THE STEAMSHIP.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1534, 2 September 1912, Page 5

THE STEAMSHIP.

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright

London, August 30, The centenary of the first steamshipl- - Comet—was celebrated at Glasgow by an imposing maritime pageant taken par!/ in by warships a.nd merchantmen.

. To Scotland belongs the honour of having produced the first vessel propelled by steam power.' On October li, 1788, a little steamer ran her trials on Dalswinton Loch, in Dumfriesshire. Amongst those to make tho first trip was Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet. She was a little vessel, built of twin hulls, having a paddle-wheel between the two hulls. She steamed from four to five miles an hour. To her all the later developments in steam navigation aro directly traceable. Mr. William Symington was the designer of her engines. The famous Comet was not the first vessel' built for steam propulsion, but she. was the first to demonstrate in Europe the possibility of making steam power a commercial success in tho driving of ships. After the trials of Mr. Symington's little vessel many experiments were made. It is, however, with Henry Bell's Comet, built in 1811 by Mr. John Wood, of Port .Glasgow, that the early days of shipbuilding are associated.' She is in tho direct line stretching from Symington's steamer to the giant Cunarders ot tho present day, and was the first vessel propelled by stonm to carry on a rogulnr advertised service anywhere in the world. Her dimensions were: Length,42ft.; beam, lift, j draught, sJft.; and her engine -was 3-h.p.