[52] See letter to Dr. Small (who replies he had tried it); Muirhead’s “James Watt,” London, 1854, vol. ii. pp. 4, 8, 11. [53] “Woodcroft on Steam Navigation,” p. 20, _et seq._ [54] “Specifications relating to Marine Propulsion,” Part I. p. 36. [55] It is clear that Mr. Symington is entitled to the credit of the application of steam-power to propel the paddles. Mr. Miller stuck to the capstan and manual labour, but, on one occasion, having been to see Symington’s locomotive, he told him of his own invention, and of the difficulty he had with his paddles for lack of power. “Why don’t you use the steam-engine?” was Symington’s immediate remark. Miller at once assented, but first constructed a double vessel, with the paddle-wheels worked by five men at the capstan amidships, and, in June 1787, the first experiment with her was deemed successful. A short time subsequently steam was directly applied, but, whether in consequence of Symington’s remark, is not certain. Mr. Taylor, who is said to have suggested it, was an intimate friend and fellow-pupil with Symington at Edinburgh 1786-7. (Smiles’ “Lives of Boulton and Watt,” p. 438.) [56] Dumfries paper; _Edinburgh Advertiser_, and the _Scot’s Magazine_, vol. 1. p. 566, November, 1788. [57] _Caledonian Mercury_, _Evening Courant_, and _Advertiser_. [58] In the Patent Office Museum, London, there may still be seen, “the parent engine of steam navigation, made for Patrick Miller, Esq., and used by him on the lake at Dalswinton, 1788.” It consists of two small paddles, working one behind the other, to be fitted on the same side apparently of a small boat. [59] From the narrative given by Mr. Smiles in his “Lives of Boulton and Watt,” it is certain that they discouraged what they considered “speculative” adventures. Both were written to, with requests that they would make engines for Mr. Miller, those constructed by Symington not having answered as well as was expected, and both declined to have anything to do with the scheme. (Smiles, p. 445.) [60] “Woodcroft on Steam Navigation,” p. 54. [61] “Encyclopædia Britannica” (eighth edition), vol. xx. p. 637. [62] Mr. Smiles, in his interesting “Lives of the Engineers” (i.) states that, in 1790, Lord Stanhope had proposed a mode of propelling vessels by steam, and had been in communication with Mr. Rennie on this subject, who, on the 26th April of that year, sent his Lordship such information as he could obtain about Boulton and Watt’s improved steam-engine. Lord Stanhope objected to the space occupied by the condensing apparatus, to which Mr. Rennie replied that _high pressure_ could be applied, on which his Lordship constructed a vessel on that plan which obtained a speed of 3 miles an hour (vol. ii. p. 237).