[Men of Invention and Industry by Samuel Smiles]@TWC D-Link bookMen of Invention and Industry CHAPTER II 26/43
"My Lords" consented; and the Admiralty barge contained on this occasion, Sir Charles Adam, senior Lord, Sir William Symonds, surveyor, Sir Edward Parry, of Polar fame, Captain Beaufort, hydrographer, and other men of celebrity.
This distinguished company embarked at Somerset House, and the little steamer, with her precious charge, proceeded down the river to Limehouse at the rate of about ten miles an hour.
After visiting the steam-engine manufactory of Messrs.
Seawood, where their Lordships' favourite apparatus, the Morgan paddle-wheel, was in course of construction, they re-embarked, and returned in safety to Somerset House. The experiment was perfectly successful, and yet the result was disappointment.
A few days later, a letter from Captain Beaufort informed Mr.Ericsson that their Lordships had certainly been "very much disappointed with the result of the experiment." The reason for the disappointment was altogether inexplicable to the inventor.
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