Papin was, however, a man of great perseverance; and, strong in his faith as to the power of steam to propel ships, he gradually worked his way to the contrivance of a model steamboat. When in London, he had seen an experiment tried by the Prince Palatine Rupert on the Thames, in which a boat fitted with revolving paddles attached to the two ends of an axle which received its motion from a trundle working on a wheel turned round by horses, went with such rapidity as to leave the king’s barge, manned by sixteen rowers, far behind in the race. The idea which occurred to Papin was, to apply a steam machine to drive the paddles, and thus ensure a ship’s motion independent of wind or tide. For this purpose, it was necessary to convert the alternate motion of the piston-rod into a continuous rotary one; and this he proposed to effect “by having the rods of the pistons fitted with teeth, which would force round small wheels, toothed in like manner, fastened to the axis of the paddles.” [Illustration: ANCIENT PADDLE-BOAT.] The use of paddle-wheels in propelling boats had long been known. The Harleian MSS. contain an Italian book of sketches, attributed to the fifteenth century, in which there appears the annexed sketch of a paddle-boat. This boat was evidently intended to be worked by two men turning the crank by which the paddles were made to revolve. There were many other early schemes of paddle-boats, some of which were proposed to be worked by horse-power. The name of Blasco Garay has often been mentioned as the first who applied the power of steam to the driving of paddle-boats; but for this there is not the slightest foundation. M. Bergenroth informs us that he has carefully examined all the documents relating to the trials of Blasco Garay in the archives at Simancas, but has found no reference whatever to steam as the power employed in causing the paddles to revolve.[20] The experiments were made at Malaga and Barcelona respectively, in the years 1540 and 1543: in one the vessel was propelled by a paddle-wheel on each side worked by twenty-five men, and in the other by a paddle-wheel worked by forty men.