Richard Hall Gower
Encyclopedia
Captain Richard Hall Gower (1768–1833) was an English
mariner, empirical
philosopher, nautical inventor, entrepreneur
, and humanitarian.
. He left school, "thankfully", to join the British East India Company
as a midshipman
in the vessel Essex carrying troops and invalids. He was a lively and observant lad. At the age of 16 he was promoted captain of the main top
, where he waged active war with the lads of the fore top
, shrouds
and stays
providing the high roads of communication. He was noted for his spirit and ingenuity, his depth of knowledge of his ship and his skill as a ship model maker; unravelling stockings to obtain rigging materials.
When he returned to England after his first three year voyage, he studied navigation
at Edmonton and, on rejoining ship, was dubbed “the young philosopher”. Ever inventive, he once fitted a canvas speaking tube from the main top to the deck, installing it overnight to surprise and please his captain. To his bitter dismay, his captain had it removed instantly saying he was sure the topmen would “use it for an improper purpose”. Gower rose to chief mate of the Essex and qualified as a captain. He returned to shore in 1783 to teach at Edmonton and to publish his Practical Guide that eventually went into at least three editions. He designed, and applied for a patent for a ship’s log ; very similar to the logs employed to this day. He turned down the offer of the command of an East Indiaman to make ship models and to pursue his interest in naval architecture
and in the, then much needed, improvement of ship design.
and the Industrial Revolution
had brought experimental enquiry
, scientific reasoning
and, thus, engineering
to bear on the legends, traditions and practices of all the crafts. Naval architects
and shipwrights were no exceptions. Richard Gower quoted a Mr Mackonochie “ … in a mechanical point of view (a ship) is the feeblest, most inartificial, and unworkmanlike structure in the whole range of mechanics
”. Gower continued to the effect that almost any vessel, however badly it may sail, would probably get there in the end, if the wind and weather be fair. That, he thought, was not nearly good enough. He was among the first to bring empirical science
to bear on naval architecture. His intention was to so improve ship design that, in whatever wind and weather, vessels would sail safely, speedily and economically with a crew properly accommodated and put to no unnecessary risk.
Traditionally, the design of hulls, rigging, sails and outfittings had been the provinces of several separate specialists. Commonly, shipyards built the hulls of vessels and, after launching, rigger
s and sail makers outfitted them. Most innovation was confined to improvement of the hull, to increase carrying capacity of merchantmen and to improve the stability of warships as gun platforms. The results were broad, squat boxes, hydrodynamically inefficient, with squalid accommodation for the crew and complicated rigging that entailed much very dangerous work aloft.
It was just about the turn of the century that both the Royal Navy
and the Royal Mail
recognised the need for fast vessels for scouting and for carrying messages and mail to and from the United Kingdom and her dominions and colonies overseas. These newly recognised tasks required new designs of vessels and new opportunities for invention. Gower was among those who saw a vessel as a single entity in which all the parts, hull, rigging, sails and, in Gower's view, the crew, should relate to each other in ways appropriate to the task to be performed. This entailed giving greater consideration to designing the vessel as a whole, rather than leaving it to the various crafts to perform their respective works as best they could. Today, we would call his approach "holistic".
By this time, to be successful, innovations had to be well founded in good science, properly protected against plagiarism by letters patent
and backed by the Crown
, government
, patrons or merchant venturers
. So Gower defended most of his ideas with an applications for patents, in which he expounded the physical theories he believed supported his innovations as well as describing the matters which he claimed to be original inventions. He then sought every opportunity of stalking the corridors of power and seeking contacts in high places. He proposed no innovation that did not make sound military or commercial sense.
