What was the steamship used for?
Steam-powered vessels
Steamship generally refers to larger steam-powered ships, usually ocean-going, capable of carrying a (ship's) boat. The engine room, to the right, is a concept drawing during the construction of the ship. The term steam wheeler is archaic and rarely used. In England, "steam packet", after its sailing predecessor, was the usual term; even "steam barge" could be used (Steam tonnage in Lloyd's Register exceeded sailing ships tonnage by 1865). The French transatlantic steamer was probably the last of her type to be equipped with sails, although she never used them. Steamships in turn were overtaken by diesel-driven ships in the second half of the 20th century. Most warships used steam propulsion from the 1860s until the late 20th century
Steamboats of the upper Columbia and Kootenay Rivers
In 1902 "Duchess" was dismantled. In 1903 Captain Armstrong built a new steamer, "Ptarmigan", using the engines from "Duchess" which by then were over 60 years old. In 1911, the same engines were installed in the newly built steamer "Nowitka". With the construction of railroads, and economic dislocation caused by Canada's participation in the Great War, steamboat activity tapered off starting about 1915. Steamboat men from the route themselves went to war. Captain Armstrong supervised British river transport in the Middle East, on the Nile and Tigris river. Captain Blakey's son John Blakely (1889–1963), who had trained under his father and Captain Armstrong, went to Europe and was one of only six survivors when his ship was torpedoed in the English Channel.
District Municipality of Muskoka
As news of the difficult conditions spread back to the south, development in Muskoka began to falter, but development of the steamship revived industry. In a time when the railroads had not yet arrived and road travel was notoriously unreliable and uncomfortable, the transportation king was the steamship. Once a land connection was made to the southern part of the lake in Gravenhurst, the logging companies could harvest trees along the entire lakefront with relative ease. Steamships gave them the way to ship the harvest back to the sawmills in Gravenhurst.
Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams
Steamboats like "J. R. Williams" were used for this purpose. Those used on the Arkansas typically, had stern-mounted paddle wheels to propel the ship, while a wood-fired boiler generated the steam that powered the wheel. There is anecdotal information that indicates wood was the fuel for inland steamboats. Coal and oil became more important after the Civil War (and with the depletion of American forests near the waterways).
Steam brig
A steam brig is a two-masted sailing ship with auxiliary steam power. The advantage was supposed to be that the ship could sail up-wind when it was convenient, and additionally, it could use the steam power to move relative to the wind to obtain a more advantageous angle to the wind.
Far West (steamship)
The "Far West" was light, strong and speedy. She was initially owned by the Coulson Packet Line who contracted with the Army in the 1870s to provide steamboats to support Army expeditions on the Yellowstone River in the Montana Territory. The "Far West" was used in this capacity, along with its sister riverboat the "Josephine". The "Far West" was often piloted by the famous river boat captain and pilot, Grant Marsh. The "Far West" was known as a fast boat because she had powerful engines, a hull with limited water resistance, and a low profile that reduced wind resistance. She set a number of speed records for both upstream and downstream travel on the Missouri and the Yellowstone. By virtue of her shallow draft and her ability to "grasshopper" over sand bars (using spars and steam capstans on the front of the boat to lift the boat and swing it forward a few feet at a time) she was famous for being able to get through shallow channels and low water conditions on the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers that turned back other steamboats.
Maritime history of California
Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 tons of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run. Initially, nearly all seagoing steamboats were equipped with mast and sails to supplement the steam engine power and provide power for occasions when the steam engine needed repair or maintenance. These steamships typically concentrated on high value cargo, mail and passengers and only had moderate cargo capabilities because of their required loads of coal. The typical paddle wheel steamship was powered by a coal burning engine that required firemen to shovel the coal to the burners.
French battleship Napoléon
The United Kingdom already had a few coastal units with screw/steam propulsion in the 1840s, called "blockships", which were conversions of small traditional battleships into floating batteries with a jury rig, with a medium engine for speeds of to . The Royal Navy had also commissioned a number of steam sloops, being the first screw-propelled warship to be launched anywhere in the world in 1843. Both nations had also developed steam frigates, the French launched in 1845, and the British a year later. However, "Napoléon" was the first regular steam battleship to be launched.
In 1847, Britain had designed a screw/steam battleship named , but the project much delayed and she did not enter service until 1854. Her sister ship, was ordered in 1849 and commissioned in January 1853. Another sailing battleship, was converted to steam on the stocks and launched in March 1851; she beat "Agamemnon" into service in November 1852. Britain’s reluctance to commit to the steam battleship apparently stemmed from her commitment to long-distance, worldwide operation, for which, at that time, sail was still the most reliable mode of propulsion.
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.
George DeBaptiste
In 1848, DeBaptiste took work as steward on the steamship "Arrow", which traveled on the Great Lakes between Sandusky, Ohio and Detroit. In 1859 together with William Whipper, DeBaptiste purchased a lake steamship, the "T. Whitney". He could not hold a captain's license, so he hired a white captain named Atwood. The boat ran a similar route to the "Arrow". It regularly stopped at Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada to load up on lumber and, presumably, to offload fugitives. Samuel C. Watson worked on the boat as a clerk and part manager.
George R. Vosburg
George R. Vosburg was a steam tug that operated from 1900 to 1912 on the Columbia River and the north coast of Oregon south from Astoria to the Nehalem River and Tillamook City. Generally called the "Vosburg" in practice, and referred to as "Geo. R. Vosburg" in official records, this vessel performed many tasks, from carrying cargo and passengers, and towing barges of rock for jetty construction. After 1925, this vessel was renamed "George M. Brown", and was converted to diesel power. Under the name "George M. Brown", this vessel remained in service until 1968 or later.
Steamship
The Liberty ships were the last major steamship class equipped with reciprocating engines. The last Victory ships had already been equipped with marine diesels, and diesel engines superseded both steamers and windjammers soon after World War Two. Most steamers were used up to their maximum economical life span, and no commercial ocean-going steamers with reciprocating engines have been built since the 1960s.
Steamship
Another partial solution was the Steam Auxiliary Ship - a vessel with a steam engine, but also rigged as a sailing vessel. The steam engine would only be used when conditions were unsuitable for sailing - in light or contrary winds. Some of this type (for instance "Erl King") were built with propellers that could be lifted clear of the water to reduce drag when under sail power alone. These ships struggled to be successful on the route to China, as the standing rigging required when sailing was a handicap when steaming into a head wind, most notably against the southwest monsoon when returning with a cargo of new tea. Though the auxiliary steamers persisted in competing in far eastern trade for a few years (and it was "Erl King" that carried the first cargo of tea through the Suez Canal), they soon moved on to other routes.
