Note 106 — Chapter II

Mr. Muirhead (in his “Life of Watt,” pp. 428-9) mentions a few additional particulars which it seems worth while to record. Thus he states that the largest steamer built up to the year 1813 was the Glasgow noticed above, of 74 tons and 16 horse-power; and that, in 1815, the Morning Star of 100 tons and 26 horse-power, and, in 1815, the Caledonia of 102 tons and 32 horse-power, were severally launched. He adds that, during his last visit to Greenock in 1816, Mr. Watt made a voyage in a steam-boat to Rothesay and back, and showed the engineer how to “back” the engine, it having been usual previously to stop the engine for some time previously to mooring. He further states that, in April 1817, Mr. James Watt, Jun., purchased the Caledonia and, having refitted her, took her in October to Holland and up the Rhine to Coblentz; having thus been the first to cross the English Channel in a steam-boat. The average speed he obtained was seven and a half knots an hour. On her return to the Thames in 1818, Mr. Watt, Jun., made no fewer than thirty-one experiments with her on the river, resulting in the adoption of many material improvements in the construction and adaptation of marine engines.