2-888-233 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Laird's Patent Sectional Boat, built for Her Majesty's Consul at Fernando Po, 1850. 'This Boat...is the invention of Mr. Macgregor Laird. The peculiarity of construction consists in her being built in sections, which can be put together, and made perfectly secure, without mechanical or skilled labour...There are eight sectional pieces - the heaviest of which is 16 cwt. - joined together by angle iron joints, lined with vulcanised India-rubber; the whole being secured by screw bolts and nuts, so that her own crew, of forty-five or fifty men, can carry her over any neck of land and set her up again...From her light draught of water and general lightness, she is particularly well adapted to take the bars on the coast of Africa, where there is a short breaking sea; and for proceeding up the rivers, or to go in chase of slavers, as, from her construction, she must pull and sail very fast'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.