Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1898-12-15
REMEDY FOR sEAslcKNEss.
Sir Henry Bessemer's Ship, whicl
Proved an Utter Failure.

| AIhFeu an ItteT FAILURE.
A quarter of a century ago the late
Sir Henry Bessemer tackled the prob
| lem which thousands of his fellow
countrymen tackle every year in vain
the problem of finding a remedy for
seasicllness, Mr.. Ressemer's idea was
to secure a quiet haven Of rest in the
midst of the vessel at sea, where the
| voyager might remain and defy sea-
| sickness 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 early that the no
ton Of gaining steadiness by suspen-
sion of axis, as in the ships lamps
| or compass, would not suffice, for
though the compass Is by means of it's
suspension on a double axis retained
| in horizontal plane, it nevertheless
rises and falls with the pitching Of the
vessel. Hence, in applying the princi-
| pie to a saloon it was necessary to 20
to the middle of the ships length.
where the pitching is practically moth
ing, and to the middle point of her
breadth also, where there Is little or no
motion. Freely suspended objects,
such as pendulnms. begin to osciliate
whenever their point Of suspension is
moved; the transit of the passengers
to and fro would produce motion,
and the action of the wind ON the
sides Of the vessel would cause the
same effect. Mr. Bessemer believed
that he had overcome these difficulties
by the application Of hydraulic power.
The hydraulic power was certainly
arranged with extreme ingenuity, and
the large salon, weighing 40 tons.
ard suspended in the midst of the ves-
sci, could be moved with touch. In
order to make room for the salon the
engines and boilers were moved from
the usual places which they occupied
in the old paddle steamers to points on
either side fore and aft Of the salon
and duplicate sets OF boilers and en-
gines Eer pfeEided-ain order to short
en- the dreaded channel voyage The
hydraulic suspension w not the only
ingenious device which was depended
upon to keep the salon steady. The
great speed Of the ship-she was ex-
pected to attain very high speed. al
though In practice the speed never ex-
eeeded 1874 knots-was trusted to di-
m3nieh the pitching, and she Was given
. low freeboard, forty feet long at
eaeh end. The effect of this freehoard.
so Il vas believed. would be to cut this
waves, ship part Of them On the low
deck and so balance the vessel
The Ressemer inaugurated her first
trip to Calais by smashing the old Ca
aais pier-the hydraulic steering gear
failing 10 act at a critical moment
and as a matter Of faet the hydraulic
appliances for steadying the salon were
not tried, the real reason being that
hey were not finished, Subsequent ex- f
Derimeats were equally unsatisfactory. +
The swinging salon did not behave al
sea In the same way as the steam
rocked model which Eessener had been
studying on land. In compafatfyelv
calm which still might have
enough swell to be unpleasant-if
would not act at all Moreover, the
s9stt " ss2 t1dtl5 t9o LII Ae lot IalalS laf-
Dor. Her fate was sealed by the bank
'urtey of the company that owned her.
and in 1876 she was sold by order of
.ha ligadaters. The buyer removed
lie salon and its machinery disaard-
ID the hydraulic steering gear and
7ailt the freeboard to the level of he
est OF the deck. In this commonplace
z1ise the cid Beasemer had a eareen
MI only differed from the less sfnnr
shaanel boats In having four paddle.
Fheals instead Of wo.-Philadelphis
Record