Robert Napier's entry into this branch of engineering " commenced with the ease of his cousin' premises at Camlachie, and it is significant that the rst marine engine which he manufactured lasted out three hulls, and finally as a monument to its constructor found a resting-place on a pedestal at Dumbarton Castle. Soon his work began to earn wide recognition, and orders came in not only from Glasgow but from many other quarters,—His success enabled him to purchase the factory at Camlachic, and later 16 obtain the Vulcan Factory, close to the Clyde.
Napier was greatly assisted in his early years by a very noted yachtsman of the day, Mr. T. Assheton Smith, who was really " impressed by the success of Napler's yachts in a steamboat rage at the Northern Regatty of 1627, by which year Napier was already known asthe be: engineer on the Clyde. Tt was large-y due to the influence of Mr, Smith that Napier subsequently obtained contracts with the East India Company, the Admiralty and foreign governments. It Is interesting to note that his suggestion regarding small gunboats for coastal defence was adopted by the then First Lord of the Admiralty, and that a number of these gunboats, engined by Napier, saw service in Chinese waters.
By 1880, Napier was the most prominent marine engineer in Glasgow, and he took an active part in form: ing new companies for running steamships. Among these were the Lon donderry Company, and the city of Glasgow Steam Packet Company. His reputation was considerably enhanced by the construction of two steam vessels, the Dundee and the Perth, for the Dundee, Perth & London Shipping Ca, These two boats, on account of the reported sumptuoisness and fins! of their cabins, became the sights of London, and hundreds flocked to sed them. Impressed by the quality of Napier's work, the East India Com-any ordered an ocean-going steamer, FIST MON sur
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.