Men and Machinery
Men and Machinery
This chapter tells the strange story of what happened in the U.S. Navy when a new steamship, the Wampanoag, was put into service in the 1860s. It first describes the physical characteristics of the U.S.S. Wampanoag before sharing some biographical remarks about the man who conceived of, designed, and built her: Benjamin Franklin Isherwood. It considers the case of Isherwood to illustrate the circumstances that produce what may be called intellectual or professional heroism. It also examines the naval officers' criticism of the steam engine and suggests that if you have a clear enough scheme of things, a firm enough regulatory system, a culture, you can exert a restraining influence, modify the design of the machinery to keep it doing useful work within the cultural and human boundaries.
Keywords: steamship, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Wampanoag, Benjamin Franklin Isherwood, professional heroism, naval officers, steam engine, culture, machinery
MIT Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