House at Ipswich
in 1817. There he devoted himself to the invention, patenting, design and building of a remarkable series of novel vessels including three vessels named Transit
, a fly boat, two yachts the Unique and the Gower, the Landguard Fort Lifeboat
, and a number of other inventions. He entered, but did not win, a competition for a novel form of lock for the Regents Canal
. He suggested that, to protect coastal traffic, cruisers be stationed along the coast in communication with signal stations to provide a concerted defence system . He proposed a form of vertical-vaned windmill; an eye shade; various ship’s logs and a “double-barrelled” capstan
to do two jobs at once. He suggested a non-elastic substitute for imported hemp
en standing rigging to be made of wooden cylinders joined together by iron straps. He devised a method of keeping ships at proper distances by using the mast as a base line. He invented a mode of dropping a guess warp anchor with such accuracy that its end could be easily found and lifted. He devised a novel method of fidding a topgallant mast and several contrivances for the “better nipping and stopping a cable”. He designed a long catamaran for forming a life raft and a form of floating sea anchor
, or drogue anchor (he called it a “propeller”) like an umbrella. He created a set of signals, that could be seen from all angles, using shapes instead of flags. He also suggested using a floating compass
needle to find North. He experimented with various designs of paddle wheel on the River Lee Canal that anticipated the design of the wheels used by steam paddlers many years later. He invented and built the Landguard Fort Lifeboat
, which carried up to 25 people and was virtually unsinkable. He proposed fitting canal barges
with ‘spud wheels’ that could propel the vessel by catching on the canal bottom. He saw that a combination of paddle wheels and spud wheels could take vessels over mud flats at various conditions of the tide. Gower also constructed a twin hulled catamaran
, just ten feet long, on which he mounted a barrel of water that drained to underwater by a curved pipe pointing aft. His twin floats achieved two miles per hour apparently without the need for power from sail or steam. He thus demonstrated water jet propulsion
. He anticipated that a steam water pump, so contrived, could propel vessels without the need for paddles. He gives credit to Dr Franklin (probably Benjamin Franklin
) and a Mr Rumsay of Philadelphia for this idea and hoped that his little experiment would encourage others to pursue the notion.
and the promotion of the novel ideas that he incorporated in them, occupied much of his life. The most original features of these vessels were their slab sides above, and the concave and convex sweeps of the hull, below the waterline, the Joints scarfed and bolted rather than chocked and treenailed, ballast was iron cast into special shapes to sit just above the deadwood and between the floor timbers and the narrowest part of the hull above the keel was reinforced by strong cross timbers bolted through the sides. Such extensive use of iron was a novel feature at the time.
Gower observed that conventional vessels were box-like and needed much movement of the rudder from side to side to preserve a steady course. When running fast, they often suffered total loss of steerage because the water failed “to close over the rudder” and left it in a “mere hole or vacuum in the water” (what we now call “cavitation
”). He appreciated too that drag
is proportionate to the wetted surface of the hull, and that a long narrow hull with a deep narrow keel makes for speed. In the case of the Transit, the tapering lines also allowed the rudder to hang abaft the general spread of the bottom. This “enlivened” the steering; yet the rudder was not vulnerable to damage when the vessel grounded. Except when she was to put about, a spoke of the helm either way could steer the Transit.
Several attempts to arouse the interest of the Hon. East India Company and the Royal Mail. These failed, and the Transit loaded cargo and sailed to join convoy in June 1801. While waiting for the convoy to assemble, Gower, ever the salesman, showed her off to the King and his party on the Royal Yacht
in Christchurch Bay. Gower learned later that, although George III
had asked many questions about the Transit, none present had been able to answer him and none thought to ask the inventor who was nearby. Later the Chairman of the Hon. East India Company summoned Gower to a meeting. Gower says that the Chairman said that the Company would buy the Transit, provided she proved to be a fast-sailing vessel. At the instance of Earl St Vincent, now the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Transit was tried against Osprey. She was a fast sloop of 383 tons (about twice the tonnage of the Transit) and, according to Gower, the commander of Osprey was generous in his praise. To Gower’s chagrin, no order was forthcoming and he had to re-ship his cargo and join convoy for Lisbon on 27 August. The important question of what happened to change the decision of the Company is, as yet, unresolved. Perhaps Gower put a gloss on the intention of the Chairman of the Company or on the opinion of Osprey’s captain. Perhaps someone in the Admiralty tampered with Osprey’s report before forwarding it to the Company. Perhaps there was some aspect of the design of the Transit, say her problems in shallow tidal harbours, or the strange way of her sailing, that killed off the Company’s enthusiasm. Maybe there is still a note in some archive that could tell us why the Transit did not become the first of a new generation of fast traders.
