3-047-127 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Deck plan of the Bessemer saloon-steamer, 1872. 'The Bessemer saloon will form by far the finest cabin that has ever been fitted in a ship. Its great size and height will enable it to be completely ventilated, unlike the ordinary cabin between decks, which is so unpleasant that ladies and delicate persons endure the worst weather on deck rather than accept shelter in it...the perfect action of Mr. Bessemer's hydraulic apparatus is an established certainty, and not a matter of speculation, and it will always insure the floor being kept level...when the ship is rolling at sea, this power of acting on the saloon enables the steersman to retain the saloon constantly in a perfectly vertical position, while the floor of the ship is rising and falling beneath it. The essential point of this arrangement is that the hydraulic apparatus has not to put the saloon in motion, but simply to prevent it acquiring any motion...The saloon, according to one plan, might be 50 ft. instead of 70 ft. long. As designed by Mr. Reed, it will be fitted at each end with four principal rooms for ladies and four for gentlemen, which, as well as the promenade deck, will be accessible at all times by means of a broad staircase free from all motion'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.