The next step was the introduction of steamers on the Thames. All things gravitate to London, steamboats among the rest. Passing by some experiments, in which the names of a Mr. Dawson and a Mr. Lawrence appear, we find that George Dodd brought a steamboat from the Clyde to the Thames by sea, using both sails and steam, about the year 1813 or 1814. It is said that Dawson had a steamer plying between London and Gravesend in 1813, and that Lawrence, of Bristol, after using a steamer on the Severn brought her through the canals to the Thames, but was obliged to take her back because of the antagonism of the watermen. It is said also that the _Marjorie_, built by William Denny, of Dumbarton, was brought to the Thames about 1815 in six days from Grangemouth, having been purchased by some London merchants. However this may be, the name of George Dodd should take a high place, perhaps next to that of Bell, for the enterprise and effort he showed in seeking to establish steam vessels. His sphere was chiefly the Thames, though he appears to have been also animated with the idea of using them upon the sea. The vessel he brought round from the Clyde was named first the _Glasgow_ and afterwards the _Thames_, and was of about seventy-five tons, with nine feet paddle-wheels, and some fourteen or sixteen horse-power. He had some rough weather in the Irish Sea, and an account of the voyage is given in his book on steamboats. This, presumably in 1813, was the first steamship voyage at sea, as distinguished from steamers’ voyages on rivers. Such great progress had the introduction of steamboats made in 1818, that according to Dodd there were in that year eighteen on the Clyde, two on the Tay, two at Dundee, two at Cork, two on the Tyne, two on the Trent, two on the Mersey, four on the Humber, three on the Yare, one on the Avon, the Severn, the Orwell, six on the Forth, and actually two intended to run from Dublin to Holyhead. There may have been more than these, but they seem at all events to be the chief. Apparently there were, or had been, several on the Thames. Two, the _London_ and the _Richmond_, according to Dodd’s book, were plying between London and Twickenham, and had carried 10,000 persons in four months. No wonder the watermen were alarmed.