List of ships of the United States Army
Prior to World War II the Army operated a number of passenger and freight vessels for local transport between installations located on water. These were operated by the Quartermaster Corps. During World War I they were often used to transport troops from training camps to embarkation piers, particularly at the New York Port of Embarkation. For example, the 1918 registry, Merchant Vessels of the United States, under its Quartermaster vessels section lists some 33 small passenger and freight steamers, many former commercial vessels, ranging from the "Peterson" to the "El Aguila". Among those in the 1918 register were "Major L'Enfant", a steamer that served on the Potomac and burned in Baltimore on 3 December 1919 and "General Meigs", a Quartermaster Corps passenger and freight steamer built in 1892 by John H. Dialogue & Son, Camden New Jersey, and serving in the early 20th century with a name given to much larger ships later.
SS Kerry Range
The steamship Kerry Range was a 5,800-ton general cargo freighter, armed with guns, that had been built by the Northumberland Shipbuilding Company and launched on 27 November 1915. While serving as a Royal Navy armed transport she was damaged in a fire, with loss of life, in Baltimore, Maryland, in October 1917. Investigating officials, after the fire, were convinced the vessel was the target of arson, and that the arsonists were German agents—an enemy of the United Kingdom and the United States, during World War I. Several suspects were arrested. However, it was later determined that the fire on Pier 9, that triggered the fire on board "Kerry Range", was due to an electrical malfunction that triggered oakum, a flammable product once used to pack seams on ships. Three crew members lost their lives. Firefighting officials towed the blazing vessel away from the pier, to help prevent it igniting nearby Pier 8, and scuttled her. It took over a day to completely put out the fires on the hulk. Some press reports at the time wrote she was a complete write-off. However, the damaged vessel was salvaged and sold to the Steam Navigation Company of Canada in 1918.
Oregon Steam Navigation Company
The company operated steamships between San Francisco and ports along the Columbia River at Astoria, Portland and The Dalles, serving the lumber and salmon fishing industries. A railroad was built to serve the steamship industry.
Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company
The "George W. Elder" was another steamship operated by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. Originally an east coast steamer built by John Roach & Sons in Chester, Pennsylvania, the "George W. Elder" was purchased by the Oregon Steamship Company and sailed around Cape Horn to Oregon in 1876. The Oregon Steamship Company later sold the "George W. Elder" to the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. On May 31, 1899, the "George W. Elder" left Seattle, Washington, carrying 126 passengers and crew on a scientific expedition to Russia, visiting Alaska and British Columbia along the way. Later that year, the "George W. Elder" was used as a troopship in the Philippines by the U.S. Army. The "George W. Elder" Continued to operate with the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company until 1904, when it was transferred to the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. In 1905, the "George W. Elder" struck a rock in the Columbia River and sank into of water. The ship was subsequently raised and acquired by the North Pacific Steamship Company. In 1907, the "George W. Elder" helped rescue the survivors of the "Columbia". The ultimate fate of the "George W. Elder" following its retirement in 1935 remains uncertain.
George Forrester and Company
The "Liverpool" was the first steamship built and fitted up for the transatlantic service and the first transatlantic vessel with two funnels; after making several return journeys to New York she was sold to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; it was on this vessel that Samuel Cunard came to Liverpool from Halifax, Nova Scotia to commence business as a ship owner. P&O extended the hull of the "Liverpool", increasing her tonnage to 1543 while changing the name to "Great Liverpool", and put her on the mail service between Southampton and Alexandria; she was holed on a reef 24 February 1846 and went ashore off Cape Finisterre. The surviving wreck is being studied to assess recovery and preservation in a museum.
Beam engine
The first steam-powered ships used variants of the rotative beam engine. These marine steam engines – known as side-lever, grasshopper, crosshead, or 'walking beam', among others – all varied from the original land-based machines by locating the beam or beams in different positions to take up less room on board ship.
Steamship
"Great Western" was an iron-strapped, wooden, side-wheel paddle steamer, with four masts to hoist the auxiliary sails. The sails were not just to provide auxiliary propulsion, but also were used in rough seas to keep the ship on an even keel and ensure that both paddle wheels remained in the water, driving the ship in a straight line. The hull was built of oak by traditional methods. She was the largest steamship for one year, until the British and American's "British Queen" went into service. Built at the shipyard of Patterson & Mercer in Bristol, "Great Western" was launched on 19 July 1837 and then sailed to London, where she was fitted with two side-lever steam engines from the firm of Maudslay, Sons & Field, producing 750 indicated horsepower between them. The ship proved satisfactory in service and initiated the transatlantic route, acting as a model for all following Atlantic paddle-steamers.
Steamship
The first iron steamship to go to sea was the 116-ton "Aaron Manby", built in 1821 by Aaron Manby at the Horseley Ironworks, and became the first iron-built vessel to put to sea when she crossed the English Channel in 1822, arriving in Paris on 22 June. She carried passengers and freight to Paris in 1822 at an average speed of 8 knots (9 mph, 14 km/h).
Steam engine
Steam-driven devices were known as early as the aeliopile in the first century AD, with a few other uses recorded in the 16th and 17th century. Thomas Savery's dewatering pump used steam pressure operating directly on water. The first commercially-successful engine that could transmit continuous power to a machine was developed in 1712 by Thomas Newcomen. James Watt made a critical improvement by removing spent steam to a separate vessel for condensation, greatly improving the amount of work obtained per unit of fuel consumed. By the 19th century, stationary steam engines powered the factories of the Industrial Revolution. Steam engines replaced sail for ships, and steam locomotives operated on the railways.
Straits Steamship Company
The Straits Steamship Company was a shipping firm that operated steamships on Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca
The company was formed on July 1, 1894 by Capt. James Morgan, L. B. Hastings, W.S. Mann, and A.L. Horn.
