gibbs thought he could improve on Singer's, and turn out one less
ponderous and complicated. He set to work, and in a very short time took
out a patent for a new lock-stitch machine. But he was not satisfied
with this, and experimented away, with an idea of making a chain-stitch
by means of a revolving looper. This idea he eventually put into
practical form, and took out a patent for the first chain-stitch
sewing-machine.
Since the days of Elias Howe, the number of patents taken out for
sewing-machines has been legion--certainly not less than one
thousand--and probably no labour-saving appliance has received more
attention at the hands both of inventors and of the general public.
There is scarcely a household in the land now, however humble, without a
sewing-machine of some sort, and in factories and warehouses they are to
be numbered by the thousand. Some machinists have directed their
ingenuity to the reduction of wear and tear, others to the reduction of
noise, others to acceleration of speed, others to appliances for
supplying the machine in a variety of ways, others for adapting it to
various complicated processes of stitching and embroidering. Some users
prefer the lock-stitch, and some the chain-stitch principle, and each
system has its peculiar advantages according to the character of the
work to be sewn.
A recent development is a combination of both principles in one machine.
Mr Edward Kohler patented a machine which will produce either a
lock-stitch or a chain-stitch, as may be desired, and an embroidery
stitch as well. By a very ingenious contrivance the machinery is altered
by the simple movement of a button, and (when the chain-stitch is
required) the taking out of the bobbin from the shuttle. If the
embroidery stitch is wanted, the button is turned without removing the
bobbin, and the lock-stitch and chain-stitch are combined in one new
stitch, with which very elaborate effects can be produced. It is said
that the Kohler principle can be easily adapted to all, or most,
existing machines.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
WOOL AND COTTON.
WOOL.--What is Wool?--Chemical Composition--Fibre--Antiquity
of Shepherd Life--Varieties of Sheep--Introduction into
Australia--Spanish Merino--Wool Wealth of Australia--Imports
and Exports of Wool and Woollen Produce--Woollen Manufacture.
COTTON.--Cotton Plant in the East--Mandeville's Fables about
Cotton--Cotton in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--Columbus finds
Cotton-yarn and Thread in 1492--In Africa--Manufacture of Cloth
in England--The American Cotton Plant.
WOOL.
What is wool? 'The covering of the sheep, of course,' replies somebody.
Yes; but what _is_ it? Let us ask Professor Owen. 'Wool,' he says, 'is a
peculiar modification of hair, characterised by fine transverse or
oblique lines from two to four thousand in the extent of an inch,
indicative of a minutely imbricated scaly surface, when viewed under the
microscope, on which and on its curved or twisted form depends its
remarkable felting property.' At first sight this definition seems
bewildering, but it will bear examination, and is really more tangible
than, for instance, Noah Webster's definition of wool: 'That soft curled
or crisped species of hair which grows on sheep and some other animals,
and which in fineness sometimes approaches to fur.' It is usually that
which grows on sheep, however, that we know as wool, and the number of
imbrications, serratures, or notches indicates the quality of the fibre.
Thus, in the wool of the Leicester sheep there are 1850--in Spanish
merino, 2400--in Saxon merino, 2700, to an inch, and the fewer there are
the nearer does wool approach to hair.
[Illustration: Wool-sorters at Work.]
Here is a still more minute description by Youatt, a great authority on
wool: 'It consists of a central stem or stalk, probably hollow, or at
least porous, and possessing a semi-transparency, found in the fibre of
the hair. From this central stalk there springs, at different distances
in different breeds of sheep, a circlet of leaf-shaped projections. In
the finer species of wool these circles seemed at first to be composed
of one indicated or serrated ring; but when the eye was accustomed to
them, this ring was resolvable into leaves or scales. In the larger
kinds, the ring was at once resolvable into these scales or leaves,
varying in number, shape, and size, and projecting at different angles
from the stalk, and in the direction of the leaves of vegetables--that
is, from the root to the point. They give to the wool the power of
felting.'
This is the estimate of the chemical composition of good wool: Carbon,
50.65; hydrogen, 7.03; nitrogen, 17.71; oxygen and sulphur, 24.61. Out
of a hundred parts, ninety-eight would be organic, and two would be ash,
consisting of oxide of iron, sulphate of lime, phosphate of lime, and
magnesia. What is called the 'yolk' of wool is a compound of oil, lime,
and potash. It makes the pile soft and pliable, and is less apparent on
English sheep than on those of warmer countries, the merino sheep having
the most 'yolk.'
The fibre of wool varies in diameter, the Saxon merino measuring 1/1370
of an inch, and the Southdown, 1/1100. Lustrous wool, it is said, should
be long and strong; but if it is very fine it is not long. Strong wool
may be as much as twenty inches in length. The wool of the best sheep
adheres closely, and can only be removed by shearing; but there are
varieties of sheep which shed their wool, as, for instance, the Persian,
which drop the whole of their fleeces between January and May, when
feeding on the new grass.
This, then, is wool, the first use of which for cloth-making is lost in
antiquity. There is no doubt that the pastoral industry is the oldest
industry in the world; for even when the fruits of the earth could be
eaten without tillage and without labour, the flocks and herds required
care and attention. The shepherd may be regarded as the earliest pioneer
of industry, as he has been for centuries the centre of fanciful
romance, and the personification of far from romantic fact. The old
legend of Jason and the Golden Fleece is in itself evidence of the
antiquity of the knowledge of the value of wool; and much as the
mythologists make out of the legend, there are some who hold that it
merely is meant to record how the Greeks imported a superior kind of
sheep from the Caucasus and made money thereby.
Australia is now the land of the Golden Fleece, and millions of money
have been made there out of the docile sheep. It is not indigenous, of
course, to the land of the Southern Cross, where the only mammal known
when Europeans discovered it was the kangaroo. Mr James Bonwick, a
gentleman well known in Australian literature, gathered together many
records of the introduction of the sheep into Australia, and of the
marvellous development of the pastoral industry there in his very
interesting book, _The Romance of the Wool-trade_.
But, first, as to the different kinds of sheep. The Bighorn is the
wild-sheep of Kamchatka, and it may be taken for granted that all
species of the domestic sheep were at one time wild, or are descended
from wild tribes. When the Aryan Hindus invaded India, it is recorded
that they took their flocks with them; but whether the wild-sheep still
to be found on the hills of Northern India are the descendants of
wanderers from these flocks, or descendants of the progenitors of them,
we do not pretend to say.
Chief among the domesticated sheep of the British Isles is the
Southdown, whose characteristics used to be--although we are told they
are changed somewhat now--thin chine, low fore-end, and rising backbone,
a small hornless head, speckled face, thin lips, woolled ears, and
bright eyes. The wool should 'be short, close, curled, fine, and free
from spiry projecting fibres.' Then there are the Romney Marsh, the
Cotswold, the Lincoln, the Leicester, and the Hardwick sheep, each with
its distinctive marks and value. The Welsh sheep have long necks, high
shoulders, narrow breasts, long bushy tails, and small bones; the wool
is not first class, but the mutton is excellent. The Irish native sheep
are of two kinds, the short-woolled and long-woolled; but Southdowns and
Leicesters have been so long crossed with them that their idiosyncrasies
are no longer marked. The Shetland sheep are supposed to have come from
Denmark, but have also been crossed with English and Scotch varieties.
In Scotland, the Cheviot and the Blackfaced are the two ruling types.
The Cheviot is a very handsome animal, with long body, white face, small
projecting eyes, and well-formed legs. The wool is excellent, as the
'tweed'-makers of the Border know, but is not so soft as that of the
English Southdowns. The Blackfaced is the familiar form we see in the
Highlands, supposed to have come originally 'from abroad,' but now
regarded as the native sheep of Scotland. It is a hardy animal,
accustomed to rough food and rough weather, with a fine deep chest,
broad back, slender legs, attractive face, and picturesque horns. The
wool is not so good as that of the Cheviot variety, but the mutton is
better. Of course, English varieties have been largely crossed with the
two native Scotch kinds; yet these still remain distinct, and are easily
recognisable.
As long ago as the time of the Emperor Constantine, the wool of English
sheep had a high reputation, and had even then found its way to Rome. Of
English monarchs, Edward III. seems to have been the first to endeavour
to stimulate the pastoral industry by the manufacture of woollen cloths
and the export of raw wool. But Henry VIII. thought that sheep-breeding
had been carried too far, and the farmers were making too much money out
of it; so he decreed that no one should keep more than two thousand four
hundred sheep at one time, and that no man should be allowed to occupy
more than two farms. In the time of Charles II. the export of both sheep
and wool was strictly prohibited. As late as 1788, there were curious
prohibitory enactments with reference to sheep; and the date is
interesting, because it was the date of the settlement of New South
Wales. There was a fine of three pounds upon the carrying off of any
sheep from the British Isles, except for use on board ship; and even
between the islands and the mainland of Scotland, or across a tidal
river, sheep could not be transported without a special permit and the
execution of a bond that the animals were not for exportation. Indeed,
no sheep could be shorn within five miles of the sea-coast without the
presence of a revenue officer, to see that the law was not evaded.
It is not surprising, then, that the first sheep settled in
Australia--the only great pastoral country that has never had a native
variety--did not go from England. It is very curious that in Australia,
New Zealand, and Tasmania, where now lies a great portion of the
pastoral wealth of the world, there never was any animal in the
smallest degree resembling a sheep until some enterprising Britons took
it there.
The first sheep introduced into Australia were from the Cape and from
India. The ships which went out with the convicts of 1788 had a few
sheep on board for the officers' mess, which were presumably consumed
before the Cape of Good Hope was reached. There, some animals were
procured for the new settlement. The Cape at the time was in the hands
of the Dutch, who had large flocks of sheep and immense herds of cattle.
The sheep they had were not imported from Europe, but were the native
breed they had found in the hands of the aborigines when the Dutch
colony was founded one hundred and thirty years previously.
The native African sheep is of the fat-tail kind. Wool was not then an
item of wealth in the Dutch colony; but the fat tails were appreciated
as an excellent substitute for butter. All over Africa and over a large
part of Asia, varieties of the fat-tail species are still to be found.
In Tibet they abound; and the Turcomans have vast flocks of them. But
Tibet has also other varieties, and notably one very like the llama of
Peru, with a very soft and most useful fleece, providing the famous
Tibetan wool. In Palestine and Syria the fat-tail sheep is abundant; and
of the Palestine breed it is recorded that they 'have a monstrous round
of fat, like a cushion, in place of the tail, which sometimes weighs
thirty or forty pounds. The wool of this sheep is coarse, much tangled,
and felted, and mixed with coarse dark-coloured hair.'
Although the first sheep taken to Australia were from the Cape, the most
important of the earlier consignments were from India, the nearest
British possession to the new colony. Indeed, for over thirty years
Australia was ecclesiastically within the see of the Bishop of Calcutta,
and letters to England usually went by way of the Indian capital.
The Bengalee sheep are described as 'small, lank, and thin, and the
colour of three-fourths of each flock is black or dark gray. The quality
of the fleece is worse than the colour; it is harsh, thin, and wiry to a
very remarkable degree, and ordinarily weighs but half a pound.' Not a
very promising subject, one would think, for the Australian pastures,
but the flesh was excellent; and climate and crossing of breeds work
wonders.
That which gave value to the Australian breed of sheep, however, was the
introduction of the Spanish merino, which in time found its way to the
Cape, and thence to Australia. There is an old tradition that the famous
merino sheep of Spain came originally from England; but it appears from
Pliny and others that Spain had a reputation for fine wool long before
the Roman occupation. The Spanish word merino originally meant an
inspector of sheepwalks, and is derived from the Low Latin _majorinus_,
a steward of the household. Some writers believe that the merino came
originally from Barbary, probably among the flocks of the Moors when
they captured Southern Spain. The merinos are considered very voracious,
and not very prolific; they yield but little milk, and are very subject
to cutaneous diseases. Youatt describes two varieties of them in Spain,
and the wool is of remarkable fineness.
About the year 1790, the Spanish merino began to be imported into the
Cape, and a few years later a certain Captain Waterhouse was sent from
Sydney to Capetown to buy stock for the colonial establishment. He
thought the service in which he was engaged 'almost a disgrace to an
officer;' but when he left the Cape again, he brought with him
'forty-nine head of black-cattle, three mares, and one hundred and seven
sheep'--arriving at Port Jackson with the loss of nine of the cattle
and about one-third of the sheep. Three cows, two mares, and twenty-four
of the sheep belonged to that officer, and with this voyage he founded
not only his own fortune, but also the prosperity of the great
Australian colony. Further importations followed; and a Captain
Macarthur, early in the present century, went home to London to
endeavour to form a company to carry on sheep-rearing on an extensive
scale. He did not succeed, and returned to Port Jackson to pursue his
enterprise himself. Eventually he obtained the concession of a few
square miles of land, and thus became the father of Australian
'squatting.' He located himself on the Nepean River, to the south-west
of Sydney; and to his industry and sagacity is attributed in great part
the origin of the immense wool-trade which has developed between the
colony and the mother-country.
And what is now the wool wealth of Australasia? In 1820 there were not
more than ten thousand sheep of 'a good sort' in New South Wales; and in
the same year, wool from the colony was sold in London at an average of
three shillings and sevenpence the pound. This led to the circulation of
fabulous reports of the profits to be made out of sheep; and there was
quite a run for some years on the squatting lots. In 1848 some
Australians started sheep-running in New Zealand; and by 1860 the sheep
in these islands had increased to 2,400,000. In 1865 the number there
had grown to 5,700,000; in 1870, to 9,500,000; and in 1894, to
19,000,000.
In 1886 the pastoral wealth of the whole of the Australian colonies
consisted of 84,222,272 sheep. At only ten shillings per head, this
represents a capital of over forty-two millions sterling, without
counting the value of the land. The number of sheep in 1894 was over
99,000,000.
But now as to the yield of the flocks. The value of the wool for 1884
was £20,532,429.
The total importations of wool into England in 1885-86 were 1,819,182
bales, of which no fewer than 1,139,842 bales, or nearly three-fourths
of the whole, came from Australasia. The rest came from the Cape and
Natal, India, the Mediterranean, Russia, other European countries,
China, and the Falkland Islands. The imports in 1894, from all quarters,
consisted of 705 million pounds, of a value of £25,000,000.
It would transcend the limits of our space to attempt to sketch the
history and growth of the woollen industry in the manufacture of cloths.
It is an industry, if not as old as the hills, at least very nearly as
old as the fig-leaves of Eden; for we may assume as a certainty that the
next garments worn by our forefathers were constructed in some way from
the fleecy coats of these bleating followers. We exported woollen and
worsted yarns of a value of over four million pounds sterling in 1894,
and of woollen and worsted manufactures, a value of 14 millions
sterling.
In the middle ages all the best wool was produced in England, and the
woollen manufacture centred in Norfolk, although both the west of
England and Ireland had also factories. There are in existence specimens
of cloth made in these medieval days which show that the quality of the
wool employed was not equal to that which we now use. The art of weaving
is supposed to have been brought from the Netherlands; at any rate there
were strong political alliances between the English sovereigns and the
weavers of Bruges and of Ghent. In these old days, when Norwich,
Aylsham, and Lynn had the lion's share of the woollen trade, the great
mart for English and foreign cloths was at Stourbridge, near Cambridge,
where a fair was held which lasted a month every year.
There were 2546 woollen and worsted mills in the United Kingdom in 1890.
The chief seats of the wool manufacture in England in the 14th century
were Bristol, London, and Norwich. Now Wiltshire and Gloucestershire are
famous for broadcloths, while the towns of Leeds and Huddersfield in
Yorkshire are important centres. Galashiels and Hawick are noted for
their tweeds.
COTTON.
The Father of History, in writing about India--'the last inhabited
country towards the East'--where every species of birds and quadrupeds,
horses excepted, are 'much larger than in any other part of the world,'
and where they have also 'a great abundance of gold,' made the following
remarkable statement. 'They possess likewise,' he said, 'a kind of
plant, which, instead of fruit, produces wool of a finer and better
quality than that of the sheep, and of this the natives make their
clothes.' This was the vegetable wool of the ancients, which many
learned authorities have identified with the byssus, in bandages of
cloth made from which the old Egyptians wrapped their mummies. But did
Egypt receive the cotton plant from India--or India from Egypt--and
when? However that may be, there is good reason to believe that cotton
is the basis of one of the oldest industries in the world, although we
are accustomed to think of it as quite modern, and at any rate as
practically unknown in Europe before the last century. As a matter of
fact, nevertheless, cotton was being cultivated in the south of Europe
in the 13th century, although whether the fibre was then used for the
making of cloth is not so certain. Its chief use then seems to have been
in the manufacture of paper.
The beginning of the Oriental fable of the Vegetable Lamb is lost in the
dateless night of the centuries. When and how it originated we know
not; but the story of a Plant-Animal in Western Asia descended through
the ages, and passed from traveller to traveller, from historian to
historian, until in our time the fable has received a practical
verification. Many strange things were gravely recorded of this
Plant-Animal: as, that it was a tree bearing seed-pods, which, bursting
when ripe, disclosed within little lambs with soft white fleeces, which
Scythians used for weaving into clothing. Or, that it was a real
flesh-and-blood lamb, growing upon a short stem flexible enough to allow
the lamb to feed upon the surrounding grass.
There were many versions of the marvellous tale as it reached Europe;
and the compiler and concocter of the so-called Sir John Mandeville's
travels, as usual, improved upon it. He vouched for the flesh-and-blood
lamb growing out of a plant, and declared that he had both seen and
_eaten it_--whereby the writer proved himself a somewhat greater
romancer than usual. Nevertheless, he has a germ of truth amid his lies,
for he relates of 'Bucharia' that in the land are 'trees that bear wool,
as though it were of sheep, whereof men make clothes and all things that
are made of wool.' And again, of Abyssinia, that mysterious kingdom of
the renowned Prester John, he related: 'In that country, and in many
others beyond, and also in many on this side, men sow the seeds of
cotton, and they sow it every year; and then it grows into small trees
which bear cotton. And so do men every year, so that there is plenty of
cotton at all times.' This statement, whencesoever it was borrowed, may
be true enough, and if so, is evidence that, eighteen centuries after
Herodotus, cotton was still being cultivated, as the basis of a textile
industry, both in Western Asia and in Africa. It is said that in the
Sacred Books of India there is evidence that cotton was in use for
clothing purposes eight centuries before Christ.
The expedition of Alexander the Great from Persia into the Punjab was a
good deal later, say, three hundred and thirty years before Christ. On
the retreat down the Indus, Admiral Nearchus remarked 'trees bearing as
it were flocks or bunches of wool,' of which the natives made 'garments
of surpassing whiteness, or else their black complexions make the
material whiter than any other.' The Alexandrine general, Aristobulus,
is more precise: he tells of a wool-bearing tree yielding a capsule that
contains 'seeds which were taken out, and that which remained was carded
like wool.' And long before Pliny referred to cotton in Egypt--'a shrub
which men call "gossypium," and others "xylon," from which stuffs are
made which we call xylina'--Strabo had noted the cultivation of the
plant on the Persian Gulf.
At the beginning of the Christian era we find cotton in cultivation and
in use in Persia, Arabia, and Egypt--but whether indigenous to these
countries, or conveyed westward during the centuries from India, we know
not. Thereafter, the westward spread was slow; but the plant is to be
traced along the north coast of Africa to Morocco, which country it
seems to have reached in the 9th century. The Moors took the plant, or
seeds, to Spain, and it was being grown on the plains of Valencia in the
10th century; and by the 13th century it was, as we have said, growing
in various parts of Southern Europe.
Yet, although the Indian cloths were known to the Greeks and Romans a
century or two before the Christian era, and although in the early
centuries Arab traders brought to the Red Sea ports Indian calicoes,
which were distributed in Europe, we find cotton known in England only
as material for candle-wicks down to the 17th century. At any rate,
M'Culloch is our authority for believing that the first mention of
cotton being manufactured in England is in 1641; and that the 'English
cottons,' of which earlier mention may be found, were really _woollens_.
And now we come to a very curious thing in the Romance of Cotton.
Columbus discovered--or, as some say, rediscovered--America in 1492; and
when he reached the islands of the Caribbean Sea, the natives who came
off to barter with him brought, among other things, cotton yarn and
thread. Vasco da Gama, a few years later than Bartholomew Diaz, in 1497
rounded the Cape of Good Hope and reached the Zanzibar coast. There the
natives were found to be clothed in cotton, just as Columbus found the
natives of Cuba to be, as Pizarro found the Peruvians, and as Cortes
found the Mexicans. These Europeans, proceeding from the Iberian
Peninsula east and west, found the peoples of the new worlds clothed
with a material of which they knew nothing. Cotton was king in America,
as in Asia, before it began even to be known in Western Europe.
Not only that, but cotton must have been cultivated in Africa at the
time when the mariners of Prince Henry the Navigator first made their
way cautiously down the west coast. It is, at any rate, upwards of four
hundred years since cotton cloth was brought from the coast of Guinea
and sold in London as a strange barbaric product. Whether the plant
travelled to the Bight of Benin from the land of Prester John, or from
the land of the Pharaohs, or across from the Mozambique coast, where the
Arabians are supposed to have had settlements and trading stations in
prehistoric days, who can now say? But it is curious enough that when
Africa was discovered by Europeans, the Dark Continent was actually
producing both the fibre and the cloth for which African labour and
English skill were afterwards to be needed. The cotton plantations of
Southern America were worked by the negroes of Africa in order that the
cotton-mills of Lancashire might be kept running. And yet both Africa
and America made cotton cloth from the vegetable wool long before we
knew of it otherwise than as a traveller's wonder.
Even in Asia, the natural habitat of the cotton plant, the story has
been curious. Thus, according to the records above named, cotton has
been in use for clothing for three thousand years in India, and India
borders upon the ancient and extensive Empire of China. Yet cotton was
not used in China for cloth-making until the coming of the Tartars, and
has been cultivated and manufactured there for only about five hundred
years. This was because of the 'vested interests' in wool and silk,
which combined to keep out the vegetable wool from general use.
To understand aright the romance of cotton we must understand the nature
of the plant in its relation to climate. It has been called a child of
the tropics, and yet it grows well in other than tropical climes. As Mr
Richard Marsden--an authority on cotton-spinning--says: 'Cotton is or
can be grown (along) a broad zone extending forty-five degrees north to
thirty-five degrees south of the equator. Reference to a map will show
that this includes a space extending from the European shores of the
Mediterranean to the Cape of Good Hope, from Japan to Melbourne in
Australia, and from Washington in the United States to Buenos Ayres in
South America, with all the lands intermediate between these several
points. These include the Southern States of the American Union, from
Washington to the Gulf of Mexico, and three-fourths of South America,
the whole of the African Continent, and Southern Asia from the Bosphorus
to Pekin in China. The vast area of Australia is also within the cotton
zone, and the islands lying between that country and Asia.'
The exact period at which the manufacture of cotton was begun in England
is not known with absolute certainty. But as we have said, the first
authentic mention of it occurs in 1641; and it is in a book called
_Treasure of Traffic_, by Lewis Roberts. The passage runs thus: 'The
town of Manchester, in Lancashire, must be also herein remembered, and
worthily for their encouragement commended, who buy the yarne of the
Irish in great quantity, and weaving it, returne the same again into
Ireland to sell. Neither doth their industry rest here; for they buy
_cotton-wool_ in London that comes first from Cyprus and Smyrna, and at
home worke the same, and perfect it into fustians, vermilions, dimities,
and other such stuffs; and then return it to London, where the same is
vended and sold, and not seldom sent into foreign parts, who have means,
at far easier terms, to provide themselves of the said first materials.'
But here it should be explained that from the first introduction of the
cotton fibre into this country, and until about the year 1773, in the
manufacture of cloth it was only the weft that was of cotton. Down to
about 1773, the warp was invariably of linen yarn, brought from Ireland
and Germany. The Manchester merchants began in 1760 to employ the
hand-loom weavers in the surrounding villages to make cloth according to
prescribed patterns, and with the yarns supplied by the buyers. Thus
they sent linen yarn for warp, and raw cotton--which the weaver had
first to card and spin on a common distaff--for weft. Such was the
practice when, in 1767, James Hargreaves of Blackburn inaugurated the
textile revolution by inventing the spinning-jenny, which, from small
beginnings, was soon made to spin thirty threads as easily as one. The
thread thus spun, however, was still only available for weft, as the
jenny could not turn out the yarn hard and firm enough for warp. The
next stage, therefore, was the invention of a machine to give the
requisite quality and tenuity to the threads spun from the raw cotton.
This was the spinning-frame of Richard Arkwright, the story of which
every schoolboy is supposed to know.
Here, then, we reach another point in our romance. The manufacture of
cotton cloths in England from raw cotton is older than the cotton
culture of North America. It is, in fact, only about one hundred years
since we began to draw supplies of raw cotton from the Southern States,
which, previous to 1784, did not export a single pound, and produced
only a small quantity for domestic consumption. The story of the
development of cotton-growing in America is quite as marvellous as the
story of the expansion of cotton-manufacturing in England. In both cases
the most stupendous extension ever reached by any single industry in the
history of the world has been reached in less than a hundred years.
And yet Columbus found the Cubans, as Pizarro found the Peruvians, and
Cortes found the Mexicans, clothed in cotton. Was it from the same plant
as now supplies 'half the calico used by the entire human race' (as an
American writer has computed)? This estimate, by the way, was arrived at
thus: In 1889-90 the cotton crop of the world was 6094 millions of
pounds, and the population of the world was computed at 1500 millions.
This gave four pounds of raw cotton, equal to twenty yards of calico,
per head; and the proportion of raw cotton provided by the Southern
States was equal to eleven and a half yards per head. The raw cotton
imported by Great Britain in 1894 had a value of nearly 33 million
pounds sterling; the exports of cotton yarn and manufactured goods
amounted to about 66 millions sterling.
There are several species of the cotton plant; but those of commercial
importance are four in number. Herbaceous Cotton ('Gossypium
herbaceum') is the plant which yields the East Indian 'Surat' and some
varieties of the Egyptian cotton. Its habitats are India, China, Arabia,
Egypt, and Asia Minor. It is an annual: it grows to a height of five or
six feet, it has a yellow flower, and it yields a short staple. Tree
Cotton ('Gossypium arboreum'), on the other hand, grows to a height of
fifteen or twenty feet, has a red flower, and yields a fine silky wool.
Its habitats are Egypt, Arabia, India, and China. Hairy Cotton
('Gossypium hirsutum') is a shrub of some six or seven feet high, with a
white or straw-coloured flower, and hairy pods, which yield the staple
known as American 'Upland' and 'Orleans' cotton. Another variety, called
'Gossypium Barbadense,' because it was first found in Barbadoes, grows
to a height of about fifteen feet, and has a yellow flower, yielding a
long staple, and fine silky wool known as 'Sea Island' cotton. This now
grows most extensively on the coasts of Georgia and Florida; but has
been experimented with in various parts of the world, notably in Egypt,
where it has succeeded; and in the Polynesian islands, where, for some
reason or another, it has failed.
The cotton plant of the American cotton plantations is an annual, which
shoots above ground in about a fortnight after sowing, and which, as it
grows, throws out flower-stalks, at the end of each of which develops a
pod with fringed calyces. From this pod emerges a flower which, in some
of the American varieties of the general species, will change its colour
from day to day. The complete bloom flourishes for only twenty-four
hours, at the end of which time the flower twists itself off, leaving a
pod or boll, which grows to the size of a large filbert, browns and
hardens like a nut, and then bursts, revealing the fibre or wool encased
in three or four (according to the variety) cells within. This fibre or
wool is the covering of the seeds, and in each cell will be as many
separate fleeces as seeds, yet apparently forming one fleece.
Upon the characteristics of this fleece depends the commercial value of
the fibre. The essential qualities of good and mature cotton are thus
enumerated by an expert: 'Length of fibre; smallness or fineness in
diameter; evenness and smoothness; elasticity; tensile strength and
colour; hollowness or tube-like construction; natural twist; corrugated
edges; and moisture.' The fibre of Indian cotton is only about
five-eighths of an inch long; that of Sea Island about two inches. Then
Sea Island cotton is a sort of creamy-white colour; and some kinds of
American and Egyptian cotton are not white at all, but golden in hue;
while other kinds, again, are snow-white.
Although the term 'American Cotton' is applied to all the cotton
produced in the United States of America, it really applies to a number
of different varieties--such as Texas, Mobile, Upland, Orleans,
&c.--each one known by its distinctive name. The differences are too
technical for explanation here; but, generally speaking, the members of
the 'hirsutum' species of the 'Gossypium' tribe now rule the world of
cotton.
They are the product of what is called the 'Cotton-belt' of the United
States, an area stretching for about two thousand miles between its
extreme points in the Southern States, which are North and South
Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas,
and Texas. Over this area, soil and climate vary considerably. The
'Cotton-belt' lies, roughly speaking, between the thirtieth and fortieth
parallels of north latitude. As an American expert says: 'Cotton can be
produced with various degrees of profit throughout the region bounded on
the north by a line passing through Philadelphia; on the south by a line
passing a little south of New Orleans; and on the west by a line
passing through San Antonio. This is the limit of the possibilities.'
The cotton plant likes a light sandy soil, or a black alluvial soil like
that of the Mississippi margins. It requires both heat and moisture in
due proportions, and is sensitive to cold, to drought, and to excessive
moisture. The American cotton-fields are still worked by negroes, but no
longer slaves, as before the war; and, in fact, the negroes are now not
only free, but some of them are considerable cotton-growers on their own
account. On the other hand, one finds nowadays little of the old system
of spacious plantations under one ownership. Instead, the cultivation is
carried on on small farms and allotments, not owned but rented by the
cultivators. Large numbers of these cotton farmers are 'financed' by
dealers, by landowners, or even by local storekeepers.
The cotton factor is the go-between of the grower and the exporting
agent in Galveston or New Orleans, or other centre of business. After
the crop is picked by the negroes--men, women, and children--and the
harvest is a long process--the seeds are separated from the fibre by
means of a 'gin;' and then the cotton-wool is packed into loose bales
for the factor, while the seeds are sent to a mill to be crushed for
cotton-seed oil and oil-cake for cattle-feeding. The loose cotton bales
are collected by the factors into some such central town as Memphis,
where they are sorted, sampled, graded, and then compressed by machinery
into bales of about four hundred and forty pounds each, for export. In
calculating crops, &c., a bale is taken as four hundred pounds net.
The cotton then passes into the hands of the shipping agent, who brands
it, and forwards it by river-steamer to one of the Southern ports, or by
rail to New York or Boston, where it is put on board an ocean steamer
for Europe. The beautiful American clippers with which some of us were
familiar in the days of our youth are no longer to be seen; they have
been run off the face of the waters by the 'ocean liner' and the
'tramp.' Arrived in Liverpool, cotton enters upon a new course of
adventures altogether, and engages the thoughts and energies of a wholly
new set of people.
[Illustration: Cotton Plant.]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V.
GOLD AND DIAMONDS.
GOLD.--How widely distributed--Alluvial Gold-mining--Vein
Gold-mining--Nuggets--Treatment of Ore and Gold in the
Transvaal--Story of South African Gold-fields--Gold-production
of the World--Johannesburg the Golden City--Coolgardie
Gold-fields--Bayley's discovery of Gold there.
DIAMONDS.--Composition--Diamond-cutting--Diamond-mining--Famous
Diamonds--Cecil J. Rhodes and the Kimberley Mines.
In the getting of gold--the metal--for the purpose of possessing
gold--as money--there has always been an element of excitement and
romance.
'How quickly nature falls into revolt when gold becomes her object!' as
Shakespeare says:
For gold the merchant ploughs the main,
The farmer ploughs the manor.
There is a vast difference between the way in which the precious metal
is now extracted and the primitive methods which were considered perfect
in the earlier part of the century. The miner of fifty years ago never
dreamt of machinery, costly and magnificent, capable of crushing
thousands of tons of quartz per week. He 'dollied,' or ground, his
little bits of rock by means of a contrivance resembling a pestle and
mortar, and it was only the very richest stone that repaid him for his
labour. In fact, there was very little crushing in those days, quartz
not being easily found sufficiently rich to make such work a paying
concern, and it was therefore alluvial gold which was chiefly sought
for. The gold-seeker having decided on the place where he was to make
his first venture, provided himself with a shovel and pick and started
for the 'diggings.' Gold-mining was then carried on all over California,
and he had his choice of many camps.
[Illustration: The Hand-cradle Method of extracting Gold.]
But what a wild and lawless place was California in those days! Here in
these gold-fields were gathered together thousands of the greatest
desperadoes that the earth could boast of, and thousands of needy, if
harmless, adventurers from every country in the world. Fortunately with
them were mixed thousands of honest hard-working men, of every condition
in life, from the peer to the peasant, men who had been doing well, or
fairly well, at their professions, or in their business offices at home,
but for whom the attractions of this El Dorado had proved too powerful.
Gold is perhaps the most widely and universally sought product of the
earth's crust. In the very earliest writings which have come down to us
gold is mentioned as an object of men's search, and as a commodity of
extreme value for purposes of adornment and as a medium of exchange. The
importance which it possessed in ancient times has certainly not
lessened in our day. Without the enormous supplies of gold produced at
about the time when the steam-engine was being brought into practical
use it is difficult to imagine how our commerce could have attained its
present proportions; and but for the rush of immigrants to the
gold-fields in the beginning of the second half of this century
Australia might have remained a mere convict settlement, California have
become but a granary and vineyard, and the Transvaal an asylum of the
Boers who were discontented with the Cape government.
On the score of geographical distribution, gold must be deemed a common
metal, as common as copper, lead, or silver, and far more common than
nickel, cobalt, platinum, and many others. Theorists have propounded
curious rules for the occurrence of gold on certain lines and belts,
which have no existence but in their own fancy. Scarcely a country but
has rewarded a systematic search for gold, though some are more richly
endowed than others, and discoveries are not always made with the same
facility. The old prejudices, which made men associate gold only with
certain localities hindered the development of a most promising
industry even within the British shores. Despite the abundant traces of
ancient Roman and other workings, the gold-mines of Wales were long
regarded as mythical; but recent extended exploitation has proved them
to be rich. This is notably the case in the Dolgelly district, where
considerable gold occurs, both in alluvial gravels and in well-formed
quartz veins traversing the Lower Silurian Lingula beds and the intruded
diabasic rocks called 'greenstone' in the Geological Survey. A
peculiarity of the veins is the common association of magnesian
minerals. The gold is about 20 or 21 carats fine, and often shows traces
of iron sesquioxide. So long ago as 1861 some £10,000 worth of gold per
annum was taken out of the Clogan mine by imperfect methods. Some
samples have afforded 40 to 60 ounces per ton--a most remarkable yield.
There are probably many veins still waiting discovery.
A calculation was made in 1881 that the total gold extracted from all
sources up to that date from the creation had been over 10,000 tons,
with a value of about 1500 millions sterling. California, to the end of
1888, was reckoned to have afforded over 200 million pounds' worth, and
this figure is exceeded by the Australian colony of Victoria.
The origin of gold-bearing mineral veins is inseparably connected with
that vexed question, the origin of mineral veins generally. By far the
most common matrix of vein-gold is quartz or silica, but it is not the
only one. To pass by the metals and metallic ores with which gold is
found, there are several other minerals which serve as an envelope for
the precious metal. Chief among them is lime. Some of the best mines of
New South Wales are in calcareous veins. Sundry gold-reefs in
Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Bohemia are full of calcite.
Dolomite occurs in Californian and Manitoban mines; and apatite,
aragonite, gypsum, selenite, and crystalline limestone have all proved
auriferous, while in some cases neighbouring quartz has been barren.
Felspar in Colorado and felsite magnesian slate in Newfoundland carry
gold.
NUGGETS.
[Illustration: Welcome Nugget.]
The physical conditions under which gold occurs are extremely variable.
Popularly speaking, the most familiar form is the 'nugget,' or shapeless
mass of appreciable size. These, however, constitute in the aggregate
but a small proportion of the gold yielded by any field, and were much
more common in the early days of placer-mining in California and
Australia than they are now. One of the largest ever found, the
'Welcome' nugget, discovered in 1858 at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, weighed
2217 ounces 16 dwt., and sold for £10,500, whilst not a few have
exceeded 1000 ounces. One found at Casson Hill, Calaveras county,
California, in 1854, weighed 180 pounds. The 'Water Moon' nugget, found
in Australia in 1852, weighed 223 pounds. The origin of these large
nuggets has been a subject for discussion. Like all placer or alluvial
gold, they have been in part at least derived from the auriferous veins
traversing the rocks whose disintegration furnished the material forming
the gravel beds in which the nuggets are found.
The famous nugget known as the 'Welcome Stranger' was discovered under
singular circumstances in the Dunolly district of Victoria, which is one
hundred and ten miles north-west of the capital, Melbourne, by two
Cornish miners named Deeson and Oates. Their career is remarkable, as
showing how fortune, after frowning for years, will suddenly smile on
the objects of her apparent aversion. These two Cornishmen emigrated
from England to Australia by the same vessel in 1854. They betook
themselves to the far-famed Sandhurst Gold-field in Victoria; they
worked together industriously for years, and yet only contrived to make
a bare livelihood by their exertions. Thinking that change of place
might possibly mean change of luck, they moved to the Dunolly
Gold-field, and their spirits were considerably raised by the discovery
of some small nuggets. But this was only a momentary gleam of sunshine,
for their former ill-luck pursued them again, and pursued them even more
relentlessly than before.
