Bell, HENRY

Bell, HENRY, the father of steam-navigation in Europe, was born at Torphichen Mill, Linlithgow, April 7, 1767. After three years spent as a stone-mason, he was in 1783 apprenticed to his uncle, a millwright. He served under Rennie in London and other engineers, worked in a ship-building yard at Borrowstounness, and in 1790 settled in Glasgow, whence in 1807 he removed to Helensburgh, where his wife kept the principal inn, and he devoted himself to mechanical experiments. As early as 1786 he seems to have conceived the idea of applying steam to navigation; how far he had been anticipated by Fulton and others will be considered under the head of SHIPBUILDING (p. 402). Anyhow, on 12th January 1812, a small vessel, 40 feet in length, called the Comet, built under his directions, and with an engine constructed by himself, was launched on the Clyde with success—the first on European waters. Bell died at Helensburgh, November 14, 1830.