Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1898-12-23
REMEDY FOR SEASlCKNESS.

Sir Henry Bessemer's Ship, Which
Proved an Utter 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 remedy for
seasickness. Mr.. Bessemer'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 a horizontal plane, it nevertheless
rises and falls with the pitching o. the
vessel. Hence, in applying the princi-
pie to a saloon, 1t was necessary to 60
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 pendulums, begin to oscillate
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 140 tons.
and suspended in the midst of the yes
sci. could be moved with a 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 op
either side fore and aft of the salon
and duplicate sets Of boilers and en-
gines wer provided-"in order to short
en-" the dreaded channel voyage. The
hydraulic suspension was 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-
ceeded 1914 knots-was trusted to d.
minish the pitching. and she was given
a low freeboard, forty feet long at
each end. The effect of this freeboard,
so it was believed, would be to cut the
waves, ship part of them on the low
deck, and so balance the vessel
The Bessemer inaugurated her first
trip to Calais by smashing the old Ca
lats pier-the hydraulic steering gear
failing to act at critical moment
and as a matter of fact the hydraulic
appliances for steadying the salon were
not tried, the real reason being that
they were not finished. Subsequent ex-
neriments were equally unsatisfactory
The swinging salon did not behave at
sea in the same way as the steam
rocked model which Bessener had been
studying on land. In comparatively
calm water-which still might have
enough swell to be unpleasant-it
would not act at all. Moreover, the
boat was really too large for Calais har-
bor Her fate was sealed by the bank
ruptcy OF the company that owned her,
and in 1876 she was sold by order OF
the liquidators. The buyer removed
the salon and it's machinery, discard
cd the hydraulic steering gear and
built the freeboard to the level OF the
rest of the deck. In this commonplace
guise the old Bessemer had career,
and only differed from the less stuhy
channel boats in having four paddle
wheels instead of two.-Philadelphis
Record.
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