The company operated the steamships "Willapa" and "Garland" on the route from Seattle to Neah Bay, and the "Evangel" on the route Seattle – Port Townsend – Port Angeles – Dungeness – Victoria. In the first decade of the 1900s the company provided service to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
Greek Steamship Company
The Greek Steamship Company was established in 1856 in the city of Hermoupolis (often spelled "Ermoupoli"), on the island of Syros. This was the first steamship company in Greece. The primary task of the company was (1) to link up the Greek islands (particularly the Cyclades) and the coastal cities and (2) to better connect Greece with wider Europe and the Middle East. In 1832, Athens was named the capital of the newly independent Kingdom of Greece, however Ermoupoli in Syros remained the commercial and industrial hub until the mid-19th century. In some instances the steamship company is sometimes referred to as the "Greek Steamship Company", though British Foreign Office documents refer to "The Hellenic Steam Navigation Company".
Steamship
The first steamship credited with crossing the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe was the American ship , though she was actually a hybrid between a steamship and a sailing ship, with the first half of the journey making use of the steam engine. "Savannah" left the port of Savannah, Georgia, on 22 May 1819, arriving in Liverpool, England, on 20 June 1819; her steam engine having been in use for part of the time on 18 days (estimates vary from 8 to 80 hours). A claimant to the title of the first ship to make the transatlantic trip substantially under steam power is the British-built Dutch-owned "Curaçao", a wooden 438 ton vessel built in Dover and powered by two 50 hp engines, which crossed from Hellevoetsluis, near Rotterdam on 26 April 1827 to Paramaribo, Surinam on 24 May, spending 11 days under steam on the way out and more on the return. Another claimant is the Canadian ship in 1833.
Metropolitan Steamship Company
The Metropolitan Steamship Company was established by Boston business interests soon after the end of the American Civil War in 1866 to operate steamships on the "outside route" between Boston and New York City around Cape Cod. The company was organized in February 1866 by Peter Butler, James B. Taft, Thomas Clyde, Brigadier General James Scollay Whitney, and Whitney's elder son, Henry Melville Whitney. One of the objectives of the investors was to place in remunerative service vessels they owned which were presently idle. James S. Whitney, who had been collector of customs for the Port of Boston in 1860–61, was elected president; Henry M. Whitney was named agent at Boston. Other members of the family eventually became financially interested in the company, including Whitney's younger son, William Collins Whitney, and his sons-in-law, Henry F. Dimock and Charles T. Barney.
Blohm+Voss
Initially, their products were steel-hulled sailing ships designed for long sea voyages. At that time steamships had a relatively short range, while many of the advantages of steel construction still applied to sailing ships as much as to steam. The company built its first steamship in 1900, while still continuing to build sailing ships until the late 1930s.
Steamship
The first regular steamship service from the East Coast to the West Coast of the United States began on 28 February 1849, with the arrival of the in San Francisco Bay. The "California" left New York Harbor on 6  October 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California, after a four-month and 21-day journey. The first steamship to operate on the Pacific Ocean was the paddle steamer "Beaver", launched in 1836 to service Hudson's Bay Company trading posts between Puget Sound Washington and Alaska.
Alaska Pacific Steamship Company
The Alaska Pacific Steamship Company was a short-lived freight and passenger shipping line that operated on the West Coast of North America between 1906 and 1912. The company was created by E.E. Caine, who used the steamships "Buckman" and "Watson" on the route between Seattle, Tacoma, and San Francisco. The following year, Caine's partners in the company took over management of the Alaska Coast Company, which operated the steamships "Jeanie" and "Portland". In 1909, Alaska Pacific acquired the twin-propeller steamships "Admiral Farragut" and "Admiral Sampson" from the American Mail Steamship Company on the East Coast. In 1912, Alaska Pacific acquired the remaining Admiral-class steamships "Admiral Dewey" and "Admiral Schley" from American Mail. Before the end of the year, the company's directors decided to merge Alaska Pacific with Alaska Coast Company to form the new Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company.
Naval tactics in the Age of Steam
As the 19th century came to a close, the familiar modern battleship began to emerge; a steel-armoured ship, entirely dependent on steam and carrying a relatively small number of large guns mounted in turrets, typically arranged along the centreline of the main deck. The revolutionary "Dreadnought" of 1906 was the first battleship to entirely dispense with smaller guns and used steam turbines for her main propulsion. The "Dreadnought" rendered all existing battleships obsolete, because she was larger, faster, more powerfully armed and more strongly protected than existing battleships, which came to be known as pre-Dreadnoughts. This sudden levelling of the field led to a naval arms race as Britain and Germany and, to a lesser extent, other powers like the United States, France, Russia, Japan, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina and Chile all rushed to build or acquire Dreadnoughts.
Warship
In the time of Mesopotamia, Ancient Persia, Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, warships were always galleys (such as biremes, triremes and quinqueremes): long, narrow vessels powered by banks of oarsmen and designed to ram and sink enemy vessels, or to engage them bow-first and follow up with boarding parties. The development of catapults in the 4th century BC and the subsequent refinement of this technology enabled the first fleets of artillery-equipped warships by the Hellenistic age. During late antiquity, ramming fell out of use and the galley tactics against other ships used during the Middle Ages until the late 16th century focused on boarding.
Cutch (steamship)
Cutch was a steamship built in 1884 in Hull, England. The ship served as a pilgrimage vessel and a yacht in India from 1884 to 1890, then as a steamship in British Columbia from 1890 to 1900 under the ownership of the Union Steamship Company. The ship was wrecked in August 1900, then salvaged and registered in the United States as Jessie Banning. In 1902 the ship was transferred to the navy of Colombia where it was armed with cannon and served in the Colombian navy as the gunboat Bogota. "Bogota" shelled the city of Panama on November 3, 1903 during the secession of Panama from Colombia.
Steamboat
A steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, having learned of Watt's engine on a visit to England, made his own engine. In 1763 he put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others.
The first steam-powered ship "Pyroscaphe" was a paddle steamer powered by a Newcomen steam engine; it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt, the 1776 "Palmipède". At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, "Pyroscaphe" travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on the Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country.
Thomas Leslie Outerbridge
Not all of Outerbridge's adventures in the Civil War would be as pleasant, as he would be twice captured by the North. On one of these occasions, he was serving on the steamer "Sirene". Originally owned by the British government and used as the Dockyard duty boat, the ship was mothballed and sold to Mr. Fininsey, the popular Confederate Consul in Bermuda. Fininsey deployed the "Sirene" to Wilmington with a crew, to bring back another steamship, the "Cape of Good Hope", to act as a cotton freighter. At the time, the "Cape of Good Hope" was a passenger boat between Wilmington and Smithfield, a role that the "Sirene" would then fulfill. Captain Jeremiah Peniston was selected as the ship's Master, with Outerbridge's brother, Eldon, as first officer and Outerbridge himself as second officer. A Virginian man by the name of Mr. Tab was the ship's Purser.
