Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-04-14
The government in. the end behaved

The government in. the end behaved
with great magnanimity; 1t conferred
upon him a knighthood with as little
grudging as it would bestow the dis
tinction upon a provincial mayor.
The invention Of the steamboat, for
which Fulton was ridiculed In the
United States, and whose success was
due alone to the intrepidity Of the in
yentor, was received in even a worse
spirit in England. William Symington
launched the first practical steamship
ever completed. 1t performed its trials
successfully-too successfully. The
wise-acres Of the period rose in wrath,
and declared that the wash from the
new contrivance would destroy the
sides of the Forth and Clyde canal. 1t
was broken up; and its inventor died
broken hearted.
Long after the practicability Of the
steamship had been demonstrated, the
British government was appealed to
In vain. Steamers were plying on the
Clyde, on the Thames, between Glas-
cow and Belfast, Glasgow and Liver
pool, between London and Margate.
Steam passage to and from America
and to and from India had been made
twenty years before the admiralty
would allow public opinion to force the
adoption of steam for the navy.
Having once adopted 1t, they stuck
like limpets to the first idea-the pad
die wheel against everything. John
Ericsson made and patented his screw
propeller, and got the lords Of the ad-
miralty to make a trial trip In his
vessel. 1t was one which towed ves-
sells of 140 tons burden at the rate OF
seven miles an hour.
My lords made use Of the trip to
visit the yard in which they had new
paddle, steamer a-building. The Erics-
son screw answered every test 80 ad-
mirably, and was so obvious an i'm
provement upon the paddle wheel tnat
the lords of the admiralty unanimous
ly decided that they were very much
disappointed with the experiment"
Poor Ericsson took his belongings
and his mighty brain to the United
States, where he was to revolutionize
navigation and methods Of naval war
fare.
There remained in England another
man who had got a screw in his brain
This was Francis Petit Smith. An Of
fer for the purchase Of his invention
was made by the pasha Of Egypt, but
Smith, like other of our badly used
geniuses, was marvelously loyal to
the country which condemned his skill
and perseverance. Not only was the
admiralty against him; the whole OF
the shipping interest rose In opposi-
ton to the new theory. The surveyor
Of the navy pledged his reputation
that it was impossible to steer ves-
sci which was impelled from the stern
Sir William Symons, the official In
question, hated steam. was utterly op-
posed to iron ships, and described both
schemes in his journals as "mon-
strous."
Even when, at the end of 1S43, the
navy had q last got a tiny screw
steamer of its own, they were not sat
isfied, although the new means Of pro-
pulsion had been tested by sending a
vessel to every port in the united
kingdom and to every capital in Eu-
rope.
The ridiculous spectacle was wit
messed Of two vessels hitched stern to
stern. Upon a tug Of war between the
screws and the paddle depended the
fate of the navy! The screw won cas-
lily and dragged the paddle steamer
ignominiously into harbor; and then
unwillingly, the new principle was
adopted.-Milton Horn in Chicago Tri-
bune.