Henry Bessemer’s Extravagant Attempt to Cure his Seasickness

Since Stone-Age man shaped the first dug-out canoe and floated it downriver, and the invading armies of Rome crossed vast oceans to conquer whole nations, mankind has suffered from one specific malady connected with travelling on water – namely seasickness.  Even the heroic victor of the ‘Battle of Trafalgar’, Admiral Lord Nelson, was known to suffer from it.

Although there are pills, potions and age-old recipes designed to ease the symptoms of this distressing condition, there has never been an effective cure.  However, in I868 an inventor named Henry Bessemer believed that his latest invention would solve the problem once and for all.

Henry Bessemer was born in Charlton, Hertfordshire, England, on the 19th January 1813 and, like his wealthy father, he too became an inventor.  Amongst other things, Henry became the first person in the world of steel-making to invent the process of mass-producing steel.  He also found a way to compress plumbago dust to make ‘lead’ pencils, which he sold to a friend for around £200, and produced brass powder to use in pigments in place of gold.

Unfortunately for Henry, like Horatio Nelson before him, he suffered badly from seasickness, which caused him much distress as he often had to cross the English Channel to conduct business in France.  With this in mind he set out to invent a cure.

As an engineer he was well aware of the concept of how a ship’s compass stayed level in use, regardless of how much the vessel pitched and rolled, and knew that if he could apply this principle to the cabin of a ship, the world-wide problem of seasickness would finally be resolved.

In the garden of his home in Denmark Hill, London, he constructed a working model of his design, whereby a cabin was supported by a system of gimbals making it totally independent of the outside walls; or what in reality would be the main structure of a ship.  Putting the model through a series of tests, simulating the effects of wave action at sea, he was delighted to find that the model responded well.  Encouraged by the results, the inventor decided to go into full-scale production of his design – the Bessemer Saloon.

In association with ship designer, Edward James Reed, he had the Bessemer Saloon installed within a converted cross-channel, 4-paddle steamer.  The swinging saloon was 70ft in length and 30ft in width and was furnished sumptuously in the Victorian style of the time.  Large gilt mirrors adorned the walls, potted plants were placed at strategic points and thickly padded leather seats were provided to add to the air of elegance and luxury.