Steamboat
The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811 the first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation ) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York funded the construction of the first US steamboat, "Ontario", to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic. In his book "Life on the Mississippi", river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels.
Luna (tugboat)
Upon completion, "Luna" was delivered to the Mystic Steamship Company of Boston as the first diesel-powered tug in their fleet. All the other tugs in the Mystic Steamship fleet - commercially known as the Boston Towboat Company - were powered by coal and oil-fired boilers and steam engines. The Mystic Steamship Company could trace its roots to the Boston Towboat Company, which had been founded by Boston's maritime executives to assure salvage, icebreaking, and ship towing services in 1857. The Mystic Steamship Company operated coal-carrying colliers and coal barges to transport coal from railroad piers in New York Harbor, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Newport News. This coal was used as a fuel, and as the basis to make lamp gas from coal and coke. Later, Boston Towboat was operated by Eastern Enterprises, owners of Boston Gas and various maritime operations, which is active to this day as Eastern Enterprises.
History of the Royal Navy
Steam power was of interest to the Royal Navy from the beginning of the 19th century, since it neatly solved the difficult and dangerous sailing problems encountered in estuaries and other inshore areas. It was first adopted in the of 1821, and in 1824 accompanied the expedition to Algiers. Steam vessels appeared in greater numbers through the 1830s and 1840s, all using side-mounted paddlewheels; screw propellers were introduced in the 1830s and, after some reluctance, were adopted in the mid-1840s (the famous tug-of-war between the screw-propelled HMS Rattler and the paddlewheeled was entertaining, but records show the Admiralty had already decided on and ordered screw ships). The first major steam warship was . In the 1850s Naval Arms Race screw battleships and frigates, both conversions and new constructions, were built in large numbers. These ships retained a full capacity for sail as steam engines were not yet efficient enough to permit long ocean voyages under power. Steam power was intended only for use during battle and to allow ships to go to sea at will instead of being held in port by adverse winds. A triple expansion steam engine was introduced in 1881 which was more efficient than earlier ones.
Steamboat
The era of the steamboat began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of a 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention. Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks the first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service.
Allaire Iron Works
In 1819, the Allaire Works supplied the engine for "Robert Fulton", the first steamship to enter service along the United States coastline (as opposed to working the inland waterways). This engine had a cylinder and a stroke of 5 feet. "Robert Fulton" helped to demonstrate that steamships were capable of reliable seagoing service. Other engines built in this period by the Allaire Works include those for "United States"—a 140-foot steamer said to be the first American steamboat to issue tickets (rather than "way-bills") to passengers—and for "James Kent", "North Carolina", "South Carolina" and other Hudson River steamers.
1810s
Among the meetings of the Powers in the latter part of the 1810s were the Congresses of Vienna (1814–1815), Aix-la-Chappelle (1818), and Carlsbad (1819).
The 1810s continued a trend of increasing commercial viability of steamboats in North America, following the early success of Robert Fulton and others in the preceding years. In 1811 the first in a continuously operating line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. Inventor John Stevens' boat, the "Juliana", began operation as the first steam-powered ferry October 11, 1811, with service between New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey. John Molson's PS "Accommodation" was the first steamboat on the St. Lawrence and in Canada. Unlike Fulton, Molson did not show a profit. Molson had also two paddle steamboats "Swiftsure" of 1811 and "Malsham" of 1813 with engines by B&W. The experience of these vessels, especially that they could now offer a regular service, being independent of wind and weather, helped make the new system of propulsion commercially viable, and as a result its application to the more open waters of the Great Lakes was next considered. That idea went on hiatus due to the War of 1812.
Steamboat
In Denmark, steamboats were a popular means of transportation in earlier times, mostly for recreational purposes. They were deployed to carry passengers for short distances along the coastline or across larger lakes. Falling out of favour later on, some of the original boats are still in operation in a few places, such as "Hjejlen". Built in 1861, this steamboat is running second to the Norwegian Skibladner as the oldest steamship in operation and sails the lake of Julsø near Silkeborg.
Maritime history
Steam was first applied to boats in the 1770s. With the advent of economical steam engines, efficient external combustion heat engines that makes use of the heat energy that exists in steam and converting it to mechanical work, the was steam for ships. The technology only became relevant to trans-oceanic travel after 1815, the year Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the steamship "Élise".
Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company
Steamships
Steamship
The British side-wheel paddle steamer was the first steamship purpose-built for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings, starting in 1838. In 1836 Isambard Kingdom Brunel and a group of Bristol investors formed the Great Western Steamship Company to build a line of steamships for the Bristol-New York route. The idea of regular scheduled transatlantic service was under discussion by several groups and the rival British and American Steam Navigation Company was established at the same time. "Great Western's" design sparked controversy from critics that contended that she was too big. The principle that Brunel understood was that the carrying capacity of a hull increases as the cube of its dimensions, while water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This meant that large ships were more fuel efficient, something very important for long voyages across the Atlantic.
Blockship
The above is the principal and enduring meaning of 'block ship', but in the mid-19th century the term blockships was applied to two groups of mobile sea batteries developed by the Royal Commission on Coast Defence. The first batch of four was obtained from around 1845 by converting old sailing 74-gun two-deckers, all of them Vengeur class ships of the line, into floating batteries, equipped with a steam/screw propulsion system. Also called "steam guardships", these conversions involved cutting down to a single deck, with ballast removed, and a jury rig installed with a medium 450 hp (340 kW) engine for speeds of 5.8—8.9 knots (11–16 km/h). These ships, converted in 1846, were "Blenheim", "Ajax", "Hogue" and "Edinburgh". Although these ships were intended for coast defence some of them were used offensively, notably in the Baltic Campaign of 1854 and 1855, where they were an integral part of the British fleet. A second batch of five were similarly obtained from around 1855 by converting other elderly 74-gun ships; these were the "Russell", "Cornwallis", "Hawke", "Pembroke" and "Hastings".