The time at last came, on the morning of Friday, February 5, 1869, when
the storekeeper with whom they were accustomed to deal refused to supply
them any longer with the necessaries of life until they liquidated the
debt they had already incurred. For the first time in their lives they
went hungry to work, and the spectacle of these two brave fellows
fighting on an empty stomach against continued ill-luck must have moved
the fickle goddess to pity and repentance. Gloomy and depressed as they
naturally were, they plied their picks with indomitable perseverance,
and while Deeson was breaking up the earth around the roots of a tree,
his pick suddenly and sharply rebounded by reason of its having struck
some very hard substance. 'Come and see what this is,' he called out to
his mate. To their astonishment, 'this' turned out to be the 'Welcome
Stranger' nugget; and thus two poverty-stricken Cornish miners became in
a moment the possessors of the largest mass of gold that mortal eyes
ever saw, or are likely to see again. Such a revolution of fortune is
probably unique in the annals of the human race. Almost bewildered by
the unexpected treasure they had found at their feet, Deeson and Oates
removed the superincumbent clay, and there revealed to their wondering
eyes was a lump of gold, a foot long and a foot broad, and so heavy that
their joint strength could scarcely move it. A dray having been
procured, the monster nugget was escorted by an admiring procession into
the town of Dunolly, and carried into the local branch of the London
Chartered Bank, where it was weighed, and found to contain 2268-1/2
ounces of gold. The Bank purchased the nugget for £9534, which the
erstwhile so unlucky, but now so fortunate, pair of Cornish miners
divided equally between them. Whether the storekeeper who refused them
the materials for a breakfast that morning apologised for his harsh
behaviour, history relates not, but the probability is that he was paid
the precise amount of his debt and no more; whereas, had he acted in a
more generous spirit towards two brothers in distress, he might have
come in for a handsome present out of the proceeds of the 'Welcome
Stranger.'
The 'Welcome' nugget above mentioned, found at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, in
Victoria, on June 15, 1858, was nearly as large as the one just
described, its weight being 2217 ounces 16 dwts. It was found at a depth
of one hundred and eighty feet in a claim belonging to a party of
twenty-four men, who disposed of it for £10,500. A smaller nugget,
weighing 571 ounces, was found in close proximity to it. After being
exhibited in Melbourne, the 'Welcome' nugget was brought to London and
smelted in November 1859. The assay showed that it contained 99.20 per
cent. of gold.
Another valuable nugget, which was brought to London and exhibited at
the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, was the 'Blanche Barkly,' found by a party
of four diggers on August 27, 1857, at Kingower, Victoria, just thirteen
feet beneath the surface. It was twenty-eight inches long, ten inches
broad in its widest part, and weighed 1743 ounces 13 dwts. It realised
£6905, 12s. 6d. A peculiarity about this nugget was the manner in which
it had eluded the efforts of previous parties to capture it. Three years
before its discovery, a number of miners, judging the place to be a
'likely' locality, had sunk holes within a few feet of the spot where
this golden mass was reposing, and yet they were not lucky enough to
strike it. What a tantalising thought it must have been in after-years,
when they reflected on the fact that they were once within an arm's
length of £7000 without being fortunate enough to grasp the golden
treasure! Kingower, like Dunolly, from which it is only a few miles
distant, is a locality famous for its nuggets. One weighing 230 ounces
was actually found on the surface covered with green moss; and pieces of
gold have frequently been picked up there after heavy rains, the water
washing away the thin coating of earth that had previously concealed
them. Two men working in the Kingower district in 1860 found a very fine
nugget, weighing 805 ounces, within a foot of the surface; and one of
715 ounces was unearthed at Daisy Hill at a depth of only three and a
half feet.
A notable instance of rapid fortune was that of a party of four, who,
having been but a few months in the colony of Victoria, were lucky
enough to alight on a nugget weighing 1615 ounces. They immediately
returned to England with their prize and sold it for £5532, 7s. 4d. The
place where they thus quickly made their 'pile,' to use an expressive
colonialism, was Canadian Gully, at Ballarat, a very prolific
nugget-ground. There was also found the 'Lady Hotham' nugget, called
after the wife of Sir Charles Hotham, one of the early governors of
Victoria. It was discovered on September 8, 1854, at a depth of 135
feet. Its weight was 1177 ounces; and near it were found a number of
smaller nuggets of the aggregate weight of 2600 ounces, so that the
total value of the gold extracted from this one claim was no less than
£13,000. As showing the phenomenal richness of this locality, it may be
added that on January 20, 1853, a party of three brought to the surface
a solid mass of gold weighing 1117 ounces; and two days afterwards, in
the same tunnel, a splendid pyramidal-shaped nugget weighing 1011 ounces
was discovered; the conjoint value of the two being £7500.
A case somewhat similar to one already described was that of the 'Heron'
nugget, a solid mass of gold to the amount of 1008 ounces, which was
found at Fryer's Creek, Victoria, by two young men who had only been
three months in the colony. They were offered £4000 for it in Victoria;
but they preferred to bring it to England as a trophy, and there they
sold it for £4080.
The 'Victoria' nugget, as its name suggests, was purchased by the
Victorian government for presentation to Her Majesty. It was a very
pretty specimen of 340 ounces, worth £1650, and was discovered at White
Horse Gully, Sandhurst. Quite close to it, and within a foot of the
surface, was found the 'Dascombe' nugget, weighing 330 ounces, which was
also brought to London, and sold for £1500.
Just as a book should never be judged by its cover, so mineral
substances should not be estimated by superficial indications. A
neglect of this salutary precept was once very nearly resulting in the
loss of a valuable Victorian nugget. A big lump of quartz was brought to
the surface, and, as its exterior aspect presented only slight
indications of the existence of gold, it was at first believed to be
valueless; but as soon as the mass was broken up, there, embedded in the
quartz, was a beautiful nugget of an oval shape.
New South Wales, the parent colony of the Australian group, has produced
a considerable quantity of gold, but not many notable nuggets. Its most
famous nugget was discovered by a native boy in June 1851 at Meroo
Creek, near the present town of Bathurst. This black boy was in the
employ of Dr Kerr as a shepherd, and one day, whilst minding his sheep,
he casually came across three detached pieces of quartz. He tried to
turn over the largest of the pieces with his stick; but he was
astonished to find that the lump was much heavier than the ordinary
quartz with which he was familiar. Bending down and looking closer, he
saw a shining yellow mass lying near; and when he at last succeeded in
lifting up the piece of quartz, his eyes expanded on observing that the
whole of its under surface was of the same shining complexion. He
probably did not realise the full value of his discovery; but he had
sufficient sense to break off a few specimens and hasten to show them to
his master. Dr Kerr set off at once to verify the discovery; and when he
arrived at the spot, his most sanguine anticipations were fulfilled by
the event. He found himself the possessor of 1272 ounces of gold; and he
rewarded the author of his wealth, the little black boy, with a flock of
sheep and as much land as was needed for their pasture.
METHODS OF MINING.
The more common form of alluvial gold is as grains, or scales, or dust,
varying in size from that of ordinary gunpowder to a minuteness that is
invisible to the naked eye. Sometimes indeed the particles are so small
that they are known as 'paint' gold, forming a scarcely perceptible
coating on fragments of rock. When the gold is very fine or in very thin
scales, much of it is lost in the ordinary processes for treating
gravels, by reason of the fact that it will actually float on water for
a considerable distance.
From what has been already said it will be evident that gold-mining must
be an industry presenting several distinct phases. These may be classed
as alluvial mining, vein-mining, and the treatment of auriferous ores.
In alluvial mining natural agencies, such as frost, rain, &c., have, in
the course of centuries, performed the arduous tasks of breaking up the
matrix which held the gold, and washing away much of the valueless
material, leaving the gold concentrated into a limited area by virtue of
its great specific gravity. Hence it is never safe to assume that the
portion of the veins remaining as such will yield anything like so great
an equivalent of gold as the alluvials formed from the portion which has
been disintegrated. As water has been the chief (but not the only) agent
in distributing the gold and gravel constituting alluvial diggings or
placers, the banks and beds of running streams in the neighbourhood of
auriferous veins are likely spots for the prospector, who finds in the
flowing water of the stream the means of separating the heavy grains of
gold from the much lighter particles of rock, sand, and mud. Often the
brook is made to yield the gold it transports by the simple expedient of
placing in it obstacles which will arrest the gold without obstructing
the lighter matters. Jason's golden fleece was probably a sheepskin
which had been pegged down in the current of the Phasis till a quantity
of gold grains had become entangled among the wool. To this day the same
practice is followed with ox-hides in Brazil, and with sheepskins in
Ladakh, Savoy, and Hungary. This may be deemed the simplest form of
'alluvial mining.' If the gold deposited in holes and behind bars in the
bed of the stream is to be recovered, greater preparations are needed.
Either the river-bed must be dredged by floating dredgers, worked by the
stream or otherwise; or the gravel must be dug out for washing while the
bed is left dry in hot weather; or the river must be diverted into
another channel (natural or artificial) whilst its bed is being
stripped. The first-named method is best adapted to large volumes of
water, but probably is least productive of gold, passing over much that
is buried in crevices in the solid bed-rock. The second plan is
applicable only to small streams, and entails much labour. The third is
most efficient, but very liable to serious interference by floods, which
entail a heavy loss of plant.
In searching for placers it is necessary to bear in mind that the
watercourses of the country have not always flowed in the channels they
now occupy. During the long periods of geological time many and vast
changes have taken place in the contour of the earth's surface. Hence it
is not an uncommon circumstance to find beds of auriferous gravel
occupying the summits of hills, which must, at the time the deposit was
made, have represented the course of a stream. In the same way the
remains of riverine accumulations are found forming 'terraces' or
'benches' on the flanks of hills. Lacustrine beds may similarly occur at
altitudes far above the reach of any existing stream, having been the
work of rivers long since passed away.
Another form of alluvial digging occurs in Western America and New
Zealand, where the sea washes up auriferous sands. These are known as
'ocean placers' or 'beach diggings,' and are of minor importance.
Whilst most placers have been formed by flowing water, some owe their
origin to the action of ice, and are really glacial moraines. Others are
attributed to the effects of repeated frost and thaw in decomposing the
rocks and causing rearrangement of the component parts. Yet another
class of deposits is supposed to have been accumulated by an outpouring
of volcanic mud. And, finally, experts declare that some of the rich
_banket_ beds of the Transvaal became auriferous by the infiltration of
water containing a minute proportion of gold in solution.
In all cases the recovery of alluvial gold is in principle remarkably
simple. It depends on the fact that the gold is about seven times as
heavy, bulk for bulk, as the material forming the mass of the deposit.
The medium for effecting the separation is water in motion. The
apparatus in which it is applied may be a 'pan,' a 'cradle,' or a 'tom,'
for operations on a very small scale, or a 'sluice,' which may be a
paved ditch or a wooden 'flume' of great length, for large operations.
The method is the same in all: flowing water removes the earthy matters,
while obstructions of various kinds arrest the metal. As a rule, it is
more advantageous to conduct the water to the material than to carry the
material to water. In many cases a stream of water, conveyed by means of
pipes, and acting under the influence of considerable pressure, is
utilised for removing as well as washing the deposit. This method is
known as 'piping' or 'hydraulicing' in America, where it has been
chiefly developed, but is now forbidden in many localities, because the
enormous masses of earth washed through the sluices have silted up
rivers and harbours, and caused immense loss to the agricultural
interest by burying the rich riverside lands under a deposit that will
be sterile for many years to come. The plan permits of very economical
working in large quantities, but is extremely wasteful of gold. The
water-supply is of paramount importance, and has led to the construction
of reservoirs and conduits, at very heavy cost, which in many places
will have a permanent value long after gold-sluicing has ceased. These
large water-supply works are often in the hands of distinct parties from
the miners, the latter purchasing the water they use. To give an example
of the results attained in alluvial mining, it may be mentioned that in
a three-months' working in one Victorian district in 1888, over 33,500
tons of wash-dirt were treated for an average yield of 18-1/2 grains of
gold per ton, or, say, one part in 700,000. Where water cannot be
obtained recourse is had to a fanning or winnowing process for
separating the gold from the sand, which, however, is less efficacious.
[Illustration: Hydraulic Gold-mining.]
Vein-mining for gold differs but little from working any other kind of
metalliferous lode. When the vein-stuff has been raised it is reduced to
a pulverulent condition, to liberate the gold from the gangue. In some
cases roasting is first resorted to. This causes friability, and
facilitates the subsequent comminution. When the gold is in a very fine
state, too, it helps it to agglomerate. But if any pyrites are present
the effect is most detrimental, the gold becoming coated with a film of
sulphur or a glazing of iron oxide. The powdering of the vein-stuff is
usually performed in stamp batteries, which consist of a number of
falling hammers. While simple in principle, the apparatus is complicated
in its working parts, and is probably destined to give way to the
improved forms of crushing-rolls and centrifugal roller mills, which are
less costly, simpler, more efficient, and do not flatten the gold
particles so much. One of the most effective is that by Jordan. When the
vein-stuff has been reduced to powder, it is akin to alluvial wash-dirt,
and demands the same or similar contrivances for arresting the liberated
gold and releasing the tailings--that is, mercury troughs, amalgamated
plates, blanket strakes, &c.; but, in addition, provision is made for
catching the other metalliferous constituents, such as pyrites, which
almost always carry a valuable percentage of gold. These pyrites or
'sulphurets' are cleansed by concentration in various kinds of
apparatus, all depending on the greater specific gravity of the portion
sought to be saved.
Of the metals and minerals with which gold is found intimately
associated in nature are the following: Antimony, arsenic, bismuth,
cobalt, copper, iridium, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, osmium,
palladium, platinum, selenium, silver, tellurium, tungsten, vanadium,
and zinc, often as an alloy in the case of palladium, platinum,
selenium, silver (always), and tellurium. The methods of separation vary
with the nature of the ore and the conditions of the locality.
TREATMENT OF ORE AND GOLD IN THE TRANSVAAL.
The method of treatment of ore and gold in the Transvaal, the most
perfect and effective known at the present time, has thus been described
by Arthur Stenhouse:
The rock when hoisted out of the mine is first assorted, the waste rock
being thrown on one side and the gold-bearing ore broken into lumps by a
stone-breaker. The lumps of ore now pass by gravitation and feeders
through a battery (or stamp mill), each stamp of which weighs about 1150
pounds, every stamp being lifted and dropped separately by the cam shaft
at a speed of about 95 drops a minute. A stream of water is introduced,
the ore is crushed into fine sand, and is carried by the water over a
series of inclined copper plates, which are coated with quicksilver. The
free gold in the sand at once amalgamates with the quicksilver on the
plates, and the sand-laden stream continues on its course.
The sand, having now passed over the plates, is carried by launders on
to the concentrators, or frue vanners. These concentrators separate and
retain the heavy sand (or concentrates), whilst the lighter sand is
carried by gravitation through a trough (or launder) to the cyanide
vats.
The stream of water carrying the lighter sand empties itself into the
cyanide vats, and as each successive vat is filled up, the water is
allowed to drain through the sand. A solution of cyanide of potassium is
then pumped up and evenly distributed (by distributors) over the sand,
and dissolves the gold in its progress, leaving pure sand alone in the
vat. The gold-containing liquid (or solution) having left the vat, is
led into a series of boxes filled with zinc shavings, the gold separates
from the liquid, and settles on the zinc shavings in the shape of a
small black powder. The cyanide solution now freed from the gold runs
into the solution vats, and is restrengthened and ready for further use.
_Gold Recovery._--In the mill or battery the copper plates are scraped
daily, and the amalgams (that is, quicksilver and gold) are weighed and
placed in the safe in charge of the battery manager. This amalgam is
generally retorted once a week, that is to say, the quicksilver is
evaporated (but not lost) and the gold is left in the retort. This
retorted gold is then smelted into bars.
The concentrates recovered by the frue vanners are generally treated by
chlorination (roasted). This process is gone through so that the iron
can be separated from the gold. Concentrates are sometimes treated by
cyanide, but the process, if cheaper, is slow and less effective.
Chlorinated gold is also smelted into bars.
_Cyanide._--The gold from the zinc shavings is recovered by retorting.
It is afterwards melted into bars and called 'cyanide gold.'
Slimes (or float gold) are generally conserved in a dam, and when the
quantity is sufficient they are treated by chlorination, or by a
solution of cyanide of potassium.
After treatment all sand is still retained, and is really a small
unbooked asset of the various gold-mining companies. The Rand
undoubtedly is the best field to-day for students who wish to acquire
the details of gold recovery. In no other country has science produced
such excellent results. At least 95 per cent. of the gold in the ore can
now be recovered, and scientific men from all countries are resident on
the fields, and advantageous discoveries in the treatment of various
ores are of almost daily occurrence.
STORY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN GOLD-FIELDS.
There is material for the philosopher in the fact of gold-finding having
occurred in connection with a part of the world to which King Solomon
the Wise sent for supplies of gold and 'almug-trees,' for the mysterious
Ophir has been located in Mashonaland, and the Queen of Sheba identified
with the Sabia districts, which, though not in 'the Randt,' are
curiously connected with the rise and progress of the mania.
Let us briefly trace that romantic history, merely mentioning by the way
that, even in European history, African gold is no novelty, for the
Portuguese brought back gold-dust (and negro slaves) from Cape Bojador
four hundred and fifty years ago. The ruins of Mashonaland were
discovered in 1864 by Karl Mauch, who also discovered the gold-field of
Taté on the Zambesi, of which Livingstone had reported that the natives
got gold there by washing, being too lazy to dig for it. When Karl Mauch
came back to civilisation, people laughed at his stories of ruined
cities in the centre of Africa as travellers' fables, but a number of
Australian gold-diggers thought his report of the Taté gold-field good
enough to follow up. So about 1867, a band of them went out and set up a
small battery on the Taté River for crushing the quartz. This may be
called the first serious attempt at gold-mining in South Africa since
the days of the lost races who built the cities whose ruins Karl Mauch
discovered and which Mr Theodore Bent has described. A Natal company
assisted the Taté diggers with supplies, and enough gold was found to
justify the floating of the Limpopo Mining Company in London. This was
in 1868, and was practically the foundation of the 'Kaffir Circus,'
though its founders knew it not. Sir John Swinburne was the moving
spirit of this enterprise, and went out with a lot of expensive
machinery, only to meet with a good deal of disappointment. The diamond
discoveries in Griqualand soon drew away the gold-seekers, who found the
working expenses too heavy to leave gold-mining profitable, and for a
time the Taté fields were deserted. They were taken up again, however,
twenty years later by a Kimberley enterprise, out of which developed the
Taté Concession and Exploration Company, to whom the unfortunate
potentate Lobengula granted a mining concession over no less than eight
hundred thousand square miles of Matabeleland.
Just as the Australians were breaking ground on the Taté, Thomas Baines,
the traveller, was making up his mind to test the truth of tales of gold
in the far interior, which the Portuguese from Da Gama onwards had
received from natives. In 1869 he set forth from Natal with a small
expedition, and in 1870 received from Lobengula permission to dig for
gold anywhere between the rivers Gwailo and Ganyona. Some seventeen
years later this same concession was repeated to Mr Rudd, and became the
basis from which sprang the great Chartered Company of British South
Africa.
In the course of his journey, Baines encamped on the site of the present
city of Johannesburg, without having the least idea of the wealth
beneath him, and intent only upon that he hoped to find farther inland.
On the map which he prepared of this journey is marked the 'farm of H.
Hartley, pioneer of the gold-fields,' in the Witwatersrandt district.
Hartley was known to the Boers as 'Oude Baas,' and was a famous
elephant-hunter, but as ignorant as Baines himself that he was dwelling
on the top of a gold-reef. And it was not in the Witwatersrandt,
foremost as it now is, that the African gold boom began.
While the Taté diggers were pursuing their work and Baines his
explorations, a Natalian named Button went, with an experienced
Californian miner named Sutherland, to prospect for gold in the
north-east of the Transvaal. They found it near Lydenburg, and companies
were rapidly formed in Natal to work it. Such big nuggets were sent down
that men hurried up, until soon there were some fifteen hundred actively
at work on the Lydenburg field. The operations were fairly profitable,
but the outbreak of the Zulu war, and then the Boer war, put an end to
them for some years.
And now we come to one of the most romantic chapters in the golden
history of South Africa, a history which was marked by hard and
disheartening days what time the lucky diamond-seekers at Kimberley were
swilling champagne, as if it were water, out of pewter beer-pots. There
is more attraction for adventurers, however, in gold-seeking than in
diamond-mining, for gold can be valued and realised at once, whereas
diamonds may not be diamonds after all, and may be spoilt, lost, or
stolen, before they can find a purchaser.
It is to be noted that much as the Transvaal Republic has benefited from
gold-mining, the Boers were at first much averse to it, and threw all
the obstacles they could in the way of the miners. And it was this
attitude of the Boers, especially towards the Lydenburg pioneers, that
led to the next development.
One of the tributaries of the Crocodile River (which flows into Delagoa
Bay) is the Kaap River, called also the River of the Little Crocodile,
which waters a wide deep valley into which projects the spur of a hill
which the Dutch pioneers called De Kaap (the cape). Beyond this
cape-like spur the hills rise to a height of three thousand feet, and
carry a wide plateau covered with innumerable boulders of fantastic
shape--the Duivel's Kantoor. The mists gather in the valley and dash
themselves against De Kaap like surf upon a headland; and the face of
the hills is broken with caves and galleries as if by the action of the
sea, but really by the action of the weather. Upon the high-lying
plateau of the Duivel's Kantoor were a number of farms, the chief of
which was held by one G. P. Moodie.
One day a Natal trader named Tom M'Laughlin had occasion to cross this
plateau in the course of a long trek, and he picked up with curiosity
some of the bits of quartz he passed, or kicked aside, on the way. On
reaching Natal he showed these to an old Australian miner, who instantly
started up-country and found more. The place was rich in gold, and
machinery was as quickly as possible got up from Natal, on to Moodie's
farm. On this farm was found the famous Pioneer Reef, and Moodie, who at
one time would gladly have parted with his farm for a few hundreds, sold
his holding to a Natal company for something like a quarter of a
million. Then there was a rush of diggers and prospectors back from the
Lydenburg district, and the De Kaap 'boom' set in. The beginning was in
1883, and two years later the whole Kaap valley and Kantoor plateau was
declared a public gold-field. Two brothers called Barber came up and
formed the centre of a settlement, now the town of Barberton. Every new
reef sighted or vein discovered was the signal for launching a new
company--not now in Natal only, but also in London, to which the
gold-fever began to spread (but was checked again by the De Kaap
reverses).
Some fifteen Natalians formed a syndicate to 'exploit' this country
on their own account. Some were storekeepers in the colony, some
wagon-traders, and some merely waiters on fortune. Only eleven of them
had any money, and they supplied the wherewithal for the other four, who
were sent up to prospect and dig. After six months of fruitless toil,
the money was all done, and word was sent to the four that no more aid
could be sent to them. They were 'down on their luck,' when as they
returned to camp on what was intended to be their last evening there,
one Edwin Bray savagely dug his pick into the rock as they walked
gloomily along. But with one swing which he made came a turn in the
fortunes of the band, and of the land, for he knocked off a bit of
quartz so richly veined with gold as to betoken the existence of
something superexcellent in the way of a 'reef.' All now turned on the
rock with passionate eagerness, and in a very short time pegged out what
was destined to be known as 'Bray's Golden Hole.'
But the syndicate were by this time pretty well cleaned out, and capital
was needed to work the reef, and provide machinery, &c. So a small
company was formed in Natal under the name of the Sheba Reef Gold-mining
Company, divided into 15,000 shares of £1 each, the capital of £15,000
being equitably allotted among the fifteen members of the syndicate.
Upon these shares they raised enough money on loan to pay for the
crushing of 200 tons of quartz, which yielded eight ounces of gold to
the ton, and at once provided them with working capital. Within a very
few months the mine yielded 10,000 ounces of gold, and the original
shares of £1 each ran up by leaps and bounds until they were eagerly
competed for at £100 each. Within a year, the small share-capital
(£15,000) of the original syndicate was worth in the market a million
and a half sterling. This wonderful success led to the floating of a
vast number of hopeless or bogus enterprises, and worthless properties
were landed on the shoulders of the British public at fabulous prices.
Yet, surrounded as it was by a crowd of fraudulent imitators, the great
Sheba Mine has continued as one of the most wonderfully productive mines
in South Africa. Millions have been lost in swindling and impossible
undertakings in De Kaap, but the Sheba Mountain, in which was Bray's
Golden Hole, has really proved a mountain of gold.
The De Kaap gold-field had sunk again under a cloud of suspicion, by
reason of the company-swindling and share-gambling which followed upon
the Sheba success, when another startling incident gave a fresh impetus
to the golden madness.
Among the settlers in the Transvaal in the later seventies were two
brothers called Struben, who had had some experience, though not much
success, with the gold-seekers at Lydenburg, and who took up in 1884 the
farm of Sterkfontein in the Witwatersrandt district. While attending to
the farm they kept their eyes open for gold, and one day one of the
brothers came upon gold-bearing conglomerates, which they followed up
until they struck the famous 'Confidence Reef.' This remarkable reef at
one time yielded as much as a thousand ounces of gold and silver to the
ton of ore, and then suddenly gave out, being in reality not a 'reef'
but a 'shoot.' There were other prospectors in the district, but none
had struck it so rich as the Strubens, who purchased the adjacent farm
to their own, and set up a battery to crush quartz, both for themselves
and for the other gold-hunters. The farms were worth little in those
days, being only suitable for grazing; but when prospectors and company
promoters began to appear, first by units, then by tens, and then by
hundreds, the Boers put up their prices, and speedily realised for
their holdings ten and twenty times what they would have thought
fabulous a year or two previously. And it was on one of these farms that
the city of Johannesburg was destined to arise as if under a magician's
wand, from a collection of huts, in eight years, to a city covering an
area three miles by one and a half, with suburbs stretching many miles
beyond, with handsome streets and luxurious houses, in the very heart of
the desert.
[Illustration: Prospecting for Gold.]
It was one Sunday evening in 1886 that the great 'find' was made which
laid the base of the prosperity of the Johannesburg-to-be. A
farm-servant of the brothers Struben went over to visit a friend at a
neighbouring farm, and as he trekked homeward in the evening, knocked
off a bit of rock, the appearance of which led him to take it home to
his employer. It corresponded with what Struben had himself found in
another part, and following up both leads, revealed what became famous
as the Main Reef, which was traced for miles east and west.
A lot of the 'conglomerate' was sent on to Kimberley to be analysed, and
a thoughtful observer of the analysis there came to the conclusion that
there must be more good stuff where that came from. So he mounted his
horse and rode over to Barberton, where he caught a 'coach' which
dropped him on the Rand, as it is now called. There he quietly acquired
the Langlaagte farm for a few thousands, which the people on the spot
thought was sheer madness on his part. But his name was J. B. Robinson,
and he is now known in the 'Kaffir Circus' and elsewhere as one of the
'Gold Kings' of Africa. He gradually purchased other farms, and in a
year or two floated the well-known Langlaagte Company with a capital of
£450,000, to acquire what had cost him in all about £20,000. In five
years this company turned out gold to the value of a million, and paid
dividends to the amount of £330,000. The Robinson Company, formed a
little later to acquire and work some other lots, in five years produced
gold to the value of one and a half million, and paid to its
shareholders some £570,000 in dividends. With these discoveries and
successful enterprises the name and fame of 'the Rand' were established,
and for years the district became the happy hunting-ground of the
financiers and company promoters. The Rand, or Witwatersrandt, is the
topmost plateau of the High Veldt of the Transvaal, at the watershed of
the Limpopo and the Vaal; and on the summit of the plateau is the
gold-city of Johannesburg, some five thousand seven hundred feet above
the sea.
Soon the principal feature in Johannesburg was the Stock Exchange, and
the main occupation of the inhabitants was the buying and selling of
shares in mining companies, many of them bogus, at fabulous prices. The
inevitable reaction came, until once resplendent 'brokers' could hardly
raise the price of a 'drink;' though, to be sure, drinks and everything
else cost a small fortune. To-day the city is the centre of a great
mining industry, and the roar of the 'stamps' is heard all round it,
night and day. From a haunt of gamblers and 'wild-catters,' it has grown
into a comparatively sedate town of industry, commerce, and finance, and
the gold-fever which maddened its populace has been transferred (not
wholly, perhaps) to London and Paris.
The Stock Exchange of Johannesburg sprang into existence in 1887, and
before the end of that year some sixty-eight mining companies were on
its list, with an aggregate nominal capital of £3,000,000. During the
1895 'boom' in the market for mining shares in London and Paris, the
market value of the shares of the group of South African companies was
in the aggregate over £300,000,000! It is true that these are not all
gold-mining shares, but the great majority are of companies either for
or in connection with gold-mining. In 1887 the Transvaal produced only
about 25,000 ounces of gold; in 1894 the output was 2,024,159 ounces; in
1895 it was 2,277,633 ounces.
Just before the Californian discoveries--namely, in 1849, the world's
annual output of gold was only about £6,000,000. Then came the American
and Australian booms, raising the quantity produced in 1853 to the value
of £30,000,000. After 1853 there was a gradual decline to less than
£20,000,000 in 1883. This was the lowest period, and then the De Kaap
and other discoveries in Africa began to raise the total slowly again.
Between 1883 and 1887 the El Callao mine in South America and the Mount
Morgan in Australia helped greatly to enlarge the output, and then in
1807 the 'Randt' began to yield of its riches. The following are the
estimates of a mining-expert of the world's gold production during 1890,
£23,700,000; 1891, £26,130,000; 1892, £29,260,000; 1893, £31,110,000;
1894, £36,000,000; 1895, £40,000,000.
As to the future of the South African sources of supply, it is estimated
by Messrs Hatch and Chalmers, mining engineers, who have published an
exhaustive work on the subject, that before the end of the present
century the Witwatersrandt mines alone will be yielding gold to the
value of £20,000,000 annually; that early next century they will turn
out £26,000,000 annually; and that the known resources of the district
are equal to a total production within the next half century of
£700,000,000, of which, probably, £200,000,000 will be clear profit over
the cost of mining.
These estimates are considered excessive by some authorities;
nevertheless it is to be remembered that the productivity of deep level
mining has not yet been properly tested, that even the Transvaal itself
has not yet been thoroughly exploited, and that there is every reason
to believe that Matabeleland and Mashonaland are also rich in gold. But
we have not to look to Africa alone. In Australia, besides the regular
sources of supply which are being industriously developed, new deposits
are being opened up in Western Australia at such a rate that some people
predict that the 'Cinderella of the Colonies' will soon become the
richest, or one of the richest, members of the family.
The following shows the contributions towards the world's gold supply on
the basis of 1894:
United States £7,950,000
Australasia 8,352,000
South Africa 8,054,000
British Columbia and South America 2,000,000
Russia 4,827,000
Other Countries 4,807,000
-----------
£35,990,000
JOHANNESBURG--THE GOLDEN.
The railway journey from Capetown to Johannesburg of about three days is
through a seemingly endless sandy country, with range succeeding range
of distant mountains, all alike, and strikes a greater sense of vastness
and desolation than an expanse of naked ocean itself. First and second
class have sleeping accommodation, the third being kept for blacks and
the lowest class Dutch. Well, we reach Johannesburg, which has not even
yet, with all its wealth, a covered-in railway station; whilst by way of
contrast in the progress of the place, just across the road is a huge
club, with tennis, cricket, football, and cycling grounds, gymnasium,
military band, halls for dancing, operas, and oratorios, &c., which will
bear comparison with any you please. Its members are millionaires and
clerks, lodgers and their lodging-house keepers, all equal there; for
we have left behind caste, cliques, and cathedral cities, and are
cosmopolitan, or, in a word, colonial. An institution like this gives us
the state of society there in a nutshell, for, as wages are very high,
any one in anything like lucrative employment can belong to it; and the
grades in society are determined by money, and money only.
Johannesburg, the London of South Africa, which was a barren veldt
previous to 1886, is now the centre of some one hundred thousand
inhabitants, and increasing about as fast as bricks and mortar can be
obtained. It is situated directly on top of the gold, and on looking
down from the high ground above, it looks to an English eye like a huge,
long-drawn-out mass of tin sheds, with its painted iron mine-chimneys
running in a straight line all along the quartz gold-reef as far as you
can see in either direction. The largest or main reef runs for thirty
miles uninterruptedly, gold-bearing and honeycombed with mines
throughout. This, even were it alone, could speak for the stability and
continued prosperity of the Transvaal gold trade. In a mail-steamer
arriving from the Cape there is sometimes as much as between £300,000
and £400,000 worth of gold, and the newspapers show that usually about
£100,000 worth is consigned by each mail-boat.
As we enter the town we find fine and well-planned streets, crossed at
places with deep gutters--gullies rather--to carry off the water, which
is often in the heavy summer rains deeper than your knees. Crossing
these at fast trot, the driver never drawing rein, the novice is shot
about, in his white-covered two-wheeled cab with its large springs, like
a pea in a bladder. Indeed, one marvels at the daintily dressed
_habitué_ of the place being swung through similarly, quite unconcerned,
and without rumpling a frill. We pass fine public buildings, very high
houses and shops--somewhat jerry-built, it is true--but now being added
to, or replaced by larger and more solid buildings. Indeed, bricks
cannot be made fast enough for the demand, both there and in some of the
outlying Transvaal towns where the 'gold boom' is on. There are lofty
and handsome shops, with most costly contents, which can vie with London
or Paris.
Let us watch from the high-raised stoep outside the Post-office, looking
down over the huge market-square. What strikes us first are the
two-wheeled two-horse cabs with white hoods, recklessly driven by Malays
in the inseparable red fez, and these with the fast-trotting mule or
horse wagons show the pace at which business or pleasure is followed. As
a contrast comes the lumbering ox-wagon with ten or twelve span of oxen,
a little Kaffir boy dragging and directing the leading couple by a thong
round the horns, and the unamiable Dutch farmer revolving around,
swearing, and using his fifteen-foot whip to keep the concern in motion
at all. Then passes a body of some two hundred prisoners, Kaffirs, and a
few whites leading, marched in fours by some dozen white-helmeted police
and four or five mounted men, all paraded through the main streets,
innocent and guilty alike, to the court-house, and many escaping _en
route_ as occasion offers. Well-dressed English men of business, and
professional men, women in handsome and dainty costumes, hustle Jews of
all degrees of wealth; carelessly dressed miners, and chaps in rags come
in from prospecting or up-country, with the Dutchman everywhere in his
greasy soft felt and blue tattered puggaree, Chinese shopkeepers,
Italians, Poles, Germans; whilst outside in the roadways flows a
continual stream of Kaffirs in hats and cast-off clothing of every sort
imagination can picture, who are not allowed by law to walk upon the
pavement.
GOLD-FIELDS OF COOLGARDIE.
It was at one time generally believed that the unexplored regions of the
vast Eastern Division of Western Australia consisted merely of sandy
desert or arid plains, producing at most scrub and spinifex or 'poison
plants.' In recent years, however, a faith that the interior would prove
rich in various mineral resources began to dawn, and rose in proportion
as each report of a new 'find' was made to the government. But only a
few ventured to cherish a hope that tracts of fertile country were lying
beyond their ken, awaiting the advent of the explorer whose verdict upon
the nature of the soil, or possibilities of obtaining water, would
result in settlement, and prosperity, and civilisation.
By the opening up of the country surrounding Coolgardie--situated at a
distance of three hundred and sixty-eight miles inland from Fremantle,
the port of Perth--it has been proved that not only thousands of square
miles of auriferous country are contained in these once despised 'back
blocks,' but also large areas of rich pasturage and forest-lands.
At Coolgardie the country is undulating; and in the distance Mount
Burgess makes a bold and striking feature in the landscape, isolated
from the neighbouring low hills. A few miles to the south lies the
vigorous little town, surrounded by a halo of tents. It is situated
thirty-one degrees south, one hundred and twenty-one degrees east; the
climate is therefore temperate, though very hot during the dry season.
It has been judiciously laid out, and promises to be one of the
prettiest inland towns in the colony. In the principal street all is
bustle and activity: teams arriving from Southern Cross; camels
unloading or being driven out by picturesque Afghans; diggers and
prospectors setting out for distant 'rushes;' black piccaninnies
rolling in the dust, or playing with their faithful kangaroo dogs--their
dusky parents lolling near with characteristic indolence--and men of
every nation and colour under heaven combine to give the scene a
character all its own. In March 1896 Coolgardie was connected by rail
with Perth.
There are good stores, numerous thriving hotels; and a hospital has
lately been started in charge of two trained nurses. The spiritual needs
of the population are supplied by Wesleyan services and Salvation Army
meetings, and other agencies. As yet the public buildings are not
architecturally imposing; the principal one is a galvanised-iron shed
which does duty for a post-office. When the mail arrives, the two
officials, with the aid of an obliging trooper, vainly endeavour to sort
the letters and newspapers quickly enough to satisfy the crowd, all
eager for news from home. During the hot dry months, Coolgardie has been
almost cut off from the outside world. It was found necessary to limit
the traffic between it and Southern Cross, owing to the great scarcity
in the 'soaks' and wells along the road. Condensers have been erected at
various stations close to the salt lakes, and the water is retailed by
the gallon; by this means the road can be kept open till the wet season
sets in.
