Blasco de Garay
Encyclopedia
Blasco de Garay was a Spanish navy
captain and inventor.
De Garay was a captain in the Spanish navy in the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V
. He made several important inventions, including diving apparatus, and introduced the paddle wheel
as a substitute for oar
s. In the nineteenth century, a Spanish archivist claimed to have discovered documents that showed that de Garay had tested a steam powered ship in 1543. However, these claims have been discredited by the Spanish authorities.
was claimed in 1825 by Tomás González, director of the royal archives of Simancas
, to the distinguished historian Martín Fernández Navarrete. González stated that in a file he had found, there is documentation endorsing a test conducted June 17, 1543 by the Naval Captain and Engineer of the navy of Charles V
of a navigation
system with no sails or oars containing a large copper of boiling water. Navarrete published González's account in 1826 in Baron de Zach's Astronomical Correspondence. The letter from González to Martín Fernández Navarrete is as follows:
Steamboats were in fact not introduced to Spain until 1817. Real Fernando, launched in 1817 and which plied the Guadalquivir River from Sevilla to Sanlucar, was probably the first steamboat built in Spain. She was joined by PS Hope, built at Bristol
in 1813.
The belated claims made on behalf of Blasco de Garay have since been discredited by the Spanish authorities.
The failure to find documentation confirming that letter led to a controversy between French and Spanish scholars. The issue gained such popularity that Honoré de Balzac
wrote a comedy, made of five acts, with the theme as an argument entitled Les Ressources de Quinola which premiered in Paris on March 19, 1842 and which tended to be sympathetic to the Spanish claim.
Spanish Navy
The Spanish Navy is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Armada is responsible for notable achievements in world history such as the discovery of Americas, the first world circumnavigation, and the discovery of a maritime path...
captain and inventor.
De Garay was a captain in the Spanish navy in the reign of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
. He made several important inventions, including diving apparatus, and introduced the paddle wheel
Paddle wheel
A paddle wheel is a waterwheel in which a number of scoops are set around the periphery of the wheel. It has several usages.* Very low lift water pumping, such as flooding paddy fields at no more than about height above the water source....
as a substitute for oar
Oar
An oar is an implement used for water-borne propulsion. Oars have a flat blade at one end. Oarsmen grasp the oar at the other end. The difference between oars and paddles are that paddles are held by the paddler, and are not connected with the vessel. Oars generally are connected to the vessel by...
s. In the nineteenth century, a Spanish archivist claimed to have discovered documents that showed that de Garay had tested a steam powered ship in 1543. However, these claims have been discredited by the Spanish authorities.
Inventions
Garay himself sent the emperor a document setting out eight inventions which included:- A way to recover vessels underwater, even if they were submerged a hundred fathoms deep, with only the aid of two men.
- An apparatus by which anyone could be submerged under water indefinitely
- Another device to detect objects on the seabed with the naked eye.
- A way to keep a light burning underwater.
- A way to sweeten brackish water.
Steamship controversy
The attribution to Blasco de Garay of the testing of a steam engine made on a boat in the port of BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
was claimed in 1825 by Tomás González, director of the royal archives of Simancas
Simancas
Simancas is a town and municipality of central Spain, located in the province of Valladolid, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León...
, to the distinguished historian Martín Fernández Navarrete. González stated that in a file he had found, there is documentation endorsing a test conducted June 17, 1543 by the Naval Captain and Engineer of the navy of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
of a navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
system with no sails or oars containing a large copper of boiling water. Navarrete published González's account in 1826 in Baron de Zach's Astronomical Correspondence. The letter from González to Martín Fernández Navarrete is as follows:
- "Blasco de Garay, a captain in the navy, proposed in 1543, to the Emperor and King, Charles the Fifth, a machine to propel large boats and ships, even in calm weather, without oars or sails. In spite of the impediments and the opposition which this project met with, the Emperor ordered a trial to be made of it in the port of BarcelonaBarcelonaBarcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, which in fact took place on the 17th on the month of June, of the said year 1543. Garay would not explain the particulars of his discovery: it was evident however during the experiment that it consisted in a large copper of boiling water, and in moving wheels attached to either side of the ship. The experiment was tried on a ship of two hundred tons, called the Trinidad, which came from Colibre to discharge a cargo of corn at Barcelona, of which Peter de Scarza was captain. By order of Charles V, Don Henry de Toledo the governor, Don Pedro de CordovaPedro de CordovaPedro de Córdoba was a Spanish missionary, author and inquisitor on the island of Hispaniola.-Biography:He was born at Córdoba in Andalusia, southern Spain, about 1460. He studied theology at the University of Salamanca and there joined the Dominicans....
the treasurer Ravago, and the vice chancellor, and intendant of Catalonia witnessed the experiment. In the reports made to the emperor and to the prince, this ingenious invention was generally approved, particularly on account of the promptness and facility with which the ship was made to go about. - The treasurer Ravago, an enemy to the project, said that the vessel could be propelled two leaguesLeague (unit)A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
in three hours that the machine was complicated and expensive and that there would be an exposure to danger in case the boiler should burst. The other commissioners affirmed that the vessel tacked with the same rapidity as a galley maneuvered in the ordinary way, and went at least a league an hour. - "As soon as the experiment was made Garay took the whole machine with which he had furnished the vessel, leaving only the wooden part in the arsenal at Barcelona, and keeping all the rest for himself.
- "In spite of Ravago's opposition, the invention was approved, and if the expedition in which Charles the Vth was then engaged had not prevented, he would no doubt have encouraged it. Nevertheless, the emperor promoted the inventor one grade, made him a present of two hundred thousand maravedis, and ordered the expense to be paid out of the treasury, and granted him besides many other favors."
- "This account is derived from the documents and original registers kept in the Royal Archives of Simancas, among the commercial papers of Catalonia, and from those of the military and naval departments for the said year, 1543." Simancas, August 27, 1825, Tomas GonzalezTomás GonzálezTomás Pedro González Barrios is a retired track and field sprinter from Cuba.-Achievements:-References:* *...
.
Steamboats were in fact not introduced to Spain until 1817. Real Fernando, launched in 1817 and which plied the Guadalquivir River from Sevilla to Sanlucar, was probably the first steamboat built in Spain. She was joined by PS Hope, built at Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in 1813.
The belated claims made on behalf of Blasco de Garay have since been discredited by the Spanish authorities.
The failure to find documentation confirming that letter led to a controversy between French and Spanish scholars. The issue gained such popularity that Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. His magnum opus was a sequence of short stories and novels collectively entitled La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of French life in the years after the 1815 fall of Napoleon....
wrote a comedy, made of five acts, with the theme as an argument entitled Les Ressources de Quinola which premiered in Paris on March 19, 1842 and which tended to be sympathetic to the Spanish claim.
Further reading
- H. P. Spratt, "The Birth of the Steamboat", London, 1958
- H. P. Spratt, "The Prenatal History of the Steamboat", Newcomen Transactions, Vol.30, 1955–7, page 13.