Steamboats of the Mississippi
Steamboats played a major role in the 19th-century development of the Mississippi River and its tributaries by allowing the practical large-scale transport of passengers and freight both up- and down-river. Using steam power, riverboats were developed during that time which could navigate in shallow waters as well as upriver against strong currents. After the development of railroads, passenger traffic gradually switched to this faster form of transportation, but steamboats continued to serve Mississippi River commerce into the early 20th century.
Shipping line
Large-scale shipping lines became widespread in the nineteenth century, after the development of the steamship in 1783. At first, Great Britain was the centre of development; in 1819, the first steamship crossing of the Atlantic Ocean took place and by 1833, shipping lines had begun to operate steamships between Britain and British Empire possessions such as India and Canada. Three major British shipping lines were founded in the 1830s: the British and American Steam Navigation Company, the Great Western Steamship Company and the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company.
Thames Express
The "Thames Express" competed directly with the Northern Steamship Company for traffic between Thames and Auckland. Due to the circuitous nature of the railway line, the much more direct water route of the steamships afforded them an inherent advantage. The increased implementation of new A class steam locomotives allowed the express to take 6 hours 45 minutes to complete its 237 km long journey, but this did not gain many passengers from the steamships. Instead, passengers primarily used the "Thames Express" to travel to intermediate destinations rather than from terminus to terminus. For example, in its day, it provided the quickest transport between Thames and Hamilton.
List of fireships of the Royal Navy
Fireships served in the Royal Navy over a period of several centuries. The earliest fireships – ships filled with combustible and flammable materials and explosives and sent into lines of enemy ships to attempt to set them on fire – were small merchant vessels deployed in large fleet actions, such as by Sir Francis Drake against the Spanish Armada at the Battle of Gravelines in 1588. Fire was a major hazard on the wooden warships of the time, which carried large quantities of flammable and explosive materials into battle. Both sides used fireships in a number of engagements during the Anglo–Spanish War, with varying levels of effectiveness. Fireships reappeared in unconventional forms during the English Civil War, and were used in earnest during the Anglo-Dutch Wars, particularly to great effect in 1666 during Holmes's Bonfire. Successes such as the burning of the at the Battle of Solebay in 1672 caused considerable interest in the application of such vessels, eventually resulting in the construction of purpose-built ships. Interest in the fireship declined during the eighteenth century. Though new vessels continued to be taken into service, they did not play a significant role in either the Seven Years' War or the American War of Independence. There was a resurgence in the use of fireships during the 1790s during the wars with France, and they were deployed with some success by Thomas Cochrane at the Battle of the Basque Roads in 1809, but they were steadily supplanted by new methods of war, such as heated shot, torpedoes and mines.
The Steamship Appam
On January 15, 1916, the British steamship was captured off the Canary Islands by the German auxiliary cruiser . A 22-man prize crew, and 138 passengers taken from other captured ships, were put aboard and she was taken to Hampton Roads, Virginia, arriving on February 1. "Appam"s British owner, the British and African Steam Navigation Co, filed suit to recover possession of her from her captors. Federal Judge Edmund Waddill of Virginia, in a 15,000-word opinion, directed, July 29, 1916, that the vessel, with the cargo remaining aboard her and the proceeds of the perishable cargo already sold, should be restored at once to her British owners.
Steamboat
In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up the West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $199,999 to set up regular packet ship, mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City, Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon. Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from the Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River.
Swiss Northeastern Railway
Shipping was the natural continuation of the railway lines that ended at the lakes. The transport of the passengers was not difficult. The transport of goods, however, was much more complicated and expensive because the goods had to be reloaded twice.
The Lake Constance ("Bodensee") route was the most important trade route for traffic between Switzerland and Germany. The Rhine only became navigable to Basel in 1904. The NOB started operating shipping services on Lake Constance with the "Thurgau" and the "Stadt Zürich" in 1855. The NOB merged with the "Schweizerischen Dampfboot-Aktiengesellschaft für den Rhein und Bodensee" (Swiss Steamboat Corporation for the Rhine and Lake Constance) on 1 January 1857. It was founded in 1850 in Schaffhausen as a cantonal enterprise and in the following four years put into service the steamships "Stadt Schaffhausen", "Rhein", "Stadt St. Gallen" and "Bodan". In 1863, shipping operations on the Rhine were discontinued and the four steamships were relocated to Romanshorn.
On 11 March 1861 the steamer "Stadt Zürich" rammed and sank the Bavarian steamer "Ludwig". Three persons survived, 13 were killed. On 12 February 1864 the Bavarian steamer "Jura" was also rammed and sunk by the "Stadt Zürich".
In order to avoid the reloading of goods, the Bavarian and the Württemberg steamship administration together with the NOB decided in 1867 to transport railway wagons by train ferry. A steam ferry known as "steam ferry I" was used on the Friedrichshafen–Romanshorn route. This over 70 metre-long ferry was able to accommodate 18 freight wagons, but had a horrendous rate of coal consumption. It was retired in 1882 and subsequently scrapped. A second ferry ferry known as "steam ferry II" started operating between Lindau and Romanshorn in 1874.
In 1884, the flat-deck steamer "Stadt Zürich" was converted into the semi-private steamer "Zürich". In 1887, the NOB put the newly built saloon steamer "Helvetia III" into service, which caused a sensation with its clipper bow and bowsprit. In 1892, the mixed steam/sailing ship "Säntis" replaced the "Stadt Schaffhausen". The mixed steam/sailing ship "St. Gotthard" was similarly replaced by the flat-deck steamer "Stadt St. Gallen" in 1897.
In 1902, with the nationalisation of the NOB the entire shipping company was transferred to the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB).
Steamship
The , built in Britain in 1839 by Francis Pettit Smith, was the world's first screw propeller-driven steamship for open water seagoing. It had considerable influence on ship development, encouraging the adoption of screw propulsion by the Royal Navy, in addition to her influence on commercial vessels. The first screw-driven propeller steamship introduced in America was on a ship built by Thomas Clyde in 1844 and many more ships and routes followed.
Dumfries
After working with Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, inventor William Symington intended to carry out a trial in order to show than an engine would work on a boat without the boat catching fire. The trial finally took place on Dalswinton Loch near Dumfries on 14 October 1788. The experiment demonstrated that a steam engine would work on a boat. Symington went on to become the builder of the first practical steamboat.
