Sir Samuel BenthamDied 31 May 1831 at age 74 (born 11 Jan 1757).British engineer, naval architect, and navy official in Russia (1780-91) and England (from 1795) who was an early advocate of explosive-shell weapons for warships. In 1780, he was sent by the Admiralty to visit dockyards in Northern Europe. In Russia he improved management of Prince Potemkin's factories. While he was in Russia he built and equipped a flotilla of ships and distinguished himself in a victorious naval battle with the Turks. Using special guns that he had built and mounted in the ships, shells were fired for the first time in naval warfare. There also, he began his ideas for machines which worked by unskilled labour, could produce the same results as skilled workmen. |
