David Napier by David Napier and David Bell: Note 5a

Henry Bell

Henry Bell Receipt

Henry Bell Receipt

5A. HENRY BELL, 1767-1830

The important part taken by Henry Bell in advocating and introducing steam navigation is well known. His intimate friendship and business connection with the Napier's, however, may justify a brief reference to his career. (A likeness reproduced by Messrs. Annan from an old painting is shown opposite page 80.) According to his own statement, quoted by Morris, Bell was born in 1767, at Torphichen Mill, near Linlithgow. After serving a three years' apprenticeship at millwright work, he was employed for a year at the shipyard of Messrs. Shaw and Hart, Borrowstounness, and thereafter wrought for two and a half years at mechanical engineering.

In 1790, when twenty-three years of age, he settled in Glasgow, and in the following year started the business of Bell & Paterson, builders, the partnership lasting for seven years. He was married in 1794, and in 1797 became a member of the Incorporation of Wrights in Glasgow. From about 1786, when he was employed at shipbuilding, he became increasingly convinced that steam-power could be applied to the propelling of vessels. This was prior to Miller and Symington's first steamboat experiment. In 1800 he fitted a small engine and boiler into a pleasure-boat on the Clyde, and in the same year forwarded a statement to the British Admiralty setting forth "the practicability and great utility of applying steam to the propelling of vessels against winds and tides." His suggestions met with no encouragement, but again in 1803 he renewed his appeal to their Lordships, only to be informed that "nothing could be done." His project was likewise opposed by Watt, and receiving thus no support in his own country he prepared "a correct prospectus of his long-matured plan, and forwarded copies to the nations of Europe, and to the United States of America." The Charlotte Dundas, 1802, which he examined, had shown that steam could be applied successfully to smooth-water vessels; but that boat being laid aside, and no financial assistance forthcoming for further experiments, his hopes, like Symington's, remained unfulfilled. The note, 6, on Fulton indicates his indebtedness to Bell.

In 1808 Bell became tenant of the Baths Hotel, Helensburgh, and, taking an interest in the affairs of the rising burgh, he was, a few years later, elected its first provost. It was not till 1811 that he was able to arrange for the construction of his first steamboat, the historic Comet, and her success encouraged him once more, in 1813, to urge upon the naval authorities the importance of steam-power for the navy. It was about six years after this however before the British Government possessed its first steamboat, and eighteen or twenty years had passed before steam-engines were fitted into a British war-vessel.

In 1813 Bell published a pamphlet titled ‘Observations on the Utility of Applying Steam Engines to Vessels’, etc. From this point his time and attention were given wholly to the extension and management of steamboat traffic, and he had additional boats built from time to time for his passenger service on the Clyde. The unfortunate loss of the Comets, first and second, and other disasters, with the keen competition his steamboats had to contend against, seriously crippled his resources, his health failed, and for about five years he was laid aside from active work.

He died at Helensburgh, 14th November, 1830, in his sixty-fourth year, and a statue erected by his friend Robert Napier in Row churchyard, marks his resting-place. Monuments at Bowling and Helensburgh, provided by public subscription, further commemorate his public services, and a memorial has recently been placed on the ruins of his birthplace at Torphichen Mill. Letters in the Glasgow Mechanics Magazine, 1825, contain an interesting statement of Bell's views at that date regarding the progress and prospects of steam navigation. They refer also to his own work and inventions, including his proposed steam vehicles for roads, and the improved equipment and regulations he considered necessary for the safe working of steamships. The following document of the same year has an historic interest:

GLASGOW, 2nd April, 1825.

We, the undersigned Engineers in Glasgow, having been employed for some time past in making machinery for steam vessels on the Clyde, do certify that the principle of the machinery and paddles used by Mr. Henry Bell in his steamboat the Cornet in 1812 has undergone little or no alteration, notwithstanding several attempts by ingenious persons to improve it.

(Signed)
HUGH BAIRD
ROBERT BAIRD
JOHN NEILSON
DAVID NAPIER
ROBERT NAPIER
DUNCAN MARTHUR
CLAUD GIRDWOOD & CO.
MURDOCH & CROSS
WILLIAM M'ANDREW
WILLIAM WATSON."

In memoriam
HENRY BELL
Died 14th November, 1830

(BY JOHN MACDONALD, Row, GARELOCH.)
Beneath this statue Henry Bell is lying,
And o'er his grave the church's shadow falls;
Down on the beach the silvery wave is sighing,
And in the hush of eve the throstle calls.

Out in the bay the graceful yachts lie dreaming,
And far across the peaceful Firth I see—
Where Wonder watched the tiny Comet steaming—
Great vessels moving in their majesty.

Not he the first to conquer thus the water,
But his the courage and the skill, I deem,
That taught Britannia and her Western daughter
To furrow ocean by the might of steam.

Where rivers run, where wind-blown billow rages,
Pulses the paddle now, the screws propel,
And hist'ry shall record to coming ages
The genius and the fame of Henry Bell.

See Also

• David Napier by David Napier and David Bell
• Henry Bell