Prospectors are energetically exploring the country in every direction
around Coolgardie, and from all sides come glowing accounts of the
quality of the land, which, besides being auriferous, is undoubtedly
suitable for agricultural and pastoral purposes. To the eastward lie
many thousands of acres of undulating pasture-land, wooded like a park
with morrell, sandalwood, wild peach, zimlet-wood, salmon-gum, and other
valuable timbers. The soil is a rich red loam, which with cultivation
should equal the best wheat-growing districts of Victoria. So green and
abundant is the grass that it has been described as looking like an
immense wheat-field before the grain has formed. Several kinds of grass
are to be found: the fine kangaroo variety; a species of wild oats; and
a coarse jointed grass, all of which stock eat with relish, and thrive,
it is said.
A Water-supply Department has been formed by the Western Australian
government, and measures are being taken to obtain supplies of artesian
water, as well as to construct a system of reservoirs and dams on a
large scale.
Mr Bayley's discovery of Coolgardie might serve as an apt illustration
of the 'early-bird' theory. While on a prospecting expedition in
September 1892, he went one auspicious morning to look after his horse
before breakfast. A gleaming object lying on the ground caught his eye.
It was a nugget, weighing half an ounce. By noon, he, with his mate, had
picked up twenty ounces of alluvial gold. In a couple of weeks they had
a store of two hundred ounces. It was on a Sunday afternoon that they
struck the now world-famed Reward Claim, and in a few hours they had
picked off fifty ounces. Next morning they pegged out their prospecting
area. But whilst thus profitably employed, they were unpleasantly
surprised by the arrival of three miners who had followed up their
tracks from Southern Cross. The discoverers worked on during the day at
the cap of the reef, and by such primitive methods as the 'dolly-pot,'
or pestle and mortar, easily obtained three hundred ounces of the
precious metal. The unwelcome visitors stole two hundred ounces of the
gold, a circumstance which obliged them to report their 'find' sooner
than they would otherwise have done, fearing that, if they delayed, the
thieves would do so instead, and claim the reward from the government.
On condition that they would not molest his mate during his absence, Mr
Bayley agreed to say nothing about their having robbed him, and set out
on his long ride to Southern Cross. He took with him five hundred and
fifty-four ounces of gold with which to convince the Warden that his
discovery was a genuine one. The field was declared open after his
interview with the authorities.
DIAMONDS.
The diamond is a natural form of crystallised carbon, highly valued as a
precious stone, but of much less value than the ruby. The lustre of the
diamond is peculiar to itself, and hence termed 'adamantine.' In a
natural condition, however, the surface often presents a dull,
lead-gray, semi-metallic lustre. The high refractive and dispersive
powers of the diamond produce, when the stone is judiciously cut, a
brilliancy and 'fire' unequalled by any other stone. A large proportion
of the incident light is in a well-cut diamond reflected from the inner
surface of the stone. The diamond, especially when coloured, is highly
phosphorescent, that is to say, after exposure to brilliant illumination
it emits the rays which it has absorbed, and thus becomes self-luminous
in the dark. Its excessive hardness serves to distinguish the diamond
from other gem-stones: any stone which readily scratches ruby and
sapphire must be a diamond. Notwithstanding its hardness the diamond is
brittle, and hence the absurdity of the ancient test which professed to
distinguish the diamond by its withstanding a heavy blow struck by a
hammer when placed on an anvil.
In recent years, highly refined researches on this subject have been
made by Dumas, Stas, Roscoe, and Friedel, all tending to prove that the
diamond is practically pure carbon. Chemists have generally
experimented, for the sake of economy, with impure specimens, and have
thus obtained on combustion a considerable amount of ash, the nature of
which has not been well ascertained. It has been shown, however, that
the purer the diamond the smaller is the proportion of ash left on its
combustion.
[Illustration: Square-cut Brilliant.]
[Illustration: Round-cut Brilliant.]
[Illustration: Rose-cut Diamond.]
The art of cutting and polishing the diamond is said to have been
discovered in 1456 by Louis de Berguem of Bruges. As now practised, the
stone is first, if necessary, cleaved or split, and then 'bruted' or
rubbed into shape. The faces of the stone thus 'cut' are ground and
polished on flat metal discs, fed with diamond dust and oil, and
revolving with great rapidity by steam-power. Antwerp comes first, then
Amsterdam as the chief home of this industry, and the trade is chiefly
in the hands of Jews; but diamond cutting and polishing are also now
extensively carried on in London, Antwerp, &c. The common form of the
diamond is either the _brilliant_ or the _rose cut_. The brilliant
resembles two truncated cones, base to base, the edge of the junction
being called the _girdle_, the large plane on the top is the _table_,
and the small face at the base the _culet_; the sides are covered with
symmetrical facets. The rose has a flat base, with sides formed of rows
of triangular facets rising as a low pyramid or hemisphere; but this
form of diamond is daily becoming less fashionable, and is therefore of
comparatively little value.
Although the term 'carat' is applied to diamonds as well as to gold, it
does not mean the same thing. Used with regard to the metal, it
expresses quality or fineness--24-carat being pure gold; and 22-carat
equal to coined gold. But applied to the diamond, carat means actual
weight, and 151-1/2 carats are equal to one ounce troy.
India was formerly the only country which yielded diamonds in quantity,
and thence were obtained all the great historical stones of antiquity.
The chief diamond-producing districts are those in the Madras
Presidency, on the Kistna and Godavari rivers, commonly though
improperly termed the Golconda region; in the Central Provinces,
including the mines of Sumbulpur; and in Bundelkhand, where the Panna
mines are situated.
At present the diamond production of India is insignificant. It is
notable, however, that in 1881 a fine diamond, weighing 67-3/8 carats,
was found near Wajra Karur, in the Bellary district, Madras. The stone
was cut into a brilliant weighing 24-5/8 carats, and is known as the
'Gor-do-Norr.'
Brazil was not regarded as a diamond-yielding country until 1727, when
the true nature of certain crystals found in the gold washings of the
province of Minas Geraes was first detected. Diamonds occur not only in
this province, but in Bahia, Goyaz, Matto Grosso, and Paraná. The
geological conditions under which the mineral occurs have of late years
been carefully studied by Professors Derby, Gorceix, and Chatrian. The
diamonds are found in the sands and gravels of river-beds, associated
with alluvial gold, specular iron ore, rutile, anatase, topaz, and
tourmaline. In 1853 an extraordinary diamond was found by a negress in
the river Bogagem, in Minas Geraes. It weighed 254-1/2 carats, and was
cut into a brilliant of perfect water, weighing 125 carats. This
brilliant, known as the 'Star of the South,' was sold to the Gaikwar of
Baroda for £80,000.
Both the Indian and the Brazilian diamond-fields have of late years been
eclipsed by the remarkable discoveries of South Africa. Although it was
known in the last century that diamonds occurred in certain parts of
South Africa, the fact was forgotten, and when in 1867 they were found
near Hopetown, the discovery came upon the world as a surprise. A
traveller named O'Reilly had rested himself at a farm in the Hopetown
district, when his host, a man named Niekerk, brought him some
nice-looking stones which he had got from the river. O'Reilly, when
examining the pebbles, saw a diamond, which afterwards realised £500.
Niekerk afterwards bought a diamond from a native for £400 which
realised £10,000. The principal mines are situated in Griqualand West,
but diamonds are also worked in the Orange River Free State, as at
Jagersfontein. The stones were first procured from the 'river diggings'
in the Vaal and Orange rivers. These sources have occasionally yielded
large stones; one found in 1872 at Waldeck's Plant on the Vaal weighed
288-3/8 carats, and yielded a fine pale yellow brilliant, known as the
'Stewart.'
[Illustration: Kimberley Diamond-mine.]
It was soon found that the diamonds of South Africa were not confined to
the river gravels, and 'dry diggings' came to be established in the
so-called 'pans.' The principal mines are those of Kimberley, De Beer's,
Du Toit's Pan, and Bultfontein. The land here, previously worth only a
few pence per acre, soon rose to a fabulous price. At these localities
the diamonds occur in a serpentinous breccia, filling pipes or
'chimneys,' generally regarded as volcanic ducts, which rise from
unknown depths and burst through the surrounding shales. The 'blue
ground,' or volcanic breccia containing fragments of various rocks
cemented by a serpentinous paste, becomes altered by meteoric agents as
it approaches the surface, and is converted into 'yellow earth.' At
Kimberley the neighbouring schists, or 'reefs,' are associated with
sheets of a basaltic rock, which are pierced by the pipes. About 2000
white men are employed in the industry, and about 4000 blacks, who earn,
on an average, about £3 a week. In the year 1887 the production of the
principal mines was over £4,000,000. The production for 1894 was
somewhat less, while the total value of diamonds exported from 1867 to
1894 was about £70,000,000.
The great number of large stones found in the mines of South Africa, as
compared with those of India and Brazil, is a striking peculiarity. In
the earliest days of African mining a diamond of about 83 carats was
obtained from a Boer. This stone, when cut, yielded a splendid
colourless brilliant of 46-1/2 carats, known as the 'Star of South
Africa,' or as the 'Dudley,' since it afterwards became the property of
the Countess of Dudley, at a cost of £25,000. Some of the African stones
are 'off coloured'--that is, of pale yellow or brown tints; but a large
gem of singular purity was found at Kimberley in 1880. This is the
famous 'blue-white' diamond of 150 carats, known from the name of its
possessor as the 'Porter Rhodes.' At the De Beer's Mine was found, in
1889, the famous stone which was shown at the Paris Exposition. It
weighed 428-1/2 carats in the rough, and 228-1/2 carats when cut. It
measured one inch and seven-eighths in greatest length, and was about an
inch and a half square.
Even larger than this remarkable stone is a diamond found in the
Jagersfontein Mine in 1893, and named the 'Jagersfontein Excelsior.'
This is now the largest and most valuable diamond in the world. It is of
blue-white colour, very fine quality, and measures three inches at the
thickest part. The gross weight of this unique stone was no less than
969-1/2 carats (or about 6-1/2 oz.), and the following are its recorded
dimensions: Length, 2-1/2 inches; greatest width, 2 inches; smallest
width, 1-1/2 inches; extreme girth in width, 5-3/8 inches; extreme girth
in length, 6-3/4 inches. It is impossible to say what is the value of so
phenomenal a gem. We do not know that an estimate has been even
attempted; but it may easily be half a million if the cutting is
successful. The diamond has, however, a black flaw in the centre. It is
the property of a syndicate of London diamond merchants. The native who
found it evaded the overseer, and ran to headquarters to secure the
reward, which took the form of £100 in gold and a horse and cart.
Previous to this discovery, the most famous of the African diamonds was,
perhaps, the 'Pam' or 'Jagersfontein' stone, not so much from its size,
as because the Queen had ordered it to be sent to Osborne for her
inspection with a view to purchase, when the untimely death of the Duke
of Clarence put an end to the negotiations. The 'Pam' is only of 55
carats now; but it weighed 112 carats before being cut, and is a stone
of remarkable purity and beauty. Its present value is computed at about
twenty-five thousand pounds sterling.
The most valuable diamond in the world is (if it is a diamond) the
famous 'Braganza' gem belonging to Portugal. It weighed in the rough
state 1680 carats, and was valued at upwards of 5-1/2 millions sterling.
It has long been known that diamonds occur in Australia, but hitherto
the Australian stones have been all of small size, and it is notable
that these are much more difficult to cut, being harder than other
diamonds. Although Victoria and South Australia have occasionally
yielded diamonds, it is New South Wales that has been the principal
producer. The chief diamond localities have been near Mudgee, on the
Cudjegong River, and near Bingera, on the river Horton.
Borneo also yields diamonds. The stone known as the 'Matan' is said to
have been found in 1787 in the Landak mines, near the west coast of
Borneo. It is described as being an egg-shaped stone, indented on one
side, and weighing, in its uncut state, 367 carats. Great doubt,
however, exists as to the genuineness of this stone, and the Dutch
experts who examined it a few years ago pronounced it to be simply
rock-crystal. Among other diamond localities may be mentioned the Ural
Mountains and several of the United States. The largest diamond yet
recorded from North America was found at Manchester, Chesterfield
county, Virginia. It weighed 23-3/4 carats, and yielded, when cut, a
brilliant known as the 'Ou-i-nur,' which weighed, however, only 11-3/4
carats.
A few special diamonds, from their exceptional size or from the
circumstances of their history, deserve notice. Of all the great
diamonds, the 'Koh-i-nur' is perhaps the most interesting. While
tradition carries it back to legendary times, it is known from history
that the Sultan Ala-ed-din in 1304 acquired this gem on the defeat of
the Rajah of Malwa, whose family had possessed it for many generations.
In 1526 it passed by conquest to Humaiun, the son of Sultan Baber. When
Aurungzebe subsequently possessed this stone, he used it as one of the
eyes of the peacock adorning his famous peacock throne. On the conquest
of Mohammed Shah by Nadir Shah in 1739, the great diamond was not found
among the Delhi treasures, but learning that Mohammed carried it
concealed in his turban, Nadir, on the grand ceremony of reinstating
the Mogul emperor on the throne at the conclusion of peace, offered to
exchange turbans, in token of reconciliation, and by this ruse obtained
possession of the gem. It was when Nadir first saw the diamond on
unfolding the turban, that he exclaimed 'Koh-i-nur,' or 'Mountain of
Light,' the name by which the gem has ever since been known. At Nadir's
death it passed to his unfortunate son, Shah Rokh, by whom it was
ultimately given to Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Durani Afghan empire.
By Ahmed it was bequeathed to his son, Taimur Shah; and from his
descendants it passed, after a series of romantic incidents, to
Runjit-Singh. On the death of Runjit, in 1839, the diamond was preserved
in the treasury of Lahore, and on the annexation of the Punjab by the
British in 1849, when the property of the state was confiscated to the
East India Company, it was stipulated that the Koh-i-nur should be
presented to the Queen of England. It was consequently taken in charge
by Lord Dalhousie, who sent it to England in 1850. After the Great
Exhibition of 1851, where it had been exhibited, it was injudiciously
re-cut in London by Voorsanger, a skilful workman from Messrs Coster's
factory at Amsterdam. The re-cutting occupied 38 days of 12 hours each,
and the weight of the stone was reduced from 186-1/16 to 106-1/16
carats. The form is that of a shallow brilliant, too thin to display
much fire. According to Lady Burton, it is believed to bring ill-luck to
its possessor.
The 'Nizam' is the name of a stone said to have been found in the once
famous diamond-mines of Golconda. Sir William Hunter, however, gives us
to understand that there were really no diamond-mines at Golconda, and
that the place won its name by cutting the stones found on the eastern
borders of the Nizam's territory, and on a ridge of sandstone running
down to the rivers Kistna and Godavery, in the Madras Presidency.
However that may have been, both regions are now unproductive of
valuable stones. The 'Nizam' diamond is said to weigh 340 carats, and to
be worth £200,000; but we are unable to verify the figures.
The 'Great Table' is another Indian diamond, the present whereabouts of
which is not known. It is said to weigh 242-1/2 carats, and that 500,000
rupees (or at par, £50,000) was once refused for it. The 'Great Table'
is sometimes known as 'Tavernier's' diamond. It was the first blue
diamond ever seen in Europe, and was brought, in 1642, from India by
Tavernier. It was sold to Louis XIV. in 1668, and was described then as
of a beautiful violet colour; but it was flat and badly cut. At what
date it was re-cut we know not, but, as possessed by Louis Le Grand, it
weighed only 67-1/2 carats. It was seized during the Revolution, and was
placed in the Garde Meuble; but it disappeared, and has not been traced
since. Some fifty years later, Mr Henry Hope purchased a blue diamond
weighing some 44-1/2 carats (now known as the 'Hope' diamond), which it
was conjectured may have been part of the 'Great Table.' It is preserved
in the Green Vaults, Dresden, and is regarded as one of the most superb
coloured diamonds known.
Another famous Indian diamond is the 'Great Mogul,' which appears to
have been found about 1650, in the Kollur mine, on the Kistna. It was
seen by the French jeweller Tavernier at the court of Aurungzebe in
1665, and is described as a round white rose-cut stone of 280 carats.
Its subsequent history is unknown, and it is probable that at the
sacking of Delhi by Nadir Shah in 1739 it was stolen and broken up. Some
authorities have sought to identify the Great Mogul with the Koh-i-nur,
and others with the Orloff.
[Illustration: SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD: _a_, Great
Mogul; _b_, Star of the South; _c_, Koh-i-nur; _d_, Regent; _e_, Orloff.
All actual size.]
The 'Orloff' is an Indian stone which was purchased at Amsterdam in 1776
by Prince Orloff for Catharine II. of Russia. The stone at one time
formed the eye of an idol in a temple in the island of Seringham, in
Mysore, whence it is said to have been stolen by a French soldier, who
sold it to an English trader for £2000. The Englishman brought it home,
and sold it for £12,000 to a Jew, who passed it on at a profit to an
Armenian merchant. From the Armenian it was acquired, either by
Catharine of Russia, or, for her, by one of her admirers, for £90,000
and a pension. It is now valued at £100,000. It weighs 193 carats, is
about the size of a pigeon's egg, and is mounted in the imperial sceptre
of the Czar.
Other famous stones are: The 'Austrian Yellow,' belonging to the crown
of Austria, weighing 76-1/2 carats, and valued at £50,000; the
'Cumberland,' belonging to the crown of Hanover, weighing 32 carats, and
worth at least £10,000; the 'English Dresden,' belonging to the Gaikwár
of Baroda, weighing 76-1/2 carats, and valued at £40,000; the
'Nassak'--which the Marquis of Westminster wore on the hilt of his sword
at the birthday ceremonial immediately after the Queen's
accession--which weighs 78-1/2 carats, and is valued at £30,000.
The 'Regent' is a famous diamond preserved among the national jewels in
Paris. It was found in 1701, at the Parteal mines, on the Kistna, by a
slave, who escaped with it to the coast, where he sold it to an English
skipper, by whom he was afterwards treacherously killed. Thomas Pitt,
grandfather of the first Earl of Chatham, at that time governor of Fort
St George, purchased the stone, and had it re-cut in London, whence it
is often known as the 'Pitt.' Its original weight was 410 carats, but it
was reduced in cutting to 136-3/4; the result, however, was a brilliant
of fine water and excellent proportions. Pitt sold it in 1717, through
the financier John Law, to the Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France
during the minority of Louis XV. The price paid was £135,000, and its
value has since been estimated at £480,000. The stone is now among the
French jewels in the Museum of Paris.
The large 'Sancy' is an historical diamond, about which many
contradictory stories have been told. It appears that the Sancy was an
Indian stone, purchased about 1570 by M. de Sancy, French ambassador at
Constantinople. It passed temporarily into the possession of Henry III.
and Henry IV. of France, and was eventually sold by Sancy to Queen
Elizabeth of England. By James II. it was disposed of to Louis XIV.,
about 1695, for £25,000. At the beginning of the 19th century it passed
to the Demidoff family in Russia, and by them it was sold in 1865 to Sir
Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy. In 1889 it was again in the market, the price
asked being £20,000.
The Russian diamond, 'Moon of Mountains,' is set in the imperial
sceptre, weighs 120 carats, and is valued at 450,000 roubles, or, say,
about £75,000. The 'Mountain of Splendour,' belonging to the Shah of
Persia, weighs 135 carats, and is valued at £145,000. In the Persian
regalia there is said to be another diamond, called the 'Abbas Mirza,'
weighing 130 carats, and worth £90,000.
THE HON. CECIL J. RHODES, THE DIAMOND KING.
We get a good insight into the character of Mr Rhodes from all his
utterances and public acts; and an anecdote about him when busy with the
work that made him famous as the 'Diamond King,' the amalgamation of the
diamond-mines, shows up the man. He was looking at a map of Africa hung
in the office of a Kimberley merchant. After looking at it closely for
some time, he placed his hand over a large part of Southern and Central
Africa, right across the continent, and turning to a friend at his
side, said, 'There, all that British! That is my dream.' 'I give you ten
years,' said his friend. When he was in power at the Cape, and the times
were ripe, his dream was realised, and the shield of the great White
Queen was thrown over North and South Zambesia, and railway and
telegraphic communication was being pushed on towards the equator.
The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes is the fourth son of a clergyman, of
Bishop Stortford, where he was born in 1853. He was educated at the
local school, but his health being far from good, he was sent to Natal
to join his elder brother, a planter there. Both brothers made for
Kimberley at the first diamond rush, Cecil going into partnership as a
diamond digger with Mr C. D. Rudd, who had also gone out to South Africa
for his health. While at Kimberley, young Rhodes read sufficiently to
enable him to pass at Oxford. His crowning achievement of the union of
the De Beers Company and the Kimberley Central Company was not the work
of a day, but it was accomplished largely through Mr Rhodes's financial
skill, and became known as the De Beers Consolidated Mines, of which he
was elected chairman and one of the life governors. The capital
valuation of the company now stands at about twenty-five millions.
Regular dividends of twenty-five per cent. have been paid for some
years. It was natural that an influential man like Mr Rhodes should be
sent to the Cape Parliament, and in 1889 he rose to be a member of the
Cabinet. Another successful attempt at company promoting was his
association with Mr Rudd in the Transvaal gold-fields. At first their
mines on the Witwatersrandt did not turn out well; but it is long since
they began to pay enormously, the net profits of 1894 being over two
millions, while the market value of the concern is ten millions
sterling.
Several gold prospectors had dealings with and concessions from
Lobengula, in Matabeleland, before Mr Rudd and Mr Rhodes joined forces
in 1888 and secured mineral concessions covering the whole of his
kingdom. Then came the launching of the Chartered Company, incorporated
in October 1889, with a capital of one million, which has since been
raised to two and a half millions. Then Mashonaland was prospected, and
forts built and roads were made, and the telegraph was carried on to
Salisbury, giving connection with the Cape. When it was found that the
settlers could not live in peace with Lobengula, a force under Dr
Jameson, the administrator, broke the power of the Matabele in the
autumn of 1893. The only serious affair was the deaths of forty-nine men
of Wilson's column. Since that time the country has been slowly settled,
and the railway is being pushed on to Buluwayo. Mr Rhodes has interested
himself also in pushing on the telegraph system towards the Great
Central African lakes, by way of Zumbo, in the Central African
Protectorate, under the capable rule of Sir H. H. Johnston. Matabeleland
is an excellent pastoral country, and if a sufficient number of
agricultural emigrants could be got to remain and develop the territory,
its future would be secured. Unfortunately, this class of emigrant has
hitherto been lacking in South Africa--the gold and diamond fields have
been too tempting--but in time, doubtless, the slow and sure sort of
emigrant will find it to his interest to develop the land.
The residence of Mr Rhodes is at Groote Schnur, Rondebosch, near Cape
Town. In the twelve hundred acres which surround the house there are
charming views, and a natural Zoo, upon which he is said to have spent
at least one hundred thousand pounds. He has thrown this place open to
pleasure-seekers from the Cape for all time coming. He enjoys riding
over his estate, and watching the visitors enjoying themselves. Lord
Salisbury once termed him a 'remarkable man.' This is well borne out by
all who have come in contact with him. 'He presents,' says the _African
Review_, 'a character that is well worthy of analysis--that is a curious
compound of generosity and almost repellent cynicism, of
disinterestedness and ambition, of large aims that are dependent on
things that are essentially trivial; the keen, hard-tempered character
of a self-made man who has carved a career out of Kimberley finance and
Cape Colonial politics.... Of giant force of mind and will, with
practised judgment that nearly amounts to intuitive perception, with a
grasp of cause and effect that is founded upon a microscopic observation
of the laws of nature, he is decidedly a big man. He is a rarely
accurate critic of his fellow-mortals.'
Dr Jameson prophesied, when in this country in 1895, that the annexation
and occupation of Matabeleland and Mashonaland meant more than mere
annexation of territory, but would lead to a commercial union,
amalgamation, or federation of South African states. In Rhodesia, a
country nearly as large as Europe, white men and women could live, and
white children could be reared in health and vigour. Gold was to be
found there, and coal and iron. The country has been settled since the
power of Lobengula was broken, and the road and railway are doing their
beneficent work. The revenue for 1894 nearly balanced the expenditure.
When Mashonaland and Matabeleland needed the railway, Mr Rhodes was
still the key of the position. 'Krüger will not let us take the
Kimberley line into his country? Very well,' in effect said Mr Rhodes,
'we will take it round him, and beyond, on the way to the Transvaal of
the Zambesi.' And so the matter was arranged between the Imperial and
Colonial government and the Chartered Company. So much land was to be
given for taking the line to Vryburg, so much to Mafeking, in
connection with the main trunk line from the Cape.
Dr Jameson's raid into Transvaal territory, early in 1896, ostensibly
taken for the purpose of helping the people of Johannesburg, who
complained of their treatment by the Boer government, and the
complications which ensued, led to the resignation of Mr Rhodes as a
member of the Cape government, when he turned his attention to the
development of Rhodesia, the new and promising territory, which has been
so named after him.
[Illustration: African Village.]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VI.
BIG GUNS, SMALL-ARMS, AND AMMUNITION.
Woolwich Arsenal--Enfield Small-arms Factory--Lord Armstrong and
the Elswick Works--Testing Guns at Shoeburyness--Hiram S. Maxim and
the Maxim Machine Gun--The Colt Automatic Gun--Ironclads--Submarine
Boats.
WOOLWICH ARSENAL.
Since early days, Woolwich has been an important centre for warships and
war-material. Here ships were built and launched when England first
began to have a navy of specially constructed men-of-war, for Henry
VIII. established the Woolwich dockyard, and also appointed
Commissioners of the navy, and formed the Navy Office. Some of the
earliest three-deckers, or, as we may almost call them, five-deckers,
were built at this dockyard; and of these the most famous was the _Great
Harry_, so named after the king, which was launched here in 1514. For
the period, the ship was a large one, being of a thousand tons burden;
though we should not think much of her size now, when we have ironclads
of over eleven thousand tons. There are models of her in the Greenwich
Naval Museum, which is not far from Woolwich; and a curious lofty wooden
castle she is, rising far up above the water-line, and offering a fair
target, if the cannon of those days had any accuracy.
[Illustration: The _Great Harry_.]
On June 3, 1559, Queen Elizabeth came down to Woolwich to witness the
launch of a large ship called after her name. In 1637 a ship half as
large again as the _Great Harry_ was launched at Woolwich. She was the
marvel of her days, and though named the _Royal Sovereign_, was more
often called the _Golden Devil_, from the amount of mischief she wrought
in the Dutch fleet. Her guns were probably of small size; but she
carried enough of them on her three flush-decks, her forecastle, her
half-deck, her quarter-deck, and in her round-house; for in her lower
tier were sixty ports; in the middle, thirty; in the third, twenty-six;
in her forecastle were twelve; in her half-deck were fourteen. She was
decorated in the emblematical style of the time with gilding and
carvings; and these designs were the work of one Thomas Haywood, an
actor, who has left us an account of the ship which he adorned, in a
quarto volume published the same year in which she was launched. We can
imagine what she looked like, with her lofty forecastle and poop, the
latter provided with five lanterns, one of which, we are told, was large
enough to contain ten persons.
Old Samuel Pepys gives us many references to Woolwich in his famous
_Diary_. He paid frequent visits to the dockyard on his duties as
Secretary to the Admiralty, and seems to have looked after his business
well. For instance, on June 3, 1662, he writes: 'Povy and Sir W. Batten
and I by water to Woolwich; and there saw an experiment made of Sir R.
Ford's Holland yarn, about which we have lately had so much stir; and I
have much concerned myself for our rope-maker, Mr Hughes, who
represented it so bad; and we found it to be very bad, and broke sooner
than, upon a fair trial, five threads of that against four of Riga yarn;
and also that some of it had old stuff that had been tarred, covered
over with new hemp, which is such a cheat as hath not been heard of.'
The next month he is looking after the hemp again, and writes: 'To
Woolwich to the rope-yard, and there looked over several sorts of hemp,
and did fall upon my great survey of seeing the working and experiments
of the strength and charge in the dressing of every sort; and I do think
have brought it to so great a certainty, as I have done the king some
service in it, and do purpose to get it ready against the Duke's coming
to town to present to him.' He adds pathetically: 'I see it is
impossible for the king to have things done as cheap as other men.'
Of as early date probably as the dockyard, was the 'Warren,' the name by
which the Arsenal was formerly called. This establishment seems to have
begun as a cannon-foundry, and such, indeed, it chiefly continues to be.
Moreover, in other days when the dockyard flourished, stores of ships'
cannon were kept here, ready to be placed on ships as soon as
commissioned. But now that the dockyard is a thing of the past, and now
that the large building-slips, workshops, and ropewalk are empty, the
cannon at the Arsenal are chiefly those for the royal artillery and for
forts. The dockyard has been closed since 1869; its broad roads are
deserted, its workshops are silent, and its large sheds are only used
for stores; but the Arsenal has increased in magnitude; and the
'Warren,' in which, before the establishment of the Plumstead magazines,
powder was proved ('before the principal engineers and officers of the
Board of Ordnance, to which many of the nobility and gentry were often
invited, and afterwards sumptuously entertained by them'), has now
become an enormous establishment, covering acres of ground, and
containing workshops provided with the most complicated machinery, and
foundries of enormous size. It is round this Arsenal that we propose to
take the reader.
Having gained admittance, the visitor is put in charge of a guide. The
tapping of the great furnace is a remarkable sight. A stream of molten
steel runs into a huge tank which can contain four or five tons of
metal, and this tank is dragged off by some score of men to fill the
various moulds. It is remarkable, also, to see a huge steam-hammer of
some forty tons' force welding a mass of metal at white-heat.
The Arsenal is divided into four departments--the Laboratory, the Gun
Factory, the Gun-carriage Department, and the Stores; and of these four
divisions, the first two contain the chief things not to be found in
very many other places.
The Gun-carriage Department has workshops both for metal and wood work,
and each branch contains many subdivisions. There is nothing, however,
in this department which is peculiar to the Arsenal, with the exception,
of course, of the special articles which are manufactured; that is to
say, forging, steam-carpentering, wheel-making, and so on, are carried
out as they would be executed elsewhere. The guides always make a point
of showing the wheel-shoeing pit, as it is called, in which the tyre is
put on a gun-wheel. The machinery in this department is very complete,
especially in the carpenters' shops, where the lathes which work
automatically, and turn wheel-spokes and such things according to a
given pattern, and the steam-saws for cutting dovetails for sides of
boxes, and other machinery, are all constructed on highly ingenious
principles. With regard to the articles constructed, the trail of a gun
may be followed in all stages of its construction until it appears
complete with its wheels, and ready for the gun to be placed on it.
Here, too, may be seen the ingenious Moncrieff gun-carriage, by which
the gun is only raised above a fortification at the moment when it is
fired, the 'sighting' being done from below by an arrangement of
mirrors.
The Stores, again, are remarkable only for the quantity of material
stowed away ready for use. For instance, there are ten thousand complete
sets of harness for guns and baggage wagons always kept in stock. But
when the visitor has just walked once through these storehouses, he will
probably have seen all that he cares to see there.
It is, however, when we come to the Gun Factory that the special
interest of the Arsenal begins. Imagine a huge mass of steel welded--for
casting would not give sufficient strength--into the form of the trunk
of a large fir-tree, and you have the first stage of a gun's existence.
This solid mass is to form the tube of a cannon, and the solid core has
to be removed by ingenious and powerful machinery. It takes a week or
two to bore the interior of some of the larger guns. Some of the
machines are constructed to bore a hole which is continually enlarged by
successive tools; while others actually cut out a round solid mass from
the interior. The tube has also to be subjected to the process of being
turned both within and without, and it is then fit for the next process,
which is that of cutting the grooves within it which give the required
spin to the projectile, commonly called rifling. This is a delicate and
intricate process, for the utility of the gun of course depends largely
on the accuracy with which the grooves are made. The actual cutting is
performed by a machine which travels up the tube at the required spiral;
but as the work proceeds, the man in charge carefully examines the
grooves along their whole length with the aid of a candle fixed at the
end of a long rod which he pushes up the tube.
But when the tube has been bored, turned, and rifled, the gun is by no
means finished. The tube by itself would be far too delicate for the
large charges of powder employed; and, consequently, it has to be fitted
at the breech end with two or three outer cases or jackets, the outside
one of which bears the trunnions on which the gun rests. At last the gun
is completed; and the next thing is to subject it to a severe test by
firing from it a charge of powder proportioned to its size. For this
purpose, it has to be taken to Plumstead Marshes, a portion of which
forms the testing-ground and powder-magazines connected with the
Arsenal. Lines of railway run down to the marshes, and the gun is
mounted on a truck and dragged off by a locomotive to the place
appointed for its trial. It may be mentioned that lines of railway run
in all directions through the Arsenal, one of narrow gauge being
introduced into most of the workshops, so that the visitor has to keep a
lookout lest a tiny locomotive with a train of what may almost be called
toy trucks should bear down upon him as he is walking along.--But to
return to the gun. When it has been finally tested, cleaned, polished,
and stamped, it is coated with a particular varnish, and is fit for
service.
The next most interesting place to the Gun Factory is the Laboratory,
where shells and bullets are manufactured. Shells are cast rough, and
then finished off in a lathe. A band of copper now usually takes the
place of the copper studs which were formerly inserted to enable the
shell to fit into the rifled grooves. This band is expanded by the force
of the explosion when the gun is fired, and fills up the grooves, so as
to give the necessary spin to the shells. Shells are charged with their
interior bullets at the Laboratory; but the powder is added down at the
marshes. A shell when completed has become a very expensive article,
especially if it is a large one. Some of those projectiles are so heavy
that the guns from which they have to be fired are provided with small
cranes for lifting them up to the breech. The shells are, like the guns,
beautifully finished off and varnished, and then sent off to the stores.
Perhaps the most interesting place in the Laboratory department is the
Pattern Room, which is a sort of museum where shot and shells of all
sorts are to be seen, from the old-fashioned chain-shot, made of round
balls fastened together, to the most perfect specimens of modern shells.
Here, also, are to be seen those strange weapons of modern warfare
called torpedoes, amongst them the famous 'fish torpedo,' which with its
complicated mechanism may be almost described as an under-water ship. It
is so constructed that it finds its way unseen and unheard, with its
terrible charge of dynamite, to the side of a hostile vessel.
THE ENFIELD SMALL-ARMS FACTORY.
It is at Enfield, on the river Lea, some twelve miles down the Great
Eastern Railway, that small-arms are manufactured, almost entirely, as
required by our army.
Enfield Factory has not, like Woolwich Arsenal, an ancient history of
its own. In the days of Henry VIII. and of Elizabeth, of the Duke of
York and his faithful secretary, Samuel Pepys, Woolwich was famous for
the production both of ships and of guns; but the small-arms factory on
the borders of Essex dates only from the early part of this century. Its
site seems to have been chosen regardless of any peculiar advantages for
manufacturing purposes. It is simply a collection of workshops built in
the flat meadows through which run the various branches, natural and
artificial, of the lazy Lea; and the nearest town, about a mile and a
half distant, is quiet and remote little Waltham, chiefly known for its
Abbey Church, the burial-place of King Harold, which rises in its midst.
The situation of the Enfield Factory is, however, advantageous in this
way: the canals form a safe means of water transit for the gunpowder
which is manufactured in the adjacent mills at Waltham, and which is
required at Enfield for use in the proving of the barrels of firearms;
while the far-stretching marshes provide an apparently interminable
range for carrying out the necessary experiments and trials with regard
to the accuracy of the weapons manufactured.
Where one of the canals has been conducted into a square-shaped basin,
the older and principal buildings of the manufactory have been located.
They form a quadrangle of some extent; and here, too, are situated the
offices and the quarters of the executive staff, which is composed
partly of civilians and partly of military officers. Behind these, on
the east side of the enclosure, and on the banks of one of the canals,
are rows of workmen's cottages. Near the entrance gates are situated
schools for the workmen's children; and at the other end of this street,
as we may call it, is a church, which is served by the clergy of the
parish of Enfield. On the west side extend north and south the flat
meadows or marshes which form so convenient a spot for the testing and
proving of the rifles.
All sorts of personal weapons required for the arming of a soldier in
the English army are made here, not only firearms, such as rifles and
revolvers, but lances, swords, and bayonets, the last having now become
a sort of short sword. There is also one class of weapons which occupies
a sort of intermediate position between those carried by the soldier
himself and those drawn by horses--that of machine guns, as they are
called, which, though not carried by men on their shoulders or in their
hands, are drawn about by them on small carriages. These machine guns
are classed with personal arms, because they are usually employed in
connection with infantry; and also because--which is a far more
important reason--the ammunition required for them is similar to that
used in rifles. In fact, they are in principle only a collection of
infantry rifles fastened together, or, as we shall see, a single rifle
barrel with machinery attached which enables it to discharge with great
rapidity.
There is one more general principle which we shall do well to bear in
mind before we enter the factory. It is this, that of course the
manufacture of small-arms is in as much a condition of uncertainty as
that of larger warlike weapons in these days. What we see now may become
obsolete in a very short time, and we shall be shown specimens of
firearms which formed the universal weapons of the British army only a
very few years ago, but are now as much out of date for practical
purposes as cross-bows. Remembering this, let us go first when we enter
to one of the offices, where we shall see arranged in a rack against the
wall, amongst others, specimens of the old Enfield muzzle-loader, of the
same weapon converted into a breech-loader, of the Martini-Henry rifle,
and of the latest pattern of all, the magazine rifle. While, stored
away in some out-of-the-way corner, it is just possible we might come
across a specimen of the old smooth-bore or 'Brown Bess,' which formed
the weapon of certain English linesmen so late as the beginning of the
Crimean War.
The Enfield workshops are of course in appearance much like other
workshops. There are the same processes of forging and casting, and the
same machinery for hammering and turning and boring and drilling which
we see elsewhere.
