Scottish inventor and scientist Henry dedicated many years to improving the steam apparatus for the purposes of powering water vessels. Toiling from between 1800 and 1811, he partnered with John Robertson to build the steam powered boat the PS Comet. He did so while running a large inn in Helensburgh while his wife oversaw the public baths there.
PS Comet sailing on passenger service on the River Clyde 1812
The PS Comet was named after a visible comet seen between 1811 and 1812, and made a delivery voyage from Port Glasgow to Broomielaw, then down to Greenock. The trial trip date is somewhat disputed, but was believed to occur in 1812 towards the end of the year.
Bell would run passenger trips for a time, before he remodeled and re-engined the Comet in 1819, continuing passenger trips. In December 1820, strong winds near Oban shipwrecked the Comet.
Bell would rebuild another boat, Comet II, after the Comet’s design, but it was ill fated. In October 1825, Comet II collided with another steamer ship, Ayr, off Kempock Point, killing 62 of the 82 passengers on board when the ship sank very quickly.
This would be the death knell for Bell’s work on steam boats.
While Bell would earn nothing from his inventions, spending his twilight years in deep poverty. But his work inspired the widespread adoption of steam ships. As a result, several benefactors stepped up to give Bell and his wife a hundred pound annuity.
