Moreover, as in the land engine, the connection between
the parts of the marine engine was such as to be incompetent to stand
the strain that would come upon it if a higher pressure, with a
considerable expansion, were used, and thus the consumption of coal
was very heavy; and we know that, having regard to the then
consumption, it was said, on high authority, it would be impossible
for a steamboat to traverse the Atlantic, as it could not carry fuel
enough to take it across; and indeed it was not until 1838 that the
Sirius and the Great Western did make the passage. The passage had
been made before, but it was not until 1838 that the passenger service
can be said to have commenced. In 1831, the marine boiler was supplied
with salt water, the hulls were invariably of wood, and the speed was
probably from eight to nine knots an hour. In 1881, the vessels are as
invariably either of iron or of steel, and I believe it will not be
very long before the iron disappears, giving place entirely to the
last mentioned metal. With respect to the term "steel," I am ready to
agree that it is impossible to say where, chemically speaking, iron
ends and steel begins. But (leaving out malleable cast iron) I apply
this term "steel" to any malleable ductile metal of which iron forms
the principal element and which has been in fusion, and I do so in
contradistinction to the metal which may be similar chemically, but
which has been prepared by the puddling process.
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