David Napier by David Napier and David Bell: Note 7
7. JOHN WOOD, 1788-1860
The recognised builder of Bell's pioneer steamboat was Mr. John Wood, of Port-Glasgow, whose portrait, reproduced from a photograph in the possession of Mr. James Reid, Port-Glasgow, faces p. 88.
The firm of John Wood and Co was founded by John Wood, sen., "a man of much talent and ingenuity," at least thirty years before the Comet gave a successful start to steam navigation in Britain. He had, in 1811, contracted to build the hull of this vessel, but died before the close of the year, and it fell to his sons John and Charles to complete the contract and carry on the business. John was then only twenty-three years of age, but had acquired a very complete knowledge of shipbuilding from his father, and from having also wrought for about two years in a shipyard at Lancaster. At this early period David Napier was brought into contact with John, and in later years had some of his vessels built by him. During Wood's long business career from 1811 onward he constructed an immense number of vessels of all kinds, a large proportion latterly being steamships for channel and ocean service. Having been the pioneer of steamboat construction on the Clyde, though closely followed by others, Wood maintained his leading position by setting afloat, year by year, a succession of the largest and finest steamships of their time. The firm succeeded early in gaining favourable recognition, the Royal Scottish Society of Arts having, in 1814, awarded them its silver medal; and in later years their work met with further public notice and commendation. Being consulted by the Parliamentary Committee of 1822, appointed to report on the employment of steamships in over-sea postal service, their reply mentioned that till March of that year they had built twenty-two steam vessels (three of which were for David Napier), and had also been employed to alter several steamboats not built by them in order to improve their speed. John Wood attained the highest eminence as a scientific naval architect and practical constructor of steam and sailing vessels. His designs were wrought out, as respects displacement, stability and other essentials, with the greatest thoroughness; in the modelling he exhibited much artistic taste and he aimed uniformly at the best possible workmanship. He was thus regarded, with reason, as having "set the fashion which other builders followed," and esteemed as "the apostle of a new and better creed in naval architecture than had previously prevailed." In addressing the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, 1872, the President, himself a shipbuilder and speaking with a personal knowledge of Wood's professional qualities, referred to him as having been "the father of all that is best in the style of our ships, and truest in the practical application of science in the shipbuilding of Great Britain." Mr. Wood's interests at the same time were not wholly professional, but extended widely into various branches of physical science and it delighted him to furnish freely whatever knowledge he possessed, whether to competitors in business or any others who might consult him. He was a clever astronomer and most accomplished French scholar. In 1844 he invented a self-registering tide-gauge, for which the Royal Society of Edinburgh presented him with its silver medal, a relic now in possession of his grand-nephew, James Reid. It may be added, as recorded by Mr. J. Scott Russell, that so far back as 1818 Wood experimented in the propulsion of vessels by means of a screw. He fitted to a gig a wooden screw about thirty inches long, with a blade nine or ten inches broad, making an entire revolution round its spindle. This propeller, driven by two men working a crank, gave the boat a speed of three to four miles per hour. The last sailing ship he built was the Ouyuni, launched in 1856 for James Ewing St Co., Glasgow. He was a partner for some time with his relative John Reid, who commenced the building of iron ships in a yard immediately adjoining Wood's, but he took no active part in that business; and during the closing years of his life his leisure was occupied, as a pastime, with the building of small wooden vessels and boats in his own premises. He died at Port-Glasgow on 22nd December, 1860, in his seventy-third year.