The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-16
A BEssEMER FAILURE. q
Sir Henry's Ship Which Was to Do Away
With Seasickness.

A quarter Of century ago the late Sir
Henry Bessemer tackled the problem
which thousands of his fellow countrymen,
tackle every year in valn-the problem Of
finding remedy for seasickness. ME1
Bessemor's idea was to secure a quiot,
haven Of rest in the midst Of tho vessel AT
sea where tho voyager might remain and
defy seasickness with ease and dignity. ~
His plans first began to take shape In,
1869, though they did not arrive at the
point of practical experiment until five
years later. He perceived carly that the
notion Of gaining stcadiness by suspension
on axes, as in tho ships lamp or compass,1
would not suffice, for, though the compass
Is by means of Its suspension on q double
axis retained in horizontal plane, 1t newt
ertheless rises and falls with the pitching
of tho vessel. Hence, In applying tho prin,
ciple to saloon, 1t was necessary to go to
the middle of the ships longth, where the
pitching is practically nothing, and to the
middle point Of her breadth also, where,
there is little or no motion.
But there were other difficulties to ba
overcome. Freely suspended objects, such.
as pendulums, begin to oscillate whenever
their point Of suspension Is moved. The
transit of tho passengers to and fro would
produce motion, and the action Of the
wind on the sides of the vessel would cause
the same effect MIR. Bessemor believed
that he had overcome these difficulties by.
thoapplicntion of hydraulic power. ~
The hydraulic power was certainly are,
ranged with extreme ingenuity, and the
large saloon, Weighing lao tons and susllL
pended In tho midst Of the vessel could b,
moved with touch. In order to make,
room for the saloon the engines and boi1era
were moved from the usual place which
they occupied in the old paddle steamers,
to points on either side fore and aft Of the
saloon, and duplicate sets of boilers and
engines were providGd-"in order to shortt
en-" the dreaded channel voyage. "
Tho hydraulic suspension was not th6
only ingenious device which was depend,
cd upon to keep tho saloon steady. The
great speed Of the ship-she was expected
to attain very high speed, although I'M
practice the speed never exceeded 13xi
knots-was trusted to diminish the pitch.,
ing, and she was given low freeboard;I
40 feet long at each end. The effect of this
freeboard so 1t was believed, would be to
cut into the waves, ship part Of them on
tho low deck, and SO balance tho vessel. "
Tho Bessomer inaugurated her first trip
to Calais by smashing old Calais pier, the
hydraulic steering gear failing to act at a
critical moment, and, as matter of factA
the hydraulic appliances for steadying her
saloon were not tried, tho real reason be@
ing that they were not finished. subss-
quent experiments wero equally unsatis-
factory. Tho swinging saloon did not be-.
have at sea in the same way as the steam
rocked model which Bcssemor had studied
on land. In comparatively calm water,
which still might have enough swell to be-
unpleasant, 1t would not act at all. :!
Moreover, the boat was really too large
for Calais harbor. Her fate was scaled byi
the bankruptcy Of tho company that
owned her, and In 1875 sho was sold by
order of the liquidators. Tho buyer re-.
moved the saloon and its machinery, dis
carded the hydraulic steering gear and
built up tho low freeboard to the level Of
tho rest of the deck. In this commonplace
guise the old Bcssemcr had career and
only differed from tho less stuffy channel
boats in having four paddle wheels iu-
stead of two. philadelphia Record. .,9S