Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 42

Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 42

thence down the Volga to the Caspian; men were sent with them by us, who

put them together there, and launched them successfully. We made and

erected the small-arms manufactory at Constantinople, for making five

hundred muskets per week. We constructed the engines and machinery for

the ‘Archimedes’ screw-vessel, which was the first screw used in this

country; and again, the iron vessel, engines, and screw for the ‘Dwarf,’

which was the first screw-vessel ever introduced into the British Navy,

in the year 1839, for which I take the credit myself; for after we

had succeeded so well with the ‘Archimedes,’ I waited upon Sir George

Cockburn, then Senior Naval Lord of the Admiralty, and proposed to him

to make a small iron vessel worked by a screw. I engaged that the vessel

should make the speed of ten knots an hour by the measured mile; and that

if after she was completed and tried she did not come up to the required

conditions, of which their own officers were to be sole judges, I would

take back the vessel and machinery, without any compensation; but if they

were satisfied, they themselves were to fix the price to be paid for the

vessel and machinery. Sir George said the offer was so fair, that if

I would put it in writing in the form of an official tender, he would

recommend the Admiralty to accept it; this I accordingly did. The vessel,

engines, and screw were completed to the satisfaction of the Admiralty

officers, the price settled by them was at once paid, and so the ‘Dwarf’

was the first screw-vessel introduced into the British Navy. It was

certainly no small gratification to myself to have introduced the first

vessel propelled by the screw into the Royal Navy, as I felt convinced

that it was the only proper method of propelling vessels of war: it

was the more gratifying, because my father was the first who, in 1819,

introduced the paddle-wheel system into the Navy; and thus our family

have had the honour--and a great one it is--of introducing into the Navy

the two greatest improvements of modern times. My father, who was always

consulted by the Admiralty, proposed machinery in every department

where it could be applied with any advantage; such as railways; the

Gantry crane, and others, worked by machinery; heating anchors in

furnaces, by means of which only could they be properly made; employing

convicts to do the labour, with a moderate gratuity to stimulate their

exertions, and thus reduce the expense of their keep; and employing

private establishments wherever they could do the work cheaper than in

the dockyards. The state must and ought to have such establishments as

should be able to do their own work when occasion requires; but in a

country like England, where the arts and manufactures are carried to the

highest possible extent by individual competition, and where the field of

exertion is so vast and the prizes of success are so great, no government

establishment can compete with them. It cannot hold out sufficient

inducement for exertion, and hence we find that no great invention

has ever emanated from a public establishment. Certain officers the

government must have, and these must be at fixed salaries, for which they

have to do a certain quantity of work, and for this the hours are fixed;

they have no inducement to go beyond this. Yet this perhaps is the wisest

course for a government like ours; it can always command the talent of

the day, and it is far more economical for a government to pay the market

price, whatever it may be, than to take persons, however well qualified,

wholly into its employment; the moment this is done the inducement to

extra exertion ceases, and the government must go again to the market for

the next best talent, and so on. Hence it is my opinion that a government

should have the fewest possible establishments it can get on with, so

as not to leave itself wholly dependent upon private firms; and that it

should go liberally to the public, specifying in general terms what is

required, then it will obtain the best workmen in the wisest manner,

without being taxed by extra pensions or any other drawback; by this

means a government would command all private establishments, and make the

most of its own.

 

In 1832 I was requested by the authorities of the Isle of Man to examine

the whole of the coast of the Island, and to give my opinion as to

the best plan for improving the harbours. I accordingly sent over my

assistant, Mr. Coombe; and having carefully surveyed Douglas, Derby

Haven, Castleton, Peel, Ramsey, and Laxey, made complete hydrographical

surveys of the whole, and detailed plans for the best way of improving

them. At Douglas I proposed to make an extensive low-water asylum

harbour, and also at Derby Haven, which were the most important places,

and possessed the greatest capability of making good refuge harbours

at the most economical rates for the numerous vessels trading between

Ireland and England, and also for foreign vessels bound for Liverpool.

The other ports susceptible of improvement were chiefly local, and

therefore only a moderate sum was proposed to be expended upon them. A

great harbour might, indeed, have been made near the Calf of Man; but

this would have involved an expense which the revenues of the Island had

no means of paying, though a harbour there would have been of importance

to the vast number of vessels of all classes trading between Liverpool

and America; and therefore, if anything was to be done there, Liverpool

ought to have contributed largely towards it. Liverpool, however, thought

differently. They had no idea of encouraging their vessels to stop so

near home. So that all idea of making a refuge harbour near the Calf of

Man was abandoned. Neither could the Islanders obtain foreign aid for

Douglas, or Castleton, or Derby Haven. They were therefore left to their

own resources, and were obliged to confine their operations to making

a small addition to Douglas Pier, which I designed for them, and which

was carried into effect by Mr. James Brown--a most excellent practical

engineer--who had been employed many years by my father at Holyhead

Harbour and elsewhere.