Steamboats of California
The first large steam driven vessel running between San Francisco and Sacramento was the steamship "McKim", a 400-ton ex Army propeller driven transport steamship that had sailed to California from New Orleans. "McKim" made its first regular run up river on October 26, 1849 in 17 hours, touching at Benicia on the way to Sacramento. Its schedule became, to leave San Francisco on Mondays and Thursdays at 7 a.m.; returning, it left Sacramento on Wednesdays and Fridays at 7 a.m.. $30 was charged for passage in cabins, $20 on deck, berths in staterooms $5, $1.50 meals for cabin passengers only. Heavy freight was $2.50/100 pounds or $1.00 per foot for measured goods. During its early trips on the route it made $16,000 each trip for the Simmons, Hutchinson & Company. The second and larger steamer up the Sacramento was the 755-ton side-wheel steamship "SS Senator", a former Atlantic coastal steamer from Boston. It arrived from its voyage around Cape Horn, on October 7, 1849 and began running on the river November 8, and began bringing in $60,000 each month. Running on alternate days 3 days a week with the "McKim", Simmons, Hutchinson & Co. provided daily service between the two cities.
Steamship
Most luxury yachts at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries were steam driven (see luxury yacht; also Cox & King yachts). Thomas Assheton Smith was an English aristocrat who forwarded the design of the steam yacht in conjunction with the Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier.
Steamboat
After the Clyde, the Thames estuary was the main growth area for steamboats, starting with the "Margery" and the "Thames" in 1815, which were both brought down from the Clyde. Until the arrival of railways from 1838 onwards, steamers steadily took over the role of the many sail and rowed ferries, with at least 80 ferries by 1830 with routes from London to Gravesend and Margate, and upstream to Richmond. By 1835, the Diamond Steam Packet Company, one of several popular companies, reported that it had carried over 250,000 passengers in the year.
Steam power during the Industrial Revolution
This period of economic growth, which was ushered in by the introduction and adoption of the steamboat, was one of the greatest ever experienced in the United States. Around 1815, steamboats began to replace barges and flatboats in the transport of goods around the United States. Prior to the steamboat, rivers were generally only used in transporting goods from east to west, and from north to south as fighting the current was very difficult and often impossible. Non-powered boats and rafts were assembled up-stream, would carry their cargo down stream, and would often be disassembled at the end of their journey; with their remains being used to construct homes and commercial buildings.
Boats of the Mackenzie River watershed
The first steamship to ply in the Mackenzie River watershed was on the Athabasca River in 1882, and its name was the S.S. "Grahame", a sternwheeler built by the HBC, operating from Athabasca Landing north of Edmonton to the Slave River rapids, the only significant obstacle en route to the Mackenzie. In 1886, the S.S. "Wrigley" was launched on the other side of these rapids, at Fort Smith, and for the first time a steam-driven vessel operated on the Mackenzie River as far as Aklavik in the river delta before it spilled into the Arctic Ocean. A series of small portage trails were established between Smith's Landing (later Fort Fitzgerald) and Fort Smith to skirt the 16-mile rapids - this was later upgraded into a full road in the 1920s.
Steamship
Within a few decades of the development of the river and canal steamboat, the first steamships began to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat "Experiment", an ex-French lugger; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth in July 1813.
Illawarra Steam Navigation Company
Prior to the formation of the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company in 1858, a number of companies and individuals ran steamships along the south coast of New South Wales. The first of these was the "Sophia Jane", which had traveled to Australia under her own power from the United Kingdom (and was the first steamship to do so), arriving in Sydney in 1831. But while the "Sophia Jane" ran a service to Wollongong, a more regular service was provided from 1839 with the establishment of the Illawarra Steam Packet Company. The Illawarra Steam Packet Company was not known by that name for long, as just three months after being established, the company merged with the Brisbane Water Steam Passenger Co. to become the General Steam Navigation Company. The newly formed company initially employed two steam vessels, the "Maitland" and the "William IV", both of which were built in New South Wales on the Williams River, and the company serviced the Hunter River along with the south coast.
Steam yacht
The Steam Auxiliary is a class of yacht in this category. In 1876-77 Thomas Brassey took his wife and children on a world cruise in their newly built yacht, the 532 ton "Sunbeam". Brassey preferred sail as the primary source of motive power, but knew from years of experience the advantages of steam power, when wind and tide made progress difficult. "Sunbeam" was, therefore, designed as a "steam auxiliary", capable of covering long distances between coaling stations under her fully rigged sail area of 9200 square yards, but with enough fuel to steam for up to 20 days if necessary (she could carry 80 tons of coal). Their trip was made famous by a book written and published by his wife Annie Brassey - "A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months". Within a few years other yachts were built for owners with a similar sense of adventure, famously "Lancashire Witch" for Sir Thomas George Fermor-Hesketh, 7th Baronet and "Wanderer" for Charles Joseph Lambert. These sailing yachts, with steam auxiliary power, were more expensive to build and run, but gave the owners the freedom to roam the world without necessarily planning their routes via the network of coaling stations in existence at this time. In addition the yacht masters were not totally reliant on the quality of the steaming coal available to them, that could at times be questionable. When not in steam, the funnel on the auxiliary yacht would be lowered and the propeller feathered to reduce drag.
Vamoose (steamship)
The Vamoose was commissioned by a young William Randolph Hearst in the winter of 1890. Lead engineer Nathaniel Herreshoff incorporated many technologies from the USS Cushing torpedo boat originally developed for the US Navy. The focus of the design was speed above all else, thus an 875-horsepower quadruple expansion steam engine was chosen to power the Vamoose. The aerodynamics were aided by a sleek torpedo style hull shape and lack of sails which allowed the Vamoose to achieve a top speed of 23.5 knots.
Cargo liner
The steam-powered cargo liner developed in the mid-19th century with the advancement of technology allowing bigger steamships to be built. As cargo liners were generally faster than tramp cargo ships, they were used for the transport of perishable and high-value goods, as well as providing a passenger service. At first, they were mostly used in Europe and America as well as across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America. Longer routes, such as that to Oceania, mainly remained in the hands of sailing ships a little bit longer, due to the inefficiency of the steamship of the time, until the late-1860s when the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal put sailships to disadvantage.
Cameron-class steamship
The Cameron-class steamers was a class of British cargo steamships. They were designed for Clan Line and were also used by Scottish Shire Line and the Royal Navy.
Coaling (ships)
The era of the steam warship powered exclusively by coal was relatively brief, lasting from 1871 until 1914. Although the French ironclad Gloire and the iron hulled HMS Warrior in 1860 both had funnels, the purpose was to provide additional speed in battle. Sails provided the main propulsion the rest of the time so, unlike HMS Devastation (1871) the first ship built without sails, these were not true steamships. 