and, in supporting it, criticised the poor quality of local builders, comparing them very unfavourably with Italian house builders. He cited in evidence draughty walls, leaky chimneys, insecure joists and the general paucity of decoration. He inveighed against crown glass
, small window panes and the window tax
. He described how plate glass was made in Italy and hoped that it would soon be made in Britain also.
His last letters expressed his concern about the hardships of sailor boys, the reasons for the mutinies
in the Navy and the perils of convoy
. He gave a vivid description of traditional Naval punishments. He thought that these cruelties, so readily meted out to sailors just for disobedience, would be better applied to those on land who ill-treat, forge, rob and plunder the peaceable inhabitants of the country. His last article appeared on 18 May 1833 and addressed, among a number of topics, uselessness of our “colossal three-deckers”. Twelve of these at anchor may be a stately sight, but what good is it to incarcerate 10,000 seamen in them for ten to fifteen years at a time? He concluded “Our colossal Navy is merely an object of magnificence, and show of power, without opposition in the present state of Europe”. His words do have a certain resonance today.
In his last book, published posthumously, Gower reflected on the gigantic advances made in the use of iron and steam. He noted this especially on the railroads
where passengers and heavy freight travelled at the extraordinary velocity of thirty miles per hour. He thought that, because of the need for large coal bunkers, 'steam paddlers' were unlikely to replace sail on long trade routes such as the trans-Atlantic crossing. He hoped that vessels of the Transit type would ply across the Ocean until “more portable means shall be invented for putting steamers in motion”. Just five years later SS Sirius and Brunel's SS Great Western
crossed the Atlantic under steam power alone. Gower was correct in pointing to the need for large bunkers, the former vessel had to burn furniture and fittings to complete her record-breaking voyage, while the latter arrived a day later with 200 tons still in her bunkers.
He died, aged 65, on his estate ‘Nova Scotia’ near Ipswich in July 1833. He left a widow, two sons and three daughters whom, because of his abhorrence of public schools, he had been teaching by his own peculiar methods. He lies in a vault on the North side of the church of St Mary Stoke, Ipswich
, in the company of master mariners
, shipwrights and men of the sea. A stern disciplinarian, honest and guileless, Gower was “not free from the irritability of genius”. He had at heart two passions; for the improvement of sailing vessels and the betterment of the lot of the common sailor.
A Memoir about him concludes “Of him it may with truth be said that by those who knew him best, he was beloved the most; and if the motto ‘Palmam qui meruit ferat’ (Let he, who has won the palm, wear it) had been verified, the laurels that now shade others heads would have crowned the temples of Richard Hall Gower.”
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
mariner, empirical
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
philosopher, nautical inventor, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, and humanitarian.
Mariner
Richard was the youngest son of Rev. Reginald Foote Gower, physician and antiquarian. He won a scholarship to Winchester CollegeWinchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
. He left school, "thankfully", to join the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
as a midshipman
Midshipman
A midshipman is an officer cadet, or a commissioned officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Kenya...
in the vessel Essex carrying troops and invalids. He was a lively and observant lad. At the age of 16 he was promoted captain of the main top
Top (sailing ship)
On a traditional square rigged ship, the top is the platform at the upper end of each mast. This is not the masthead "crow's nest" of the popular imagination – above the mainmast is the main-topmast, main-topgallant-mast and main-royal-mast, so that the top is actually about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way...