 

About the same time I was asked to make a plan for the improvement of the

ancient port of Hartlepool (I think one of the oldest in England), for

shipping coal from the coal-fields of South Durham, which were then being

developed to an extraordinary extent. I made a plan, which was afterwards

carried into effect under my direction, the late Mr. James Brown, above

mentioned, being the resident engineer. When I visited the place, it

was the most secluded, primitive fishing village I ever saw. It has now

become one of the most thriving and populous towns of Durham.

 

At this time I was also requested by a society of gentlemen--amongst

whom were Messrs. Ladbrooke, Mills, Smith, Webb, &c.--to examine the

mouth of the Coquet, near Warkworth, in order to make a harbour there

for the shipping of coal from some collieries which were about to be

opened in that district. This harbour, which consisted of a north pier

and south pier, was made under my direction; Mr. George Remington being

the resident engineer. It was merely intended as a tidal harbour, with

floating docks attached to it; which latter, for want of funds, were

never made. By extending the northern pier farther seaward, they could

easily obtain 12 feet or more at low water; and the Coquet Island outside

forms an excellent and safe roadstead for vessels drawing 20 feet at

low water--an advantage that no other port on the east coast possesses.

There is plenty of coal in the vicinity, that has never been developed

for want of capital; but no doubt the day will come when this port will

be of considerable consequence. Whilst superintending these works, the

late Earl Grey, then Prime Minister, who lived at Howick, about nine

miles to the north of the Coquet, invited me to spend a day there. I

accordingly went over, and was most kindly received. I there met his

son, the present Earl, and the present Sir George Grey, and passed my

time very agreeably and instructively. The late Earl, when Commissioner

of Portsmouth Dockyard, knew my father well, and had great respect for

his talents.

 

Whilst employed in constructing the piers of Sunderland Harbour, I

made acquaintance with Mr. Lambton, afterwards the Earl of Durham, who

married one of Earl Grey’s daughters. He was one of the commissioners

of the harbour, and a great coalowner. He was a slight-made person, of

the middle size, with an olive complexion, dark, piercing eyes, and a

profusion of jet-black hair. He possessed considerable talent, great

firmness, and a stern, haughty, proud bearing, with great impetuosity

of temper. Being heir to a large fortune, he was spoiled in his youth,

although not without kindly, generous, and noble feelings, and where he

took a liking, was a firm friend. He was always very kind and friendly

to me, and took a leading part in promoting the success of Sunderland

Harbour. His violent temper, and inability to control it, was the cause

of his failure as a public man. When Governor-General of Canada he,

contrary to all rules of order and subordination, threw up his command in

a pet on account of some trifling provocation, and returned to England

without authority. The obloquy which this foolish and imprudent step

entailed upon him for ever after rendered him unfit to take a leading

part in public affairs, for which otherwise he was well calculated, and

he died soon after, it is believed of a broken heart.

 

Railways having been now fairly established, and having to a considerable

extent superseded roads and canals, the Brighton Railway scheme was

started again. The history of this work I have already described. During

the years 1837-1838 it occupied a considerable portion of my time, and

although I was then very ill, and totally unfit for business, I was

obliged to struggle through it, and carried it at last. At times I was

so nervous and unwell that I scarcely knew what I was about. I felt

perfectly stupid, and thought that my life must end in a lunatic asylum;

and many, even of my friends, considered that my career was over. When

cross-examined before parliamentary committees, which examinations I was

obliged to undergo at this time, after two or three hours my head got so

confused that I could see nothing distinctly--everything appeared either

double or upside down. However, I got through not only the Brighton, but

also the Blackwall, Railway Bills. Apropos of the Blackwall Railway, I

long had an idea that Blackwall, including the East and West India, the

Regent’s Canal, and the London Docks, should be connected with London by

a railway, and that this line should form the grand trunk and terminus

for all the railways which were to connect the eastern counties of

Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge with London. A Bill for making

the Eastern Counties Railway through Essex and Suffolk had then passed,

having their terminus in Shoreditch, which was quite out of the way,

and left out all the docks; whereas the line which I proposed would

not only have connected them with London at Fenchurch Street, which is

within half a mile of the Royal Exchange, but would have brought the

great traffic of the eastern counties there also. Mr. Stephenson, seeing

the importance of my Blackwall line, started another in opposition,

which was defeated in Parliament, and my line was carried; but my party

was not strong enough to carry it into effect; Mr. Stephenson’s was,

therefore they took up my line, and he was appointed the chief engineer.

He wholly ignored my principle of making the Blackwall line the main

trunk for the eastern counties’ traffic, but declared that the Blackwall

line should be considered distinct; and as he thought that so short

a line was not adapted for locomotives, he said that it would be far

better to work it by means of ropes attached to powerful engines fixed

at each end of the line. I foresaw that this plan would not succeed,

and told my friends so; however, it was of no use, the rope system was

adopted, until it was found that the constant breaking of the ropes,

their great friction, and the power required to work them, entailed so