A Treatise on Navigation by Steam (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from A Treatise on Navigation by Steam Sir, The era which placed your Royal Highness at the Helm of the British Navy, being that of the introduction of the Steam Engine into His Majesty's Fleet, I had the honor to lay before your Royal Highness my proposition of publishing a System of the Naval Tactics peculiar to Steam Navigation, the result of much labour and enquiry; urging the necessity of instructing the Officers of the Royal Navy, in the theory of that important part of their profession. Notwithstanding the general prejudice against innovations on a system which has for ages protected the nation, and raised our naval renown to the pinnacle of glory, Your Royal Highness patiently listened to my arguments and suggestions, and, with a laudable desire to afford every facility to improvements, was graciously pleased to sanction my humble undertaking, and to permit me to dedicate the fruits of my labours, to The Lord High Admiral. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.