, where he waged active war with the lads of the fore top
Top (sailing ship)
On a traditional square rigged ship, the top is the platform at the upper end of each mast. This is not the masthead "crow's nest" of the popular imagination – above the mainmast is the main-topmast, main-topgallant-mast and main-royal-mast, so that the top is actually about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way...
, shrouds
Shroud (sailing)
On a sailboat, the shrouds are pieces of standing rigging which hold the mast up from side to side. There is frequently more than one shroud on each side of the boat....
and stays
Stays (nautical)
Stays are the heavy ropes, wires, or rods on sailing vessels that run from the masts to the hull, usually fore-and-aft along the centerline of the vessel...
providing the high roads of communication. He was noted for his spirit and ingenuity, his depth of knowledge of his ship and his skill as a ship model maker; unravelling stockings to obtain rigging materials.
When he returned to England after his first three year voyage, he studied 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...
at Edmonton and, on rejoining ship, was dubbed “the young philosopher”. Ever inventive, he once fitted a canvas speaking tube from the main top to the deck, installing it overnight to surprise and please his captain. To his bitter dismay, his captain had it removed instantly saying he was sure the topmen would “use it for an improper purpose”. Gower rose to chief mate of the Essex and qualified as a captain. He returned to shore in 1783 to teach at Edmonton and to publish his Practical Guide that eventually went into at least three editions. He designed, and applied for a patent for a ship’s log ; very similar to the logs employed to this day. He turned down the offer of the command of an East Indiaman to make ship models and to pursue his interest in naval architecture
Naval architecture
Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the life of a...
and in the, then much needed, improvement of ship design.
Empirical Philosopher
The Age of ReasonAge of reason
Age of reason may refer to:* 17th-century philosophy, as a successor of the Renaissance and a predecessor to the Age of Enlightenment* Age of Enlightenment in its long form of 1600-1800* The Age of Reason, a book by Thomas Paine...
and the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
had brought experimental enquiry
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
, scientific reasoning
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and, thus, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
to bear on the legends, traditions and practices of all the crafts. Naval architects
Naval architecture
Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the life of a...
and shipwrights were no exceptions. Richard Gower quoted a Mr Mackonochie “ … in a mechanical point of view (a ship) is the feeblest, most inartificial, and unworkmanlike structure in the whole range of mechanics
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
”. Gower continued to the effect that almost any vessel, however badly it may sail, would probably get there in the end, if the wind and weather be fair. That, he thought, was not nearly good enough. He was among the first to bring empirical science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
to bear on naval architecture. His intention was to so improve ship design that, in whatever wind and weather, vessels would sail safely, speedily and economically with a crew properly accommodated and put to no unnecessary risk.
Traditionally, the design of hulls, rigging, sails and outfittings had been the provinces of several separate specialists. Commonly, shipyards built the hulls of vessels and, after launching, rigger
Rigger
Rigger may refer to:* One who attends to the rigging of a sailing ship* Rigger , those who tend rigging in stage performance * Rigger , specializing in moving large/heavy objects* Parachute rigger...
s and sail makers outfitted them. Most innovation was confined to improvement of the hull, to increase carrying capacity of merchantmen and to improve the stability of warships as gun platforms. The results were broad, squat boxes, hydrodynamically inefficient, with squalid accommodation for the crew and complicated rigging that entailed much very dangerous work aloft.
It was just about the turn of the century that both the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
and the Royal Mail
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
recognised the need for fast vessels for scouting and for carrying messages and mail to and from the United Kingdom and her dominions and colonies overseas. These newly recognised tasks required new designs of vessels and new opportunities for invention. Gower was among those who saw a vessel as a single entity in which all the parts, hull, rigging, sails and, in Gower's view, the crew, should relate to each other in ways appropriate to the task to be performed. This entailed giving greater consideration to designing the vessel as a whole, rather than leaving it to the various crafts to perform their respective works as best they could. Today, we would call his approach "holistic".
By this time, to be successful, innovations had to be well founded in good science, properly protected against plagiarism by letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
and backed by the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
, government
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
, patrons or merchant venturers
Society of Merchant Venturers
The Society of Merchant Venturers is a private entrepreneurial and charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol, which dates back to the 13th century...
