ntion. It was impossible to overrate the
advantages which this and other countries had derived from his untiring
and devoted patience in prosecuting the invention to a successful
issue." Baron Charles Dupin compared the farmer Smith with the barber
Arkwright: "He had the same perseverance and the same indomitable
courage. These two moral qualities enabled him to triumph over every
obstacle." This was the merit of "Screw" Smith--that he was determined
to realize what his predecessors had dreamt of achieving; and he
eventually accomplished his great purpose.

Footnotes for Chapter II.

[1] In the Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects for
1860, it was pointed out that the general dimensions and form of bottom
of this ship were very similar to the most famous line-of-battle ships
built down to the end of last century, some of which were then in
existence.

[2] According to the calculation of Mr. Chatfield, of Her Majesty's
dockyard at Plymouth, in a paper read before the British Association in
1841 on shipbuilding.

[3] The phrase "wooden walls" is derived from the Greek. When the city
of Athens was once in danger of being attacked and destroyed, the
oracle of Delphi was consulted. The inhabitants were told that there
was no safety for them but in their "wooden walls,"--that is their
shipping. As they had then a powerful fleet, the oracle gave them
rational advice, which had the effect of saving the Athenian people.

[4] An account of these is given by Bennet Woodcraft in his Sketch of
the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation, London, 1848.

[5] See Industrial Biography, pp. 183-197,

[6] The story is told in Scribner's Monthly Illustrated Magazine, for
April 1879. Ericsson's modest bill was only $15,000 for two years'
labour. He was put off from year to year, and at length the Government
refused to pay the amount. "The American Government," says the editor
of Scribner, "will not appropriate the money to pay it, and that is
all. It is said to be the nature of republics to be ungrateful; but
must they also be dishonest?"

[7] Memoirs of the Life and Services of Rear-Admiral Sir William
Symonds, Kt., p. 332.

CHAPTER III.[1]

JOHN HARRISON: INVENTOR OF THE MARINE CHRONOMETER.

"No man knows who invented the mariner's compass, or who first hollowed
out a canoe from a log. The power to observe accurately the sun, moon,
and planets, so as to fix a vessel's actual position when far o