John
Wilkinson, of Bradley Forge, in Staffordshire. In a letter of his,
dated the 14th July, 1787, the original of which we have seen, he
writes: "Yesterday week my iron boat was launched. It answers all my
expectations, and has convinced the unbelievers, who were 999 in 1000.
It will be only a nine days' wonder, and afterwards a Columbus's egg."
It was, however, more than a nine days' wonder; for wood long continued
to be thought the only material capable of floating.

Although Wilkinson's iron vessels continued to ply upon the Severn,
more than twenty years elapsed before another shipbuilder ventured to
follow his example. But in 1810, Onions and Son, of Brosely, built
several iron vessels, also for use upon the Severn. Then, in 1815, Mr.
Jervons, of Liverpool, built a small iron boat for use on the Mersey.
Six years later, in 1821, Mr. Aaron Manby designed an iron steam
vessel, which was built at the Horsley Company's Works, in
Staffordshire. She sailed from London to Havre a few years later,
under the command of Captain (afterwards Sir Charles) Napier, RN. She
was freighted with a cargo of linseed and iron castings, and went up
the Seine to Paris. It was some time, however, before iron came into
general use. Ten years later, in 1832, Maudslay and Field built four
iron vessels for the East India Company. In the course of about twenty
years, the use of iron became general, not only for ships of war, but
for merchant ships plying to all parts of the world.

When ships began to be built of iron, it was found that they could be
increased without limit, so long as coal, iron, machinery, and strong
men full of skill and industry, were procurable. The trade in
shipbuilding returned to Britain, where iron ships are now made and
exported in large numbers; the mercantile marine of this country
exceeding in amount and tonnage that of all the other countries of the
world put together. The "wooden walls"[3] of England exist no more,
for iron has superseded wood. Instead of constructing vessels from the
forest, we are now digging new navies out of the bowels of the earth,
and our "walls," instead of wood, are now of iron and steel.

The attempt to propel ships by other means than sails and oars went on
from century to century, and did not succeed until almost within our
own time. It is said that the Roman army under Claudius Codex was
transported into Sicily in boats propelled by wheels moved by oxen.
Galleys, pro