. So Gower defended most of his ideas with an applications for patents, in which he expounded the physical theories he believed supported his innovations as well as describing the matters which he claimed to be original inventions. He then sought every opportunity of stalking the corridors of power and seeking contacts in high places. He proposed no innovation that did not make sound military or commercial sense.
Inventor
Gower and his family removed to Nova ScotiaNova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
House at Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
in 1817. There he devoted himself to the invention, patenting, design and building of a remarkable series of novel vessels including three vessels named Transit
Transit (ship)
Transit was the name given to three sailing vessels designed and built to the order of Captain Richard Hall Gower.All three had fine lines at bow and stern, uniform frames mid-ships with concave and convex sweeps and a deep keel. Their length to beam ratio was unusually high, giving them a...
, a fly boat, two yachts the Unique and the Gower, the Landguard Fort Lifeboat
Landguard Fort Lifeboat
The Landguard Fort Lifeboat is an example of early attempts to design an unsinkable vessel. Several years before the foundation of the RNLI, Richard Hall Gower had been addressing the special problems of lifeboat design. Bayleys at Ipswich built one to his design, being paid for by public...
, and a number of other inventions. He entered, but did not win, a competition for a novel form of lock for the Regents Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....
. He suggested that, to protect coastal traffic, cruisers be stationed along the coast in communication with signal stations to provide a concerted defence system . He proposed a form of vertical-vaned windmill; an eye shade; various ship’s logs and a “double-barrelled” capstan
Capstan
Capstan may refer to:*Capstan , a rotating machine used to control or apply force to another element*Capstan , rotating spindles used to move recording tape through the mechanism of a tape recorder...
to do two jobs at once. He suggested a non-elastic substitute for imported hemp
Hemp
Hemp is mostly used as a name for low tetrahydrocannabinol strains of the plant Cannabis sativa, of fiber and/or oilseed varieties. In modern times, hemp has been used for industrial purposes including paper, textiles, biodegradable plastics, construction, health food and fuel with modest...
en standing rigging to be made of wooden cylinders joined together by iron straps. He devised a method of keeping ships at proper distances by using the mast as a base line. He invented a mode of dropping a guess warp anchor with such accuracy that its end could be easily found and lifted. He devised a novel method of fidding a topgallant mast and several contrivances for the “better nipping and stopping a cable”. He designed a long catamaran for forming a life raft and a form of floating sea anchor
Sea anchor
A sea anchor, is a device external to the boat, attached to the bow used to stabilize a boat in heavy weather. It anchors not to the sea floor but to the water itself, as a kind of brake. Sea anchors are known by a number of names, such as drift anchor, drift sock, para-anchor, and boat brakes...
, or drogue anchor (he called it a “propeller”) like an umbrella. He created a set of signals, that could be seen from all angles, using shapes instead of flags. He also suggested using a floating compass
Compass
A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...
needle to find North. He experimented with various designs of paddle wheel on the River Lee Canal that anticipated the design of the wheels used by steam paddlers many years later. He invented and built the Landguard Fort Lifeboat
Landguard Fort Lifeboat
The Landguard Fort Lifeboat is an example of early attempts to design an unsinkable vessel. Several years before the foundation of the RNLI, Richard Hall Gower had been addressing the special problems of lifeboat design. Bayleys at Ipswich built one to his design, being paid for by public...
, which carried up to 25 people and was virtually unsinkable. He proposed fitting canal barges
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
with ‘spud wheels’ that could propel the vessel by catching on the canal bottom. He saw that a combination of paddle wheels and spud wheels could take vessels over mud flats at various conditions of the tide. Gower also constructed a twin hulled catamaran
Catamaran
A catamaran is a type of multihulled boat or ship consisting of two hulls, or vakas, joined by some structure, the most basic being a frame, formed of akas...
