Blasco de Garay

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Blasco de Garay (* around 1500 in Toledo , † 1552 in Barcelona ) was a captain in the Spanish navy and inventor.

De Garay was captain of the Spanish navy during the reign of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor. He made several important contributions to shipping. The most important was the development of a paddle wheel to replace oars , as was recognized by the discovery of documents in the General Archives of Simancas by the scientist Joaquin Rubió i Ors in 1880. According to various sources, de Garay also made the first attempt to propel a ship with steam power. However, these claims were rejected by the Spanish authorities.

Inventions

Garay himself sent the emperor a document in 1539 listing eight inventions:

  1. A possibility to find vehicles under water and to lift them with only two men, even if they were two hundred meters deep under water.
  2. A device with which everyone could dive indefinitely under water.
  3. A device to discover objects on the sea floor with the naked eye.
  4. A possibility to let a light burn under water.
  5. One way to desalinate brackish water.

Although the appraisers gave the Spanish king positive reports on the steamship experiment, the finance minister refused to fund the continuation of the project because of the costs and practical and safety deficiencies.

Steam propulsion controversial

Blasco de Garay is credited with an experiment with a steam engine that took place on a ship in the port of Barcelona . The attempt was described in 1825 by Tomás González, director of the royal archives of Simancas , in a letter to the renowned historian Martín Fernández Navarrete. González noted that in that file was a document advocating a test carried out on June 17, 1543 by the ship's captain and engineer in the navy of Emperor Charles V, with the ship moving without sails or oars and one "Large kettle of boiling water" carried. Navarrete published González's report in Baron de Zach's Astronomical Correspondence in 1826 . González's letter to Navarrete is reproduced below:

"In 1543, Blasco de Garay, a captain in the navy, showed the Emperor and King Charles V a machine that propelled large boats and ships, even in calm weather, without oars or sails. Despite the obstacles and resistance to this project the emperor ordered an attempt to be made in the port of Barcelona , which took place on June 17th of that year 1543.
Garay did not explain the details of the experiment. It was still clear during the experiment that it consisted of a large kettle of boiling water and moving wheels attached to either side of the ship. The experiment was done on a 200-ton ship called the Trinidad that came from Colibre to unload a cargo of grain on which Peter de Scarza was the captain. On the orders of Charles V, Don Henry de Toledo, the Governor, Don Pedro de Cordova, the Treasurer Ravago, and the Vice Chancellor and General Manager of Catalonia witnessed the experiment. In the report to the emperor and the prince, the ingenious invention was generally recognized, especially because of the speed and ease with which the ship was moved.
Treasurer Ravago, an enemy of the project, said the vehicle could be moved two leagues (several km) in three hours, that the machine was complicated and expensive, and that there was a risk that the boiler could explode. The other commissioners confirmed that the vehicle was traveling at the same speed as a galley in the usual way, at least one league an hour.
"Once the experiment was done, Garay took the whole machine with which he had equipped the car, just left the wooden frame in the Barcelona arsenal and kept everything to himself."
"Despite Ravago's opposition, the invention was recognized, and if the expedition that Charles V was engaged in at the time had not stopped him, he would no doubt have pursued it further. Whatever the case, the emperor promoted the inventor one degree , gave him a gift of 200,000 maravedís and ordered the expenses to be paid out of the state treasury and granted him other perks. "
"This representation is derived from the documents and books kept in the Royal Archives of Simancas, along with the business records of Catalonia and those of the military and naval departments of the said year 1543." Simancas, August 27, 1825, Tomas Gonzalez.

Steamships were not introduced into Spain until 1817. The Real Fernando of 1817, which regularly sailed the Guadalquivir between Seville and Sanlucar, was probably the first steamship to be built in Spain. Before that there was the PS Hope , built in Bristol in 1813 .

The fruitless search for evidence on this letter sparked controversy between French and Spanish scholars.

The matter gained such popularity that Honoré de Balzac wrote a play about it, a prologue and five act comedy entitled Les Ressources de Quinola , which premiered in Paris on March 19, 1842, and which tended to support the Spanish claim .

However, these claims were rejected by the Spanish authorities.

literature

  • HP Spratt: The Birth of the Steamboat. London 1958.
  • HP Spratt: The Prenatal History of the Steamboat. Newcomen Transactions, Vol. 30, 1955-7, p. 13.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Blasco de Garay's 1543 Steamship ( Memento from February 20, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Rochester History Resources. University of Rochester, 1996.
  2. ↑ a b Catálogo guia del Museo Naval de Madrid. IX edición. Museo Naval, Madrid 1945, p. 128.
  3. ^ J. Barto Arnold, Robert S. Weddle: The Nautical Archeology of Padre Island: The Spanish Shipwrecks of 1554. Academic Press, New York 1978, ISBN 0-12-063650-6 , p. 81.
  4. ^ A b Dionysius Lardner: The Steam Engine Explained and Illustrated: With an Account of Its Invention. Taylor and Walton, 1840, p. 16.
  5. ^ Dionysius Lardner: The steam engine familiarly explained and illustrated; with numerous illustrations (the steam engine clearly explained and illustrated, with numerous illustrations). Taylor, Walton, and Maberly, London 1851, p. 13.
  6. ↑ John Timbs: Stories of Inventors and Discoverers in Science and the Useful Arts. Harper & Brothers, New York 1860, p. 275.
  7. ↑ Thomas P. Jones, MD (Ed.): Journal of the Franklin Institute of the State of Pennsylvania and Mechanics' Register. Devoted to Mechanical and Physical Science, Civil Engineering, the Arts and Manufactures, and the Recording of American and Other Patented Inventions. The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia 1840, Volume XXV, p. 6.
  8. ↑ D. Manuel de Saraleguí y Medína: Lo siento mucho: Consideraciones y documentos relativos al famoso ingenio del hidalgo BLASCO DE GARAY. , Madrid 1913
  9. ↑ MMdel Marmol: Idea de los Barcos de vapor. Sanlucar, 1817.
  10. ^ GE Farr: West Country Passenger Steamers. London 1956, p. 14.
  11. ^ William Schaw Lindsay: History of Merchant Shipping and Ancient Commerce. S. Low, Marston, Low, and Searle, London 1876, p. 12.
  12. ↑ Frederick Wedmore, John Parker Anderson: Life of Honoré de Balzac. W. Scott 1890, p. Ii.
  13. ^ Project Gutenberg : The Resources of Quinola by Honoré de Balzac.
  14. ↑ L. Peltier: 1543 à 1555 Copernic. Potosi. Nostradamus. Ambroise Paré. In: Un journal du monde. November 18, 2008.
  15. ^ Sylvanus Urban: In: The Gentleman's Magazine. July to December 1884, Volume CCLVII, p. 308, Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, London.
personal data
SURNAME Garay, Blasco de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish captain and inventor of an early steam engine
DATE OF BIRTH around 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH unsure: Toledo
DATE OF DEATH 1552
Place of death Barcelona