Instead, however, of launching to the public gaze a vessel on a large scale fitted with his plans, he made a model boat of about 20 inches in length, into which he placed a small engine, and floated her in a large bath over which a steam boiler had been fitted for the supply of hot water. From this boiler a pipe projected to within a foot of the water, where it was branched off by a swivel joint and connected with the engine in the boat. The steam when admitted put the engine in motion, and also the propeller, which at once sent the boat forward with considerable rapidity. [Sidenote: The _Francis B. Ogden_, though successful, fails to convince the Admiralty.] Finding that his invention was likely to succeed when put into practical operation on a larger scale, Ericsson’s next step was to order Mr. Gulliver, a boat-builder at Wapping, to construct for him a boat of wood which he named the _Francis B. Ogden_. She was 45 feet long and 8 feet wide, drawing 2 feet 3 inches of water. In this vessel he fitted his engine and two propellers, each of 5 feet 3 inches diameter. The result of her first trial went far beyond his most sanguine expectations. No sooner were the engines put at full speed, than she shot ahead at the rate of more than 10 miles an hour, and maintained that speed without a single alteration requiring to be made in her machinery;[137] nor were her capabilities as a tug less surprising. This miniature steamer, tested first by a schooner of 140 tons burden, towed her at the rate of 7 miles an hour during slack water on the Thames; and afterwards by the large American packet-ship _Toronto_, moving on with her astern at a speed of more than 5 miles an hour. The next experiment was made in the presence of the Lords of the Admiralty, who, accompanied by Sir William Symonds, Sir Edward Parry, and Captain Beaufort, had embarked in their barge to witness the novelty, and judge for themselves as to its efficiency and practical value. They were minute in their inspection, and as they did not, and in fact could not, offer any valid objections to his invention, Captain Ericsson felt confident that they would soon order the construction of a war-steamer on the new principle. In this, however, he was disappointed, though he had given them a very practical proof of its value by towing them in their barge at the rate of 10 miles an hour for a considerable distance—a speed which must have astonished their Lordships. The unseen and comparatively noiseless propeller, although it had furnished the most convincing proofs of its power, failed to propitiate their favour. Scientific theorists had informed the Board that the invention was constructed upon erroneous principles, and full of practical defects (one being that a ship thus propelled would be unsteerable), while engineers as a body regarded its failure as an event so certain as to preclude any speculations of its success. In a