Mr. Bell was born in Linlithgow in 1767. The son of a mechanic, he worked for some time as a stone-mason, afterwards as a carpenter, and gained some experience in ship-building at Bo’ness under Mr. Rennie. He removed to Helensburgh in 1808, where his wife kept the Baths Inn while he was experimenting in mechanical projects. He was a man of energy and enterprise, but like most inventors was always scant of cash. Had it not been for the generosity of his friends, and an annuity of £100 which he received from the Clyde Trust, he would have come to want in his old age. He seems to have had steam navigation on the brain as early as 1786, and had communicated his ideas on the subject to most of the crowned heads of Europe, as well as to the President of the United States, before he built the _Comet_. Mr. Bell’s memory is perpetuated in an obelisk erected by the city of Glasgow corporation on a picturesque promontory on the banks of the Clyde at Bowling, “in acknowledgment of a debt which it can never repay.” There is also a handsome granite obelisk to his memory on the esplanade at Helensburgh, the inscription on which testifies that “Henry Bell was the first in Great Britain who was successful in practically applying steam power for the purpose of navigation.” The stone effigy of the man adjoining his grave in Row churchyard was placed there by his friend Robert Napier, whose fame and fortune were largely the result of Bell’s enterprise. Mr. Bell died at his inn in Helensburgh, November 14th, 1830. Fifty years later witnessed the full development of Mr. Bell’s ideal in the _Columba_, then as now the largest river steamer ever seen on the Clyde, and the swiftest. The _Columba_ is built of steel, is 316 feet long and 50 feet wide. She has two oscillating engines of 220 horse-power, and attains a speed of twenty-two miles an hour. Her route is from Glasgow to Ardrishaig and back, daily in summer, when she carries from 2,000 to 3,000 persons through some of the finest scenery in Scotland. She is provided with steam machinery for steering and warping her into the piers, and with other modern appliances that make her as handy as a steam yacht. She resembles a little floating town, with shops and post-office where you can procure money orders and despatch telegrams And what is the _Columba_ after all but an enlarged and perfected reproduction of Bell’s _Comet_! [Illustration: “COLUMBA,” FAMOUS CLYDE RIVER STEAMER, 1875.] [Illustration: “WILHELM KAISER” ON THE RHINE, 1886.]