A rifle, as every one knows, consists of three portions--the wooden
stock, the barrel, and the lock. The stock is usually made of walnut
wood, and is manufactured in what we should perhaps describe as a
carpenter's shop. Formerly, the stock of a rifle was formed out of one
long piece of timber; but now the complicated machinery of the breech
and lock cannot be contained in a hollow in the wood, as was formerly
the case, but has to be enclosed in a steel case, to which the wooden
butt and barrel support are screwed. To the rifles of the newest pattern
there hangs, just below the lock, the magazine, in which are carried
five or, in some cases, ten cartridges, which spring up into place in
turn, ready to be discharged. In short, the rifle has become, as regards
its rapidity of action, something similar to a revolver pistol. We shall
find that a lock has in its manufacture to pass through an almost
infinite number of processes, each part having to be forged or beaten
out till the whole can be fitted together.
Let us pass on to the barrel-making shop. Rifle barrels are made from a
solid round bar of steel, which is at first considerably shorter and
stouter than the finished barrel will be. This steel bar is heated
red-hot, and is passed between several pairs of rollers, which convert
it outwardly into the required form. It has, however, afterwards to be
bored and then rifled--that is, furnished with the spiral grooves
within, which gives the bullet the necessary spin. Of course the barrel
is by far the most important portion of a firearm, and the barrels of
rifles are, at Enfield, tested and proved in the most ingenious and
searching manner. The first proof takes place after the barrel has been
bored, but before it is rifled. The barrels are loaded with cartridges
of considerably greater weight both in powder and bullet than those
which will be used in them when they are ready for service, and are
enclosed in a sort of strong box which has one side open. They are then
discharged through the open side into a heap of sand, and examined; but
it is a rare event to find a barrel that has not been able to bear this
test. The second proof, which takes place after the rifling, is of a
similar character.
But these proofs are only to test the strength of a barrel; the test of
its accuracy is a much more delicate operation. Of course the machinery
by which it is bored and rifled works with the most admirable precision;
but yet it is necessary to put this machine-work to trial. There are,
amongst others, two highly ingenious methods for doing this. In the one
case it is placed on a stand which is so constructed that on it the
barrel can be made to revolve rapidly. The barrel is pointed towards a
window, and in front of it is a fixed sight. The workman looks through
it while it is revolving; and if the sight remains steady to his eye,
that is a proof that the barrel may be said to be straight. But there is
yet another method. The mechanism of this testing apparatus is rather
difficult to describe, but is something of this fashion. The barrel is
made to revolve as before; but this time there is inserted in it a
spindle, on which is fixed a short arm with a point which touches very
lightly the interior of the barrel. If there is any inequality, or if
the barrel is not perfectly straight, this short arm is of course
shaken, and when this is the case, the motion is further communicated to
a long arm at the end of which is an indicator, which is looked at by
the workman through a magnifying glass.
[Illustration: Gatling Gun on Field Carriage.]
Barrel, stock, and lock being at last completed and tested, the rifle is
put together; but even then it is subjected to one more trial. This is
carried out on the proof-ground in the marshes, and takes the form of an
actual discharge of the weapon at a target. The rifle is screwed to a
fixed and firm support, and then a certain number of rounds are fired at
ranges of five hundred and one thousand yards respectively. In this test
the hitting of the centre of the target, or 'bull's-eye,' is not the end
in view, as it is in ordinary target practice. That sort of shooting
depends of course on the steadiness with which the marksman holds the
rifle. In this case, however, the fixed _rest_ may be directed on any
portion of the target, and the _grip_ will always be the same. The only
object of the test is to see whether the rifle throws the bullet at each
round on or near the same spot. A marker at the butt examines the
position of each shot, and the smaller the space on which they strike,
the better the weapon.
We have not yet spoken of the machine guns. These weapons are, as part
of the regular equipment of armies, quite modern, though the idea of
binding together a quantity of barrels and then discharging them at
once, or with great rapidity one after another, is not altogether novel.
Sometimes, instead of a number of barrels, one only is required, and the
cartridges are discharged from short barrels or chambers which are
brought in turn into position with the longer one. This is the ordinary
revolver system; but modern machine guns are a great improvement on this
method, and entirely dispense with the necessity of loading separate
chambers. Machine guns have succeeded one another with extraordinary
rapidity, and a gun seems only to be adopted in order to be superseded.
Thus we have had during the last few years a series of these weapons
bearing the names of Gatling, Gardner, Nordenfelt, and Maxim, described
on a later page.
[Illustration: Nordenfelt-Palmcrantz Gun mounted on Ship's Bulwark.]
As we walk about the factory we see, besides the workmen, here and there
groups of men in military uniform. These are armourer sergeants, who
attend classes at which they are taught the mysterious mechanism of the
breech-loaders and machine guns. In former days, Tommy Atkins could be
instructed how to keep his weapon in order, lock and all; but now its
complications are beyond the power of his understanding or of his
fingers, perhaps of both, and he has to hand over his rifle to a more
skilled superior when it is out of order. Truly, military matters, from
the movement of the vast army corps of the present day down to the
mechanism of the soldier's weapons, have become a highly technical
matter.
LORD ARMSTRONG AND THE ELSWICK WORKS.
Sir W. G. Armstrong, the chairman and founder of this great firm of
warship builders and makers of big guns at Elswick, Newcastle-on-Tyne,
is the son of a Cumberland yeoman, and born at Newcastle in 1810. He
early showed a turn for mechanical contrivances, and delicate youth as
he was, when confined to the house he was quite happy making toys of old
spinning-wheels and such-like things. He would also spend hours in a
joiner's shop, copying the joiner's work, and making miniature engines.
He had ample opportunity in his father's house of making himself
acquainted with chemistry, electricity, and mechanics. In spite of his
turn for mechanics, he was articled to a solicitor, who, at the finish
of his apprenticeship, made him his partner. In his leisure hours he
conducted his experiments. Fishing was also a favourite pastime with
him, and in 1836, while rambling through Dent Dale, he saw a stream
descending from a great height and driving only one single mill. This
led him to think that there might be a more economical use of this water
hydraulically, with the result that he produced a hydraulic engine,
which was followed by the invention of a hydraulic crane for raising
weights at harbours and in warehouses. It was soon adopted at the
Albert Dock, Liverpool, and elsewhere.
[Illustration: LORD ARMSTRONG.]
Next he invented an apparatus for extracting electricity from steam,
afterwards introduced into the Polytechnic Institution, London. Napoleon
III. heard of this famous machine, and sent experts to examine it.
Armstrong began to receive recognition; he was elected a member of the
Royal Society in 1846, and a year later, aided by some friends, he began
on a small scale the Elswick Engine-works in the suburbs of Newcastle,
which have grown to be the largest concern of the kind in the country.
At first the enterprise chiefly consisted in the manufacture of
hydraulic cranes, engines, accumulators, and bridges.
The addition of ordnance and shipping, for which Armstrong became
chiefly known, came later. Previous to the year 1853, the weapon used by
the infantry portion of the British army was a clumsy smooth-bore
musket, which was only effective up to three hundred yards at the
farthest; the usual distance at which practice was made by the soldier
seldom exceeding one hundred yards. In the above-named year, an arm was
brought into use, termed, from the locality of its manufacture, the
Enfield rifle. This weapon being lighter, and possessing a much greater
range than the old small-arm, Brown Bess, as it was called, threatened
very seriously to diminish the effect of field-artillery, if not to
abolish that arm entirely, as, indeed, many infantry officers were
sanguine enough to predict. Nor were they without good reason for their
boasting, the only field-artillery consisting of 6-pounder brass guns
for horse-artillery, 9-pounder guns for field-batteries, and sometimes
12-pounder and 18-pounder guns as batteries of position--that is to say,
batteries used when the general of a force meant to make any stand in a
suitable position; on these occasions, the guns were taken to the
requisite places, and there left. Now, all these guns were
smooth-bored; and as the range of the 6 and 9 pounders was limited in
practice to about one thousand yards, it was a fair enough supposition
that a company of concealed riflemen with their Enfield rifles could
pick off the gunners and remain themselves comparatively secure,
especially as their muskets being sighted up to, and effective at,
eleven hundred yards, the guns also would be a good mark to aim at, and
the riflemen hard to see, even if exposed.
Such was the state of affairs when Armstrong stepped in to the rescue of
the artillery, and provided the British government with the rifled
cannon now in use, and about which so much has been written.
Armstrong, during the Crimean War, made an explosive apparatus for
blowing up ships sunk at Sebastopol. This led him to turn his attention
to improvements in ordnance. He invented a kind of breech-loading
cannon, and soon had an order for several field-pieces after the same
pattern. He began with guns throwing 6 lb. and 18 lb. shot and shells,
and afterwards 32 lb. shells; and the results at the time were deemed
almost incredible. He had both reduced the weight of the gun by
one-half, reduced the charge of powder, and his gun sent the shell about
three times farther. His success led to his offering to government all
his past inventions, and any that he might in the future discover. A
post was created for him, that of Chief Engineer of Rifled Ordnance for
seven years provisionally.
The founder of this great firm was knighted by the Queen in 1858, and
made C.B. In 1887 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Armstrong of
Cragside. His mansion and estate of Cragside is at Rothbury, and it is
fitted up with the electric light and every convenience of wealth and
taste. Armstrong's peculiar partnership between government and the
Elswick Works was brought to a close in 1863, since which time the
progress of the firm has been continuous. In 1882 an amalgamation took
place between the Elswick Works and the firm of Charles Mitchell & Co.,
shipbuilders at Low Walker. Dr Mitchell, who was a native of Aberdeen,
and a munificent donor to Newcastle and Aberdeen, was one of the
directors of Armstrong, Mitchell, & Co. till his death in 1895.
This firm are now the leading warship builders in the world. Krupp's
works at Essen (described in the earlier part of this book) are the only
parallel to them in Europe. The engineering works, begun, as we have
seen, in 1847, now occupy about nine acres; the ordnance works, founded
ten years later, occupy about forty acres; while about five thousand men
are employed. The shipbuilding yards are at Low Walker, nearer the sea.
The hydraulic machinery for the Tower Bridge and the Manchester Ship
Canal were both produced by this great firm.
Some years ago one of his biographers wrote: 'He entertains the great
institutes of England when they visit his native city on royal lines, in
regal splendour. His works at Elswick enjoy all modern improvements. His
home at Jesmond is the abode of art, literature, and luxury. When his
health complained under its heavy load, he cultivated agriculture,
botany, and forestry for recreation; bought an estate at Rothbury, where
the kindly invigorating air had healed him in days gone by; converted
the barren hills into an earthly paradise; lighted his Cragside mansion
with Swan's lamp and his own hydraulic power; applied water-power to his
conservatory, that his plants might secure the sun. But amid all the
luxuries which surround him, his life is as simple as nature; and now,
at the ripe age of seventy-three, he maintains the freshness and
elasticity of youth. He was wont to run like a deer along the moors of
Allenheads to examine the target fired at by the original Armstrong
gun.'
Lord Armstrong has been honoured both at home and abroad, and has done
much for the amenity of Newcastle; and Jesmond Dene, part of his Jesmond
estate, was thrown open to the public by the Prince of Wales while his
guest at Cragside. The high-level bridge, giving easy access to the park
for the town, cost £20,000. Other benefactions have been £12,500 towards
a museum; a hall for the literary society, a mechanics' institute,
schools at Elswick, &c.
A recent purchase was at Bamborough, the ancient capital of the
Northumbrian kings, where, nearer our own time, Grace Darling was born
and died. Already great improvements are in progress there in the shape
of workmen's houses; and the parish church is being restored. Bamborough
Castle, which is also included in the purchase, is an imposing mass of
masonry, standing on a pile of columnar basalt, which is mentioned early
in history; there was a castle here as early as the fifth century. By
the will of Lord Crewe it had been devoted as far back as 1721 to
charitable purposes.
In the autumn of 1893, Lord Armstrong told the Elswick shareholders that
he believed the time was coming when armoured ships would be as obsolete
as mail-clad men. 'Do what we will,' he said, 'I believe that the means
of attack will always overtake the means of defence, and that sooner or
later armour will be abandoned.' His reason for this statement was the
use of high explosives and quick-firing guns. In the future, light
vessels of great speed, armed with quick-firing guns, are likely to be
the order of the day. The life of a battleship, he also said, was far
too valuable to be staked on the use of its ram; special ships should
therefore be built for ramming. On another occasion he discussed the
improvements in the manufacture of cordite which had made it possible to
secure enormous power even with moderate-sized guns. With a 6-inch gun
of 45 calibre, and a 100 lb. projectile, a velocity of nearly 3000 feet
per second has been reached, giving an energy of 5884 tons, as against
the 5254 tons of the 8-inch gun of ten years ago. This last gun could
only fire four rounds in five minutes; now we hear of ten and eighteen
rounds in three minutes. As to speed, some warships built for the
Argentine Republic and for Japan had reached a speed of 26-1/4 miles an
hour, and were at the time the fastest war-vessels afloat.
At the annual meeting of shareholders in 1895, Lord Armstrong said that
the war-material which they supplied for the great naval war in the East
thoroughly stood the test, and the quick-firing guns of the Japanese
navy had greatly helped their victory. The heavily-armed high-speed
cruisers also deserve a share of the credit, and these had been built by
their firm.
In connection with an official inquiry it was found that in 1896 there
were 18,000 men employed in the arsenal at Elswick alone, and that 13
ironclads and cruisers, and 1400 guns were being built.
TESTING GUNS AT SHOEBURYNESS.
It is at Shoeburyness, in the county of Essex, that experiments are
carried out with the guns, large and small, manufactured at Woolwich and
Enfield.
Shoeburyness has become a military centre, not because of any advantages
afforded by its position on the sea, but because it consists of a large
tract of dreary marshes flanked to the south and east by the
far-stretching Maplin sands, which are almost entirely uncovered at
low-water. These sands form the attraction from a scientific point of
view.
The first connection of Shoeburyness with modern military matters
appears to have been made so lately as the time of the Crimean War,
when the flat rough marshland was employed as a camping ground for men
and horses with the view of accustoming both to the hard work which lay
before them in the East. This tract of country has thus become the
property of the War Department, and that administrative body soon found
another use for it, in which the half-submerged sands were to bear an
important part. The idea was conceived that targets might be erected on
these sands, and that the projectiles which were fired at them might be
recovered at low-water. Hence the first connection of Shoeburyness with
the artillery of the present day. A safe range can be found across the
sands to almost any distance, and these marshes have therefore become
the stage on which our great guns, such as Armstrongs and Whitworths,
have made, so to speak, their first _début_.
To reach Shoeburyness we take the railway which runs along the south
coast of Essex and the northern bank of the Thames. As we near the mouth
of the estuary we pass Southend, beloved of _trippers_, with its pier
stretching out in its length of over a mile, and then cross the base of
the ness itself, when we reach the sea again. On the south-eastern face
of the ness we are at our journey's end, and the railway also, so far as
the general public is concerned, has come to a full stop. We walk
through the little town or village, and on the farther side find what we
may call the original settlement of gunnery experiments, now for the
most part a group of barracks and quarters such as we might find at any
military station. A few differences we notice, however, for, as we pass
through the barrack-yard, we observe that one building is labelled
'Lecture-room,' and other evidences there are here and there that the
artillerymen who are quartered here are not altogether engaged in their
ordinary duties. We shall probably not linger long at the barracks, but
we shall not fail to observe that the officers' quarters and mess-room
occupy an extremely pleasant position on a wooded bank above the sea,
and that at high-water the waves come rippling up to the very trees
themselves. Farther on are the houses appropriated to married officers,
all alike situated on the pleasant sea-bank.
We see in front of us huge wooden erections standing on the edge of the
shore. These are conning-towers from which, when practice is going on, a
view is obtained of the direction of the shot. Beneath them are the
batteries from which the guns are fired, and here go on the courses of
instruction in practical artillery work, which are necessary for newly
joined officers.
But we have by no means seen the most important part of Shoeburyness
when we have visited the barracks and the batteries. We notice that a
line of rails winds its way in and out amongst guns and storehouses, and
if we have timed our visit right we shall find a little miniature train
just about to start for what is called _The New Range_. Taking our
places in this train we shall be carried first through the village and
past the terminus of the public line, and then along a private railway
which winds along amongst the corn-fields, until we reach a retired spot
on the sea-shore hemmed in by lofty trees. In this private place are
carried on all the experiments for which Shoeburyness is famous, and
here both guns and explosives are tested to their utmost capability.
It is not altogether an unpicturesque spot at which we have arrived.
Grouped together in this immediate neighbourhood are certain nice old
farmhouses and other buildings which have been taken possession of by
the military. The space in front would no doubt be an admirable
rabbit-warren, only the whole ground is now covered by guns of various
sizes, targets, shields, breastworks, and models of portions of ironclad
and other vessels. Amongst these run lines of rails by which guns and
materials can be moved to any part of the ground; and in places there
are overhead travelling cranes by which heavy cannon may be hoisted on
to or off from their carriages or into trucks, as need may require; and
we again see lofty conning-towers, though target practice at a distance
is not carried on here to the same extent as it is in that portion of
the establishment which we first visited. The work at _The New Range_ is
connected rather with experiments as to the force of explosives and the
penetrating power of projectiles than with accuracy of aim and the
direction of the shot.
We ought first to say a few words about modern explosives. Old-fashioned
gunpowder, or _black_ powder as it is now usually called, is composed,
as everybody knows, of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur mixed together
in the proportion usually of seventy-five, fifteen, and ten parts
respectively.
Two chief varieties of the new brown powders are now made, and are known
as 'slow-burning cocoa'--from the fact that cocoa-nut fibres were first
employed in the experiments--and 'Prism brown I.' The former contains
about four per cent. of sulphur, and burns rather more rapidly than the
latter, which contains only two per cent. Baked straw is the material
now used to supplant the charcoal, as it provides a form of cellulose
which may be readily reduced to a fine state of division. The shape is
still the perforated hexagonal prism introduced in America.
The burning of these powders is steady and the increase of pressure
gradual, attaining a maximum when the bullet is about half-way down the
barrel of the gun. The damage inflicted on the firing-chamber is very
slight; perhaps as slight as ever will be obtained with such large
charges of powder.
Uniformity of velocity is secured by ensuring that in the making the
proportions employed shall be accurate and the mixing complete. The
prisms of any given class of powder are made exactly the same in weight
and composition, and in consequence, a charge composed of a given number
of prisms will give in every case almost exactly the same propelling
force. It is thus that fine aiming adjustments are made possible, as two
consecutive bullets of the same weight may be propelled almost exactly
the same distance--varying only a few yards in a range of several
miles--by equal weights of powder of uniform composition.
But explosives of the present day are composed of other substances.
Cordite, of which we now hear so much, is made of nitro-glycerine,
gun-cotton, and mineral jelly in the proportion of fifty-seven,
thirty-eight, and five parts. It is also steeped in a preparation of
acetone. Gun-cotton itself is dipped in a mixture of three parts of
sulphuric to one of nitric acid. The force of cordite over gunpowder may
be judged from the following facts. A cartridge containing seventy
grains of black powder fired in the ordinary rifle of the army will give
what is called a muzzle velocity of one thousand three hundred and fifty
feet a second, while thirty grains only of cordite will give a velocity
of two thousand feet. In larger arms, a little less than a pound of
cordite fired in a twelve-pounder gun will give more velocity than four
pounds of black powder fired in the same weapon. It need hardly be said
that in the experiments at Shoeburyness it is the new-fashioned
explosive which is chiefly used.
Let us examine one of the guns, a breech-loader, and see what
improvements have been made which may conduce to rapidity of fire. We
see that in the older pattern three motions were necessary to open the
breech. First the bar which is fixed across the base of the block had to
be removed, then a half turn had to be given to the block to free it in
its bed, and then it had to be pulled forward. Firstly, it had to be
thrown back on its hinge so as to open the gun from end to end. We are
shown that in later patterns the cavity or bed into which the block fits
is made in the form of a cone, so that the breech-block itself can be
turned back without any preliminary motion forward. In artillery work,
time is everything, and any one motion of the gunner's hands and arms
saved is a point gained. Now let us look at the mechanism by which the
recoil or backward movement of the gun is checked at the moment of
firing. The gun slides in its cradle, and its recoil is counteracted by
buffers which work in oil, something in the fashion of the oil springs
which we see on doors. Iron spiral springs push the gun back again into
place. Another interesting piece of mechanism is the electric machinery
by which the gun is fired. When the recoil has taken place, the wire,
along which runs the electric current, is pushed out of place, so that
it is impossible to fire the gun, even though it be loaded, until it has
been again fixed in its proper position on the cradle. Truly a modern
cannon is a wonderful machine, and yet it is only a development from the
sort of iron gas-pipe which was used in the middle ages. Hard by is a
gun which has come to grief. In experiments which are carried on at
Shoeburyness, guns are charged to their full, or, as in this case, more
than their full strength. There is an ugly gash running down the outer
case or jacket, as it is called, of the gun, and the latter has broken,
and nearly jumped out of its cradle. Nursery phraseology certainly comes
in strongly in the technical slang of gunnery when we have to do with
_Woolwich Infants_.
After looking at the guns we naturally go on to look at the targets at
which they are fired. Targets at _The New Range_ are not so much marks
as specimens of armour-plates and other protections. Some of these are
built up with a strength which to the uninitiated appears to be proof
against any attack. Here, for instance, we find a steel plate of
eighteen inches in thickness, and behind this six inches of iron, the
whole backed up by huge balks of timber. But notwithstanding its depth,
the enormous mass has been dented and cracked, and in places pierced.
When we look at plates which are not quite so thick, we see that the
shells have formed what are pretty and regular patterns, for small
triangles of metal have been splintered off and turned back, so that the
aperture is decorated with a circle of leaves, and resembles a rose with
the centre cut out. Where the shell has entered the plate before it
bursts, the pattern remains very perfect; but when it explodes as it
touches the surface, some of the encircling leaves are entirely cut off.
One target is pointed out to us which represents the iron casing of the
vulnerable portions of a torpedo boat, consisting of engine-room,
boilers, and coal-bunkers. These compartments have been riddled again
and again. Even a service-rifle bullet can penetrate one side, and a
shell of the smallest size will go through both, for torpedo boats are
not very heavily built.
HIRAM S. MAXIM AND THE MAXIM MACHINE GUN.
Statisticians inform us that the entire loss of life in wars between
so-called civilised countries from the year 1793 down to 1877 had
reached the enormous amount of four million four hundred and seventy
thousand. To many persons these figures convey a sad and salutary
lesson. But, leaving the sentimental part of the subject aside, all will
readily unite in admiring the wonderful mechanism which makes the Maxim
Machine Gun an engine of terrible destructiveness. Stanley provided
himself with this formidable weapon, to be used defensively in the
expedition on which he started for the relief of Emin Bey. It obtained a
gold medal at the Inventions Exhibition, and has been approved of, if
not actually adopted, by many governments.
[Illustration: Rifle-calibre Maxim Gun.]
Its rate of firing--770 shots a minute--is at least three times as rapid
as that of any other machine gun. It has only a single barrel, which,
when the shot is fired, recoils a distance of three-quarters of an inch
on the other parts of the gun. This recoil sets moving the machinery
which automatically keeps up a continuous fire at the extraordinary rate
of 12 rounds a second. Each recoil of the barrel has therefore to
perform the necessary functions of extracting and ejecting the empty
cartridge, or bringing up the next full one and placing it in its proper
position in the barrel, of cocking the hammer, and pulling the trigger.
As long as the firing continues, these functions are repeated round
after round in succession. The barrel is provided with a water jacket,
to prevent excessive heating; and is so mounted that it can be raised or
lowered or set at any angle, or turned horizontally to the left or to
the right. The bore is adapted to the present size of cartridges; and
the maximum range is eighteen hundred yards. The gun can therefore be
made to sweep a circle upwards of a mile in radius.
Nor is the gun excessively heavy, its total weight being only one
hundred and six pounds, made up thus: Tripod, fifty pounds; pivot (on
which the gun turns and by which it is attached to the tripod), sixteen
pounds; gun and firing mechanism, forty pounds. The parts can be easily
detached and conveniently folded for carriage, and may be put together
again so quickly that, if the belt containing the cartridges is in
position, the first shot can be delivered within ten seconds. It would
therefore be extremely serviceable in preventing disaster through a body
of troops being surprised. Reconnoitring parties, too, would deem it
prudent to pay greater deference to an enemy's lonely sentry on advanced
outpost duty if the latter were provided with this new Machine Gun,
instead of the ordinary rifle.
Immediately below the barrel of the gun, a box is placed, containing the
belt which carries the cartridges. The belts vary in length. Those
commonly used are seven feet long, and capable of holding three hundred
and thirty-three cartridges; shorter ones hold one hundred and twenty
cartridges; but the several pieces can be joined together for continuous
firing. Single shots can be fired at any time whether the belt is in
position or not--in the former case by pressing a button, which prevents
the recoil; in the latter, by hand-loading in the ordinary way. To start
firing, one end of the belt is inserted in the gun, the trigger is
pulled by the hand once, after which the movement becomes continuous and
automatic as long as the supply of cartridges lasts. At each recoil of
the barrel, the belt is pushed sufficiently onward to bring the next
cartridge into position; the mechanism grasps this cartridge, draws it
from the belt, and passes it on to the barrel. Should a faulty or an
empty cartridge find its way in, and the gun does not go off in
consequence, there is of course no recoil to keep up the repeating
action, and the mechanism ceases to work until the obstruction is
removed.
To devise and adjust the necessary parts of the machine with such
precision that each part performs its proper function at the exact
moment pre-arranged for it--to do all this while the gun fires at the
enormous rate of six hundred rounds a minute, must have cost an
immensity of thought, of labour, and of time.
The 'Colt Automatic Gun,' a new machine gun manufactured by the Colt
Firearms Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, promised in 1896 to be a
rival to the Maxim, as it fired 400 shots a minute.
Hiram S. Maxim was born in the state of Maine in 1840, and in his
fourteenth year was apprenticed to a carriage-builder. From his father,
who had a wood-working factory and mill, he learned the use of tools and
derived his inventive turn of mind. After some experience in
metal-working in his uncle's works at Fitchburg, he was in turn a
philosophical instrument maker, and on the staff of some ironworkers and
shipbuilders. About 1877 he became a consulting electrical engineer, a
branch of science which he studied and became master of in a short time.
Some of the earliest electric lights in the States were devised and
erected by him. He was in England and Europe in 1880 in order to
investigate electrical methods there. He was back in London in 1883, and
after that visit, like Siemens, he made it his headquarters. What
leisure he now had (1883-4) on hand he devoted to inventing his
automatic machine gun, which should load and fire itself, and the
British government was the first to recognise its merits and adopt it.
The making of it has been taken over by the Maxim-Nordenfelt Gun
Company, which has a capital of about two millions sterling.
Like Edison he has taken out about a hundred different patents, some of
which are connected with oil motors and smokeless gunpowder. His
flying-machine, as described in his paper at the British Association in
1894, burns oil fuel, which developed three hundred and sixty
horse-power. It was driven at sixty miles an hour horizontally, and the
machine contained an aeroplane sloping six degrees to the horizon. The
weight to be lifted was eight thousand pounds. After running nine
hundred feet, the machine exerted an upward thrust of two thousand
pounds greater than its own weight. The machine, after one thousand
feet, broke loose; the steam was shut off, and it fell. The experiments
have been conducted at Bexley, in Kent, where Mr Maxim had a light track
of railway laid down, sixteen hundred feet long, on which the machine
moved. The back part of the machine having been liberated from the
check-rail too soon caused the accident at the experiment, and sent the
whole machine off the track. There is sufficient evidence that it did
rise from the ground, and Lords Rayleigh and Kelvin have become
believers in its possibilities. This machine, as described at the time,
with its four side sails and aeroplanes set, is over one hundred feet
wide, and looks like a huge white bird with four wings instead of two.
It is propelled by two large two-bladed screws, resembling the
screw-propellers of a ship, driven by two powerful compound engines.
IRONCLADS.
A modern ironclad is an enormous piece of complicated mechanism. In
order to protect this mechanism from hostile shot, the greater part of
it is placed under water and covered by a thick steel deck; the
remainder above water being protected by vast armour-plates varying from
eight to twenty-four inches in thickness. From the exterior, an ironclad
is by no means a thing of beauty; one writer has described it as 'a
cross between a cooking apparatus and a railway station;' but in place
of this ingenious parallel, imagine a low flat-looking mass on the
water; from the centre rises a huge funnel, on either side of which are
a turret and a superstructure running to the bow and stern; two short
pole masts, with platforms on the top for machine guns, complete an
object calculated to bring tears to the eyes of the veteran sailor who
remembers the days of the grand old line-of-battle ship, with its tall
tapering masts and white sails glistening in the sun. A stranger going
on board one of our newest types of ironclads would lose himself amid
the intricacies and apparent confusion of the numerous engines,
passages, and compartments; it is a long time, in fact, before even the
sailors find their way about these new ships; and the Admiralty allow a
new ironclad to remain three months in harbour on first commissioning
before going to sea, in order that the men may become acquainted with
the uses of the several fittings on board, each ironclad that is built
now being in many ways an improvement on its predecessor.
Those who have not been on board a modern ironclad can form no idea of
the massiveness and solidity of the various fittings; the enormous guns,
the rows of shot and shell, the huge bolts, bars, and beams seem to be
meant for the use of giants, not men. Although crowded together in a
comparatively small space, everything is in perfect order, and ready at
any moment to be used for offensive or defensive purposes. It is not,
perhaps, generally known that the captain of a man-of-war is ordered to
keep his ship properly prepared for battle as well in time of peace as
of war. Every evening before dark the quarters are cleared and every
arrangement made for night-battle, to prevent surprise by a better
prepared enemy. When at anchor in a harbour, especially at night, the
ship is always prepared to repel any attempts of an enemy to board or
attack with torpedoes or fireships. In addition to the daily and weekly
drills and exercises, once every three months the crew are exercised at
night-quarters, the time of course being kept secret by the captain, so
that no preparations can be made beforehand, the exercise being intended
to represent a surprise. In the dead of night, when only the officers of
the watch and the sentries posted in the various parts of the ship are
awake, the notes of a bugle vibrate between the decks; immediately, as
if by magic, everything becomes alive; men are seen scrambling out of
their hammocks, and lights flash in all directions; the huge shells are
lifted by hydraulic power from the magazines, placed on trucks, and
wheeled by means of railways to the turrets; men run here and there with
rifles, boarding-pikes, axes, cases of powder and ammunition; others are
engaged laying fire-hose along the decks, others closing the water-tight
doors; while far down below, the engineers, stokers, and firemen are
busy getting up steam for working the electric-light engines, turrets,
&c. At the torpedo ports, the trained torpedo-men are placing the
Whiteheads in their tubes; others are preparing cases of gun-cotton for
boom-torpedoes. In ten minutes, however, all is again silent and each
man stands at his station ready for action. The captain, followed by his
principal officers, now walks round the quarters and inspects all the
arrangements for battle, after which various exercises are gone through.
A bugle sounds, and numbers of men rush away to certain parts of the
ship to repel imaginary boarders; another bugle, and a large party
immediately commence to work the pumps; another low, long blast is a
warning that the ship is about to ram an enemy, and every man on board
stretches himself flat on the decks until the shock of the (supposed)
collision takes place. After a number of exercises have been gone
through, the guns are secured, arms and stores returned to their places,
the men tumble into their hammocks again, and are soon fast asleep.
[Illustration: One of the 'Wooden Walls of Old England.' _The Duke of
Wellington_ Screw Line-of-Battle Ship. One hundred and thirty-one Guns.]
It would be interesting to glance at some of the principal offensive and
defensive capabilities of a modern ironclad. The first-class
line-of-battle ship of fifty years ago carried as many as a hundred and
thirty, what would be called in the present day, very light guns; in
contrast to this, her Majesty's armour-plated barbette ram _Benbow_
carries _two_ guns weighing a hundred and ten tons each. These enormous
weapons are forty-three feet eight inches long, and are capable of
sending a shot weighing three quarters of a ton to a distance of seven
miles. The effect of a shell from one of these guns piercing the armour
of a ship and bursting would be very disastrous, and there are few, if
any, ships whose armour, when fairly hit at a moderate distance, could
withstand such a blow.
Guns, however, although terrible in effect, are now supplemented by
other and more deadly means of offence. Foremost amongst these stands
the Whitehead or Fish Torpedo. This infernal machine can be discharged
from tubes in the side of a ship to a distance of a thousand yards under
water at a speed of twenty-five miles per hour. Armed with its charge of
gun-cotton it rushes forth on its mission; and, if successful in
striking the ship against which it is aimed, explodes, and rends a large
hole in her side, through which the water pours in huge quantities. In
order to protect a man-of-war from this danger, she can be surrounded at
short notice with thick wire-nettings, hanging from projecting
side-spars, against which the torpedo explodes with harmless effect.
These nettings are, however, principally intended for use when ships are
at anchor in harbour at night; they could not well be employed in action
with an enemy, as they offer such resistance to the water as to reduce
the speed of the ship by four or five knots, and so encumber her as to
render her liable to be rammed by a more active opponent.
All large ironclads now have two or three torpedo boats. These craft are
constructed of steel one-sixteenth of an inch thick, and steam at a
speed of sixteen knots, some of the larger kind reaching twenty or
twenty-one knots an hour. Carrying two Whiteheads, they are valuable
auxiliaries to the parent ship; their rapid movements, together with
their dangerous freight, distracting the attention of an enemy.
[Illustration: The _Majestic_.]
Machine-guns, however, form a very effective remedy for them; a single
torpedo boat attacking an ironclad would, directly she got within range,
be riddled with Gardner and Nordenfelt shot, and sunk in about fifteen
seconds. It is only when three or four approach in various directions,
or during night attacks, that they become really dangerous. The electric
search-lights, with which most large men-of-war are now provided, will
show a torpedo boat at the distance of a mile on the darkest night; but
there is of course always a chance of their getting close enough to a
ship to discharge a torpedo before they are discovered.
The bow of many of our ironclads is constructed for the purpose of
ramming (running down and sinking) an antagonist. To use a ram requires
great speed and facilities for turning and manoeuvring quickly; for
the latter purposes, short ships are better than long ones. It would
be a comparatively easy thing for a ship steaming fourteen knots to
ram another that could only steam ten; a small ship might also
outmanoeuvre and ram a long one; but it would be extremely difficult,
in fact almost impossible, for a ship to ram another vessel of equal
speed and length. To secure facilities in turning and manoeuvring, all
our modern ships are built as short as possible, and have two screws,
each worked by entirely separate sets of engines, so that one can go
ahead whilst the other goes astern. If one set of engines is disabled,
the other can still work independently, and a fair speed be maintained.
We always think that two ships at close quarters trying to ram one
another, must be like a game at chess, requiring the closest observation
of your opponent's movements and the nicest judgment for your own, a
wrong move being fatal to either.
It is the opinion of many naval men of authority that a modern naval
battle would only occupy about half the time of a fight in the old
Trafalgar days; that half the ships employed would be sunk, and that
most of the remainder would be so battered as to be unfit for further
service for months to come.
In connection with the Navy Estimates for 1896-7 it was announced in
the House of Commons that the following vessels would be constructed: 13
first-class battleships, 10 first-class cruisers, 16 second-class
cruisers, 7 third-class cruisers, and 48 torpedo-boat destroyers.
SUBMARINE BOATS.
In 1864, during the American civil war, a submarine boat succeeded in
sinking the Federal frigate _Housatonic_. This boat, however, was hardly
an unqualified success, as, running into the hole made by its torpedo,
it went down with the ship; and three crews had previously been lost
while carrying out its initial experiments. Since then, many methods of
submersion have been tried; but it is only within recent years that
naval powers have awakened to the fact that a submersible boat, though
by no means so formidable for offensive purposes as its name at first
leads one to believe, is a factor which might have to be taken into
consideration in the next naval war.
Modern types of these boats are the Holland, Nordenfelt, Tuck, and
Goubet. The Holland boat comes to us from over the Atlantic, and is
peculiar in its weapon of offence. It is fifty feet long, eight feet in
diameter, and is driven by a petroleum engine carrying sufficient fuel
for two days' run. The diving is effected by means of two horizontal
rudders, one on each side of the stern. This only allows of submersion
when the boat is in motion; and the boat cannot be horizontal while
submerged. It carries ten-inch gelatine blasting shells, fired from a
pneumatic gun twenty feet long, whose radius of action is two hundred
yards under water and one thousand yards above. The use of gelatine is
also objectionable, as the confined space and the vibration of the boat
prevent such explosives being carried without some risk of premature
explosion. It is for this reason that gun-cotton is adopted in torpedo
work, as it will not explode on concussion, and is little affected by
change of temperature.
The principal features of the Nordenfelt boat are its method of
submersion and its propulsion by steam. The boat is one hundred and
twenty-five feet long, twelve feet beam, and displaces two hundred and
fifty tons when entirely submerged, one hundred and sixty tons when
running on the surface. Her propelling machinery consists of two double
cylinder compound engines, with a horse-power of one thousand, and
propelling the boat at fifteen knots on the surface. The submersion of
the boat is effected by means of two horizontal propellers working in
wells at each end. Two conning-towers project about two feet above the
deck, of one-inch steel, surmounted by glass domes, protected with steel
bars, for purposes of observation. The boat usually runs on the surface
with these towers showing, unless the buoyancy, which is never less than
half a ton, is overcome by the horizontal propellers, when the boat
becomes partially or totally submerged according to their speed. To
ascend to the surface it is only necessary to stop the horizontal
propellers, which also stop automatically on reaching a set depth. In
the forward tower are the firing keys, machinery and valves necessary
for driving or steering the vessel, for controlling the horizontal
propellers, and for discharging the Whitehead torpedoes. Four of these
are carried, and they are discharged with powder from two tubes in the
bows. In the conning-tower are also placed the instruments indicating
the depth, level, and course. When the boat is awash, the funnels have
to be unshipped and the boat closed up before submersion. The length of
time, twenty-five minutes, required for this operation is an objection
to this boat, though when submerged it does not get unpleasantly hot.
