Certain
points of great importance had been pointed out; they gave great room
and they were always ready. For lifeboat and fire engine purposes, as
Captain Shaw pointed out at Vienna, this was of great consequence.
At first they were led to believe that there was great stability, but
that idea had been a little shaken, not as to the boat itself, but as
to the influence of the motion of the water upon the constancy of the
cells. But these boats were only intended for smooth water, and if
they could not be adapted for rough water, he feared Admiral Selwyn's
suggestion of the application of this principle to lifeboats would fall
to the ground; but if secondary batteries were not calculated as yet
to stand rough usage, it only required probably some thought on Mr.
Reckenzaun's part to make them available even in a gale. Enormous
strides were being made with regard to these batteries. No one present
had been a greater skeptic with regard to them at first than be himself;
but after constant experiments--employing them, as he had done for many
months, for telegraphic purposes--he was gradually coming to view them
with a much more favorable eye.
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