PREFACE.

X>LTHOUGH much has been written and publishedon the subject of Steam Navigation, the merits ofthe several inventions by which it has been broughtinto practical operation have not in all cases beenfaithfully recorded, or duly assigned to their re-spective authors.

This defect is intended to be supplied in the following Sketch;first, by a chronological enumeration of the several projectors, whethersubjects of Great Britain or Foreigners; and secondly, by presentingtothe reader a clear and impartial statement of what has been accom-Plished by each, viewed either as an original inventor, or as havingbeen instrumental in promoting the means by which Steam Naviga-tion has reached its present state of excellence.

The pretensions of the several inventors are accordingly arrangedin the order of time, and at such length as the limits of the followingpages will admit.

Those who have explained the nature and principles of their inven-tions are afforded the advantages derivable from such explanations

by quotations from their own writings; while other inventors or pa-tentees, who have not availed themselves of this mode of giving pub-licity to a description of the means by which they have endeavouredto supersede prior inventions, or to extend their utility, have the