The temperature after a three hours' submerged run was only ninety
degrees Fahrenheit. The crew consists of a captain and eight men.
The Tuck also comes from America. It is of iron, cigar-shaped, thirty
feet long and six feet in diameter. It is submerged by means of a
horizontal rudder in the stern and a horizontal propeller acting
vertically amidships beneath the boat. It is driven by electricity,
supplied from storage batteries packed closely in the bows. Compressed
air is carried in reservoirs, but a supply is usually obtained when the
boat is not far from the surface, by means of an iron pipe twenty feet
long, which usually lies on deck, but which can be raised to an upright
position by gearing from within. The top then rises above the surface of
the water, and by opening a valve in the foot and attaching a pump,
fresh air is drawn into the interior. The crew need not exceed three
men.
[Illustration: Section of the Goubet Submarine Boat.]
The Goubet class are of iron, sixteen feet long, three feet wide, and
about six feet deep. The motive power is a Siemens motor driven by
storage batteries. Fifty of these boats were purchased by the Russian
government. They have no rudder, but a universal joint in the screw
shaft permits of the screw being moved through an arc of ninety degrees.
The torpedo is carried outside the boat, secured by a catch worked from
inside. On arriving under the enemy, the torpedo is released, and
striking the ship's bottom, is held there by spikes. The boat then
withdraws, unreeling a connecting wire; and when at a safe distance,
fires. The absence of a rudder, however, causes erratic steering, and
the spikes with which the torpedo is fitted might fail to stick in
steel-bottomed ships.
Submarine boats cannot be driven under water at a speed exceeding six
knots. If driven beyond, they are inclined to dive, and in deep water,
before the corrective forces against a dive have had time to act, might
reach a depth where the pressure would drive in the sides or compress
them to a sufficient extent to seriously reduce the displacement. In
shallow water, the boat might be driven on to the bottom, and if it be
clay, held there, an accident attended with fatal consequences in the
case of one boat.
It is also difficult to direct the course of a submarine boat; and it is
doubtful whether the advantage of not being seen counteracts the
disadvantage of not being able to see. According to Mr Nordenfelt in a
lecture on Submarine Boats, 'The mirror of the surface throws a strong
light into the boat; you cannot see forward at all, and you cannot see
far astern; it is as black as ink outside; you can only see a sort of
segment.' This means that you cannot safely advance at a great speed
under water. It is impossible to think of a submarine boat as a boat
that actually manoeuvres and does its work under water. The boat should
run awash, and you can then see where you are. When we consider, then,
that a boat totally submerged cannot be driven over six knots, and
cannot be properly directed; when we consider the speeds of seventeen
and eighteen knots attained by modern battleships, we arrive at the
conclusion that boats totally submerged are useless against modern
battleships in motion. Running awash, they could be tackled by torpedo
catchers and torpedo boats.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VII.
EVOLUTION OF THE CYCLE.
In praise of Cycling--Number of Cycles in Use--Medical Opinions--
Pioneers in the Invention--James Starley--Cycling Tours.
Sir Walter Scott once told a friend that if he did not see the heather
once a year he would die. He saw it much oftener than once a year. When
the building and planting of Abbotsford had become a passion with him,
and when the vacation came round in connection with his duties in the
Court of Session, he would not stay ten minutes longer in Edinburgh than
he could help. Sometimes his carriage would be waiting in Parliament
Square to bear him off as swiftly as possible to Abbotsford. John Locke
says there is a good vein of poetry buried in the breast of most
business men; there is at least in the breast of most men, strong or
latent, a longing, a passion for freedom, for change. When the buds
swell and burst; when the May-blossom breaks forth on the hawthorn, and
makes a spring snowstorm in the valley; when the cuckoo is heard, and
the lark rains down his drops of melody above the springing clods; when
the lambs gambol in the green fields, and the hives are murmurous with
their drowsy insect hum--the awakening comes in man, too, for freedom,
freshness, change. They are happy who can enjoy such, and be rested and
refreshed; for millions are chained to the oar, and know not what they
miss, and millions more have not had their eyes or their desires
awakened to what they miss. Lowell expresses the feeling:
What man would live coffined with brick and stone,
Imprisoned from the healing touch of air,
And cramped with selfish landmarks everywhere,
When all before him stretches, furrowless and lone,
The unmapped prairie none can fence or own?
What man would read and read the self-same faces,
And like the marbles which the windmill grinds,
Rub smooth for ever with the same smooth minds,
This year retracing last year's, every year's, dull traces,
When there are woods and unpenfolded spaces?
* * * * *
To change and change is life, to move and never rest:
Not what we are, but what we hope, is best.
The wild, free woods make no man halt or blind;
Cities rob men of eyes and hands and feet.
We want, then, to recover our eyes, and hands, and feet, remembering the
story of eyes and no eyes. For this end, few things are better than a
day now and then in the open air, in order to bring a man to himself.
The best stimulant in the world is mountain air, and the grandest
restorative music the rhythmic beat of the waves along the shore.
The cyclist covers a wonderful stretch of country, going and returning,
and comes back refreshed too, though tired, thinking that nobody in the
universe can have had a better or pleasanter holiday than he has
enjoyed. He has whizzed along leafy lanes, with glimpses of running
streams to right and left; he has heard the musical monotony of the hill
burns as he rested on the bridge; he has awakened sleepy villages, and
enjoyed his repasts at country inns. And so the cyclist has a ready
power to give himself the requisite and healthful change of scene.
CYCLING.
The pastime of cycling, at first only patronised by athletic youth, has
now spread to every class of the community. The vast improvement in
machines, and the health and exhilaration to be gained by the exercise,
have had much to do with its popularity alike with aristocracy and
democracy. Like golf, it has come to stay, although many who take
cycling up for amusement will drop it again as they would do anything
else. But there will always remain a strong and increasing contingent,
fully aware, by practical experience, of its health and pleasure giving
powers, who will place it second to no existing recreation. And so the
cyclist gets gleams and glances of beauty from many a nook and corner of
the land, where railway, coach, or his unaided pedestrian powers would
never carry him. It has widened a twenty-mile radius to a forty-mile
radius, and increased man's locomotive powers threefold. Let no one
imagine that there is not a considerable amount of exertion and fatigue,
and sometimes hardship. But it is of a wholesome kind, when kept within
limits, and physically, morally, and socially, the benefits that cycling
confers on the men of the present day are almost unbounded.
Truly, we have here a great leveller; as one says: 'It puts the poor man
on a level with the rich, enabling him to "sing the song of the open
road" as freely as the millionaire, and to widen his knowledge by
visiting the regions near to or far from his home, observing how other
men live. He could not afford a railway journey and sojourn in these
places, and he could not walk through them without tiring sufficiently
to destroy in a measure the pleasure which he sought. But he can ride
through twenty, thirty, fifty, even seventy miles of country in a day,
without serious fatigue, and with no expense save his board and
lodging.' This is very well put. Another enthusiast has said: 'If you
want to come as near flying as we are likely to get in this generation,
learn to ride on a pneumatic bicycle.' 'Sum up,' says another, 'when
summer is done, all the glorious days you have had, the splendid bits of
scenery which have become a possession for ever, your adventures worth
telling, and see how you have been gladdened and enriched.'
An enthusiastic journalist who had been burning the candle at both ends
betook himself to the wheel, and found it of so much service to body and
mind that he straightway, in the columns of his newspaper, began to
advise the whole world to learn the bicycle. He could hardly tell the
difference it had made to his feelings and general health, and he knew
of no exercise which brought so easily such a universal return in good
health, good spirits, and amusement. Mr G. Lacy Hillier, of the
Badminton volume on Cycling, confirms this. The cyclist seems to enter
into the spirit of Emerson's saying as thoroughly as Thoreau might have
done: 'Give me health and a day, and I will make the pomp of empires
ridiculous.' Many overdo the exercise, then renounce it, or give it a
bad name; others, by over-rapid riding in towns, make themselves public
nuisances, and vastly increase the dangers of overcrowded streets. The
sensible cyclist rides for health, increase of knowledge, and amusement.
Though at one time Mr Ruskin was prepared to spend all his best bad
language in abusing the wheel, the world has gone its own way, and the
careering multitudes in Battersea Park and elsewhere, on country and
suburban roads, in crowded towns, have been the means of creating new
manufactures, which have vastly benefited our home industries. Mr H. J.
Lawson, inventor of the rear-driving safety, lately estimated the annual
output of cycles at over a million, and the money spent at over ten
millions. But in the absence of statistics this is only guesswork. The
periodical called _Invention_ has stated that in 1884 there were 8
bicycle factories, which turned out 6000 machines. In 1895 there were
about 400 factories, with an estimated output of 650,000 bicycles. The
bicycle tax in France is said to yield not less than £80,000 a year. In
the United States, where cycling has become a greater craze than with
us, two hundred and fifty thousand cycles at least were purchased in
1894; in 1895 more than four hundred thousand changed hands. When the
proposal was made some time ago to impose a tax on cycles, it was
calculated that there were at least eight hundred thousand riders in the
United Kingdom. Now the number is estimated at over a million. The past
few seasons have witnessed quite a 'boom' in cycling and a great
increase in the number of riders. Ladies have taken more rapidly to the
pastime in America and France than in England. The rubber and then the
pneumatic or inflated tyre have wrought a marvellous revolution; the
high 'ordinary,' the tricycle, and the heavy 'solid,' and even the
'cushion,' have in most cases been relegated to the home of old iron.
The Pneumatic Tyre Company, with a capital of four millions sterling,
when in full swing, turns out twenty-five thousand tyres per week. The
profits of this concern in 1896 were at the rate of £432,000 a year.
Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, London, and other towns, have
largely benefited by the cycle trade.
Sir B. W. Richardson has often called attention to the benefit of
cycling in the case of dwellers in towns. Dr Turner finds that nothing
neutralises better the poison introduced into the blood through faulty
digestion than gentle and continued exercise on the wheel. Mr A. J.
Watson, the English amateur one-mile and five-mile champion in 1895,
declared that he never suffered from any ill effects, save perhaps
during the hard days in winter, when prevented from riding. Dr Andrew
Wilson once quoted a budget of correspondence from ladies who had tried
the wheel, all of which was in the same direction, provided that
overstrain was avoided. Where the heart is weak, cycling should be left
alone. The muscles of the legs are developed and the circumference of
the chest increased in the case of healthy riders.
Here are a few hints by a medical man: 'Never ride within half an hour
of a meal, either before or after. Wheel the machine up any hill the
mounting of which on the wheel causes any real effort. See that the
clothing round the stomach, neck, and chest is loose. Have the
handle-bar sufficiently raised to prevent stooping. Be as sparing as
possible of taking fluids during a long ride. Unless the wind, road,
&c., be favourable, never ride more than ten miles an hour, save for
very short distances, and never smoke while riding.'
The cycle as we know it did not burst upon the world in all its present
completeness, but has been a gradual evolution, the work of many a busy
hand and brain, guided by experience. As far back as 1767 we find that
Richard Lovell Edgeworth had something of the nature of a velocipede;
and about the same date, William Murdoch, inventor of gas for
illuminating purposes, had a wooden horse of his own invention upon
which he rode to school at Cumnock.
The French appear to be entitled to whatever of credit attaches to the
original invention of the hobby-horse, a miserable steed at best, which
wore out the toes of a pair of boots at every journey. M. Blanchard, the
celebrated aëronaut, and M. Masurier conjointly manufactured the first
of these machines in 1779, which was then described as 'a wonder which
drove all Paris mad.' The Dandy-horse of 1818, the two wheels on which
the rider sat astride, tipping the ground with his feet in order to
propel the machine, was laughed out of existence. In 1840, a blacksmith
named Kirkpatrick Macmillan, of Courthill, parish of Keir,
Dumfriesshire, made a cycle on which he rode to Glasgow, and caused a
big sensation on the way. This worthy man died in 1878, aged 68. The
notable fact regarding Macmillan's cycle is, that he had adapted cranks
and levers to the old dandy or hobby-horse. Gavin Dalziel, of
Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, had a bicycle of his own invention in daily use
in 1846. The French are probably justified, moreover, in claiming as
their own the development of the crude invention into the present
velocipede, for, in 1862, a M. Rivière, a French subject residing in
England, deposited in the British Patent Office a minute specification
of a bicycle. His description was, however, unaccompanied by any drawing
or sketch, and he seems to have taken no further steps in the matter
than to register a theory which he never carried into practice.
Subsequently, the bicycle was re-invented by the French and by the
Americans almost simultaneously, and indeed, both nations claim priority
in introducing it. It came into public notoriety at the French
International Exhibition of 1867, from which time the rage for them
gradually developed itself, until in 1869 Paris became enthusiastic over
velocipedes. Extensive foundries were soon established in Paris for the
sole purpose of supplying the ironwork, while some scores of large
manufactories taxed their utmost resources to meet the daily increasing
demand for these vehicles.
There was a revival of cycling between 1867-69. An ingenious Frenchman,
M. Michaux, had some years before fitted pedals and a transverse handle
to the front wheel of what came to be irreverently known as the
'bone-shaker.' This embryo bicycle had a considerable vogue, and was
introduced to Mr Charles Spencer's gymnasium in London in 1868. Spencer
was in Paris in 1868, in company with Mr R. Turner, representative of
the Coventry Machinists' Company, and they were each admiring the
graceful evolutions of Henri Tascard on his velocipede over the broad
asphalt paths of the Luxemburg Gardens. 'Charlie, do you think you could
do that?' said Turner. Spencer said he thought he would have a trial,
and would take home a machine that very night. He accordingly brought
over a machine to London, practised riding stealthily in some of the
most out-of-the-way London streets, and soon gained sufficient
confidence to appear in public. Mr John Mayall, jun., photographer,
Regent Street, witnessed the arrival of one of the first bicycles at
Spencer's gymnasium, in Old Street, St Luke's. 'It produced but little
impression upon me,' he says, 'and certainly did not strike me as being
a new means of locomotion. A slender young man, whom I soon came to know
as Mr Turner of Paris, followed the packing-case and superintended its
opening. The gymnasium was cleared, Mr Turner took off his coat, grasped
the handles of the machine, and, with a short run, to my intense
surprise, vaulted on to it, and putting his feet on the treadle made the
circuit of the room. We were some half-a-dozen spectators, and I shall
never forget our astonishment at the sight of Mr Turner whirling himself
round the room--sitting on a bar above a pair of wheels in a line, that
ought, as we inadvertently supposed, to fall down as soon as he jumped
off the ground.'
It is almost laughable, now, to read how Spencer at first always rode on
the pavement, and how politely everybody cleared out of his way. Even
Policeman X helped to make a passage for him. Some wiseacre, on being
quizzed as to the uses of this strange new machine, would reply, 'Why,
it is a machine for measuring roads, of course;' and a street arab would
shout, 'Oh, crikey, Bill, 'ere's a lark. A swell a ridin' on two
wheels. Mind how you fall, sir,' &c. Spencer's speed at first was but
five miles an hour. Soon there were many inquiries for this wonderful
new aid to locomotion. Spencer and Turner entered heartily into the
business. An order for 500 machines was given to the Coventry
Machinists' Company in the end of 1868. This was the firm with which Mr
James Starley, inventor of the 'Coventry Tricycle,' was connected, and
this order helped the start of what has grown to be an enormous and
beneficial industry to the town of Coventry.
The account of feats of long-distance riding, of forty and fifty miles a
day, got abroad--the feat by Turner, Spencer, and Mayall particularly,
in riding to Brighton and back in a day, in February 1869, further
popularised cycling. Charles Dickens and James Payn were amongst those
who were bitten by the velocipede 'mania.'
Yet the bone-shaker craze might have died a natural death but for the
introduction of the rubber tyre and other improvements. Mr James
Starley, of Coventry, through whose inventive genius the tricycle was
evolved from the bicycle, was also an improver and pioneer. Starley says
of his improvements: 'I regarded the rider as the motive force; and
believing it absolutely necessary that he should be so placed that he
could exert the greatest amount of power on his pedals, with the least
amount of fatigue to himself--believing, also, that the machine of the
future must be so made that such essentials as the crank-shaft, pedals,
seat, and handles could easily be made adjustable--I decided to change
my shape, make my wheels of a good rolling size, place my crank-shaft as
near the ground as safety would permit, connect my back wheel with my
crank by means of a chain, so that the gear might be adjusted and varied
at pleasure, and a short, strong man could ride with a fifty, a sixty, a
seventy, or even a higher gear, while a tall, weak man could ride with a
lower gear than the short, strong one; to give my saddle a vertical
adjustment so that it could be raised or lowered at will; so to place my
handles that they could be set forward or backward, raised or lowered,
as might be desired; and finally, to make it impossible for the
pedalling to interfere with the steering.' In the 'Rover' bicycle he
gave an impetus to the early history of the machine, which has been
crowned in the pneumatic tyre, the invention of John Boyd Dunlop, born
at Dreghorn, Ayrshire, in 1840. Mr Dunlop was engaged as a veterinary
surgeon near Belfast, where he built himself an air-wheel from ordinary
thin rubber sheets, with rubber valve and plug. Mr C. K. Welch followed
with the detachable tyre. The big, ungainly looking wheels were at first
laughed at, but when pneumatic tyred machines won race after race, they
became the rage. And when the company formed to make the Dunlop tyre
sold their interest in the concern, in 1896 it was worth about
£3,000,000. The capital originally subscribed was £260,000, and £658,000
had been paid in dividends.
A cycling tour is health-giving and enjoyable when gone about rationally
and prudently. It is pleasant to plan, and no less so to carry out, as
it is always the unexpected which happens. There are halts by the
wayside, conversations with rustics, fine views; and every part of the
brain and blood is oxygenated, giving that kind of wholesome
intoxication which Thoreau said he gained by living in the open air.
One's own country is explored as it has never been explored before. Some
wheelmen have been credited with seven and eight thousand miles in a
single season. Others, more ambitious, have made a track round the
globe. Mr Thomas Stevens, starting from San Francisco in April 1884,
occupied three years in going round the world. Mr T. Allen and Mr L.
Sachtleben, two American students, as a practical finish to a
theoretical education, occupied three years in riding round the
world--15,404 miles on the wheel. They climbed Mount Ararat by the way,
and interviewed Li Hung Chang, the Chinese viceroy. The wheel ridden by
these 'foreign devils' was described by one Chinaman as 'a little mule
that you drive by the ears, and kick in the sides to make him go.'
Mr Frank G. Lenz, who started from America in June 1892 to ride round
the world, was unfortunately killed by six Kurds, sixty-five miles from
Erzeroum, between the villages of Kurtali and Dahar, on May 10, 1894.
There have been many interesting shorter rides. Mr Walter Goddard of
Leeds, and Mr James Edmund of Brixton, started from London and rode
entirely round Europe on wheels; Mr Hugh Callan rode from Glasgow to the
river Jordan; Mr R. L. Jefferson, in 1894, rode from London to
Constantinople, between March 10 and May 19. In 1895 the same gentleman
rode from London to Moscow, 4281 miles, and had nothing good to say of
Russian inns or roads. A lady of sixty has done seventy miles in one
day; while an English lady tourist did twelve hundred miles in her
various ups and downs between London and Glasgow during one holiday.
The lighter the machine, the more expensive it is. Racing-machines are
built as light as twenty pounds in weight. Some of the swiftest
road-riders patronise machines of twenty-six or twenty-seven pounds; but
for all-round work, one of thirty-three pounds, without lamp or bell, is
a good average machine. As to speed, we have had 460 miles in the
twenty-four hours on the racing-track, and 377 miles on the road. Huret,
a French rider, has done 515 miles between one midnight and another; the
Swiss cyclist Lesna has done 28 miles an hour; while Mr Mills and Mr T.
A. Edge, in a ride from Land's End to John o' Groat's on a tandem, beat
all previous records, doing the journey in three days four hours and
forty-six minutes.
A very sensible American rider, when on tour, starts shortly after
breakfast, and with a brief rest for lunch, has his day's work of about
fifty miles over by four P.M. Then he changes underclothing--a most
important and never-to-be-forgotten matter--has dinner, and an enjoyable
ramble over the town or village where he stays over-night. But he is a
luxurious dog, and not many will carry such an abundant kit in the
triangular bag below the handle bar. Imagine three light outing shirts,
three suits, gauze underclothing, a dark flannel bicycle suit, laced
tanned gaiters, light-weight rubber coat, comb; clothes, hair, and tooth
brushes; soap and towel, writing-pad and pencil, map and matches, and
tool bag! Many a cyclist carries a hand camera, and brings home a
permanent record of his journeys.
It has been well said that many a boy will start in life with a more
vigorous constitution because of the bicycle, and many a man who is
growing old too fast by neglect of active exercise will find himself
rejuvenated by the same agency. Only let the getting over a certain
distance within a certain time not be the main object. And winter
riding, when the roads permit, need not be neglected, for nothing is
more invigorating than a winter ride. The doctors tell us that as long
as one can ride with the mouth shut, the heart is all right. A fillip
should be given to the appetite; whenever this is destroyed, and
sleeplessness ensues, cycling is being overdone.
Cycling, of course, as we have already said, is not all pleasure or
romance. There is a considerable amount of hard work, with head-winds,
rain, mud, hills, and misadventures through punctures of the tyre. This
last may happen at the most inopportune time; but the cyclist is
generally a philosopher, and sets about his repairs with a cool and easy
mind.
A word in closing about accidents, which are often due to carelessness
and recklessness. A cyclist has no right to ride at ten or fourteen
miles an hour in a crowded thoroughfare. He takes his life--and other
people's!--in his hands if he does so. No less is caution needed on
hills, the twists and turns in which are unseen or unfamiliar, and where
the bottom of the incline cannot be seen. As the saying goes, 'Better be
a coward for half an hour than a corpse for the rest of your lifetime.'
But experience is the best guide, and no hard-and-fast rules can be laid
down for exceptional circumstances.
[Illustration: The Dandy-horse.]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VIII.
STEAMERS AND SAILING-SHIPS.
Early Shipping--Mediterranean Trade--Rise of the P. and O. and
other Lines--Transatlantic Lines--India and the East--Early
Steamships--First Steamer to cross the Atlantic--Rise of Atlantic
Shipping Lines--The _Great Eastern_ and the New Cunarders
_Campania_ and _Lucania_ compared--Sailing-ships.
THE CARRYING-TRADE OF THE WORLD.
Of all the industries of the world, that which is concerned with the
interchange of the products of nations is suffused with the most
interest for the largest number of people. Not only is the number of
those who go down into the sea in ships, and who do business on the
great waters, legion, but three-fourths of the population of the globe
are more or less dependent on their enterprise. The ocean-carrying trade
we are accustomed to date from the time of the Phoenicians; and
certainly the Phoenicians were daring mariners, if not exactly
scientific navigators, and their ships were pretty well acquainted
with the waters of Europe and the coasts of Africa. But the
Phoenicians were rather merchant-adventurers on their own account than
ocean-carriers, as, for instance, the Arabians were on the other side of
Africa, acting as the intermediaries of the trade between Egypt and East
Africa and India. In the early days, too, there is reason to believe
that the Chinese were extensive ocean-carriers, sending their junks both
to the Arabian Gulf and to the ports of Hindustan, long before Alexander
the Great invaded India. But there is nothing more remarkable in the
history of maritime commerce than the manner in which it has changed
hands.
Even down to the beginning of the present century, almost the whole of
the carrying-trade of the Baltic and the Mediterranean was in the hands
of the Danes, Norwegians, and Germans, while our own harbours were
crowded with foreign ships. This was one of the effects of our peculiar
Navigation Laws, under which foreigners were so protected that there was
hardly a trade open to British vessels. It is, indeed, just ninety years
since British ship-owners made a formal and earnest appeal to the
government to remove the existing shackles on the foreign trade of the
country, and to promote the development of commerce with the American
and West Indian colonies. One argument of the time was the necessity for
recovering and developing the Mediterranean trade, as affording one of
the best avenues for the employment of shipping and the promotion of
international commerce. It was a trade of which England had a very
considerable share in the time of Henry VII., who may very fairly be
regarded as the founder of British merchant shipping. He not only built
ships for himself for trading purposes, but encouraged others to do so,
and even lent them money for the purpose. And it was to the
Mediterranean that he chiefly directed his attention, in eager
competition with the argosies of Venice and Genoa. There resulted a
perfect fleet of what were called 'tall ships' engaged in carrying
woollen fabrics and other British products to Italy, Sicily, Syria, and
the Levant, and in bringing home cargoes of silk, cotton, wool, carpets,
oil, spices, and wine.
Steam has worked a change in favour of this country nowhere more
remarkable than in the Mediterranean trade. When the trade began to
revive for sailing-vessels, by a removal of some of the irksome
restrictions, Lisbon was the most important port on the Iberian
Peninsula for British shipping. There was a weekly mail service by
sailing-packets between Falmouth and Lisbon, until the Admiralty put on
a steamer. Some time in the 'thirties,' two young Scotchmen named Brodie
Wilcox and Arthur Anderson had a small fleet of sailing-vessels engaged
in the Peninsular trade, and in the year 1834 they chartered the steamer
_Royal Tar_ from the Dublin and London Steam-packet Company. This was
the beginning of the great Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation
Company, destined to revolutionise the carrying-trade both of the
Mediterranean and the East. When the Spanish government negotiated for a
line of steamers to be established between England and Spain, Wilcox and
Anderson took up the project, organised a small company, and acquired
some steamers, which at first did not pay. They persevered, however,
until shippers saw the superiority of the new vessels to the old
sailers, and at last the Peninsular Company obtained the first
mail-contract ever entered into by the English government. This was in
1837; the Cunard and Royal Mail (West Indian) lines were not established
until 1840. In a couple of years the Peninsular Company extended their
line through the Straits to Malta and Alexandria, and again to Corfu and
the Levant. In 1840 they applied for and obtained a charter as the
Peninsular and Oriental Steam-navigation Company, with the object of
establishing a line of steamers on the other side of the Isthmus of
Suez, from which have developed the great ramifications to India, China,
Japan, the Straits Settlements, and Australia. It was, indeed, through
the Mediterranean that we obtained our first hold on the Eastern
carrying-trade.
In considering the development of maritime commerce, it is always to be
remembered that the design of Columbus and the early navigators in
sailing westwards was not to find America, but to find a new way to
India and Far Cathay. Mighty as America has become in the world's
economy, its first occupation was only an incident in the struggle for
the trade of the Far East. But with the occupation of America came two
new developments in this carrying-trade--namely, one across the
Atlantic, and one upon and across the Pacific. To the eventful year in
which so many great enterprises were founded--namely, 1840--we trace the
beginning of steam-carrying on the Pacific, for in that year William
Wheelwright took or sent the first steamer round Cape Horn, as the
pioneer of the great Pacific Steam-navigation Company. Within about a
dozen years thereafter, the Americans had some fifty steamers constantly
engaged on the Pacific coast of the two Continents, besides those of the
English company. Out of one of those Pacific lines grew Commodore
Vanderbilt's Nicaragua Transit Company, a double service of two lines of
steamers, one on each side of the Continent, with an overland connection
through Nicaragua. Out of another grew the New York and San Francisco
line, connecting overland across the Isthmus of Panama--where M. de
Lesseps did _not_ succeed in cutting a Canal. And out of yet another of
those Pacific enterprises, all stimulated by Wheelwright's success, grew
in the course of years a line between San Francisco and Hawaii, and
another between San Francisco and Australia. Some forty years ago the
boats of this last-named line used to run down to Panama to pick up
passengers and traffic from Europe, and it is interesting to recall that
at that period the design was greatly favoured of a regular steam
service between England and Australia _viâ_ Panama. A company was
projected for the purpose; but it came to nothing, for various reasons
not necessary to enter upon here. But as long ago as the early fifties,
when the Panama Railway was in course of construction, there were eight
separate lines of steamers on the Atlantic meeting at Aspinwall, and
five on the Pacific meeting at Panama. Later on, when the Americans had
completed their iron-roads from ocean to ocean across their own
dominions, they started lines of steamers from San Francisco to China
and Japan. And later still, when the Canadian Pacific Railway was
completed across Canada, a British line of ships was started across the
Pacific to Far Cathay, and afterwards to Australia and New Zealand. So
that the dream of the old navigators has, after all, been practically
realised.
The repeal of the corn laws gave an immense impetus to British shipping,
by opening up new lines of traffic in grain with the ports of the
Baltic, the Black Sea, and Egypt; and the extension of steamer
communication created another new carrying-business in the transport of
coals abroad to innumerable coaling stations. Thus demand goes on
creating supply, and supply in turn creating new demand.
From the old fruit and grain sailers of the Mediterranean trade have
developed such extensive concerns as the Cunard line (one of whose
beginnings was a service of steamers between Liverpool and Havre), which
now covers the whole Mediterranean, and extends across the Atlantic to
New York and Boston; the Anchor line, which began with a couple of boats
running between the Clyde and the Peninsula, and now covers all the
Mediterranean and Adriatic, and extends from India to America; the Bibby
line, which began with a steamer between Liverpool and Marseilles, and
now covers every part of the Mediterranean (Leyland line), and spreads
out to Burma and the Straits. These are but a few of many examples of
how the great carrying-lines of the world, east and west, have
developed from modest enterprises in mid-Europe. And even now the goods
traffic between the Mediterranean and the United Kingdom, North Europe
and America, is less in the hands of these great lines than in that of
the vast fleets of ocean tramps, both sail and steam.
One of the most wonderful developments in the carrying-trade of the
world is the concern known as the Messageries Maritimes of France--now
probably the largest steamer-owning copartnery in the world. Prior to
the Crimean War, there was an enterprise called the Messageries
Impériales, which was engaged in the land-carriage of mails through
France. In 1851 this company entered into a contract with the French
government for the conveyance of mails to Italy, Egypt, Greece, and the
Levant; and as years went on, the mail subsidies became so heavy that
the enterprise was practically a national one. During the war, the
Messageries Company's vessels were in such demand as transports, &c.,
that the company had to rapidly create a new fleet for mail purposes.
With peace came the difficulty of employing the enormously augmented
fleet. New lines of mail and cargo boats were therefore successively
established between France and the Danube and Black Sea; Bordeaux and
Brazil and the River Plate; Marseilles and India and China, &c. In fact,
the Messageries Company's ramifications now extend from France to Great
Britain, South America, the whole of the Mediterranean, the Levant, the
Black Sea, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and the China Seas, and the
South Pacific.
Few people, perhaps, have any conception of the numbers of regular and
highly organised lines of steamers now connecting Europe and America.
Besides the Messageries, the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd's and the Italian
mail lines run between the Mediterranean and the River Plate. Argentina
and Brazil are connected with different parts of Europe by about a
dozen lines. Between the United States and Europe there are now about
thirty distinct regular lines of steamers carrying goods and passengers;
and about a dozen more carrying goods only. Four of these lines are
direct with Germany, two with France, two with Holland, two with
Belgium, one with Denmark, and two with Italy, one of which is under the
British flag. All the rest of the passenger lines and most of the cargo
lines run between the United Kingdom and the United States. As for the
'tramps' steaming and sailing between North America and Europe, they are
of all nations; but again the majority fly the British flag, though once
upon a time the American-built clippers, of graceful lines and
'sky-scraping' masts, used to monopolise the American carrying-trade
under the stars and stripes. Once upon a time, too, these beautiful
American clippers had the bulk of the China tea-trade, and of the
Anglo-Australian general trade. But they were run off the face of the
waters by the Navigation Laws of America and the shipping enterprise of
Britain. The great and growing trade between the United States and
India, too, is now nearly all carried in British vessels; and a large
part of the regular steam service between New York and the West Indies
is under the British flag. That a change will take place when America
repeals the laws which forbid Americans to own vessels built abroad or
manned by foreigners is pretty certain.
With regard to India, the growth in the carrying-trade has been enormous
since Vasco da Gama, four hundred years ago, found his way round the
Cape of Good Hope to Calicut. For an entire century, down to 1600, the
Portuguese monopolised the trade of the East, and as many as two and
three hundred of their ships would often be gathered together in the
port of Goa, taking in cargo for different Eastern and European ports.
To-day, Goa is a deserted port, and the Portuguese flag is rarely
seen--a ship or two per annum now being sufficient for all the trade
between Portugal and India. In the century of Portuguese prosperity the
English flag was hardly known in Eastern waters. It was the Dutch who
drove out the Portuguese; and the reason why the Dutch were tempted out
to India was because the rich cargoes brought home by the Portuguese
could not be disposed of in Portugal, and had to be taken to Amsterdam,
or Rotterdam, or Antwerp, where the opulent Dutch merchants purchased
them for redistribution throughout Europe. This is how the Dutch came
into direct relations with the Indian trade before the English, and why
Barentz and others tried to find a near way to India for the Dutch
vessels by way of the north of Europe and Asia. Failing in the north,
the Dutch followed the Portuguese round the Cape, and reaching Sumatra,
founded the wide domain of Netherlands-India. This occupation was
effected before 1600; and between that year and 1670 they expelled the
Portuguese from every part of the Eastern Archipelago, from Malacca,
from Ceylon, from the Malabar Coast, and from Macassar.
The Dutch in turn enjoyed a monopoly of the Indian trade for about a
hundred years. Then with the rise of Clive came the downfall of the
Dutch, and by 1811 they were stripped of every possession they had in
the East. Later, we gave them back Java and Sumatra, with which Holland
now does a large trade, reserved exclusively to Dutch vessels. But in
India proper the Dutch have not a single possession, and it is doubtful
if in all the Indian Peninsula there are now a hundred Dutchmen
resident.
Two immense streams of trade are constantly setting to and from India
and Europe through the Suez Canal and round the Cape. Not only is the
bulk of that trade conducted by the well-known Peninsular and Oriental,
British India, City, Clan, Anchor, and other lines (though the
Messageries Maritimes, North German Lloyd's, and other foreign lines
have no mean share), but the whole coast-line of India is served by the
steamers of the British-India and Asiatic lines; and British vessels
conduct the most of the carrying-trade between India and Australia,
China, Japan, the Straits, Mauritius, &c.
A new carrying-trade was created when the Australasian colonies were
founded one after the other--in the taking out of home manufactures,
implements, machinery, &c., and bringing back wool and tallow; and then
gold, wheat, fruit, and frozen meat. This colonial trade is now divided
between sailers and steamers, and in the steamer traffic some of the
foreign lines are eagerly bidding for a share. Similarly, a new
carrying-trade has been of quite recent years developed by the opening
up of South Africa, and this is practically all in British hands.
An important item of international carriage of recent development is the
mineral oil of America and Russia. The carriage of these oils is a trade
of itself. Another special branch of the world's carrying-trade is
connected with the sea-fisheries. All the fishing-grounds of the
Atlantic and North Sea may be said to be now connected with the
consuming markets by services of steamers. The cod-fishers off the Banks
of Newfoundland transfer their dried and salted fish to vessels which
speed them to the good Catholics of Spain and France and Italy, just as
the steam auxiliaries bring to London the harvests gathered by the boats
on the Dogger Bank.
Of late years not unsuccessful efforts have been made, especially by
Captain Wiggins, to establish direct communication between Great Britain
and the arctic coasts of Russia once every summer. And hopes are
entertained that on the completion of the railway from Winnipeg to Fort
Churchill, the greatly shorter sea-route _viâ_ Hudson Strait and Hudson
Bay may greatly facilitate communication with Manitoba and the Canadian
North-west.
It is computed that on the great ocean highways there are not fewer than
ten thousand large and highly-powered steamers constantly employed. If
it be wondered how sailing-vessels can maintain a place at all in the
race of competition in the world's carrying-trade, a word of explanation
may be offered. Do not suppose that only rough and low-valued cargo is
left for the sailers. They still have the bulk of the cotton and wheat
and other valuable products, not only because they can carry more
cheaply, but because transport by sailing-vessels gives the merchant a
wider choice of market. Cargoes of staple products can always be sold
'to arrive' at some given port, and it is cheaper to put them afloat
than to warehouse them ashore and wait for an order.
What, then, are the proportions borne by the several maritime nations in
this great international carrying-trade? The question is not one which
can be answered with absolute precision, but the tables of the Marine
Department of the Board of Trade enable one to find an approximate
answer. In 1893 the tonnage of steam and sailing vessels of all
nationalities in the foreign trade entering and clearing at ports in the
United Kingdom was 74,632,847, of which 54,148,664 tons were British,
and 20,484,183 tons were foreign. In the foreign total, the largest
proportions were Norwegian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, and French.
The Teutonic races have thus the most of the ocean-carrying; the United
States proportion of the above total was small.
So far the United Kingdom. Now let us see what part British shipping
plays in the foreign trade of other countries. We find that the total
tonnage of the British Empire was 10,365,567. The other principal
maritime countries owned 12,000,000 tons. Therefore, roughly speaking,
the British Empire owns about five-elevenths of the entire shipping of
the world. Even so recently as thirty years ago, about two-thirds of the
ocean-carrying trade was performed by sailing-vessels; to-day, about
four-fifths of it is performed by steamers.
THE FIRST STEAMER TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC.
