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tonnage were constructed, having engines of great power, for conveying passengers between Greenock and Belfast and Liverpool; between Liverpool and Dublin; and between Liverpool and Bagilt, in Flintshire. All these vessels, except two, were built in the Clyde. In 1821, two steam vessels were established to go between London and Leith. And in the present year, have been already fitted for sea two at Liverpool; another for the Leith and London station; another between Brighton and Dieppe; two between Dover and Calais; and one to go regularly between London Bridge and Calais. Twelve more are in hand, and will be completed during the present summer. Ferry boats, propelled by steam, sufficiently commodious to carry carriages, horses, and cattle, have been established, with great public utility, on the Tay, between Dundee and Fifeshire; at the Queen's Ferry, in Scotland; on the Severn, the Mersey, the Humber, and at other ferries.

We may also add that steam boats now go regularly from Bristol to Cork, Dublin, and Liverpool, calling off Ilfracombe and Tenby.

The experience of what steam-boats have performed, is fully sufficient to place beyond all doubt their safety even in the most tempestuous weather. The Rob Roy plied two winters between Greenock and Belfast, and last winter between Dover and Calais; the Eclipse plied the whole of last winter between Glasgow and Belfast, and the Cambrian between Liverpool and Bagilt. A steam-boat has plied regularly through all seasons between New York, the Havannah, and New Orleans: all the other steam-boats which have been used at sea have been exposed to numerous severe gales. But the trial which the Holyhead steam-boats went through, during the late tempestuous winter, from the nature of

the service, requiring them to go to sea at a fixed hour' every day, proves that steam-boats, when properly constructed, are able to go to sea when sailing vessels could not; and that, in some respects, they possess, in very bad weather, advantages over sailing vessels.

The detail of Captain Rogers's evidence proves the truth of the conclusions above drawn; and the evidence of the Holyhead captains corroborate the statements of Captain Rogers. The testimony of these gentlemen is not only extremely important, in consequence of the performance of the steam packets during the last winter, but, also, because it is to be recollected that, even after the Talbot and Ivanhoe had been on the station, it was their opinion that no vessel could perform the winter service with safety but sailing cutters, such as the old Holyhead packets. But the trial of last winter having induced them to change their opinion, this circumstance supplies all which was wanting to establish, upon the best authority, the safety and superiority of steam-boats for this service.

Notwithstanding the great number of steam-boats which have been constantly in use during the last ten years, very few accidents have occurred-and these have been chiefly owing to the novelty of the experiment:-so many precautions are now taken, that there is no reason to apprehend the recurrence of any serious accidents. The general use of low-pressure boilers, made of wrought iron or copper, has removed the possibility of accidents from their bursting. If one of these boilers give way, the materials do not fly, but are rent asunder. In respect to the furnaces, they are so constructed that there is no danger from fire, because there is water all round them. The coals are kept in iron cases, so as to prevent all communication with the fires; and if, in addition to

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these precautions, vessels are supplied with extinguishing fire engines, there is no danger of accidents from fire.

The Report then suggests that steam vessels should be compelled to carry a certain number of boats, according to their tonnage, but deprecates, in other respects, all legislative restrictions; individual security being sufficiently provided for by the competition which is excited among the different proprietors. Besides, however, this precaution of boats, the committee recommend that every steam boat ought to have for the perusal of the passengers a certificate of some experienced engineer, testifying the strength of the boilers, the sufficiency of the valves, the safety of the furnace, and the general good condition of the vessel and machinery.

The average length of the voyages of the Holyhead packets, from the 1st of June, 1821, to the 1st of June, 1822, has been about seven hours and a-half: the average of the sailing packets was fifteen hours. The Hero, a London and Margate steam packet, generally makes the passage in seven hours and a-half, the distance being eighty-four miles. The Edinburgh Castle has gone from London to Leith in fifty-eight hours, a distance of four hundred miles; but the James Watt is a faster vessel, her speed being ten miles an hour through still water, independent of wind and tide. The Majestic has performed the voyage from Greenock to Liverpool, a distance of two hundred and forty miles in twenty-two hours; the Saint Patrick came from Dublin to Liverpool, one hundred and thirty miles, in thirteen hours and a-half, against a stiff breeze from the east. The Lord Melville goes from London Bridge to Calais in eleven or twelve hours. The great speed with which voyages are made in steam-boats adds considerably to their superiority over other vessels, in point of safety: for, the less time

VOL. IV.

is occupied in performing a voyage, the less are the risk and danger to which passengers are exposed.

It is now evident that the failure of all early attempts

to apply steam to sea boats was owing to their being built too square; to their want of strength, and to the want of a sufficient quantity of steaming power.

It may be collected from the evidence that the greater part of the breakages which have occurred of different parts of the machinery in steam-boats has been owing to the negligence of the engine keepers. Starting the engine without clearing the water which is formed on the top of the piston from condensed steam, is one cause of fractures; other accidents have arisen from suffering the bearings upon which the shafts work, and the links connecting the piston with the beam, to get loose; and, in some cases, from making them so tight that the bearings heat; and also from not attending carefully to the steam valve, when the vessel is exposed to a heavy sea. Mr. Watt says, "With the experience now obtained, we make no doubt but that we shall be able to construct machinery less liable to accidents: but much must always depend upon the vigilance and experience of the men `who work the engines." And Mr. James Brown, being asked what were the causes of accidents to the machinery, replied, "They depend more on the engine keepers than any thing else.”

The evidence is decidedly in favour of copper boilers. Mr. Donkin and Mr. T. Bramah are of opinion that all hoilers are now made too large, and that the same quantity of steaming power might be obtained with a smaller body of water, if the surface of the boiler exposed to the fire were sufficiently large. In adapting the quantity of steaming power, the object, as yet, seems to have been to obtain a great degree of speed in smooth water.. But this principle, in respect to sea vessels, the committee

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condemns as erroneous; since the proper object is not so much having great speed through smooth water as a certain progress, even at a very moderate rate, against a head sea in a heavy gale of wind.

Although the committee state that there is no probability at present of employing sails to steam-boats in a more effectual way than they are at present, yet they observe that, "Notwithstanding the great and rapid progress which steam navigation has made, it is still considered by the ablest engineers to be only in its infancy. Experience suggests, in every new vessel and engine, some improvements to be made, or some defects to be removed."

It appears by the evidence that attempts are now making by very ingenious individuals to remove some of those defects which belong to the engines now in use.

Mr. Brunel is engaged on a plan for making the engine more compact and more simple, and, at the same time, stronger; and to enable it, by certain mechanical combinations, to adapt and accommodate itself to all exigencies, and all the perturbations incident to its peculiar services.

Mr. Galloway and Mr. Perkins feel confident that high-pressure boilers may be so contrived as to be used with the greatest advantage. Mr. Perkins, in his answers to the circular queries, gives such strong evidence in favour of them, from the actual use of them in 150 American steam-boats, as to go far towards removing the prevailing objections to them.

Mr. Donkin is of opinion that a rotatory furnace, on Mr. Brunton's principle, may be applied to steam vessels.*

Mr. Oldham, of the Bank of Ireland, has invented a

* Sce Brunton's Patents, vol. I. page 87 and 405.