The Story of Brunel

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 31 (Supplement)

The Story of Brunel

THE FIRST THAMES TUNNEL

A PROJECT that will rank a s one of the greatest engineering marvels of the present day is now under consideration in England, the struction of a tunnel over a mile long under the River Thames. The ©itimated cost of the work is £3,000,000, and the plans provide for a carriageway of 20ft. in width» with a patrol path on each side protected fey a hand rail. . , , L Constructed by means of a shield driven by compressed air through fl.'om shafts over , 1 00ft. deep, the top of the tunnel at its lowest point Will be no less than 80ft. below high water level. Long investigation fitad patient research have been necessary in order that seemingly Insuperable difficulties might be overcome in this tremendous undertiaiking, and it is considered that the construction of the tunnel will be a notable event in the history of engineering. But nearly 100 years ago, an even more epoch-making scheme to drive a tunnel beneath the Thames was brought to successful issue by a man whose name will ever be held in honoured memory, that or Marc Brunei, whose exploits were the amazement —and, alas! often the d erision and hostility of the engineering world a century ago. In March, 1843, after years of heart-breaking misfortune and real tragedy, the marvellou's feat was accomplished, and all London flocked to see the first tunnel beneath the Thames. ..... . .i The story of Brunfel will bear retelling in detail, for it is one that provides inspiration for every lad with ambition and the determination to use to fullest extent those talents with which he has endowed.

(AT the height of the French Revolution in 1789, when all old ranks hnd titles had been abolished and the hjghost honour was to be a Citizen, a young man of twenty was walking in P&ris with his dog. The animal loitered, and, turning round to it the youth called sternly, "Come here, Citizen." Those words nearly cost him his life, for a group, of Republicans, hearing them, regarded it as an insult that such an honoured title should be used for a dog, and the j'oung man wns at once suspected of Royalist leanings. As a •matter of fact, the suspicion was well founded, and in time to come the man and his dog had to Uee from Paris to escape from the men who wero sending yictims daily to the guillotine. This young' man was Marc Isambard Brunei, a member of an old family in Normandy, who was born at Hacqueville in 1769. Brunei's mother died when he was a child, and at eight ho was sent to college to' prepare for a career in the Church. Brunei, however, had no tasto for the classics; his interest was in tho carpenter's shop and tho wheelwright's yard. Durifig the holidays ho devoted himself to drawing and carpentry, but his father was very strict, and tho boy'a experiences wero not always happy. Often he was put in solitary confinement in a room hung with old family portraits, among them a picture of a grim old man whoso angry eyes seemed to follow the boy everywhere, until Brunei icould stand their gaze no longer and cut out tho eyes from the canvas. A curious thing for this boy to do, this boy who was to " cut eyes through the earth." Brunei was sent to a theological school, where he amused himself by drawing portraits / instead of doing the things he was set, and at the same time he learned the use of tools. Once he pawned his hat to buy some coveted tool he saw in a shop window in Rouen. At twelve ho could make a wooden article better than most carpenters, and was greatly interested in shipping. He would often go down to the quay at Rouen to Watch the vessels there. One day two curious cast-iron cylinders attracted his attention and ho asked a they were. " Oh," said the man, " they are part of an engine that has just Pome from England for raising water."

" Ah,' said Brunei, " when I grow up I shall go to see that country.' He had taught himself the flute, and, having studied the construction of tho harpsichord, the idea came to him that these two instruments might bo combined in one mechanical arrangement. Ho thereupon made a model of a kind of barrel-organ. All this was very disappointing to his father, who did everything possible to lure the boy from his mechanical pur- , suits But it was useless, and at last the boy was allowed to study for the Navy. After his third lesson in trigonometry he astonished his master by making an intrument with which he measured the height of the cathedral spire with remarkable accuracy. The boy's intelligence attracted everyone with whom he came contact, and his sweetness of disposition endeared him to all. When tho Minister of Marine visited Rouen Brunei's master introduced him to his clever pupil, with the result that young Brunei was nominated for tho Navy at an earlier age than usual. When the boy was introduced to the captain of his vessel an instrument on tho table table attracted his attention. It was a quadrant, the first he had seen. He did not touch it, but simply, walked round the table and carefully examined it. In a few days he had made a quadrant for himself, and shortly afterwards, with the aid of a few shillings from his father, he made another, so near perfection that it was the only one he used all the time he was in the Navy. Seeing the deep knowledge _ of geometry, trigonnometry, mechanics, and optics needed for the construction of this instrument, it is truly amazing that a boy with so little training could have achieved such an extraordinary piece of work. When his ship was paid off, in January, 17913, Brunei went to Paris, and it was at that time that he annoyed the Republicans by addressing bis dog as Citizen. Tragic events were happening, and on the clay Louis XVI. was sentenced to death Brunei defended the king in a restaurant. Fortunately for him another Royalist was even more violently expressing his opinions, and drew off tho attention of the Republicans round Brunei, so that Brunei was ablo to escape. Tho next morning he left Paris secretly for Rouen, and there, in tho house of a kinsman who was the local American Consul, he met an English girl named Sophia Kingdom. A

deep affection sprang up, and they were engaged to be married when Brunei had to leave France owing to the activities of the Terrorists. With great difficulty he obtained a passport for America and made his way to Havre., but when he got on board bis ship he found ho had left his passport behind. There was no time to go back, and his fertilo imagination soon thought out a plan. Borrowing the passport of another passenger, ho copied it so exactly in ink that even a close scrutiny failed to show any difference. Scarcely was the ink dry when a French frigate signalled the ship to stop, and an officer came on board. The French passengers were paraded, and all passports were carefully examined; but the copy was not detected. Fortunate indeed was it for Brunei that his ingenuity had saved him from his carelessness, for had he been discovered ho would have lost his life. As it was, he landed in New York in September, 1793, and joined an expedition that Was to survey the country near Lake Ontario, a district at that time little known. Meanwhile Miss Kingdom had been arrested at Rouen, and sent to a convent for safe-keeping. One after another her companions were sent to the guillotine, and every moment she expected to suffer the same fate, but one morning the convent doors were thrown open and the prisoners were told that they were free. The monstrous Robespierre had fallen and the Reign of Terror was at and end. Miss Kingdom returned to England. (To be continued)