The earliest steamers the world ever saw, not reckoning the experimental
craft constructed by such men as Fulton, Bell, Symington, and Watt, were
those employed in the transatlantic trade. As far back as the year 1819,
the Yankee paddle-steamer _Savannah_, of three hundred tons burden,
crossed from the port of that name, in Georgia, to Liverpool. She
occupied twenty-five days upon the passage; but, as she was fully
rigged, and under all sail during at least two-thirds of the voyage, the
merit of her performance, as an illustration of the superiority of the
engine over canvas, is somewhat doubtful. Yet she was beyond dispute the
first steamer to accomplish a long sea-voyage, and to the Americans
belong the credit of her exploit. Indeed, from the time of their last
war with us, down to within a quarter of a century ago, our Yankee
neighbours generally seemed to be a little ahead of this country in
maritime matters. They taught us a lesson in shipbuilding by their
famous Baltimore clippers, and they were the first to demonstrate in a
practical manner, and to the complete capsizal of the learned Dr
Lardner's theories, the possibility of employing steam for the purposes
of ocean navigation.
Although in 1838 the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_ successfully made
the journey from England to America, yet five years before that date,
Canadian enterprise accomplished the feat of bridging the Atlantic
Ocean with a little vessel propelled wholly by steam. This was the
_Royal William_, whose beautiful model was exhibited at the British
Naval Exhibition in London, where she attracted the attention and
curiosity of the first seamen in the empire. The _Royal William_--named
in honour of the reigning sovereign--was built in the city of Quebec by
a Scotchman, James Goudie, who had served his time and learned his art
at Greenock. The keel was laid in the autumn of 1830; and her builder,
then in his twenty-second year, writes: 'As I had the drawings and the
form of the ship, at the time a novelty in construction, it devolved
upon me to lay off and expand the draft to its full dimensions on the
floor of the loft, where I made several alterations in the lines as
improvements. The steamship being duly commenced, the work progressed
rapidly; and in May following was duly launched, and before a large
concourse of people was christened the _Royal William_. She was then
taken to Montreal to have her engines, where I continued to superintend
the finishing of the cabins and deck-work. When completed, she had her
trial trip, which proved quite satisfactory. Being late in the season
before being completed, she only made a few trips to Halifax.'
The launching of this steamer was a great event in Quebec. The
Governor-general, Lord Aylmer, and his wife were present, the latter
giving the vessel her name. Military bands supplied the music, and the
shipping in the harbour was gay with bunting. The city itself wore a
holiday look. The _Royal William_, propelled by steam alone, traded
between Quebec and Halifax. While at the last-named place, she attracted
the notice of Mr Samuel Cunard, afterwards Sir Samuel, the founder of
the great trans-continental line which bears his name. It is said that
the _Royal William_ convinced him that steam was the coming force for
ocean navigation. He asked many questions about her, took down the
answers in his note-book, and subsequently became a large stockholder in
the craft.
The cholera of 1832 paralysed business in Canada, and trade was at a
standstill for a time. Like other enterprises at this date, the _Royal
William_ experienced reverses, and she was doomed to be sold at
sheriff's sale. Some Quebec gentlemen bought her in, and resolved to
send her to England to be sold. In 1833 the eventful voyage to Britain
was made successfully, and without mishap of any kind. The _Royal
William's_ proportions were as follows: Builder's measurement, 1370
tons; steamboat measurement, as per Act of Parliament, 830 tons; length
of keel, 146 feet; length of deck from head to taffrail, 176 feet;
breadth of beam inside the paddle-boxes, 29 feet 4 inches; outside, 43
feet 10 inches; depth of hold, 17 feet 9 inches. On the 4th of August
1833, commanded by Captain John M'Dougall, she left Quebec, viâ Pictou,
Nova Scotia, for London, under steam, at five o'clock in the morning.
She made the passage in twenty-five days. Her supply of coal was 254
chaldrons, or over 330 tons. Her captain wrote: 'She is justly entitled
to be considered the first steamer that crossed the Atlantic by steam,
having steamed the whole way across.'
About the end of September 1833, the _Royal William_ was disposed of for
ten thousand pounds sterling, and chartered to the Portuguese government
to take out troops for Dom Pedro's service. Portugal was asked to
purchase her for the navy; but the admiral of the fleet, not thinking
well of the scheme, declined to entertain the proposition. Captain
M'Dougall was master of the steamer all this time. He returned with her
to London with invalids and disbanded Portuguese soldiers, and laid her
up off Deptford Victualling Office. In July, orders came to fit out the
_Royal William_ to run between Oporto and Lisbon. One trip was made
between these ports, and also a trip to Cadiz for specie for the
Portuguese government.
On his return to Lisbon, Captain M'Dougall was ordered to sell the
steamer to the Spanish government, through Don Evanston Castor da Perez,
then the Spanish ambassador to the court of Lisbon. The transaction was
completed on the 10th of September 1834, when the _Royal William_ became
the _Ysabel Segunda_, and the first war-steamer the Spaniards ever
possessed. She was ordered to the north coast of Spain against Don
Carlos. Captain M'Dougall accepted the rank and pay of a Commander, and,
by special proviso, was guaranteed six hundred pounds per annum, and the
contract to supply the squadron with provisions from Lisbon. The _Ysabel
Segunda_ proceeded to the north coast; and about the latter part of 1834
she returned to Gravesend, to be delivered up to the British government,
to be converted into a war-steamer at the Imperial Dockyard. The crew
and officers were transferred to the _Royal Tar_, chartered and armed as
a war-steamer, with six long thirty-two pounders, and named the _Reyna
Governadoza_, the name intended for the _City of Edinburgh_ steamer,
which was chartered to form part of the squadron. When completed, she
relieved the _Royal Tar_ and took her name.
In his interesting letter, from which these facts are drawn, to Robert
Christie, the Canadian historian, Captain M'Dougall thus completes the
story of the pioneer Atlantic steamer: 'The _Ysabel Segunda_, when
completed at Sheerness Dockyard, took out General Alava, the Spanish
ambassador, and General Evans and most of his staff officers, to Saint
Andero, and afterwards to St Sebastian, having hoisted the Commodore's
broad pennant again at Saint Andero; and was afterwards employed in
cruising between that port and Fuente Arabia, and acting in concert with
the Legion against Don Carlos until the time of their service expired
in 1837. She was then sent to Portsmouth with a part of those discharged
from the service, and from thence she was taken to London, and detained
in the City Canal by Commodore Henry until the claims of the officers
and crew on the Spanish government were settled, which was ultimately
accomplished by bills, and the officers and crew discharged from the
Spanish service about the latter end of 1837, and _Ysabel Segunda_
delivered up to the Spanish ambassador, and after having her engines
repaired, returned to Spain, and was soon afterwards sent to Bordeaux,
in France, to have the hull repaired. But on being surveyed, it was
found that the timbers were so much decayed that it was decided to build
a new vessel to receive the engines, which was built there, and called
by the same name, and now [1853] forms one of the royal steam-navy of
Spain, while her predecessor was converted into a hulk at Bordeaux.'
This, in brief, is the history of the steamer which played so important
a rôle in the maritime annals of Canada, England, and Spain. Her model
is safely stored in the rooms of the Literary and Historical Society of
Quebec, where it is an object of profound veneration. At the request of
the government, a copy of the model was made, and formed part of the
Canadian exhibit to the World's Fair at Chicago in 1893.
It was not, however, until five years later that the successful passages
of two memorable vessels from England to America fairly established the
era of what has been called the Atlantic steam-ferry. These ships were
respectively the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_. The former was a
craft of about 700 tons burden, with engines of three hundred and twenty
horse-power: she sailed from Cork on the 4th of April 1838, under the
command of Lieutenant Roberts, R.N., bound for New York. The latter
vessel was a steamer of 1340 tons, builders' measurement, with engines
of four hundred and forty horse-power: she was commanded by Captain
Hoskins, R.N., and sailed from Bristol on the 8th of April in the same
year, bound likewise for New York. The _Sirius_, it was calculated, had
a start of her competitor by about seven hundred nautical miles; but it
was known that her utmost capabilities of speed scarcely exceeded eight
knots an hour; whilst the _Great Western_, on her trial trip from
Blackwall to Gravesend, ran eleven knots an hour without difficulty.
The issue of the race was therefore awaited with the utmost curiosity on
both sides of the Atlantic. Contemporary records usually afford good
evidence of the significance of past events, and the interest in this
novel ocean match was prodigious, to judge from the accounts with which
the Liverpool and New York papers of the day teemed. The following is in
brief the narrative of the voyage of these two famous ships across the
Western Ocean. The _Sirius_, after leaving Cork on the 4th of April,
encountered very heavy weather, which greatly retarded her progress. She
arrived, however, off Sandy Hook on the evening of Sunday, the 22d of
April; but going aground, she did not get into the North River until the
following morning. When it was known that she had arrived, New York grew
instantly agitated with excitement.
'The news,' ran the account published by the _Journal of Commerce_ in
the United States, 'spread like wildfire through the city, and the river
became literally dotted all over with boats conveying the curious
to and from the stranger. There seemed to be a universal voice in
congratulation, and every visage was illuminated with delight. A tacit
conviction seemed to pervade every bosom that a most doubtful problem
had been satisfactorily solved; visions of future advantage to science,
to commerce, to moral philosophy, began to float before the "mind's
eye;" curiosity to travel through the old country, and to inspect
ancient institutions, began to stimulate the inquiring.
'Whilst all this was going on, suddenly there was seen over Governor's
Island a dense black cloud of smoke spreading itself upward, and
betokening another arrival. On it came with great rapidity, and about
three o'clock in the afternoon its cause was made fully manifest to the
accumulated multitudes at the Battery. It was the steamship _Great
Western_, of about 1600 tons burden (_sic_) [the difference probably
lies between the net and the gross tonnage], under the command of
Lieutenant Hoskins, R.N. She had left Bristol on the 8th inst., and on
the 23d was making her triumphant entry into the port of New York. This
immense moving mass was propelled at a rapid rate through the waters of
the Bay; she passed swiftly and gracefully round the _Sirius_,
exchanging salutes with her, and then proceeded to her destined
anchorage in the East River. If the public mind was stimulated by the
arrival of the _Sirius_, it became almost intoxicated with delight upon
view of the superb _Great Western_. The latter vessel was only fourteen
clear days out; and neither vessel had sustained a damage worth
mentioning, notwithstanding that both had to encounter very heavy
weather. The _Sirius_ was spoken with on the 14th of April in latitude
45° north, longitude 37° west. The _Great Western_ was spoken on the
15th of April in latitude 46° 26´ north, longitude 37° west. At these
respective dates the _Great Western_ had run 1305 miles in seven days
from King Road; and the _Sirius_ 1305 miles in ten days from Cork. The
_Great Western_ averaged 186-1/2 miles per day, and the _Sirius_ 130-1/2
miles; _Great Western_ gained on the _Sirius_ fifty-six miles per day.
The _Great Western_ averaged seven and three-quarter miles per hour; the
_Sirius_ barely averaged five and a half miles per hour.'
Such was the first voyage made across the Atlantic by these two early
steamships, and there is something of the true philosophy of history to
be found in the interest which their advent created. It is worthy of
passing note to learn what ultimately became of these celebrated
vessels. The _Sirius_, not proving staunch enough for the Atlantic
surges, was sent to open steam-communication between London and St
Petersburg, in which trade she was for several years successfully
employed. The _Great Western_ plied regularly from Bristol to New York
until the year 1847, when she was sold to the Royal Mail Company, and
ran as one of their crack ships until 1857, in which year she was broken
up at Vauxhall as being obsolete and unable profitably to compete with
the new class of steamers being built.
The success of these two vessels may be said to have completely
established steam as a condition of the transatlantic navigation of the
future. 'In October 1838,' says Lindsay, in his _History of Merchant
Shipping_, 'Sir John Tobin, a well-known merchant of Liverpool, seeing
the importance of the intercourse now rapidly increasing between the Old
and New Worlds, despatched on his own account a steamer to New York. She
was built at Liverpool, after which place she was named, and made the
passage outwards in sixteen and a half days. It was now clearly proved
that the service could be performed, not merely with profit to those who
engaged in it, but with a regularity and speed which the finest
description of sailing-vessels could not be expected to accomplish. If
any doubts still existed on these important points, the second voyage of
the _Great Western_ set them at rest, she having on this occasion
accomplished the outward passage in fourteen days sixteen hours,
bringing with her the advices of the fastest American sailing-ships
which had sailed from New York long before her, and thus proving the
necessity of having the mails in future conveyed by steamers.'
In fact, as early as October 1838, the British government, being
satisfied of the superiority of steam-packets over sailing-ships, issued
advertisements inviting tenders for the conveyance of the American mails
by the former class of vessels. The owners of the _Great Western_, big
with confidence in the reputation of that ship, applied for the
contract; but, not a little to their chagrin, it was awarded to Mr
(afterwards Sir Samuel) Cunard, who as far back as 1830 had proposed the
establishment of a steam mail service across the Atlantic. The terms of
the original contract were, that for the sum of fifty-five thousand
pounds per annum, Messrs Cunard, Burns, and MacIver should supply three
ships suitable for the purpose, and accomplish two voyages each month
between Liverpool and the United States, leaving England at certain
periods; but shortly afterwards it was deemed more expedient to name
fixed dates of departure on both sides of the Western Ocean.
Subsequently, another ship was required to be added to the service, and
the amount of the subsidy was raised to eighty-one thousand pounds a
year. The steam mail service between Liverpool, Halifax, and Boston was
regularly established in 1840, the first vessel engaged in it being the
_Britannia_, the pioneer ship of the present Cunard line.
We get an admirable idea of what these early steamships were from
Dickens's account of this same _Britannia_, which was the vessel he
crossed to America in on his first visit to that country in 1842. In one
of his letters to John Forster, describing a storm they were overtaken
by, he unconsciously reflects the wondering regard with which the world
still viewed the triumphant achievements of the marine engine. 'For two
or three hours,' he writes, 'we gave it up as a lost thing. This was not
the exaggerated apprehension of a landsman merely. The head-engineer,
who had been in one or the other of the Cunard vessels since they began
running, had never seen such stress of weather; and I afterwards heard
Captain Hewitt say that nothing but a steamer, and one of that strength,
could have kept her course and stood it out. A sailing-vessel must have
beaten off and driven where she would; while through all the fury of
that gale they actually made fifty-four miles headlong through the
tempest, straight on end, not varying their track in the least.' What
would the skipper of one of the modern 'Atlantic greyhounds' think of
such a feat? And, more interesting speculation still, what must Dickens
himself have thought of the performances he lived to witness as against
this astonishing accomplishment on the part of the old _Britannia_?
There exists a tendency to ridicule the early steamers as they appear in
portraits, with their huge paddle-boxes; tall, thin, dog-eared funnels;
and heavily-rigged masts, as though their engines were regarded as quite
auxiliary to their sail-power, and by no means to be relied upon.
Contrasted with some of the leviathans of the present day, the steamers
of half a century ago are no longer calculated to strike an awe into the
beholder; but, in truth, some very fine vessels were built whilst the
marine engine was still quite in its infancy. In a volume of the
_Railway Magazine_ for 1839 is an account of what are termed colossal
steamers. 'An immense steamer,' runs the description, 'upwards of two
hundred feet long, was lately launched at Bristol, for plying between
England and America; but the one now building at Carling & Co.'s,
Limehouse, for the American Steam-navigation Company, surpasses anything
of the kind hitherto made. She is to be named after our Queen, the
_Victoria_; will cost from eighty to one hundred thousand pounds, has
about one hundred and fifty men now employed daily upon her, and is
expected to be finished in November next. The extreme length is about
253 feet; but she is 237 feet between the perpendiculars, 40-1/4 feet
beam between the paddle-boxes, and twenty-seven feet one inch deep from
the floor to the inner side of the spar-deck. The engines are two, of
250 horse-power each, with six feet four inch cylinders, and seven feet
stroke. They are to be fitted with Hall's patent condensers, in addition
to the common ones. She displaces at sixteen feet 2740 tons of water;
her computed tonnage is 1800 tons. At the water-line every additional
inch displaces eighteen and a half tons. The average speed is expected
to be about two hundred nautical miles a day, and consumption of coal
about thirty tons. The best Welsh coal is to be used. It is calculated
she will make the outward passage to New York in eighteen days, and the
homeward in twelve, consuming 540 tons of coal out, and 360 home.
Expectation is on tiptoe for the first voyage of this gigantic steamer,
alongside of which other steamers look like little fishing-boats.'
The next route on which steam-navigation was opened, following upon that
of the North Atlantic passage, was between Great Britain and India. The
steamers of the Honourable Company had indeed doubled the Cape nearly
two years before the _Sirius_ and _Great Western_ sailed upon their
first trip. The _Nautical Magazine_ for 1836 contains the original
prospectus issued by a syndicate of London merchants upon the subject of
steam-communication with the East Indies. As an illustration of the
almost incredible strides that have been made in ocean travelling since
that period, this piece of literature is most instructive. The circular
opens by announcing that it is proposed to establish steam traffic with
India, extending, perhaps, even to Australia! It points out in sanguine
terms how those distant parts of the earth, by the contemplated
arrangement, 'will be reached at the outset in the short period of
seventy-three days; and, when experience is obtained, this time will in
all probability be reduced by one-third; shortening the distance by the
route in question, from England to Australia, in forty days' steaming,
at ten miles an hour. If two days be allowed for stoppages at stations,
not averaging more than a thousand miles apart throughout the line, the
whole time for passing between the extreme points would only be sixty
days, but a relay of vessels will follow, if the undertaking be matured,
in which case twenty-four hours will be ample time at the depots, and a
communication may be expected to be established, and kept up throughout
the year, between England and Australia, in fifty days. It is reasonably
expected that Bombay will be reached in forty-eight days, Madras in
fifty-five, Calcutta in fifty-nine, Penang in fifty-seven, Singapore in
sixty, Batavia in sixty-two, Canton in sixty-eight, and Mauritius in
fifty-four days.'
The _Nautical Magazine_ writer gravely comments upon this scheme as
quite plausible. He is indeed inclined to be anticipatory. Instead of
seventy-three days to Australia, he is of opinion that the voyage may
ultimately be accomplished in fifty, and that the table of time
generally may be reduced by about one-third throughout; although, to
qualify his somewhat daring speculations, he admits that it is well to
base the calculations on the safe side. But the Honourable East India
Company asserted their prerogatives, and put a stop to the scheme of the
New Bengal Steam Company, as the undertaking was to have been called.
This raised a strong feeling of dissatisfaction, and the Court of
Directors was obliged to provide a substitute in lieu of the new line
they had refused to sanction. Their own homely, lubberly craft were
quite unequal to the requirements of 'prompt despatch' which even then
was beginning to agitate the public mind. The possibility of
establishing steam-communication between England and India had been
clearly demonstrated as early as the year 1825, when the _Enterprise_,
of 480 tons and 120 horse-power, sailed from London on the 16th of
August, and arrived in Calcutta on the seventh of December. She was the
first steamer to make the passage from this country to our great Eastern
Empire; the first, indeed, ever to double the stormy headland of the
Cape.
But it was not until the people of India began to petition and the
merchants of London to clamour for the adoption of steam-power in the
Indian navigation that the conservative old magnates of John Company
were stimulated into action. Lieutenant Waghorn's Overland Route had
almost entirely superseded the sea-voyage by way of the Cape; but the
want of an efficient packet service between London and Alexandria, and
Suez and Bombay, was greatly felt. Accordingly, in December 1836, the
steamship _Atalanta_ was despatched from Falmouth to ply on the Indian
side of the route. She was a vessel of 630 tons burden, with engines of
210 horse-power, and was built at Blackwall by the once famous firm of
Wigram & Green. The orders of Captain Campbell, who commanded her, were
that he was to steam the whole distance, only resorting to sail-power in
case of a failure of machinery, in order fully to test the superiority
of the marine engine over canvas. She sustained an average speed of
about eight knots an hour during the entire passage, and but for her
repeated stoppages would undoubtedly have accomplished the quickest
voyage yet made to India. She was followed, in March 1837, by the
_Bernice_, of 680 tons and 230 horse-power. This vessel, which likewise
made the run without the assistance of her sails, left Falmouth on March
17, and arrived at Bombay on the 13th of June.
As the race between the _Sirius_ and the _Great Western_ may be said to
have inaugurated the steam-navigation of the Atlantic, so did the
voyages of the _Atalanta_ and _Bernice_ first establish regular
communication by steamers between Great Britain and India. True, there
had been desultory efforts of enterprise prior to this time, and the
pioneer of the Peninsular and Oriental steamers, the _Royal Tar_, had
sailed some three years before; but there was no continual service. The
_Times_ of November 11, 1838, pointed out the approaching change.
'Scarcely,' it says, 'has the wonder created in the world by the
appearance of the _Great Western_ and _British Queen_ begun to subside,
when we are again called upon to admire the rapid strides of enterprise
by the notice of an iron steamship, the first of a line of steamers to
ply between England and Calcutta, to be called the _Queen of the East_,
2618 tons, and 600 horse-power. This magnificent vessel is designed by
Mr W. D. Holmes, engineer to the Bengal Steam Committee, for a
communication between England and India. Great praise is due to Captain
Barber, late of the Honourable East India Company's service, the agent
in London for the Steam Committee in Bengal, who has given every
encouragement to Mr Holmes in carrying forward his splendid undertaking.
When these vessels are ready, we understand the voyage between Falmouth
and Calcutta will be made in thirty days.'
From this time ocean steamers multiplied rapidly. One after another of
the now famous shipping firms sprang up, beginning with the Cunard and
the Peninsular and Oriental lines. The first British steamship was
registered at London in the year 1814: in 1842 there were 940 steamers
registered; and already was the decay of the sailing-ship so largely
anticipated, that Mr Sydney Herbert, in a Committee of the House of
Commons, had this same year pointed out 'that the introduction of
steamers, and the consequent displacement of the Leith smacks, Margate
hoys, &c., would diminish the nursery for seamen by lessening the number
of sailing-vessels.'
THE NEW CUNARDERS.
Less than fifty years ago the Eastern Steam-navigation Company having
failed to obtain the contract to carry the mails from Plymouth to India
and Australia--in vessels of from twelve hundred to two thousand tons,
with engines of from four to six hundred horse-power, which were never
built--began to consider a new enterprise, suggested by the late
Isambard K. Brunei. This was to build the largest steamer ever yet
constructed, to trade with India round the Cape of Good Hope. The
general commercial idea was, that this leviathan vessel was to carry
leviathan cargoes at large freights and great speed, to Ceylon, where
the goods and passengers would be rapidly trans-shipped to smaller swift
steamers for conveyance to various destinations in India, China, and
Australia. The general mechanical idea was, that in order to obtain
great velocity in steamers it was only necessary to make them
large--that, in fact, there need be no limit to the size of a vessel
beyond what might be imposed by the tenacity of material. On what was
called the tubular principle, Brunei argued--and proved to the
satisfaction of numerous experts and capitalists--that it was possible
to construct a vessel of six times the capacity of the largest vessel
then afloat that would steam at a speed unattainable by smaller vessels,
while carrying, besides cargo, all the coal she would require for the
longest voyage.
Thus originated the _Great Eastern_, which never went to India, which
ruined two or three companies in succession, which cost £120,000 to
launch, which probably earned more as a show than ever she did as an
ocean-carrier--except in the matter of telegraph cables--and which
ignobly ended a disastrous career by being sold for £16,000, and broken
up at New Ferry, on the Mersey.
We are now entering upon a new era of big ships, in which such a monster
as the _Great Eastern_ would be no longer a wonder. Two additions to the
Cunard fleet, the _Campania_ (1892) and _Lucania_ (1893), are within a
trifle as large as she, but with infinitely more powerful engines and
incomparably greater speed.
We need not suppose, however, that the idea of big ocean steamers has
been the monopoly of this country. So long ago as 1850 or thereabouts,
Mr Randall, a famous American shipbuilder, designed, drafted, and
constructed the model of a steamer for transatlantic service, 500 feet
long by 58 feet beam, to measure 8000 tons. A company was formed in
Philadelphia in 1860 to carry out the project; but the civil war broke
out soon after, and she was never built.
The _Great Eastern_ was launched in January 1858, and her principal
dimensions were these: Length between perpendiculars, 680 feet; breadth
of beam, 83 feet; length of principal saloons, 400 feet; tonnage
capacity for cargo and coals, 18,000 tons; weight of ship as launched,
12,000 tons; accommodation for passengers, (1) 800, (2) 2000, (3) 1200 =
4000; total horse-power, 7650. She had both screw and paddles for
propulsion, and her displacement was 32,160 tons.
By this time the Cunard Company had been eighteen years in existence.
They started in 1840 with the _Britannia_--quickly followed by the
_Acadia_, _Columbia_, and _Caledonia_, all more or less alike--which was
a paddle-steamer of wood, 207 feet long, 34 feet broad, 22 feet deep,
and of 1156 tons, with side-lever engines developing 740 indicated
horse-power, which propelled the vessel at the average speed of nine
knots an hour. There was accommodation for 225 tons of cargo and 115
cabin passengers--no steerage in those days--who paid thirty-four
guineas to Halifax and thirty-eight guineas to Boston, for passage,
including provisions and wine.
At the time of the _Great Eastern_ the latest type of Cunarder was the
_Persia_, and it is interesting to note the development in the interim.
This vessel was 380 feet long, 45 feet broad, 31 feet deep, of 3870
tons, with engines developing 4000 indicated horse-power, propelling at
the rate of thirteen and a half knots an hour. The _Persia_ and the
_Scotia_, sister-ships, were the last of the Atlantic side-wheelers. In
1862 the first screw-steamer was added to the Cunard fleet. This was the
_China_, built by the Napiers of Glasgow, 326 feet long by 40-1/2 feet
broad, and 27-1/2 feet deep, of 2600 tons, and with an average speed of
about twelve knots.
Such was the type of Cunarder in the early days of the _Great Eastern_,
whose dimensions have now been nearly reached. The _Campania_, however,
was not built with a view to outshine that huge failure, but is the
outcome of a wholly different competition. The _Campania_ and the
_Lucania_ represent the highest development of marine architecture and
engineering skill, and are the product of long years of rivalry for the
possession of the 'blue ribbon' of the transatlantic race.
[Illustration: The _Great Eastern_ and the _Persia_.]
The competition is of ancient date, if we go back to the days when the
American 'Collins' Company tried to run the Cunard Company off the
waters; and during the half-century since the inauguration of steam
service the Cunard Company have sometimes held and sometimes lost the
highest place for speed. The period of steam-racing--the age of
'Atlantic greyhounds'--may be said to have begun in the year 1879, when
the Cunard _Gallia_, the Guion _Arizona_, and the White Star _Britannic_
and _Germanic_ had all entered upon their famous careers. It is matter
of history now how the _Arizona_--called the 'Fairfield Flyer,'
because she was built by Messrs John Elder & Company, of Fairfield,
Glasgow--beat the record in an eastward run of seven days twelve and a
half hours, and a westward run of seven days ten and three-quarter
hours. To beat the _Arizona_, the Cunard Company built the _Servia_, of
8500 tons and 10,300 horse-power; but she in turn was beaten by another
Fairfield Flyer, the _Alaska_, under the Guion flag. The race continued
year by year, as vessels of increasing size and power were entered by
the competing companies. While all the lines compete in swiftness,
luxury, and efficiency, the keenest rivalry is now between the Cunard
and the White Star companies. And just as the _Campania_ and _Lucania_
were built to eclipse the renowned _Teutonic_ and _Majestic_, so the
owners of these boats prepared to surpass even the two Cunarders we
describe.
Let us now see something of these marvels of marine architecture. They
are sister-ships, both built on the Clyde by the Fairfield Shipbuilding
and Engineering Company, and both laid down almost simultaneously. They
are almost identical in dimensions and appointments, and therefore we
may confine our description to the _Campania_, which was the first of
the twins to be ready for sea.
This largest vessel afloat does not mark any new departure in general
type, as the _Great Eastern_ did in differing from all types of
construction then familiar. In outward appearance, the _Campania_, as
she lies upon the water, and as seen at a sufficient distance, is just
like numbers of other vessels we have all seen. Nor does her immense
size at first impress the observer, because of the beautiful proportions
on which she is planned. Her lines are eminently what the nautical
enthusiast calls 'sweet;' and in her own class of naval art she is as
perfect a specimen of architectural beauty as the finest of the grand
old clippers which used to 'walk the waters as a thing of life.' The
colossal size of St Peter's at Rome does not strike you as you enter,
because of the exquisite proportions. And so with the _Campania_--you
need to see an ordinary merchant-ship, or even a full-blown liner,
alongside before you can realise how vast she is.
Yet she is only 60 feet shorter than the mammoth _Great Eastern_, and
measures 620 feet in length, 65 feet 3 inches in breadth, and 43 feet in
depth from the upper deck. Her tonnage is 12,000, while that of the
_Great Eastern_ was 18,000; but then her horse-power is 30,000 as
against the _Great Eastern's_ 7650!
This enormous development of engine-power is perhaps the most remarkable
feature about these two new vessels. Each of them is fitted with two
sets of the most powerful triple-expansion engines ever put together. A
visit to the engine-room is a liberal education in the mechanical arts,
and even to the eye of the uninitiated there is the predominant
impression of perfect order in the bewildering arrangement of pipes,
rods, cranks, levers, wheels, and cylinders. The two sets of engines are
placed in two separate rooms on each side of a centre-line bulkhead
fitted with water-tight doors for intercommunication. Each set has five
inverted cylinders which have exactly the same stroke, and work on three
cranks. Two of the cylinders are high-pressure, one is intermediate, and
two are low-pressure. Besides the main engines, there are engines for
reversing, for driving the centrifugal pumps for the condensers, for the
electric light, for the refrigerating chambers, and for a number of
other purposes--all perfect in appointment and finish. In fact, in these
vast engine-rooms one is best able to realise not only the immense size
and power of the vessel, but also the perfection to which human
ingenuity has attained after generations of ceaseless toil--and yet it
is only half a century since the _Britannia_ began the transatlantic
race.
Each of the various engines has its own steam-supplier. The main engines
are fed by twelve double-ended boilers, arranged in rows of six on each
side of a water-tight bulkhead. The boilers are heated by ninety-six
furnaces, and each set of six boilers has a funnel with the diameter of
an ordinary railway tunnel. In the construction of these boilers some
eight hundred tons of steel were required, the plates weighing four tons
each, with a thickness of an inch and a half. From these mighty machines
will be developed a power equal to that of 30,000 horses! Compare this
with the _Great Eastern's_ 7650 horse-power, or even with the later
'greyhounds.' The greatest power developed by the two previous additions
to the Cunard fleet, the _Etruria_ and _Umbria_, is about 14,000 horses,
which is the utmost recorded by any single-screw engines. The _City of
Paris_ has a power of 18,500, and the _Teutonic_ a power of 18,000 by
twin-screw engines. The _Campania_, therefore, is upwards of half as
much again more powerful than the largest, swiftest, and most powerful
of her predecessors.
These engines of the _Campania_ work two long propeller-shafts, each
carried through an aperture in the stern close to the centre-line, and
fitted to a screw. Unlike other twin-screw vessels, the propellers and
shafts are, as it were, carried within the hull, and not in separate
structures. Abaft of the screws, the rudder is completely submerged, and
is a great mass of steel-plating weighing about twenty-four tons.
With a straight stem, an elliptic stern, two huge funnels, and a couple
of pole-masts--intended more for signalling purposes than for
canvas--the _Campania_ looks thoroughly business-like, and has none of
the over-elaborated get-up of the _Great Eastern_, with her double
system of propulsion and small forest of masts. The bulwarks are close
fore and aft; and from the upper deck rise two tiers of houses, the
roofs of which form the promenade deck and the shade deck. In the
structure of the hull and decks enormous strength has been given, with
special protection at vital parts, as the vessel is built in compliance
with the Admiralty requirements for armed cruisers. Below the line of
vision are four other complete tiers of beams, plated with steel
sheathed in wood, on which rest upper, main, lower, and orlop decks. The
last is for cargo, refrigerating-chambers, stores, &c.--all the others
are devoted to the accommodation of passengers.
The _Campania_ is fitted to carry 460 first-class passengers, 280
second-class, and 700 steerage passengers--in all, 1440, besides a crew
of 400. She has cargo-space for 1600 tons, which seems a trifle in
comparison with her size, but then it is to be remembered that the fuel
consumption of those 96 furnaces is enormous, and requires the carrying
of a very heavy cargo of coals for internal consumption.
[Illustration: The _Campania_.]
The accommodation for passengers is probably the most perfect that has
yet been provided on an ocean steamer, for here the experience of all
previous developments has been utilised. The dining-room is an apartment
100 feet long and 64 feet broad, furnished in handsome dark old
mahogany, to seat 430 persons. The upholstery is tastefully designed,
and the fittings generally are elegant; but the peculiar feature is a
splendid dome rising to a height of thirty-three feet from the floor to
the upper deck, and designed to light both the dining-room and the
drawing-room on the deck above it. The grand staircase which conducts to
these apartments is of teak-wood; the drawing-room is in satin-wood
relieved with cedar and painted frieze panels. The smoking-room on the
promenade deck is as unlike a ship's cabin as can be imagined; it is,
in fact, a reproduction of an old baronial hall of the Elizabethan
age, with oaken furniture and carvings. The other public apartments,
library, boudoir, &c., are all more remarkable for quiet taste and
artistic effect than for the gorgeousness of gilded saloons affected on
some lines, but the prevailing feeling is one of luxurious comfort. The
staterooms for first-class passengers occupy the main, upper, and
promenade decks, and they are as much like real bedrooms as the old type
of 'berths' are not. Besides the single bedrooms, there are suites of
rooms for families or parties, finely appointed with ornamental woods,
rich carpets, and with brass bedsteads instead of the old wooden bunks.
All the sleeping-rooms are as light, lofty, and well ventilated as the
sleeping-rooms on the old liners were the reverse.
The first-class passengers are placed amidships; the second-class are
placed aft; and the steerage, forward. The steerage accommodation is
superior to anything yet provided in that class; while the second-class
accommodation is quite up to the usual first-class, with spacious,
beautifully furnished staterooms, a handsome dining-room in oak, an
elegant drawing-room in satin-wood, and a cosy smoking-room. Indeed,
some of the second-class apartments look as if they were intended to be
utilised for first-class passengers in times of extra pressure.
These are details of interest to possible passengers and to those who
have already experienced the comforts and discomforts of the Atlantic
voyage. But the great interest of the ship, of course, is in her immense
size and enormous power. The navigating-bridge from which the officer in
charge will direct operations, is no less than sixty feet above the
water-level, and from there one obtains a survey unique of its kind. The
towering height, the vast expanse of deck, the huge circumference of the
funnels, the forest of ventilators indicative of the hives of industry
below, the great lighthouse structures which take the place of the old
angle-bedded side-lights--everything beneath you speaks of power and
speed, of strength and security.
The following table shows at a glance how the _Campania_ compares with
her largest predecessors in point of size and power:
Tonnage. Length Breadth Horsepower.
in feet. in feet.
Great Eastern 18,900 682 82 7,650
Britannic 5,000 455 46 5,500
Arizona 5,150 450 45 6,300
Servia 8,500 515 52 10,300
Alaska 6,400 500 50 10,500
City of Rome 8,000 545 52 11,890
Aurania 7,270 470 57 8,500
Oregon 7,375 500 54 7,375
America 5,528 432 51 7,354
Umbria 7,700 501 57 14,320
Etruria 7,800 520 57 14,500
City of Paris 10,500 560 63 18,500
Teutonic 9,860 582 57-1/2 18,000
Normannia ---- 520 57-1/4 16,350
Campania }
Lucania } 12,950 620 65 30,000
As to speed, the record of course has been broken. In 1850 the average
passage of a Cunarder westward was thirteen days, and eastward twelve
days sixteen hours; in 1890, the average was reduced to seven days
fifteen hours twenty-three minutes, and seven days four hours and
fifty-two minutes, respectively. The fastest individual passages down to
1891 were made by the _Etruria_, westwards in six days one hour and
forty-seven minutes; and by the _Umbria_, eastwards in six days three
hours and seventeen minutes. But these were beaten by the _Teutonic_,
which reduced the homeward record to five days and twenty-one hours; and
by the _City of Paris_, which reduced the outward passage to five days
and sixteen hours. Roughly speaking, these new Cunarders are about ten
times the size and forty times the power of the pioneers of the fleet,
and the _Campania_ will run every twenty minutes almost as many miles as
the _Britannia_ could laboriously make in an hour.
Is it possible that within the next fifty years we shall be able to make
the voyage to New York in three days? The old _Britannia_ took fourteen
days to Boston, and it was not until 1852 that the ten days' record to
New York was broken by the 'Collins' Company. If, then, in forty years
we reduced the record from ten to five, who can say that the limit of
speed has yet been reached?
SAILING-SHIPS.
A modern sailing-ship replete with labour-saving appliances is a
veritable triumph of the naval architect's art, and an excellent object
lesson on man's power over the forces of nature. If Christopher Columbus
could revisit our planet from the shades, he would doubtless be
astonished by a critical comparison between the tiny wooden caravel with
which he discovered a New World, and a leviathan four-masted steel
sailing-ship, now navigated in comparative comfort to every possible
port where freight is obtainable. Wooden cargo-carrying craft impelled
by the unbought wind are surely diminishing in numbers; and in the near
future it is not improbable that a stately sailing-ship will be as
seldom seen on the waste of waters as a screw steamship was half a
century ago. Even looking leisurely backward down the imposing vista of
the last thirty years of the Victorian era, it will be readily perceived
with what marvellous mastery iron and steel have supplanted, not only
wood in the hulls, masts, and yards of sailing-ships, but also hemp in
their rigging.