, just ten feet long, on which he mounted a barrel of water that drained to underwater by a curved pipe pointing aft. His twin floats achieved two miles per hour apparently without the need for power from sail or steam. He thus demonstrated water jet propulsion
Jetboat
A jetboat is a boat propelled by a jet of water ejected from the back of the craft. Unlike a powerboat or motorboat that uses a propeller in the water below or behind the boat, a jetboat draws the water from under the boat into a pump inside the boat, then expels it through a nozzle at the...
. He anticipated that a steam water pump, so contrived, could propel vessels without the need for paddles. He gives credit to Dr Franklin (probably Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
) and a Mr Rumsay of Philadelphia for this idea and hoped that his little experiment would encourage others to pursue the notion.
Entrepreneur
The design, building and sailing of the vessels TransitTransit (ship)
Transit was the name given to three sailing vessels designed and built to the order of Captain Richard Hall Gower.All three had fine lines at bow and stern, uniform frames mid-ships with concave and convex sweeps and a deep keel. Their length to beam ratio was unusually high, giving them a...
and the promotion of the novel ideas that he incorporated in them, occupied much of his life. The most original features of these vessels were their slab sides above, and the concave and convex sweeps of the hull, below the waterline, the Joints scarfed and bolted rather than chocked and treenailed, ballast was iron cast into special shapes to sit just above the deadwood and between the floor timbers and the narrowest part of the hull above the keel was reinforced by strong cross timbers bolted through the sides. Such extensive use of iron was a novel feature at the time.
Gower observed that conventional vessels were box-like and needed much movement of the rudder from side to side to preserve a steady course. When running fast, they often suffered total loss of steerage because the water failed “to close over the rudder” and left it in a “mere hole or vacuum in the water” (what we now call “cavitation
Cavitation
Cavitation is the formation and then immediate implosion of cavities in a liquidi.e. small liquid-free zones that are the consequence of forces acting upon the liquid...
”). He appreciated too that drag
Drag (physics)
In fluid dynamics, drag refers to forces which act on a solid object in the direction of the relative fluid flow velocity...
is proportionate to the wetted surface of the hull, and that a long narrow hull with a deep narrow keel makes for speed. In the case of the Transit, the tapering lines also allowed the rudder to hang abaft the general spread of the bottom. This “enlivened” the steering; yet the rudder was not vulnerable to damage when the vessel grounded. Except when she was to put about, a spoke of the helm either way could steer the Transit.
Several attempts to arouse the interest of the Hon. East India Company and the Royal Mail. These failed, and the Transit loaded cargo and sailed to join convoy in June 1801. While waiting for the convoy to assemble, Gower, ever the salesman, showed her off to the King and his party on the Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
in Christchurch Bay. Gower learned later that, although George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
had asked many questions about the Transit, none present had been able to answer him and none thought to ask the inventor who was nearby. Later the Chairman of the Hon. East India Company summoned Gower to a meeting. Gower says that the Chairman said that the Company would buy the Transit, provided she proved to be a fast-sailing vessel. At the instance of Earl St Vincent, now the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Transit was tried against Osprey. She was a fast sloop of 383 tons (about twice the tonnage of the Transit) and, according to Gower, the commander of Osprey was generous in his praise. To Gower’s chagrin, no order was forthcoming and he had to re-ship his cargo and join convoy for Lisbon on 27 August. The important question of what happened to change the decision of the Company is, as yet, unresolved. Perhaps Gower put a gloss on the intention of the Chairman of the Company or on the opinion of Osprey’s captain. Perhaps someone in the Admiralty tampered with Osprey’s report before forwarding it to the Company. Perhaps there was some aspect of the design of the Transit, say her problems in shallow tidal harbours, or the strange way of her sailing, that killed off the Company’s enthusiasm. Maybe there is still a note in some archive that could tell us why the Transit did not become the first of a new generation of fast traders.