Although much faster than sail the lengthy refueling or coaling required by steam ships brought considerable additional risk to the ship and hardship to the crew leading to the replacement of coal by oil.
Mode of transport
In the 1800s, the first steamboats were developed, using a steam engine to drive a paddle wheel or propeller to move the ship. The steam was produced using wood or coal. Now, most ships have an engine using a slightly refined type of petroleum called bunker fuel. Some ships, such as submarines, use nuclear power to produce the steam. Recreational or educational craft still use wind power, while some smaller craft use internal combustion engines to drive one or more propellers, or in the case of jet boats, an inboard water jet. In shallow draft areas, hovercraft are propelled by large pusher-prop fans.
Steamship
The decline of the steamship began after World War II. Many had been lost in the war, and marine diesel engines had finally matured as an economical and viable alternative to steam power. The diesel engine had far better thermal efficiency than the reciprocating steam engine, and was far easier to control. Diesel engines also required far less supervision and maintenance than steam engines, and as an internal combustion engine it did not need boilers or a water supply, therefore was more space efficient.
Steam-powered vessels
Steam ships were used to transport goods and personnel across oceans and within coastal areas. Steam powered tugboats were created for the purpose of manipulating larger vessels at within ports or areas with limited maneuverability. Steam vessels were a practical solution for the international transportation of people.
Steamboats of the Columbia River
Much later, starting in the early 1980s, a number of replica steamboats have been built, for use as tour boats in river cruise service on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. Although still configured as sternwheelers, they are non-steam-driven boats or ships, also called motor vessels, powered instead by diesel engines. These tourism-focussed vessels range in size from the "Rose" to the "American Empress" (formerly "Empress of the North"). Others include the M.V. "Columbia Gorge", the "Willamette Queen", and the "Queen of the West".
Steamboat
A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels. Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS, S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'), however these designations are most often used for steamships.
Steamboat
By 1849 the shipping industry was in transition from sail-powered boats to steam-powered boats and from wood construction to an ever-increasing metal construction. There were basically three different types of ships being used: standard sailing ships of several different types, Clippers, and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on the side or rear. River steamboats typically used rear-mounted paddles and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls designed to carry large loads on generally smooth and occasionally shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheeled paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed to travel in the often stormy weather encountered at sea. The ship hull design was often based on the clipper ship design with extra bracing to support the loads and strains imposed by the paddle wheels when they encountered rough water.
Steam-powered vessels
Screw-driven steamships generally carry the ship prefix "SS" before their names, meaning 'Steam Ship' (or 'Screw Steamer' i.e. 'screw-driven steamship', or 'Screw Schooner' during the 1870s and 1880s, when sail was also carried), paddle steamers usually carry the prefix "PS" and steamships powered by steam turbine may be prefixed "TS" (turbine ship). The term "steamer" is occasionally used, out of nostalgia, for diesel motor-driven vessels, prefixed "MV".
Steamship
The first steamship purpose-built for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings was the British side-wheel paddle steamer built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1838, which inaugurated the era of the trans-Atlantic ocean liner.
USS Sea Gull (1818)
Sea Gull was a steamship in the United States Navy. She was the second steamship of the United States Navy and the first to serve actively as a warship.
Steamship
The efficiency of Holt's package of boiler pressure, compound engine and hull design gave a ship that could steam at 10 knots on 20 long tons of coal a day. This fuel consumption was a saving from between 23 and 14 long tons a day, compared to other contemporary steamers. Not only did less coal need to be carried to travel a given distance, but fewer firemen were needed to fuel the boilers, so crew costs and their accommodation space were reduced. "Agamemnon" was able to sail from London to China with a coaling stop at Mauritius on the outward and return journey, with a time on passage substantially less than the competing sailing vessels. Holt had already ordered two sister ships to "Agamemnon" by the time she had returned from her first trip to China in 1866, operating these ships in the newly formed Blue Funnel Line. His competitors rapidly copied his ideas for their own new ships.
History of the steam engine
This did not apply in the US, and in 1788 a steamboat built by John Fitch operated in regular commercial service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour, and traveled more than during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. In 1802 William Symington built a practical steamboat, and in 1807 Robert Fulton used a Watt steam engine to power the first commercially successful steamboat.
Steamboat
Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle wheel steamships like the SS "McKim" (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies the trip from San Francisco up the extensive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to Stockton, California, Marysville, California, Sacramento, etc. to get about closer to the gold fields. Steam powered tugboats and towboats started working in the San Francisco Bay soon after this to expedite shipping in and out of the bay.
SS Great Western
SS "Great Western" of 1838, was an oak-hulled paddle-wheel steamship, the first steamship purpose-built for crossing the Atlantic, and the initial unit of the Great Western Steamship Company. She was the largest passenger ship in the world from 1837 to 1839. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, "Great Western" proved satisfactory in service and was the model for all successful wooden Atlantic paddle-steamers. She was capable of making record Blue Riband voyages as late as 1843. "Great Western" worked to New York for 8 years until her owners went out of business. She was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and was scrapped in 1856 after serving as a troop ship during the Crimean War.
Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company
Before 1879, the Oregon Steamship Company provided passenger service onboard coastal steamships from San Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon, while the Oregon Steam Navigation Company operated multiple steamboats along the Columbia River. That year, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company purchased the entirety of both companies, which helped to create a monopoly over transportation in Oregon. The large steamships "City of Chester", "George W. Elder" and "Oregon" were included in the purchase.
Steamship
The steamship was preceded by smaller vessels designed for insular transportation, called steamboats. Once the technology of steam was mastered at this level, steam engines were mounted on larger, and eventually, ocean-going vessels. Becoming reliable, and propelled by screw rather than paddlewheels, the technology changed the design of ships for faster, more economic propulsion.
SS Shieldhall
SS "Shieldhall" is a preserved steamship that operates from Southampton. She spent her working life as one of the "Clyde sludge boats", making regular trips from Shieldhall in Glasgow, Scotland, down the River Clyde and Firth of Clyde past the Isle of Arran, to dump treated sewage sludge at sea. These steamships had a tradition, dating back to the First World War, of taking organised parties of passengers on their trips during the summer. SS "Shieldhall" has been preserved and the accommodation is again being put to good use for cruises.