[Illustration: Clipper Sailing-ship of 1850-60.]
A radical revolution has been effected in the form, size, and
construction of these cargo-carriers during such a relatively
insignificant interval, and the end is not yet. The old-fashioned type
of wooden merchantman remained practically invariable for more than a
hundred years; but change is all-powerful at present, so that a vessel
is almost of a bygone age before she shall have completed her maiden
voyage. It would appear, however, that the limit of size has been
reached. Ship-owning firms and shipbuilders will probably soon be
compelled to keep the modern steel sailing-ship within more moderate
dimensions. Vessels of exceptionally large carrying capacity are in
demand owing to the fact that experience proves them to be the best kind
for affording a fair return to the capital invested. Salvage appliances
and docks do not keep pace with the requirements of such leviathans; so
that underwriters evince an increasing dislike to big ships, and the
premium for insurance rises accordingly, to compensate for extra risk.
Many mariners and some shipbuilders were at one time quick to express a
pronounced opinion that it was quite unnatural for an iron ship to
remain afloat. Wood was made to swim, but iron to sink, said these
sincere but mistaken admirers of the good old days. Their misgivings
have proved to be without foundation in fact, for iron ships have ousted
wooden craft almost utterly from the ocean-carrying traffic. Iron has
also reached its meridian altitude, and steel is rapidly rising above
the horizon of progress. The shipbuilding yards of Nova Scotia, Canada,
the United States of America, and British Columbia, however, still
launch wooden sailing-vessels, although in decreasing numbers, and, as a
rule, of inconsiderable tonnage.
It seems scarcely credible that only as recently as 1870 there were not
more than ten sailing-ships afloat of two thousand tons register and
upwards under the red ensign of the British mercantile marine. To-day we
have more than that number of splendid steel sailing-ships, each having
a register tonnage in excess of three thousand. During the twelve months
of 1892 there were turned out from one yard alone on the Clyde, that of
Messrs Russell & Co., no fewer than thirteen huge sailing-vessels,
varying in register tonnage from two thousand three hundred to three
thousand five hundred! One of the largest wooden sailing-ships afloat in
1870 was the _British Empire_, of two thousand seven hundred tons
register, which, under the command of Captain A. Pearson, was an ark of
safety to the families of European residents in Bombay during the Indian
Mutiny. She had been originally intended for a steamship, and this will
account for her exceptional dimensions. The shipbuilding firm of A.
Sewall & Co., of Bath, Maine, U.S.A., in 1889 built the _Rappahannock_,
of 3054 tons register; in 1890, the _Shenandoah_, 3258 tons; in 1891,
the _Susquehanna_, 2629 tons; and in 1892, the _Roanoke_, of 3400 tons
register.
Several cities claim to be the birthplace of Homer, and there exists
similar rivalry with respect to the first iron ship. This at least is
certain, that the first iron vessel classed by Lloyd's was the British
barque _Ironsides_, in 1838. She was but 271 tons register. The Clyde
stands _facile princeps_ in this most important branch of industry.
Vessels built on the banks of that river have rendered a praiseworthy
account of themselves on every sea and under every flag. No other
country, save ourselves, launched any iron or steel ships of 2000 tons
register or above, but preferred to obtain them from our shipbuilding
yards. The so-called protection of native industry principle prevailing
in America precludes ship-owners over there from taking advantage
directly of the cheapest market. Several of the large sailers, however,
built on the Clyde for citizens of the United States are therefore
necessarily sailed under the British, Hawaiian, or some flag other than
that of the country to which they actually belong.
The number of seamen carried per one hundred tons in the modern
four-masted sailing-ship is cut down to the uttermost limit consistent
with safety; and, as a consequence, dismasting and tedious passages are
not infrequent. The _Hawaiian Isles_, 2097 tons register, a United
States ship under a foreign flag, bound to California with a cargo of
coal, found it impossible to weather Cape Horn by reason of violent
westerly gales. She was turned round, ran along the lone Southern Ocean,
before the 'brave west winds' so admirably described by Maury, and
eventually reached her destination by the route leading south of
Australia. She was one hundred and eighty-nine days on the passage, and
no fewer than sixty guineas per cent. had been freely paid for her
re-insurance. A similar ship, the _John Ena_, carrying a substantial
cargo of 4222 tons of coal from Barry to San Francisco, also encountered
bad weather, made a long passage, and twenty guineas per cent. was paid
on her for re-insurance. Another new ship, the _Achnashie_, 2476 tons
register, got into still more serious difficulty under like
circumstances. She had to put back to Cape Town, damaged and leaky,
after attempting in vain to contend against the bitter blast off Cape
Horn. There, her cargo was discharged, and she went into dry-dock for
the absolutely necessary repairs. The _Austrasia_, 2718 tons register,
was almost totally dismasted near the island of Tristan da Cunha, in the
South Atlantic, on her maiden passage, while bound from Liverpool to
Calcutta with a cargo of salt. By dint of sterling seamanship she was
brought to Rio Janeiro in safety, returned to Liverpool under improvised
masts, discharged her cargo, refitted, took in quite a different cargo
at London, and sailed for California. The _Somali_, 3537 tons register,
the largest sailing-ship launched in 1892, was dismasted in the China
Sea. Everything above the lower masts had to be made for her on the
Clyde; yet, within fifteen days of the order being received by Messrs
Russell & Co., the spars and gear were completed and shipped for passage
to the _Somali_ at Hong-kong. Underwriters suffer severely with such
ships.
One of the largest sailing-ships afloat is the French five-master, _La
France_, launched in 1890 on the Clyde, and owned by Messrs A. D. Bordes
et Fils, who possess a large fleet of sailing-vessels. In 1891 she came
from Iquique to Dunkirk in one hundred and five days with 6000 tons of
nitrate; yet she was stopped on the Tyne when proceeding to sea with
5500 tons of coal, and compelled to take out 500 tons on the ground that
she was overladen. There is not a single five-masted sailing-ship under
the British flag. The United States has two five-masters, the _Louis_ of
830 tons, and the _Gov. Ames_ of 1778 tons, both fore-and-aft schooners,
a rig peculiar to the American coast. Ships having five masts can be
counted on the fingers of one hand; but, strange to say, the steamship
_Coptic_, of the Shaw, Savill, & Albion Co., on her way to New Zealand,
in December 1890, passed the _Gov. Ames_ in fourteen degrees south,
thirty-four degrees west, bound for California; and two days later, in
six degrees south, thirty-one degrees west, the French five-master, _La
France_, bound south. Passengers and crew of the _Coptic_ might travel
over many a weary league of sea, and never again be afforded two such
excellent object lessons in the growth of sailing-ships in quick
succession.
Some large sailing-ships experience a decided difficulty in obtaining
freights that will repay expenses, even ignoring a margin for profit,
and we are reluctantly compelled to confess that the days of
sailing-ships are almost numbered. The cry for huge sailers is an
evidence that steam is determining the dimensions of the most modern
cargo-carriers under sail.
[Illustration: _La France._]
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IX.
POST-OFFICE--TELEGRAPH--TELEPHONE--PHONOGRAPH.
Rowland Hill and Penny Postage--A Visit to the Post-office--The
Post-office on Wheels--Early Telegraphs--Wheatstone and Morse--The
State and the Telegraphs--Atlantic Cables--Telephones--Edison and
the Phonograph.
THE STORY OF ROWLAND HILL AND PENNY POSTAGE.
The story of Penny Postage and its inception by Sir Rowland Hill is full
of romantic interest, and that great social reform, introduced more than
fifty years ago, has unquestionably spread its beneficial influence over
every country in which a postal system of any kind exists.
The Hill family were, we know, in those bygone days far from being well
off, and were often hard put to to find the money to pay the high
postage on letters which they received. Born in 1795, Rowland Hill was
considerably past middle life before he entertained any idea of
practising his reforming hand on the Post-office, and had passed a busy
existence chiefly as a schoolmaster, in which capacity he had indulged
in many schemes, scholastic and otherwise, with more or less success. At
the time that his attention was first directed to Post-office matters,
he was employed as Secretary of the Commissioners for the Colonisation
of South Australia. He was no doubt attracted to the subject of postal
reform by the frequent discussions which were then taking place in
parliament in regard to the matter. Mr Wallace of Kelly, the member for
Greenock, who was the champion of the cause in the House of Commons, was
fierce in his denunciation of the existing abuses and irregularities of
the post, and subsequently proved a strong and able advocate of the
scheme for postage reform.
Once arrested by the subject which has since made his life famous,
Rowland Hill went to work in a very systematic manner. Firstly,
he read very carefully all the Reports relative to the Post-office;
then he placed himself in communication with Mr Wallace and the
Postmaster-general, both of whom readily supplied him with all necessary
information. In this manner he made himself acquainted with his subject,
with the result that, in 1837, he published his famous pamphlet on
_Post-office Reform: its Importance and Practicability_, the first
edition being circulated privately amongst the members of parliament and
official people; while some months later a second edition was published
which was given to the public.
We have to remember that at this time the postage charges were
enormously high, that they depended not upon weight alone, but also upon
the number of enclosures, and that they varied according to distance.
Thus, for example, a letter under one ounce in weight and with one
enclosure (that is, sheet or scrap of paper) posted in London for
delivery within the metropolitan area, or even, we believe, fifteen
miles out, cost 2d.; if for delivery thirty miles out, 3d.; eighty miles
out, 4d.; and so on. Again, as showing how the charges according to
enclosure operated, a letter with a single enclosure from London to
Edinburgh was charged 1s. 1-1/2d.; if double, 2s. 3d.; and if treble,
3s. 4-1/2d. Moreover, the charges were not consistently made, for
whereas an Edinburgh letter (posted in London) was charged 1s. 1-1/2d.,
a letter for Louth, which cost the Post-office fifty times as much as
the former letter, was only charged 10d.
The public, however, found means of their own of remedying the evil,
which, if not wholly legitimate, were under the circumstances to be
regarded with some degree of leniency. Letter-smuggling was a not
unnatural result of the high and disproportionate charges referred to,
and was almost openly adopted to an extent that is hardly credible.
Thus, many Manchester merchants--Mr Cobden amongst the number--stated
before the Post-office Inquiry Committee appointed in 1838, their belief
that four-fifths of the letters written in that town did not pass
through the Post-office. A carrier in Scotland confessed to having
carried sixty letters daily for a number of years, and knew of others
who carried five hundred daily. A Glasgow publisher and bookseller said
he sent and received fifty letters or circulars daily, and added that he
was not caught until he had sent twenty thousand letters otherwise than
through the post! There were also other methods of evading the postage
rates at work. Letters were smuggled in newspapers, which in these days
passed free within a stated period through the post, the postage being
covered by the stamp-duty impressed on the papers. Invisible ink, too,
was used for inditing messages on the newspapers themselves; while the
use of certain pre-arranged codes on the covers of letters was likewise
systematically adopted, the addressees, after turning the letters over
and learning from the covers all they desired to know, declining to take
in the letters on the ground that they could not afford to pay the
postage.
The system of 'franking' letters in the high-postage days led to an
appalling abuse of that privilege, which belonged to peers and members
of the House of Commons. It was no doubt originally allowed to enable
members to correspond with their constituents; but under the
circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that the plan soon became
abused, and was ultimately used to cover all kinds of correspondence,
not only members' but other people's as well. At one time, indeed, all
sorts of curious packages passed free under the franking privilege, such
as dogs, a cow, parcels of lace, bales of stockings, boxes of medicine,
flitches of bacon, &c. Sometimes, indeed, franked covers were actually
sold; and they have even been known to be given in lieu of wages to
servants, who speedily converted them into ready money.
This abuse, taken together with the illicit traffic in letters, so
openly and widely carried on, formed of course a most important argument
in favour of the proposals for cheap postage formulated by Rowland Hill,
and no doubt did much to damage the cause of his opponents. But there is
one other abuse to which Londoners were subject which may just be
mentioned. At that time the Twopenny Post was in operation in the
English metropolis, and would have fairly served the inhabitants in
postal matters if it had not been for the practice which existed of
allowing commercial houses and other firms who were willing to pay for
the privilege to have their letters picked out from the general heap and
delivered by special postmen, and so enable them to get their
correspondence an hour earlier than those who did not pay the
'quarterage,' as it was called, of five shillings (per quarter), and
which, it appears, went into the pockets of the postmen concerned, many
of whom, we are told, and it can easily be understood, thus made incomes
of from three to four hundred pounds a year. However beneficial such a
system was to commerce and trade in London, it operated most unfairly on
ordinary correspondents, and it was certainly not the least of the evils
which the introduction of Penny Postage swept away.
It is not necessary to enter at any length into all the arguments that
weighed with Rowland Hill in propounding his great scheme. It need only
be very briefly stated that the great point to which he applied himself
was the cost to the Post-office of receiving, transmitting, and
delivering a letter. Having roughly and, as subsequently proved, not
inaccurately calculated the average postage at sixpence farthing per
letter, he then went to work to ascertain the expenses of management;
and the result of his investigations showed that, no matter what
distance had to be traversed, the average cost of each letter to the
government was less than one-tenth of a penny! From this there was only
one conclusion that could well be forced on his mind, and that was a
uniform rate of postage. Having solved this great problem, there were
many other matters of adjustment and improvement to which his attention
had to be given. He was, for example, not long in deciding that the
charge according to enclosures was an iniquitous one, and that a just
and fair tax could only be made according to weight. Then, again, he
clearly saw that the principle of throwing the postage on the recipients
of letters was an improper one, while it was also a burden on the
Post-office employees. The prepayment of postage became necessarily a
feature of his plan; but he experienced some difficulty in arriving at a
feasible method of adopting it. At first he considered that this might
be carried out by payment of money over the counter; but he subsequently
came to the conclusion that the purposes of the public and the
Post-office would be better served by the use of some kind of stamp or
stamped covers for letters, and this arrangement he brought forward and
fully explained before the Commissioners of Post-office Inquiry,
referring to it as 'Mr Knight's excellent suggestion.' Charles Knight
had suggested the idea of stamps for prepayment in 1833-34. The
following extract from the Commissioners' Report, which gives a brief
description of the proposed arrangement, may perhaps be read with
interest at the present time:
'That stamped covers, or sheets of paper, or small vignette stamps--the
latter, if used, to be gummed on the face of the letter--be supplied to
the public from the Stamp-office, and sold at such a price as to include
the postage. Letters so stamped to be treated in all respects as franks.
That each should have the weight it is entitled to carry legibly printed
upon the stamp. That the stamp of the receiving-house should be struck
upon the superscription or duty stamp, to prevent the latter being used
a second time. The vignette stamps being portable, persons could carry
them in their pocket-books.'
The proposed arrangement met with approval from the Commissioners, and
also from the Committee on Postage in 1837 and 1838; and, in
consequence, the Penny Postage Act of 1840 contained a clause providing
for the use of such stamps and stamped covers.
Such were the main points of Rowland Hill's plan, which was so logical
and reasonable in all its features, and so intelligible to the popular
mind, that it can be readily understood how heartily it was embraced by
the general public. But popular as his scheme was with the mass of the
people, it encountered the bitterest opposition from many quarters; and
in successfully carrying it through, Rowland Hill had, like most other
great reformers, to overcome huge difficulties and obstacles. It is very
amusing at this distance of time, when we have become so accustomed to
the immense advantages of Penny Postage as to view them almost as part
of the ordinary conditions of life, to recall some of the arguments used
fifty years ago against the measure. Lord Lichfield, as
Postmaster-general, in adverting to the scheme in the House of Lords,
described it thus: 'Of all the wild visionary schemes which I have ever
heard of, it is the most extravagant;' and endorsed this statement six
months later when he had given more attention to the subject, being
'even still more firmly of the same opinion.' On a subsequent occasion
he contended that the mails would have to carry twelve times as much in
weight as before, and therefore the charge would be twelve times the
amount then paid. 'The walls of the Post-office,' he exclaimed, 'would
burst; the whole area in which the building stands would not be large
enough to receive the clerks and letters.' Outside the Post-office, too,
as well as by both the government and opposition, much animosity was
exhibited against the proposal.
If, however, the opposition against the introduction of Penny Postage
was strong, the advocacy of the plan was no less powerful, while,
moreover, it was thoroughly backed by popular opinion. Complaints as to
the high rates of postage flowed in, and parliament was nearly inundated
with petitions in favour of the scheme, which also received much
literary support. The Mercantile Committee during all the time of
agitation actively spread information of the progress of the measure,
with a view to rouse the public to a sense of its importance. The _Post_
circular kept circulating; and handbills, fly-sheets, and pictorial
illustrations were freely distributed. One print took a dramatic form,
representing 'A Scene at Windsor Castle,' in which the Queen, being in
the Council Chamber, is made to say: 'Mothers pawning their clothes to
pay the postage of a child's letter! Every subject studying how to evade
the postage without caring for the law!'--(To Lord Melbourne): 'I trust,
my lord, you have commanded the attendance of the Postmaster-general and
Mr Rowland Hill, as I directed, in order that I may hear the reasons of
both about this universal Penny Postage plan, which appears to me likely
to remove all these great evils.' After the interview takes place, the
Queen is made to record the opinion that the plan 'would confer a great
boon on the poorer classes of my subjects, and would be the greatest
benefit to religion, morals, to general knowledge, and to trade.' This
_jeu d'esprit_, which was published by the London Committee, was
circulated by thousands, and proved extremely useful in bringing the
burning question home in an attractive form to the masses of the nation.
The agitation as to Rowland Hill's scheme lasted for two years, and with
such vehemence that the period has become an epoch in the history of
this country. The end of the story of this memorable reform is soon
told; for an agitation which may be said to have shaken the nation to
its core and was felt from end to end of the kingdom could have but one
conclusion, and that a successful one. A Parliamentary Committee was
appointed to inquire into the whole matter; and after a session of
sixty-three days, reported in favour of Penny Postage. That was in
August 1838. Next year a Bill for Cheap Postage passed through
parliament with slight opposition; and on the 12th of November 1839 the
Treasury issued a Minute authorising a uniform rate of fourpence for
inland letters. This was, however, merely a temporary measure, in which
Rowland Hill concurred, and was resorted to chiefly to accustom the
Post-office clerks to a uniform rate and the system of charging by
weight. The full measure of the Penny Postage scheme was accomplished a
few months later on, when, on the 10th of January 1840, the uniform rate
of One Penny for letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight was
officially introduced.
Such in brief is the story of Penny Postage, which has caused such a
revolution not only in the postal arrangements of this country, but in
the conditions of all sections and grades of society. In the first year
of its operation the number of letters posted was more than doubled,
the number sent in 1840 being 169,000,000, as against 82,000,000 posted
in 1839, including 6,500,000 letters sent under the franking privilege,
which was abolished with the introduction of the Penny Postage system.
In 1851 the number of letters posted in Great Britain and Ireland had
risen to 670,000,000; while in 1895 the quantity sent reached the
fabulous number of 1771 millions, or about forty-five letters per head
of the population. This refers to letters pure and simple. If we take
into account post-cards, newspapers, book-packets, &c., the aggregate
number of postal packets posted in 1895 will be found to fall not far
short of 1134 millions. Truly may it be said that the results of Penny
Postage have been stupendous. But more than this; the net revenue
derived from postage has long, long since exceeded that which accrued
under the old system.
The story of Penny Postage would be incomplete if we did not add a word
as to how the great reformer fared at the hands of his country. With the
introduction of his scheme he of course became associated with the
Post-office, although at first he held a Treasury appointment, from
which, however, after about three years' service, he was dismissed on
the ground that his work was finished. Public indignation was aroused at
this treatment of one who had already done so much for his country; and
the nation seemed to think that the right place for Rowland Hill was at
the Post-office, where further useful reforms might well be expected to
follow from one who had begun so well. At all events, in 1846 he was
restored to office, being appointed Secretary to the Postmaster-general,
and eight years later he became Chief Secretary of the Post-office, an
appointment which he held for ten years, when, from failing health, he
retired with full pay into private life, full of years and honours. Soon
after his dismissal from the Treasury, a grateful country subscribed
and presented him with the sum of fifteen thousand pounds; and on his
retirement, parliament voted him the sum of twenty thousand pounds. In
1860 he received at Her Majesty's hands the dignity of Knight Commander
of the Bath; and both before and after his retirement he was the
recipient of many minor honours. In 1879 Sir Rowland Hill was presented
with the freedom of the City of London; but he was an old man then, and
only lived a few months to enjoy this civic honour. He had a public
funeral, and was accorded a niche in the temple of fame at Westminster.
A VISIT TO THE POST-OFFICE.
Without a personal visit to the Post-office, it is perhaps difficult to
gain any correct impression of its immensity, or of the perfect
discipline and order which prevade the buildings devoted to postal and
telegraphic work. It is a visit which should be made by every one
interested, if possible. They would then marvel that we get our letters
and papers in the short time we do, if they were to see the thousands
upon thousands that are poured into St Martin's-le-Grand day by day. The
General Post-office never sleeps save on Sunday between twelve and
half-past one. The work is never at a standstill.
We began our visit to St Martin's-le-Grand by inspecting what is known
as the 'blind' department, where letters with indistinct, incomplete,
and wrongly spelt addresses are puzzled out by those specially trained
in solving such mysteries. Scrap-books are kept in this department, into
which the curious and amusing addresses originally inscribed on the face
of letters transmitted through the Post-office are copied and preserved.
Whilst we were looking at these a post-card was handed in to one of the
officials merely addressed Jackson. Whether the sender thought it would
go around to the various Jacksons in London, we know not, but anyway it
was decided to take the trouble to return it to the sender, advising him
that it was insufficiently addressed. The trouble careless persons give
the Post-office is inconceivable, and the way some try to cheat in the
manner of registering letters needs to be seen to be believed.
From the 'blind' department we were conducted to the 'hospital,' where
badly done up letters and parcels which have come to grief are doctored
and made sufficiently secure to reach their destination. When it is
recollected that postage is so cheap, the outside public might at least
take the trouble to do up letters and parcels properly without putting
the Post-office to the enormous trouble thus caused--needless trouble
sustained without a murmur and without extra charge. Some are put into
fresh envelopes, others are sealing-waxed where slits have occurred, and
others are properly tied up with string. All this trouble might be saved
by a little forethought on the part of the senders.
The number of samples that different firms send through the post each
day is astonishing. It is said that 1,504,000 pattern and sample packets
are posted annually in the metropolis. In addition to those just
mentioned, alpaca, corduroy, gloves, ribbons, plush, whalebone, muslin,
linen, biscuits, oilcakes, pepper, yeast, toilet soap, sperm candles,
mustard, raisins, &c, are sent by sample post. One firm alone posted
125,418 packets containing spice.
The time to visit the sorting process at the Post-office is between
half-past five and eight o'clock in the evening. At closing time the
letters are simply poured by thousands into the baskets waiting to
receive them, and each one as soon as full is wheeled off in an instant
to the sorters and other officials waiting to deal with them. When they
have been deposited on the innumerable tables, the first process is to
face the letters--not so easy a task when the shapes and sizes of the
letters are so varied. As soon as the facing process is over, they are
passed as quick as lightning on to the stampers, who proceed to deface
the Queen's head. The noise whilst this process is being gone through is
deafening. Some stampers have a hand-machine, whilst others are making a
trial of a treadle stamping-machine which stamps some four hundred
letters per minute. From the stampers the letters pass on to the
sorters. Whilst all this is proceeding, the visitor should step up into
the gallery for a minute or two and look down on the busy scene below.
It is a sight well worth seeing and not likely to be forgotten--the
thousands of letters heaped on the tables, and the hundreds of workers
as hard at work as it is possible for them to be. The envelopes are
separated and placed in the several pigeon-holes which indicate the
various directions they are to travel. Liverpool, Manchester,
Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Glasgow have special receptacles for
themselves, as the first three cities have on an average fifteen
thousand letters a day despatched to each; and further, there are eight
despatches a day to these places, eleven thousand per day go to Glasgow,
and between eight and nine thousand to Edinburgh. All official
letters--that is, 'On Her Majesty's Service'--have a special table to
themselves. Some eighty-nine thousand Savings-bank books pass through St
Martin's-le-Grand daily. Some sorters get through between forty and
fifty letters a minute, whilst a new-comer will not be able to manage
more than twenty or thirty.
The nights on which various mails go out are extra busy ones, especially
Friday evening, when the Indian, Chinese, and Australian mails are sent.
The reduction of the postage has made an enormous difference in the
contents of the mail-bags to these parts of the world. It may be
interesting here to note how the mails are dealt with at Brindisi. Van
after van conveys the mail-bags from the train to the ship, where two
gangways are put off from the shore to the ship's side. Lascars run up
one and down the other with the bags. Each lascar has a smooth flat
stick like a ruler, and as he deposits his mail-bag on a long bench over
the hold, he gives up his stick to a man standing by. When five lascars
have arrived, the sticks go into one compartment of a small wooden box;
and when the box is full--that is, when a hundred have been put in--the
box is carried off and another brought forward. Three hundred and
ninety-two bags is a good average, and they take just under forty
minutes to put on board. The French and Italian mails are included in
these; but no other European mails go by the Peninsular and Oriental
Company. At Aden, two sorters come on board and spend their days in some
postal cabins sorting the mails for the different parts of India, &c.
The bags in which these mails are enclosed are only used once. They are
made in one of our convict prisons, and fresh ones are distributed each
week both outward and homeward.
Turning from the General Post-office South, which is now exclusively
utilised for letters and papers, we proceed to the General Post-office
North, which is devoted solely to the telegraph department. The
Savings-bank department was originally in the same building as the
telegraph; but owing to the rapid increase in both departments, the
Savings-bank has been removed to Queen Victoria Street. Coldbath-Fields
Prison was converted into a home for the Parcel Post. Some three
thousand male and female clerks are employed in the telegraph department
alone. The top floor of the building is devoted to the metropolitan
districts. A telegram sent from one suburb of London to another is bound
to pass through St Martin's-le-Grand; it cannot be sent direct. The
second floor deals with the provinces. The pneumatic tube is now used a
great deal; and by means of it some fifty telegrams can be sent on at
once, and not singly, as would be the case if the telegraphic instrument
was the only instrument in use. The tube is mostly used at the branch
offices.
The press is a great user both of the postal and telegraphic department.
In the postal department the representatives can call for letters at any
hour, provided their letters are enclosed in a distinctive-coloured
envelope, such as bright red or orange. Of course this privilege has to
be paid for. In the telegraph department the press can obtain their
'private wires' after six in the evening, as the wires are no longer
required for commercial purposes. The plan adopted in sending the same
message to every provincial town which has a daily journal is the
following: all along the route the operators are advised of the fact,
and whilst the message is only actually delivered at its final
destination, the words are caught as they pass each town by means of the
'sounder.' By this ingenious arrangement, dozens of towns are placed in
direct communication with the central office whence the message is
despatched. To carry on our telegraphic arrangements three miles of
shelves are needed, on which are deposited forty thousand batteries.
THE POST-OFFICE ON WHEELS.
The particular portion of the 'Post-office on Wheels' which we purpose
describing is the Special Mail which leaves London from Euston Station
daily. We have selected this mail, not only because all the duties
appertaining to the Travelling Post-office are performed therein, but
also because it is the most important mail in the United Kingdom,
probably in the whole world. In the Special Mail, the post-office
vehicles are forty-two feet in length, and one of thirty-two feet. There
is a gangway communication between all the carriages, so that the
officers on duty can pass from one to another throughout the entire
length without going outside. All the carriages are lighted with gas.
The pair-horse vans which convey the London bags for provincial towns
come dashing into the station in rapid succession, and as there are only
fifteen minutes before the train starts, no time is to be lost. The bags
are quickly removed from the vans, the name of each being called out in
the process, thus enabling an officer who stands near to tick them off
on a printed list with which he is provided. They are then stowed away
in the respective carriages in appointed places.
Having proceeded to the principal sorting carriage, we see that there
are some thousands of the letters which have come from the London
offices still to be disposed of. They lie on the desks in large bundles;
but every minute there is a perceptible diminution of their numbers by
means of the vigorous attacks of the men engaged. From end to end of one
side of the carriage--that farthest from the platform--rows of
sorting-boxes, or 'pigeon-holes,' are fixed nearly up to the roof,
starting from the sorting-table, which is about three feet from the
floor. The boxes into which the ordinary letters are sorted are divided
into sets, numbered consecutively from 1 to 45, and one sorter works at
each set. The numbers on the boxes are in accordance with a prescribed
plan, each number representing the names of certain towns, and into such
boxes the letters for those towns are sorted. The plan mentioned is
carried out as follows: Suppose we say that No. 10 represents Rugby, of
course when the mail-bag for that town is despatched the box is empty.
It is then used, say, for Crewe, and when the bag for that place is gone
the box again becomes empty. It is then used for some other town farther
down the line, and so on to the end of the journey. The set of boxes
nearest the fore-end of the carriage is used by the officer who deals
with the registered letters. This set can be closed by means of a
revolving shutter, which is fitted with a lock and key; so that, should
the registered-letter officer have to quit his post for any purpose, he
can secure the contents of his boxes, and so feel satisfied that they
are in a safe place. This officer also disposes of all the letter-bills
on which the addresses of the registered letters are advised.
The set of boxes into which the newspapers and book packets are sorted
is about twice the size of an ordinary letter set, and occupies the
centre part of the whole box arrangement. This space is assigned to the
newspaper boxes for two reasons: the set is exactly opposite the doorway
through which the bags are taken in at the stopping station, so that
they lie on the floor behind the sorter who opens them; he has therefore
simply to turn round and pick them up one by one as he requires them,
thereby saving both time and labour. Again, as the bags are opened, the
bundles of letters which are labelled No. 1 and No. 2 respectively, in
accordance with the list supplied to postmasters for their guidance,
have to be distributed to the letter-sorters--No. 1 bundles to the left,
No. 2 to the right; and this distribution could not be so conveniently
performed with the newspaper or bag-opening table placed in a different
position. Most of the newspaper boxes, as we have said, are about twice
the size of a letter box; some, however, such as those used for large
towns like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, &c., are four times the
size; and the necessity for this can be readily understood.
We will now look at the other side of the carriage--or that nearest the
platform. Along the whole length of that side, strong iron pegs are
fixed about an inch apart, and on these pegs the bags to be made up and
despatched on the way are hung. Most of the bags used in the Travelling
Post-office are of one size--three feet six inches long, and two feet
four inches wide; but for the large towns, bags of greater dimensions
are required. Each bag is distinctly marked on both sides with the name
of the town to which it is to be forwarded, the letters forming the name
being an inch and a quarter in length. The name is also stencilled
inside the mouth of the bag, so that the sorter has it immediately
before his eyes when putting the letters, &c., away. On reaching its
destination the bag is emptied of its contents, is turned inside out,
and then the name of the Travelling Post-office from which it was
received appears in view. The bag is then folded up and kept ready for
the return despatch on the following night. In this way it passes and
repasses until it is worn out, when it is withdrawn, and a new one takes
its place.
We will now assume the train is fairly on its way, and that we are
approaching Harrow, the first station at which the mail-bags are
received by means of the apparatus. As the machinery constituting the
apparatus is of great importance in the system of working, we shall here
endeavour to describe it.
We may say that the apparatus in the Special Mail is worked in a
separate carriage which runs immediately behind the one to which we have
referred in the preceding details. A large and very strong net is firmly
fixed on the side of the carriage on the near end, and the woodwork
being cut away, an aperture is formed through which the pouches
containing the bags are taken into the carriage. The net is raised or
lowered by pressing down a lever very similar in structure and
appearance to the levers which are seen in a signalman's cabin. When the
net is lowered, a strong rope is seen to stretch across from the
fore-part, and this rope, being held in position by a chain attached to
the back-part of the net, forms what is called a detaching line in the
shape of the letter V placed thus, <; and as the carriage travels along,
the rope at the point forming the angle strikes the suspended pouch, and
detaches it from the standard, when it falls into the net, and is
removed by the officer attending to the apparatus. The machinery is also
arranged so that a bag can be despatched as well as received. A man
doing this work should possess keen eyes, steady nerves, and a full
average amount of strength. On a dark or foggy night it is difficult to
see the objects which serve as guides to the whereabouts of the train,
and which are technically known in the office as 'marks.'
The net is now lowered for the receipt at Harrow. In a second or two, a
tremendous thud is heard, and a large pouch comes crashing into the
carriage through the aperture, the men meanwhile keeping a respectful
distance. I should perhaps explain that in the Special Mail a new form
of net is used. The bottom of it is flush with the carriage floor, and
as the lower portion is constructed with an angle of about forty-five
degrees, the pouches roll into the carriage by their own weight.
We will now see what the pouch from Harrow contains. It is quickly
unstrapped; the bags are taken out; and it is then laid aside, to be
used for despatch at a subsequent station. There are three bags for the
Travelling Post-office received in this pouch--two containing
correspondence for England and Scotland, and one for Ireland. The bags
are immediately opened by the proper officers. The first duty is to
find the letter-bill; and if there are any registered letters, to
compare them with the entries on the bill, when, if correct, the bill is
signed and passed over, together with the registered letters, to the
officer who disposes of that class of correspondence, and by whom an
acknowledgment of the receipt of the letters is at once given to the
bag-opener. It is in this way that a hand-to-hand check is established
which ensures the practical safety of such letters.
The bag-opener then proceeds to pick out from amongst the mass of
correspondence the bundles of ordinary letters, and to pass them to the
right or left according as they are labelled No. 1 or No. 2. These
bundles are cut open by the respective sorters who work at the several
sets of boxes, the letters being laid in a row on the desk, and the men
then proceed to sort them in accordance with the addresses they bear. As
the boxes (each of which will hold about one hundred and fifty) become
full, the letters are tied up securely in bundles, and the sorters,
turning round, drop them into the bags which hang along the other side
of the carriage. And so the work goes on in the same way throughout the
entire journey.
Let us now try to show to how great an extent the Travelling Post-office
has contributed to the acceleration of correspondence from place to
place. On an examination of the letters received from Harrow, it is
found that there are three for Aberdeen; and a similar number for that
city will be received from the several towns between London and Rugby,
and so on. Of course, the number of letters mentioned would not be
sufficient for a direct bag between each of these places and Aberdeen;
but the small numbers referred to being brought together in the
Travelling Post-office, it is found that when the train arrives at
Carlisle a sufficient amount of correspondence for the northern city
has been received to fill a large bag. This bag is therefore closed at
that point, and a fresh one hung up, to contain the correspondence for
that city received northwards of Carlisle. The same may be said of the
other large towns in Scotland. Now, if there were no Travelling
Post-office, how would the few letters for Aberdeen emanating from the
various towns in England be dealt with? In the first place, they would
have to be picked up by a stopping train, and even if this train ran
direct to Aberdeen, there would be a difference in the time of arrival
of at least eight hours. But the letters could not go direct in such a
case, as that would mean the making-up of separate bags at each place;
and we have already shown that the letters are too few in number to
justify such an arrangement. They would have to be collected at some
central office, say at Birmingham, where they would of necessity be
detained some time; so that altogether it is probable they would not
arrive at their destination early enough to be delivered on the day
following that of posting. What, however, is the case now? Thanks to the
Travelling Post-office with its mail-bag apparatus, the letters are
whirled along at close upon fifty miles an hour without intermission,
thus admitting of the delivery of letters from London at so remote a
place as Aberdeen long before noon on the following day.
We will now assume that the train has arrived at Rugby--the distance
eighty-four miles. At this station mails for Coventry, Birmingham, &c.,
are left to be forwarded by a branch train. After a stop of four
minutes, the train again speeds on its way, the next stopping-place
being Tamworth. Here a large number of mail-bags are despatched,
including those for the Midland Travelling Post-office, going north to
Newcastle-on-Tyne, which serves Derbyshire, Yorkshire, and the whole
country-side bordering on the north-east coast; for the Shrewsbury
mail-train, which serves the whole of Mid-Wales; and for the Lincoln
mail-train, which serves Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
The next halt is at Crewe, where formerly a large exchange of bags took
place, having been passed without stopping. Crewe is, for Travelling
Post-office purposes, by far the most important junction in the kingdom.
Within three hours--that is, between half-past eleven at night and
half-past two in the morning--over a dozen mail-trains, each with
sorting-carriages attached, arrive and depart; whilst the weight of
mails exchanged here within the hours mentioned is not less than twenty
tons. A great amount of labour is involved in receiving and delivering
such an immense weight of bags, the work being all done by hand, and the
mail-porters have to exercise great care in keeping them in proper
course for the respective trains. Nevertheless, these responsible duties
are remarkably well performed, mistakes very rarely occurring.
The Irish mail which runs from London to Holyhead, and in which
correspondence for Ireland is almost exclusively dealt with, branches
off at Crewe, the remainder of the journey being run by way of Chester
and North Wales.
Leaving Warrington, the next stoppage is at Wigan. Here the mails for
Liverpool are despatched, and the receipt includes bags which have been
brought through a long line of country, stretching from
Newcastle-on-Tyne through York, Normanton, and Stalybridge, and thence
to Wigan. The mails for Preston and East Lancashire are left at Preston,
and, running through Lancaster, Carnforth is soon reached. At this
station the mails for North-west Lancashire and West Cumberland are
despatched, and this is the last stopping-place before arriving at
Carlisle, which is the terminal point of the North-Western Railway.
