[138] Miller is said to have approached the Admiralty twice upon the subject, and certainly he was keenly interested in naval affairs. A generous tribute has been paid him by a friend whose name is honoured in our naval annals: “I was unwearied,” says John Clerk of Eldin in the preface of his Essay on Naval Tactics, published in 1804, “in my attention to the many valuable experiments of the ingenious and liberal-minded Mr. Patrick Miller of Dalswinton; to whom, whether in shipbuilding or in constructing artillery, both musketry and great guns, his country is more indebted than has hitherto been properly acknowledged.” [139] Dickinson: _Robert Fulton, Engineer and Artist_. [140] Colden: _Life of Fulton_. [141] _M. Marestier’s Report on Steam Navigation in the U.S.A._ (Morgan and Creuze, 1826). [142] _Fraser’s Magazine_, 1848. [143] In his book _On Naval Warfare with Steam_, published thirty years later, Sir Howard Douglas set out more clearly the case for the strenuous development of steam navigation by this country, and exposed one of the chief flaws in M. Paixhans’ argument. At that date it was still the all-but-universal opinion in foreign countries that the introduction of steam had rendered superiority in seamanship of comparatively little importance in naval warfare. Sir Howard Douglas showed that English superiority had spread to machine design, construction and manipulation, and that if this country chose to exert itself it could maintain its lead. It is curious to note that not one of these three writers emphasises the main disability under which France has actually suffered, viz. the unsuitability of French coal as warship fuel and the distance of her iron and coal mines from her chief shipbuilding centres. [144] Briggs: _Naval Administrations_. [145] A steam paddle-boat, named the _Lord Melville_ in honour of the descendant of Charlotte Dundas, was then plying regularly between London Bridge and Calais. [146] _Memoirs of Sir John Barrow, Bart._ [147] Williams: _Life of Sir Charles Napier_. [148] In 1835 a new department, of Royal Naval Engineers, was formed: to consist of technically trained men to manage the machinery of steam vessels. A uniform button was designed for them, and they were given the rank of Warrant Officers. Up to this time the machinery had been in charge of men who, for the most part, were “mere labourers”; and, commanding officers being ignorant of mechanical engineering, extensive fraud and waste had been practised, especially in connection with the refitting of vessels by contractors (Otway: _Steam Navigation_). [149] Reed: _On the Modifications to H.M. Ships in the XIXth century_.