Humanitarian
Captain Gower was a regular contributor, mainly on nautical subjects, to the Suffolk Chronicle under the initials R. G. or “John Splice”. He expressed much concern about the cramped and squalid conditions under which Jack Tar had to work and he deplored the cruel and heartless behaviour of many captains. His concern for the plight of the labouring classes extended to that of agricultural labourers. He applauded the formation of the East Sussex Agricultural AssociationVoluntary association
A voluntary association or union is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement as volunteers to form a body to accomplish a purpose.Strictly speaking, in many jurisdictions no formalities are necessary to start an association...
and, in supporting it, criticised the poor quality of local builders, comparing them very unfavourably with Italian house builders. He cited in evidence draughty walls, leaky chimneys, insecure joists and the general paucity of decoration. He inveighed against crown glass
Crown glass (window)
Crown glass was an early type of window glass. In this process, glass was blown into a "crown" or hollow globe. This was then transferred from the blowpipe to a pontil and then flattened by reheating and spinning out the bowl-shaped piece of glass into a flat disk by centrifugal force, up to 5 or...
, small window panes and the window tax
Window tax
The window tax was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. Some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces , as a result of the tax.-Details:The tax was introduced in England and Wales under...
. He described how plate glass was made in Italy and hoped that it would soon be made in Britain also.
His last letters expressed his concern about the hardships of sailor boys, the reasons for the mutinies
Mutiny
Mutiny is a conspiracy among members of a group of similarly situated individuals to openly oppose, change or overthrow an authority to which they are subject...
in the Navy and the perils of convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
. He gave a vivid description of traditional Naval punishments. He thought that these cruelties, so readily meted out to sailors just for disobedience, would be better applied to those on land who ill-treat, forge, rob and plunder the peaceable inhabitants of the country. His last article appeared on 18 May 1833 and addressed, among a number of topics, uselessness of our “colossal three-deckers”. Twelve of these at anchor may be a stately sight, but what good is it to incarcerate 10,000 seamen in them for ten to fifteen years at a time? He concluded “Our colossal Navy is merely an object of magnificence, and show of power, without opposition in the present state of Europe”. His words do have a certain resonance today.
In his last book, published posthumously, Gower reflected on the gigantic advances made in the use of iron and steam. He noted this especially on the railroads
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
where passengers and heavy freight travelled at the extraordinary velocity of thirty miles per hour. He thought that, because of the need for large coal bunkers, 'steam paddlers' were unlikely to replace sail on long trade routes such as the trans-Atlantic crossing. He hoped that vessels of the Transit type would ply across the Ocean until “more portable means shall be invented for putting steamers in motion”. Just five years later SS Sirius and Brunel's SS Great Western
SS Great Western
SS Great Western of 1838, was an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship; the first purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Great Western proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful...
crossed the Atlantic under steam power alone. Gower was correct in pointing to the need for large bunkers, the former vessel had to burn furniture and fittings to complete her record-breaking voyage, while the latter arrived a day later with 200 tons still in her bunkers.
He died, aged 65, on his estate ‘Nova Scotia’ near Ipswich in July 1833. He left a widow, two sons and three daughters whom, because of his abhorrence of public schools, he had been teaching by his own peculiar methods. He lies in a vault on the North side of the church of St Mary Stoke, Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
, in the company of master mariners
Master mariner
A Master Mariner or MM is the professional qualification required for someone to serve as the person in charge or person in command of a commercial vessel. In England, the term Master Mariner has been in use at least since the 13th century, reflecting the fact that in guild or livery company terms,...
, shipwrights and men of the sea. A stern disciplinarian, honest and guileless, Gower was “not free from the irritability of genius”. He had at heart two passions; for the improvement of sailing vessels and the betterment of the lot of the common sailor.
A Memoir about him concludes “Of him it may with truth be said that by those who knew him best, he was beloved the most; and if the motto ‘Palmam qui meruit ferat’ (Let he, who has won the palm, wear it) had been verified, the laurels that now shade others heads would have crowned the temples of Richard Hall Gower.”