Mention should be made of the noteworthy despatch of mails by apparatus
at Oxenholme, the junction for Kendal, Windermere, and the Lake
District. It is the largest despatch by that method in the kingdom, as
many as nine pouches being delivered into two nets. Each pouch at this
station weighs on an average fifty pounds, so that altogether four
hundred and fifty pounds of mail-matter is despatched at this one
station--no inconsiderable feat.
At Carlisle the mails for the Waverley route country and for the whole
of the south-west of Scotland, including Ayrshire, are left. There is
another long run over the Caledonian Railway--about seventy-eight
miles--without a stop, the apparatus being worked seven times in that
distance until Carstairs is reached. Here, one of the sorting-carriages
is detached, and proceeds to Edinburgh; and a few miles farther on three
more are detached, and proceed to Glasgow from Holytown Junction. From
that point, therefore, only two sorting-carriages remain in the train,
and these go on to Aberdeen.
The next stop is at Stirling, where the bags for the Western Highlands
are left; and we then run on to Perth.
At Perth, the mails for Dundee and the northern Highlands are
despatched, the latter being forwarded by a mail-train which runs on the
Highland Railway _viâ_ Inverness. Again the Special Mail starts on its
way, there being only one stop--at Forfar--before arriving at Aberdeen,
where the journey ends. Here the last bags are despatched. The carriage
is clear. The sorting-boxes are carefully searched, to see that no
letters have been left in them; and the carriage is then taken charge of
by the railway officials, to be thoroughly cleansed and made ready for
the return journey on the following day. The duties on the way to London
are performed in a precisely similar manner to those on the journey
northwards.
EARLY TELEGRAPHS.
The ancient Greeks and Romans practised telegraphy with the help of pots
filled with straw and twigs saturated in oil, which, being placed in
rows, expressed certain letters according to the order in which they
were lighted; but the only one of their contrivances that merits a
detailed description was that invented by a Grecian general named Æneas,
who flourished in the time of Aristotle, intended for communication
between the generals of an army. It consisted of two exactly similar
earthen vessels, filled with water, each provided with a cock that would
discharge an equal quantity of water in a given time, so that the whole
or any part of the contents would escape in precisely the same period
from both vessels. On the surface of each floated a piece of cork
supporting an upright, marked off into divisions, each division having a
certain sentence inscribed upon it. One of the vessels was placed at
each station; and when either party desired to communicate, he lighted a
torch, which he held aloft until the other did the same, as a sign that
he was all attention. On the sender of the message lowering or
extinguishing his torch, each party immediately opened the cock of his
vessel, and so left it until the sender relighted his torch, when it was
at once closed. The receiver then read the sentence on the division of
the upright that was level with the mouth of the vessel, and which, if
everything had been executed with exactness, corresponded with that of
the sender, and so conveyed the desired intimation.
We must here pause a moment to point out one great advantage that this
contrivance, simple as it undoubtedly was, will be seen to possess over
the more scientific ones that follow, and that was, its equal efficacy
in any sort of country and in any position, whether on a plain, on the
summit of a hill, or in a sequestered valley.
To descend to more modern times. Kessler in his _Concealed Arts_ advised
the cutting out of characters in the bottom of casks, which would appear
luminous when a light was placed inside. In the _Spectator_ of December
6, 1711, there is an extract from Strada, an Italian historian, who
published his _Prolusiones Academicæ_ in 1617. In the passage referred
to, the modern system of telegraphy is curiously indicated. It is as
follows: 'Strada, in one of his Prolusions, gives an account of a
chimerical correspondence between two friends by the help of a certain
loadstone, which had such virtue in it, that if it touched two several
needles, when one of the needles so touched began to move, the other,
though at never so great a distance, moved at the same time and in the
same manner. He tells us that the two friends, being each of them
possessed of one of these needles, made a kind of dial-plate, inscribing
it with the four-and-twenty letters, in the same manner as the hours of
the day are marked upon the ordinary dial-plate. They then fixed one of
the needles on each of these plates in such a manner that it could move
round without impediment so as to touch any of the four-and-twenty
letters. Upon their separating from one another into distant countries,
they agreed to withdraw themselves punctually into their closets at a
certain hour of the day, and to converse with one another by means of
this their invention. Accordingly, when they were some hundred miles
asunder, each of them shut himself up in his closet at the time
appointed, and immediately cast his eye upon his dial-plate. If he had a
mind to write anything to his friend, he directed his needle to every
letter that formed the words which he had occasion for, making a little
pause at the end of every word or sentence, to avoid confusion. The
friend, in the meanwhile, saw his own sympathetic needle moving of
itself to every letter which that of his correspondent pointed at. By
this means they talked together across a whole continent, and conveyed
their thoughts to one another in an instant over cities or mountains,
seas or deserts.
It was not till near the close of the seventeenth century that a really
practical system of visual signalling from hill to hill was introduced
by Dr Hooke, whose attention had been turned to the subject at the siege
of Vienna by the Turks. He erected on the top of several hills having a
sky-line background three high poles or masts, connected at their upper
ends by a cross-piece. The space between two of these poles was filled
in with timbers to form a screen, behind which the various letters were
hung in order on lines, and, by means of pulleys, run out into the clear
space between the other two, when they stood out clear against the
sky-line. The letters were thus run out and back again in the required
order of spelling, and were divided into day and night letters--the
former being made of deals, the latter with the addition of links or
lights; besides which there were certain conventional characters to
represent such sentences as, 'I am ready to communicate,' 'I am ready to
receive.' In his description of the device, read before the Royal
Society on the 21st of May 1684, Dr Hooke, after claiming for it the
power of transmitting messages to a station thirty or forty miles
distant, said: 'For the performance of this we must be beholden to a
late invention, which we do not find any of the ancients knew; that is,
the eye must be assisted with telescopes, that whatever characters are
exposed at one station may be made plain and distinguishable at the
other.' A cipher code was subsequently added by an ingenious Frenchman
named Amontons.
In 1767 we find Mr Richard L. Edgeworth, the father of Maria Edgeworth,
employing the sails of a common windmill for communicating intelligence,
by an arranged system of signals according to the different positions of
the arms. The signals were made to denote numbers, the corresponding
parties being each provided with a dictionary in which the words were
numbered--the system in vogue for our army-signalling till 1871, when
the Morse alphabet was substituted for it.
A great stride was made in 1793 by M. Chappe, a citizen of Paris, when
the French Revolution directed all the energies of that nation to the
improvement of the art of war; reporting on whose machine to the French
Convention in August of the following year, Barère remarked: 'By this
invention, remoteness and distance almost disappear, and all the
communications of correspondence are effected with the rapidity of the
twinkling of an eye.' It consisted of a strong wooden mast some
twenty-five feet high, with a cross-beam twelve feet by nine inches
jointed on to its top, so as to be movable about its centre like a
scale-beam, and could thus be placed horizontally, vertically, or anyhow
inclined by means of cords. To each end of this cross-beam was affixed a
short vertical indicator about four feet long, which likewise turned on
pivots by means of cords, and to the end of each was attached a
counterweight, almost invisible at a distance, to balance the weight of
it. This machine could be made to assume certain positions which
represented or were symbolical of letters of the alphabet. In working,
nothing depended on the operator's manual skill, as the movements were
regulated mechanically. The time taken up for each movement was twenty
seconds, of which the actual motion occupied four; during the other
sixteen, the telegraph was kept stationary, to allow of its being
distinctly observed and the letter written down by those at the next
station. All the parts were painted dark brown, that they might stand
out well against the sky; and three persons were required at each
station, one to manipulate the machine, another to read the messages
through a telescope, and the third to transfer them to paper, or repeat
them to No. 1 to send on. The first machine of this kind was erected on
the roof of the Paris Louvre, to communicate with the army which was
then stationed near Lille, between which places intermediate ones from
nine to twelve miles apart were erected, the second being at Montmartre.
The different limbs were furnished with argand lamps for night-work.
Shortly after this, our own government set up lines of communication
from the Admiralty to Deal, Portsmouth, and other points on the coast,
which we find thus reported in the _Annual Register_ for 1796:
March 28th. 'A telegraph was this day erected over the Admiralty, which
is to be the point of communication with all the different sea-ports in
the kingdom. The nearest telegraph to London has hitherto been in St
George's Fields; and to such perfection has this ingenious and useful
contrivance been already brought, that one day last week information was
conveyed from Dover to London in the space of only seven minutes. The
plan proposed to be adopted in respect to telegraphs is yet only carried
into effect between London and Dover; but it is intended to extend all
over the kingdom. The importance of this speedy communication must be
evident to every one; and it has this advantage, that the information
conveyed is known only to the person who sends and to him who receives
it. The intermediate posts have only to answer and convey the signals.'
The machines used consisted of three masts connected by a top-piece. The
spaces between the masts were divided into three horizontally, and in
each partition a large wooden octagon was fixed, poised upon a
horizontal axis across its centre, so that it could be made to present
either its surface or its edge to the observer. The octagons were turned
by means of cranks upon the ends of the axles, from which cords
descended into a cabin below. By the changes in the position of these
six octagonal boards, thirty-six changes were easily exhibited, and the
signal to represent any letter or number made: thus, one board being
turned into a horizontal position so as to expose its edge, while the
other five remained shut or in a vertical position, might stand for A,
two of them only in a horizontal position for B, three for C, and so on.
It was, however, found that the octagons were less evident to the eye at
a distance than the indicators of Chappe's machine, requiring the
stations to be closer together; nor could this telegraph be made to
change its direction, so that it could only be seen from one particular
point, which necessitated having a separate machine at the Admiralty for
each line, as well as an additional one at every branch-point. It was,
moreover, too bulky and of a form unsuitable for illumination at night.
Here we may notice that in 1801 Mr John Boaz of Glasgow obtained a
patent for a telegraph which effected the signal by means of twenty-five
lamps arranged in five rows of five each, so as to form a square. Each
lamp was provided with a blind, with which its light could be obscured,
so that they could be made to exhibit letters and figures by leaving
such lamps only visible as were necessary to form the character.
The next improvement again came from France, in 1806, when an entirely
new set of telegraphs on the following principle was established along
the whole extent of the coast of the French empire. A single upright
pole was provided with three arms, each movable about an axis at one
end--one near the head, the other two at points lower down, all painted
black, with their counterpoises white, so as to be invisible a short way
off. Each arm could assume six different positions--one straight out on
either side of the pole, two at an angle of forty-five degrees above
this line, and two at forty-five degrees below it. The arm near the head
could be made to exhibit seven positions, the seventh being the
vertical; but as this might have been mistaken for part of the pole, it
was not employed. The number of combinations or different signals that
could be rendered by this machine, employing only three objects, was
consequently three hundred and forty-two against sixty-three by that of
our Admiralty just described, and which employed six objects.
It was not long, however, before we copied the advancement of our
neighbours across the Channel, and in some respects improved upon it,
the main differences being that only two arms were employed--one at the
top, the other half-way down, and that the mast was made to revolve on a
vertical axis, so that the arms could be rendered visible from any
desired quarter. Its mechanism, the invention of Sir Home Popham,
enabled the arms to be moved by means of endless screws worked by iron
spindles from below, a vast improvement on the old cords, the more so as
they worked inside the mast, which was hollow, hexagonal in section, and
framed of six boards bound together by iron hoops, and were thus
protected from the weather. Inside the cabin he erected two dials, one
for each arm, each having an index finger that worked simultaneously
with its corresponding arm above, on the same principle as the little
semaphore models to be seen nowadays in our railway signal cabins.
We have now described the most prominent of the numerous contrivances
which, prior to the application of electricity to that end, were devised
and made use of for telegraphic communication, all of which, unlike that
subtle power that is not afraid of the dark and can travel in all
weathers, possessed a common weakness in their liability to failure
through atmospheric causes, fog, mist, and haze. To us who live in this
age of electrical marvels, when that particular science more than all
others progresses by leaps and bounds, it appears passing strange and
almost incredible that so many years were allowed to elapse before the
parents of the electric telegraph, the electrical machine and magnetic
compass, were joined in wedlock to produce their amazing progeny, which
now enables all mankind, however distant, to hold rapid, soft, and easy
converse.
THE TELEGRAPH OF TO-DAY.
A veil of mystery still hangs around the first plan for an electric
telegraph, communicated to the _Scots Magazine_ for 1753 by one 'C. M.'
of Renfrew. Even the name of this obscure and modest genius is doubtful;
but it is probable that he was Charles Morrison, a native of Greenock,
who was trained as a surgeon. At this period only the electricity
developed by friction was available for the purpose, and being of a
refractory nature, there was no practical result.
But after Volta had invented the chemical generator or voltaic pile in
the first year of our century, and Oersted, in 1820, had discovered the
influence of the electric current on a magnetic needle, the illustrious
Laplace suggested to Ampère, the famous electrician, that a working
telegraph might be produced if currents were conveyed to a distance by
wires, and made to deflect magnetic needles, one for every letter of the
alphabet. This was in the year 1820; but it was not until sixteen years
later that the idea was put in practice. In 1836 Mr William Fothergill
Cooke, an officer of the Madras army, at home on furlough, was
travelling in Germany, and chanced to see at the university of
Heidelberg, in the early part of March, an experimental telegraph,
fitted up between the study and the lecture theatre of the Professor of
Natural Philosophy. It was based on the principle of Laplace and
Ampère, and consisted of two electric circuits and a pair of magnetic
needles which responded to the interruptions of the current. Mr Cooke
was struck with this device; but it was only during his journey from
Heidelberg to Frankfort on the 17th of the month, while reading Mrs Mary
Somerville's book on the _Correlation of the Physical Sciences_, that
the notion of his practical telegraph flashed upon his mind. Sanguine of
success, he abandoned his earlier pursuits and devoted all his energies
to realise his invention.
The following year he associated himself with Professor Wheatstone; a
joint patent was procured; and the Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph
was erected between the Euston Square and Camden Town stations of the
London and Birmingham Railway. To test the working of the instruments
through a longer distance, several miles of wire were suspended in the
carriage-shed at Euston, and included in the circuit. All being ready,
the trial was made on the evening of the 25th of July 1837, a memorable
date. Some friends of the inventors were present, including Mr George
Stephenson and Mr Isambard Brunel, the celebrated engineers. Mr Cooke,
with these, was stationed at Camden Town, and Mr Wheatstone at Euston
Square. The latter struck the key and signalled the first message.
Instantly the answer came on the vibrating needles, and their hopes were
realised. 'Never,' said Professor Wheatstone--'never did I feel such a
tumultuous sensation before, as when, all alone in the still room, I
heard the needles click; and as I spelled the words I felt all the
magnitude of the invention, now proved to be practical beyond cavil or
dispute.'
It was in 1832, during a voyage from Havre to New York in the packet
_Sully_, that Mr S. F. B. Morse, then an artist, conceived the idea of
the electro-magnetic marking telegraph, and drew a design for it in his
sketch-book. But it was not until the beginning of 1838 that he and his
colleague, Mr Alfred Vail, succeeded in getting the apparatus to work.
Judge Vail, the father of Alfred, and proprietor of the Speedwell
ironworks, had found the money for the experiments; but as time went on
and no result was achieved, he became disheartened, and perhaps annoyed
at the sarcasms of his neighbours, so that the inventors were afraid to
meet him. 'I recall vividly,' says Mr Baxter, 'even after the lapse of
so many years, the proud moment when Alfred said to me, "William, go up
to the house and invite father to come down and see the
telegraph-machine work." I did not stop to don my coat, although it was
the 6th of January, but ran in my shop-clothes as fast as I possibly
could. It was just after dinner when I knocked at the door of the house,
and was ushered into the sitting-room. The judge had on his
broad-brimmed hat and surtout, as if prepared to go out; but he sat
before the fireplace, leaning his head on his cane, apparently in deep
meditation. As I entered his room he looked up and said, "Well,
William?" and I answered: "Mr Alfred and Mr Morse sent me to invite you
to come down to the room and see the telegraph-machine work." He started
up, as if the importance of the message impressed him deeply; and in a
few minutes we were standing in the experimental room. After a short
explanation, he called for a piece of paper, and writing upon it the
words, "A patient waiter is no loser," he handed it to Alfred, saying,
"If you can send this, and Mr Morse can read it at the other end, I
shall be convinced." The message was received by Morse at the other end,
and handed to the judge, who, at this unexpected triumph, was overcome
by his emotions.' The practical value of the invention was soon
realised; by 1840 telegraph lines were being made in civilised
countries, and ere long extended into the network of lines which now
encircle the globe and bring the remotest ends of the earth into direct
and immediate communication.
ATLANTIC CABLES.
A year or two before the first attempt to lay an Atlantic cable, there
were only eighty-seven nautical miles of submarine cables laid; now, the
total length of these wonderful message-carriers under the waves is over
160,500 English statute miles. There are now fourteen cables crossing
the Atlantic, which are owned by six different companies.
The charter which Mr Cyrus W. Field obtained for the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company was granted in the year 1854.
It constructed the land-line telegraph in Newfoundland, and laid a cable
across the Gulf of St Lawrence; but this was only the commencement of
the work. Soundings of the sea were needed; electricians had to devise
forms of cable most suitable; engineers to consider the methods of
carrying and of laying the cable; and capitalists had to be convinced
that the scheme was practicable, and likely to be remunerative; whilst
governments were appealed to for aid. Great Britain readily promised
aid; but the United States Senate passed the needful Bill by a majority
of one.
But when the first Atlantic cable expedition left the coast of Kerry, it
was a stately squadron of British and American ships of war, such as the
_Niagara_ and the _Agamemnon_, and of merchant steamships. The
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company,
and of British railways, were there, with representatives of several
nations; and when the shore-end had been landed at Valentia, the
expedition left the Irish coast in August 1857. When 335 miles of the
cable had been laid, it parted, and high hopes were buried many fathoms
below the surface.
The first expedition of 1858 also failed; the second one was successful;
and on the 16th of August in that year, Queen Victoria congratulated the
President of the United States 'upon the successful completion of this
great international work;' and President Buchanan replied, trusting that
the telegraph might 'prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and
friendship between the kindred nations.' But after a few weeks' work,
the cable gave its last throb, and was silent.
Not until 1865 was another attempt made, and then the cable was broken
after 1200 miles had been successfully laid. Then, at the suggestion of
Mr (afterwards Sir) Daniel Gooch, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company
was formed; and on 13th July 1866 another expedition left Ireland; and
towards the end of the month, the _Great Eastern_ glided calmly into
Heart's Content, 'dropping her anchor in front of the telegraph house,
having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old
World to the New.'
But the success of the year was more than the mere laying of a cable:
the _Great Eastern_ was able, in the words of the late Lord Iddesleigh,
to complete the 'laying of the cable of 1866, and the recovering that of
1865.' The Queen conferred the honour of knighthood on Captain Anderson,
on Professor Thomson, and on Messrs Glass and Channing; whilst Mr Gooch,
M.P., was made a baronet. The charge for a limited message was then
twenty pounds; and it was not long before a rival company was begun, to
share in the rich harvest looked for; and thus another cable was laid,
leading ultimately to an amalgamation between its ordinary company and
the original Anglo-American Telegraph Company.
[Illustration: The _Great Eastern_ paying out the Atlantic Cable.]
Then, shortly afterwards, the Direct United States Cable Company came
into being, and laid a cable; a French company followed suit; the great
Western Union Telegraph Company of America entered into the Atlantic
trade, and had two cables constructed and laid. The commencement of
ocean telegraphy by each of these companies led to competition, and
reduced rates for a time with the original company, ending in what is
known as a pool or joint purse agreement, under which the total receipts
were divided in allotted proportions to the companies. These companies
have now eight cables usually operative; and it was stated by Sir J.
Pender that these eight cables 'are capable of carrying over forty
million words per annum.'
In addition to the cables of the associated companies, the Commercial
Cable Company own two modern cables; and one of the two additional ones
was laid by this company--the other by the original--the Anglo-American
Company. But the work is simple now to what it was thirty years ago.
Then, there were only one or two cable-ships; now, Mr Preece enumerates
thirty-seven, of which five belong to the greatest of our telegraph
companies, the Eastern. The authority we have just named says that 'the
form of cable has practically remained unaltered since the original
Calais cable was laid in 1851;' its weight has been increased; and there
have been additions to it to enable it to resist insidious submarine
enemies. The gear of the steamships used in the service has been
improved; whilst the 'picking-up gear' of one of the best known of these
cable-ships is 'capable of lifting thirty tons at a speed of one knot
per hour.' And there has been a wide knowledge gained of the ocean, its
depth, its mountains, and its valleys, so that the task of cable-laying
is much more of an exact science than it was. When the first attempt was
made to lay an Atlantic cable, 'the manufacture of sea-cables' had been
only recently begun; now, 140,000 knots are at work in the sea, and
yearly the area is being enlarged. When, in 1856, Mr Thackeray
subscribed to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, its share capital was
£350,000--that being the estimated cost of the cable between
Newfoundland and Ireland; now, five companies have a capital of over
£12,500,000 invested in the Atlantic telegraph trade. The largest
portion of the capital is that of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company,
which has a capital of £7,000,000, and which represents the Atlantic
Telegraph Company, the New York, and Newfoundland, and the French
Atlantic Companies of old.
Though the traffic fluctuates greatly, in some degree according to the
charge per word (for in one year of lowest charges the number of words
carried by the associated companies increased by 133 per cent., whilst
the receipts decreased about 49 per cent.), yet it does not occupy fully
the carrying capacity of the cables. But their 'life' and service is
finite, and thus it becomes needful from time to time to renew these
great and costly carriers under the Atlantic.
THE STATE AND THE TELEGRAPHS.
Since the telegraphs of the United Kingdom passed into the hands of the
State, the changes which have taken place during that period in the
volume of the business transacted, the rapidity in the transit of
messages, and the charges made for sending telegrams, are little short
of marvellous. It was in the year 1852 that the acquisition of the
telegraph system by the State was first suggested, but not until late in
the year 1867, when Mr Disraeli was Chancellor of the Exchequer, did the
government definitely determine to take the matter up. At that time, as
Mr Baines, C.B., tells us in his book, _Forty Years at the
Post-office_: 'Five powerful telegraph companies were in existence--The
Electric and International, the British and Irish Magnetic, the United
Kingdom, the Universal Private, and the London and Provincial Companies.
There were others of less importance. Terms had to be made with all of
them. The railway interest had to be considered, and the submarine
companies to be thought of, though not bought.' With strong and
well-organised interests like these fighting hard to secure for
themselves the very best possible terms, the government had not
unnaturally to submit to a hard bargain before they could obtain from
Parliament the powers which they required. However, after a severe
struggle, the necessary Bill was successfully passed, and the consequent
Money Bill became law in the following session. As the result of this
action, the telegraphs became the property of the State upon the 29th of
January 1870, and upon the 5th of the following month the actual
transfer took place. The step seems to have been taken none too soon,
for under the companies the telegraphs had been worked in a manner far
from satisfactory to the public. Many districts had been completely
neglected, and even between important centres the service had been quite
inadequate. Moreover, charges had been high, and exasperating delays of
frequent occurrence.
Six million pounds was the sum first voted by Parliament for the
purchase of the telegraphs, and this was practically all swallowed up in
compensation. The Electric and International Company received
£2,938,826; the Magnetic Company, £1,243,536; Reuter's Telegram Company,
£726,000; the United Kingdom Company, £562,264; the Universal Private
Company, £184,421; and the London and Provincial Company, £60,000. But
large as these amounts were, they only made up about one-half of the
expenditure which the government had to incur, and the total cost
ultimately reached the enormous sum of eleven millions. Some idea of the
manner in which the extra five millions was expended may be gathered
from the fact that between October 1869 and October 1870, about 15,000
miles of iron wire, nearly 2000 miles of gutta-percha-covered copper
wire, about 100,000 poles, and 1,000,000 other fittings were purchased
and fixed in position, 3500 telegraph instruments and 15,000 batteries
were acquired, and about 2400 new telegraphists and temporary assistants
were trained. The total expenditure was so vast that the Treasury
eventually took fright, and in 1875 a committee was appointed 'to
investigate the causes of the increased cost of the telegraph service
since the acquisition of the telegraphs by the State.'
This committee found that the following were the three main causes of
the increase: The salaries of all the officials of the telegraph
companies had been largely increased after their entry into the
government service; the supervising staff maintained by the State was
much more costly than that formerly employed by the companies; and a
large additional outlay had been forced upon the government in
connection with the maintenance of the telegraph lines. 'It would not,'
they say in their report, 'be possible, in our opinion, for various
reasons, for the government to work at so cheap a rate as the telegraph
companies, but ... a reasonable expectation might be entertained that
the working expenses could be kept within seventy or seventy-five per
cent. of the gross revenue, and the responsible officers of the
Post-office telegraph service should be urged to work up to that
standard. Such a result would cover the cost of working, and the sum
necessary for payment of interest on the debt incurred in the purchase
of the telegraphs.' In regard to this question of cost, Mr Baines most
truly remarks that the real stumbling-block of the Department was, and
still is, 'the interest payable on £11,000,000 capital outlay, equal at,
say, three per cent, to a charge of £330,000 a year.'
The transfer of the telegraphs to the State was immediately followed by
a startling increase in the number of messages sent. In fact, the
public, attracted by the shilling rate, poured in telegrams so fast, and
were so well supported by the news-agencies, who took full advantage of
the reduced scale, that there was at first some danger of a collapse.
Fortunately, however, the staff was equal to the emergency, and after
the first rush was over, everything worked with perfect smoothness.
During the next four years the enlargement of business was simply
extraordinary. In 1875 the rate of increase was not maintained at quite
so high a level, but nevertheless nearly 1,650,000 more messages were
dealt with than during the previous year. The quantity of matter
transmitted for Press purposes was also much greater than it had ever
been before, and amounted to more than 220,000,000 words.
In 1895 the number of telegraph offices at post-offices was 7409, in
addition to 2252 at railway stations, or a grand total of 9661. The
number of ordinary inland messages sent during the year was 71,589,064.
In regard to the great increase of pace in the transmission of
telegraphic messages, Mr Baines tells us that, 'looking back fifty
years, we see wires working at the rate of eight words a minute, or an
average of four words per wire per minute, over relatively short
distances. Now, there is a potentiality of 400 words--nay, even 600 or
700 words--per wire per minute, over very long distances. As the
invention of duplex working has been supplemented by the contrivances
for multiplex working (one line sufficing to connect several different
offices in one part of the country with one or more offices in another
part), it is almost impossible to put a limit to the carrying capacity
of a single wire.' In 1866 the time occupied in sending a telegram
between London and Bournemouth was two hours, and between Manchester and
Bolton, two hours and a quarter; while in 1893 the times occupied were
ten minutes and five minutes respectively.
Press telegrams have enormously increased in number and length since the
purchase of the telegraph system by the State. When the companies owned
the wires, the news service from London to the provinces was ordinarily
not more than a column of print a night. At the present time the news
service of the Press Association alone over the Post-office wires to
papers outside the metropolis averages fully 500 columns nightly. Since
1870 this Association has paid the Post-office £750,000 for telegraphic
charges, and in addition to this, very large sums have been paid by the
London and provincial daily papers for the independent transmission of
news, and by the principal journals in the country for the exclusive
use, during certain hours, of 'special wires.' Some of the leading
papers in the provinces receive ten or more columns of specially
telegraphed news on nights when important matters are under discussion
in Parliament; and from this some idea may be formed of the amount of
business now transacted between the Press and the Telegraph Department.
THE TELEPHONE.
So much have times altered in the last fifty years, that the electric
telegraph itself, which now reaches its thin arms into more than six
thousand offices, is threatened in its turn with serious rivalry at
the hands of a youthful but vigorous competitor, the telephone. Its
advantages are such that its ultimate popularity cannot be a matter
of doubt. It is no small benefit to be able to recognise voices, to
transact business with promptitude by word of mouth, to get a reply,
'Yes' or 'No,' on the spot, instead of having to rush to the nearest
telegraph office.
Great inventions are often conceived a long time before they are
realised in practice. Sometimes the original idea occurs to the man who
subsequently works it out; and sometimes it comes as a happy thought to
one who is either in advance of his age, or who is prevented by adverse
circumstances from following it up, and who yet lives to see the day
when some more fortunate individual gives it a material shape, and so
achieves the fame which was denied to him. Such is the case of M.
Charles Bourselle, who in 1854 proposed a form of speaking-telephone,
which, although not practicable in its first crude condition, might have
led its originator to a more successful instrument if he had pursued the
subject further.
The telephone is an instrument designed to reproduce sounds at a
distance by means of electricity. It was believed by most people, and
even by eminent electricians, that the speaking-telephone had never been
dreamed of by any one before Professor Graham Bell introduced his
marvellous little apparatus to the scientific world. But that was a
mistake. More than one person had thought of such a thing, Bourselle
among the number. Philip Reis, a German electrician, had even
constructed an electric telephone in 1864, which transmitted words with
some degree of perfection; and the assistant of Reis asserts that it was
designed to carry music as well as words. Professor Bell, in devising
his telephone, copied the human ear with its vibrating drum. The first
iron plate he used as a vibrator was a little piece of clock-spring
glued to a parchment diaphragm, and on saying to the spring on the
telephone at one end of the line: 'Do you understand what I say?' the
answer from his assistant at the other end came back immediately: 'Yes;
I understand you perfectly.' The sounds were feeble, and he had to hold
his ear close to the little piece of iron on the parchment, but they
were distinct; and though Reis had transmitted certain single words some
ten years before, Bell was the first to make a piece of matter utter
sentences. Reis gave the electric wire a tongue so that it could mumble
like an infant; but Bell taught it to speak.
The next step is attributed to Mr Elisha Gray of Chicago, who sent
successions of electrical current of varying strength as well as of
varying frequency into the circuit, and thus enabled the relative
loudness as well as the pitch of sounds to be transmitted; and who
afterwards took the important step of using the variations of a steady
current. These variations, positive and negative, are capable of
representing all the back-and-fore variations of position of a particle
of air, however irregular these may be: and he secured them by making
the sound-waves set a diaphragm in vibration. This diaphragm carried a
metallic point which dipped in dilute sulphuric acid; the deeper it
dipped the less was the resistance to a current passing through the
acid, and _vice versâ_: so that every variation in the position of the
diaphragm produced a corresponding variation in the intensity of the
current: and the varying current acted upon a distant electro-magnet,
which accordingly fluctuated in strength, and in its attraction for a
piece of soft iron suspended on a flexible diaphragm: this piece of soft
iron accordingly oscillated, pulling the flexible diaphragm with it; and
the variations of pressure in the air acted upon by the diaphragm
produced waves, reproducing the characteristics of the original
sound-waves, and perceived by the ear as reproducing the original sound
or voice. Mr Gray lodged a _caveat_ for this contrivance in the United
States Patent Office on 14th February 1876; but on the same day
Professor Alexander Graham Bell filed a specification and drawings of
the original Bell telephone.
Bell's telephone was first exhibited in America at the Centennial
Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876; and in England, at the Glasgow
meeting of the British Association in September of that year. On that
occasion, Sir William Thomson (now Lord Kelvin) pronounced it, with
enthusiasm, to be the 'greatest of all the marvels of the electric
telegraph.' The surprise created by its first appearance was, however,
nothing to the astonishment and delight which it aroused in this country
when Professor Bell, the following year, himself exhibited it in London
to the Society of Telegraph Engineers. Since then, its introduction as a
valuable aid to social life has been very rapid, and the telephone is
now to be found in use from China to Peru.
THOMAS ALVA EDISON AND THE PHONOGRAPH.
The Phonograph is an instrument for mechanically recording and
reproducing articulate human speech, song, &c. It was invented by Mr T.
A. Edison in the spring of 1877, at his Menlo Park Laboratory, New
Jersey, and came into existence as the result of one of the many lines
of experiment he was then engaged upon.
Thomas Alva Edison, this notable American inventor, was born at Milan,
Ohio, 11th February 1847, but his early years were spent at Port Huron,
Michigan. His father was of Dutch, and his mother of Scotch descent; the
latter, having been a teacher, gave him what schooling he received.
Edison was a great reader in his youth, and at the age of twelve he
became a newsboy on the Grand Trunk Line running into Detroit, and began
to experiment in chemistry. Gaining the exclusive right of selling
newspapers on this line, and purchasing some old type, with the aid of
four assistants he printed and issued the _Grand Trunk Herald_, the
first newspaper printed in a railway train. A station-master, in
gratitude for his having saved his child from the front of an advancing
train, taught him telegraphy, in which he had previously been greatly
interested; and thenceforward he concentrated the energies of a very
versatile mind chiefly upon electrical studies.
[Illustration: Edison with his Phonograph.]
Edison invented an automatic repeater, by means of which messages could
be sent from one wire to another without the intervention of the
operator. His system of duplex telegraphy was perfected while a
telegraph operator in Boston, but was not entirely successful until
1872. In 1871 he became superintendent of the New York Gold and Stock
Company, and here invented the printing-telegraph for gold and stock
quotations, for the manufacture of which he established a workshop at
Newark, N.J., continuing there till his removal to Menlo Park, N.J., in
1876. Ten years later he settled at Orange, at the foot of the Orange
Mountains, his large premises at Menlo Park having grown too small for
him.
His inventive faculties now getting full play, he took out over fifty
patents in connection with improvements in telegraphy, including the
duplex, quadruplex, and sextuplex system; the carbon telephone
transmitter; microtasimeter; aerophone, for amplifying sound; the
megaphone, for magnifying sound. Thence also emanated his phonograph, a
form of telephone, and various practical adaptations of the electric
light. His kinetoscope (1894) is a development of the Zoetrope, in which
the continuous picture is obtained from a swift succession of
instantaneous photographs (taken 46 or more in a second), and printed
on a strip of celluloid. Of late he has devoted himself to improving
metallurgic methods. He has taken out some 500 patents, and founded many
companies at home and in Europe.
Following up some of his telegraphic inventions, he had developed a
machine which, by reason of the indentations made on paper, would
transfer a message in Morse characters from one circuit to another
automatically, through the agency of a tracing-point connected with a
circuit-closing device. Upon revolving with rapidity the cylinder that
carried the indented or embossed paper Mr Edison found that the
indentations could be reproduced with immense rapidity through the
vibration of the tracing-point. He at once saw that he could vibrate a
diaphragm by the sound-waves of the voice, and, by means of a stylus
attached to the diaphragm, make them record themselves upon an
impressible substance placed on the revolving cylinder. The record being
made thus, the diaphragm would, when the stylus again traversed the
cylinder, be thrown into the same vibrations as before, and the actual
reproduction of human speech, or any other sound, would be the result.
The invention thought out in this manner was at once tried, with
paraffined paper as the receiving material, and afterwards with tinfoil,
the experiment proving a remarkable success, despite the crudity of the
apparatus. In 1878 Mr Edison made a number of phonographs, which were
exhibited in America and Europe, and attracted universal attention. The
records were made in these on soft tinfoil sheets fastened around metal
cylinders. For a while Mr Edison was compelled to suspend work on this
invention, but soon returned to it and worked out the machine as it
exists practically to-day. It occupies about the same space as a hand
sewing-machine. A light tube of wax to slide on and off the cylinder is
substituted for the tinfoil, which had been wrapped round it, and the
indenting stylus is replaced by a minute engraving point. Under the
varying pressure of the sound-waves, this point or knife cuts into the
tube almost imperceptibly, the wax chiselled away wreathing off in very
fine spirals before the edge of the little blade, as the cylinder
travels under it. Each cylinder will receive about a thousand words. In
the improved machine Mr Edison at first employed two diaphragms in
'spectacle' form, one to receive and the other to reproduce; but he has
since combined these in a single efficient attachment. The wax cylinders
can be used several hundred times, the machine being fitted with a small
paring tool which will shave off the record previously made, leaving a
smooth new surface. The machine has also been supplemented by the
inventor with an ingenious little electric motor with delicate governing
mechanism, so that the phonograph can be operated at any chosen rate of
speed, uniformly. This motor derives its energising current either from
an Edison-Lalande primary battery, a storage battery, or an
electric-light circuit.
The new and perfected Edison phonograph has already gone into very
general use, and many thousands are distributed in American business
offices, where they facilitate correspondence in a variety of ways. They
are also employed by stenographers as a help in the transcription of
their shorthand notes. Heretofore these notes have been slowly dictated
to amanuenses, but they are now frequently read off to a phonograph, and
then written out at leisure. The phonograph is, however, being used for
direct stenograph work, and it reported verbatim 40,000 words of
discussion at one convention held in 1890, the words being quietly
repeated into the machine by the reporter as quickly as they were
uttered by the various speakers. A large number of machines are in use
by actors, clergymen, musicians, reciters, and others, to improve their
elocution and singing. Automatic phonographs are also to be found in
many places of public resort, equipped with musical or elocutionary
cylinders, which can be heard upon the insertion of a small coin; and
miniature phonographs have been applied to dolls and toys. The value of
the phonograph in the preservation of dying languages has been perceived
too, and records have already been secured of the speech, songs,
war-cries, and folklore of American tribes now becoming extinct. It is
also worthy of note that several voice records remain of distinguished
men, who 'being dead yet speak.' Their tones can now be renewed at will,
and their very utterances, faithful in accent and individuality, can be
heard again and again through all time.
Improvements are being made in the wholesale reproduction of
phonographic cylinders, by electrotyping and other processes; and the
machine, in a more or less modified form, is being introduced as a
means of furnishing a record of communications through the telephone.
Phonographic clocks, books, and other devices have also been invented by
Mr Edison, whose discovery is evidently of a generic nature, opening up
a large and entirely new field in the arts and sciences.
THE END.
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