From William Snow Harris   21 February 1857.

Athenaeum | 21 February 1857.

Dear Dr. Tyndall,

I have much pleasure in placing in your hands a copy of the Parliamentary Papers relative to Shipwrecks by Lightning¹ and which I venture to hope you will find not altogether without Scientific interest. If you will bear with me, I would beg to be allowed to offer for your information a few observations upon these papers—First the Question of the effectual Security of Ships against Atmospheric Electricity is one of vast importance not only to this Country but to every Commercial and Maritime power.

I turned my attention to this question so long since as the year 1818—The loss with which we were then and had been afflicted in Men, money, and Ships, was something enormous. I thought this rather a reflection upon our national science. The state of our knowledge of the operation of Lightning Rods (as they have been called) both Theoretical and Practical was at that time very imperfect—Amongst Sailors and the most extraordinary superstitions prevailed—and discussions in the Scientific world continually arose relative to the danger of the principle itself. It was said that we tempted the vengeance of Heaven by inviting Lightning to our ships and Buildings:—no wonder that in such a confusion of sentiment the country lost from 6 to 10 thousand a year by damage to our Navy. Having been mixed up with Naval matters all my life, knowing the construction of a ship's mast &c. &c., and having acquired in Edinburgh and Dublin a great love of scientific pursuits,² I was led to take a broad general view of this matter. I conceived the idea of fixing metallic conductors on ships in such way as to bring the whole fabric into that comparatively passive or non resisting state as concerned Electric discharge—as it would assume supposing the whole structure was one continuous mass of metal—this I did by a peculiar mechanical arrangement of Conductors of copper plate applied to the mast³ and throughout the Hull.⁴ It was I can assure you no easy matter: all this;—Of course I had to contrive such an arrangement as would meet all the variable conditions of a ship’s spars⁵—stand well under all the flexure incidental to the terrible pressure of the sails—which should likewise be true scientifically under all changes in the position of the spars—so as to be consistent with certain laws of Electrical discharge which I had to investigate and demonstrate by Physical experiment. The old sailors of the Admiralty of that day pronounced the application quite impracticable. On the other hand I was accused of a visionary scheme by which men and ships would be ‘sent to perdition’.⁶ The Royal Navy was to be blown up by Lightning &c.. You had no idea what a gauntlet I ran for 20 years—and although such men as the late Dr. Wollaston,⁷ Davy and many other men of that stamp came at length into my views and after going into the subject with me experimentally and hearing all I had to say reported favorably to the Government still an iron-hearted & inveterate prejudice carried out in every unfair way for the time triumphed. And so we went on year after year suffering tremendous losses in men, money, and ships. At last Sir G. Cockburn⁸ the First Naval Lord of the Admiralty and Sir Byam Marten⁹—then the Comptroller of the Navy—in consequence of accounts which were received of the effects of lightning on our Fleets in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific—thought something should be done especially as men such as Davy and Wollaston had given my plan their countenance. So ten ships were ordered to be fitted on trial—I won't tire you by detailing all that subsequently occurred up to the year 1842, when my plan was ordered to be generally carried out in every ship of the Navy—you will find a full history of the whole question in the pages of the Nautical Magazine¹⁰—but I do assure you I was treated with extreme injustice. When some of my violent opponents were literally obliged to confess that I had succeeded, then they turned round upon me and said; that after all I had done little more than fix a little copper plate to the ships masts and was not entitled to any consideration from the Gov., whatever.

I think if you will do me the honor to look over these papers you will see that much good has resulted to science by my labors. I spent whole days from month to month in rummaging over the old dusty rusty Records of the Navy—You will see by Appendix No.12 that many interesting facts have been brought out.

There are some pretty engravings in the Book¹¹ worth your having. They were originally drawn by one of our most accomplished Marine Artists.¹²

Pray excuse my having troubled you with all this—but I am sure you will not consider it as any bad compliment to you, when I avow my desire to hold a place in your esteem, so that should the Question ever fall in your way you may fully comprehend its several bearings—Now whatever may have been said by my opponents or by others who judge of a scientific matter as to its merits—after but [not] before it is worked out—Here is my reply:—In former Periods of our History the Country lost many thousands annually. Its Sailors were killed or hurt in all directions. We lost the full Services of our Fleets and Ships at critical times—no great general system of Metallic Conductors had been ever proposed or imagined, to ward off these evils. Permanently fixed conductors of Electricity were deemed inapplicable to Ships &c &c. &c and much more to this effect. Whereas at this moment Damage of Lightning to H.M. Ships has positively vanished from the records of our Navy.

I remain dear Dr. Tyndall. always very truly yours W. Snow Harris

RI MS JT/1/TYP/2/471–2

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