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Captain Richard Hall Gower (1768 - 1833) mariner and inventor

Richard Hall Gower combined the qualities of the practical mariner, self-taught naval architect, entrepreneur, master of works, salesman and empirical philosopher. He was also a skilled model maker; a skill that he dedicated to the advance of his inventions throughout his life. Richard was the youngest son of Rev. Reginald Foote Gower, physician and antiquarian. He won a scholarship to Winchester Co;;ege. He left school, ‘thankfully’, to join the Honourable East India Company as a midshipman in the Essex carrying troops and invalids. He was a lively and observant lad. At the age of 16 he was promoted captain of the main top, where he waged active war with the lads of the fore top, shrouds and stays providing the high roads of communication. He was noted for his spirit and ingenuity, his depth of knowledge of his ship and his skill as a ship model maker; unravelling stockings to obtain rigging materials .

When he returned to England after his first three year voyage, he studied navigation at Edmonton and, on rejoining ship, was dubbed “the young philosopher”. Ever inventive, he once fitted a canvas speaking tube from the main top to the deck, installing it overnight to surprise and please his captain. To his bitter dismay, his captain had it removed instantly saying he was sure the topmen would “use it for an improper purpose” . Gower rose to chief mate of the Essex and qualified as a captain. He returned to shore in 1783 to teach at Edmonton and to publish his Practical Guide that eventually went into at least three editions. He designed, and applied for a patent for a ship’s log ; very similar to the logs employed to this day. He turned down the offer of the command of an East Indiaman to make ship models and to pursue his interest in naval architecture. Gower and his family removed to Nova Scotia House at Ipswich in 1817. There he devoted himself to the invention, patenting, design and building of a remarkable series of novel vessels including three vessels named Transit, a fly boat, two yachts the Unique and the Gower, the Landguard Fort Lifeboat, and a number of other inventions. He entered, but did not win, a competition for a novel form of lock for the Regent’s Canal. He suggested that, to protect coastal traffic, cruisers be stationed along the coast in communication with signal stations to provide a concerted defence system . He proposed a form of vertical-vaned windmill; an eye shade; various ship’s logs and a “double-barrelled” capstan to do two jobs at once. He suggested a non-elastic substitute for imported hempen standing rigging to be made of wooden cylinders joined together by iron straps. He devised a method of keeping ships at proper distances by using the mast as a base line. He invented a mode of dropping a “guess warp anchor” with such accuracy that its end could be easily found and lifted. He devised a novel method of fidding a topgallant mast and several contrivances for the “better nipping and stopping a cable”. He designed a long catamaran for forming a life raft and a form of floating sea anchor, or drogue anchor (he called it a “propeller”) like an umbrella. He created a set of signals, that could be seen from all angles, using shapes instead of flags . He also suggested using a floating compass needle to find North. He experimented with various designs of paddle wheel on the River Lee Canal that anticipated the design of the wheels used by steam paddlers many years later. He proposed fitting canal barges with ‘spud wheels’ that could propel the vessel by catching on the canal bottom. He saw that a combination of paddle wheels and spud wheels could take vessels over mud flats at various conditions of the tide. Gower also constructed a twin hulled catamaran, just ten feet long, on which he mounted a barrel of water that drained to underwater by a curved pipe pointing aft. His twin floats achieved two miles per hour apparently without the need for power from sail or steam. He thus demonstrated propulsion by water jet. He anticipated that a steam water pump, so contrived, could propel vessels without the need for paddles. He gives credit to Dr Franklin and a Mr Rumsay of Philadelphia for this idea and hoped that his little experiment would encourage others to pursue the notion. Captain Gower was a regular contributor, mainly on nautical subjects, to the Suffolk Chronicle under the initials R. G. or “John Splice”. He expressed much concern about the cramped and squalid conditions under which Jack Tar had to work and he deplored the cruel and heartless behaviour of many captains. His concern for the plight of the labouring classes extended to that of agricultural labourers. He applauded the formation of the East Sussex Agricultural Association and, in supporting it, criticised the poor quality of local builders, comparing them very unfavourably with Italian house builders. He cited in evidence draughty walls, leaky chimneys, insecure joists and the general paucity of decoration. He inveighed against crown glass, small window panes and the window tax. He described how plate glass was made in Italy and hoped that it would soon be made in Britain also. His last letters expressed his concern about the hardships of sailor boys, the reasons for the mutiny in the Navy and the perils of convoy. He gave a vivid description of traditional Naval punishments. He thought that these cruelties, so readily meted out to sailors just for disobedience, would be better applied to those on land who ill-treat, forge, rob and plunder the peaceable inhabitants of the country. His last article appeared on 18th May 1833 and addressed, among a number of topics, uselessness of our “colossal three-deckers”. Twelve of these at anchor may be a stately sight, but what good is it to incarcerate 10,000 seamen in them for ten to fifteen years at a time? He concluded “Our colossal Navy is merely an object of magnificence, and show of power, without opposition in the present state of Europe”. His words do have a certain resonance today. In his last book , published posthumously, Gower reflected on the gigantic advances made in the use of iron and steam. He noted this especially on the railroads where passengers and heavy freight travelled at the extraordinary velocity of thirty miles per hour. He thought that, because of the need for large bunkers, steam paddlers were unlikely to replace sail on long trade routes such as the trans-Atlantic crossing. He hoped that vessels of the Transit type would ply across the Ocean until “more portable means shall be invented for putting them [steamers] in motion”. He died, aged 65, on his estate ‘Nova Scotia’ near Ipswich in July 1833. He left a widow, two sons and three daughters whom, because of his abhorrence of public schools, he had been teaching by his own peculiar methods. He lies in a vault on the North side of St Mary Stoke, Ipswich, in the company of master mariners, shipwrights and men of the sea. A stern disciplinarian, honest and guileless, Gower was, as we have seen, “not free from the irritability of genius”. He had at heart two passions; for the improvement of sailing vessels, and the betterment of the lot of the common sailor. A Memoir about him concludes “Of him it may with truth be said that by those who knew him best, he was beloved the most; and if the motto ‘Palmam qui meruit ferat’ (Let he, who has won the palm, wear it) had been verified, the laurels that now shade others heads would have crowned the temples of Richard Hall Gower.”

References

Anon. (1859). Suffolk Worthies and Persons of Note in East Anglia - No. 55 R. H. Gower. Suffolk Chronicle 7th June. Pseudo. ‘Suffolk Coast’ (1933). Memories of an Old Ipswich Mariner: Capt. R. H. Gower. Suffolk Chronicle 2nd December. Gower, R. H. (1793). A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Seamanship 1st ed. (2nd ed. 1796, 3rd ed. Wilkie & Robinson, 1808). A separate Supplement contains Original observations on Marine Surveying and a description of Transit 1807. Science Museum Library Cat. No. 629.12. Gower, R. H. (1792). Patent No. 1895. Ship’s Logs. A perpetual log or instruments for measuring a ship’s way through the water and for ascertaining the rate of sailing at any time. Gower, R. H. (1811). Remarks relative to the Danger attendant upon Convoy, with a Proposition for the Better Protection of Commerce. Gower, R. H. (1801). A Treatise on Signals. The Naval Chronicle, Vol. V p.22. Gower, R. H. (1834) ????

J. B-y (presumably James Bayley) (1833). Memoir: Richard Hall Gower. The Gentleman’s Magazine vol. ii, p.469.