Thames steamers
The General Steam Navigation Company, initially established in 1821 and incorporated in 1824, was founded by a syndicate of London businessmen including William J Hall, a shipowner, and brothers Thomas and John Brockelbank, who had timber and shipyard interests in Deptford. The Brockelbanks' paddle steamer "Eagle" provided a service between London and Margate. By 1825 the GSNC was operating a fleet of 15 Deptford-built steamers, maintained from a yard at the Stowage, Deptford (a former East India Company depot).
Other vessels of this time were the Majestic and Defiance. The Hero of 1821 was built locally and put to work. By 1822, the Margate SP Co. alone carried over 27,000 passengers to and from Margate and competition was brisk. The biggest boom came in the 1830s with the creation of the "Star", "Diamond" and "Woolwich" SP Companies which added many more new boats. By 1834, when they were fighting the establishment of the Great Western Railway, the Thames Commissioners boasted that they "had made the Thames navigation one of the most perfect in the Kingdom". In 1835, the Diamond SP Company reported that it had carried over 250,000 passengers in the year.
Iron boats were introduced in 1845 by the City Steamboat Company with their Citizen boats built by the Thames Ironworks. The Westminster Company also had iron boats specializing in taking gentlemen from the City to Waterloo station which opened in 1848 on the south bank - a route that was eventually taken over by the Waterloo and City Line underground. They were known as 'penny boats' from their standard fare. A competing 'ha'penny boat', the "Cricket" was short-lived, retiring after its boiler burst causing loss of life.
Steam yacht
1. The first is a luxury yacht in the modern sense—a vessel owned privately and used for pleasure or non-commercial purposes. Steam yachts of this type came to prominence from the 1840s to the early-20th century in Europe. The first British royal yacht was Victoria & Albert of 1843. The first in the USA, Vanderbilt's steam yacht "North Star", launched in 1854. steam yachts were commissioned by wealthy individuals and often heads of state as extravagant symbols of wealth and/or power. They were usually built with similar hull-lines to clipper ships, with an ornate bow structure and a low, smooth freeboard. Main propulsion usually came from one or two steam engines, later of compound type, or in even later, very large yachts, triple expansion or turbines. Steam yachts usually carried rigging for sails, originally as an auxiliary propulsion system, but later more for show and naval tradition. Private steam yachts were capable of long seagoing voyages, but their owners' needs and habits saw most stay near to the coast. Inland seas such as the Baltic and the Mediterranean were popular areas for using steam yachts.
Ironclad warship
Steam-powered screw frigates were built in the mid-1840s, and at the end of the decade the French Navy introduced steam power to its line of battle. The desire for change came from the ambition of Napoleon III to gain greater influence in Europe, which required a challenge to the British at sea. The first purpose-built steam battleship was the 90-gun in 1850. "Napoléon" was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h), regardless of the wind conditions: a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement.
Steamboat
Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries, Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make and travelled more than during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year, a second boat made excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing.
Steamship
Thousands of Liberty Ships (powered by steam piston engines) and Victory Ships (powered by steam turbine engines) were built in World War II. A few of these survive as floating museums and sail occasionally: SS "Jeremiah O'Brien", SS "John W. Brown", "SS "American Victory", SS "Lane Victory", and SS "Red Oak Victory".
Maritime history
A steamboat, sometimes called a steamer, became the primary method of propulsion is the age of steam power, typically driving a propeller or paddlewheel. Small and large steamboats and riverboats worked on lakes and rivers. Steamships gradually replaced sailing ships for commercial shipping through the 19th century. From 1815 on, steamships increased significantly in speed and size.
Metropolitan Steamship Company
Service was inaugurated in 1866 by Captain George L. Norton with the steamer "Ashland", a wooden propeller of 843 gross tons, built in 1853 at Philadelphia and owned by Thomas Clyde. The "Ashland" was soon followed into service by the "Jersey Blue", "City of Bath", "Mary Sanford", "Salvor", "Relief", "Miami", "Monticello" and "Fairbanks". Oldest of these was the "Jersey Blue", a 368-ton, 133-foot wooden propeller built in 1850 at Newark, New Jersey. All were propellers except the "Miami", a sidewheeler built in 1861–62 by the Philadelphia Navy Yard as the gunboat USS "Miami" and sold for mercantile use in 1865. The line's New York offices were at first located at the foot of Catherine Street, East River, but soon moved to Pier 10, North River, where they remained for nearly half a century.
Steamboats of the Colorado River
In 1869, the George A. Johnson & Company was reorganized with an infusion of more capital and with additional partners, as the Colorado Steam Navigation Company. With this new capital they started their own steamship line with the side-wheel steamship, "SS Newbern" under Captain A. N. McDonough. From July 2, 1871, "Newbern" ran the 2100 miles voyage monthly to Port Isabel in twelve days, cutting in half the time taken by sailing ships speeding up freight and passenger service. "Newbern" was so successful that they added the former Pacific Mail side-wheel steamship "SS Montana", under Capt. Captain William Metzger, in 1874. With the pair of ships, the voyage was made every 20 days. However later that year, "Montana" ran aground and had to be towed back to San Francisco for 3 months of repairs. Back in service, she caught fire near Guaymas, on December 14, 1876, and was a total loss. She was replaced in January 1877 with "SS Montana"'s sister ship the "SS Idaho" under Captain George M. Douglass. The companies steamships brought in more earnings than those of all their steamboats on the river.
Steamboats of the Mississippi
A showboat (or show boat) was a form of theater that traveled along the waterways of the United States, especially along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. A showboat was basically a barge that resembled a long, flat-roofed house, and in order to move down the river, it was pushed by a small tugboat (misleadingly labeled a towboat) which was attached to it. It would have been impossible to put a steam engine on it, since it would have had to have been placed right in the auditorium.
Beaver (steamship)
Beaver was the first steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America. She made remote parts of the west coast of Canada accessible for maritime fur trading and was chartered by the Royal Navy for surveying the coastline of British Columbia. She served off the coast from 1836 until 1888, when she was wrecked.
Maritime history
Ironclads are steam-propelled warships of the later 19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, , was launched by the French Navy in 1859; she prompted the British Royal Navy to start building ironclads. After the first clashes of ironclads took place during the American Civil War, it became clear that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored line-of-battle ship as the most powerful warship afloat.
In 1880, the American passenger steamer "Columbia" became the first ship to utilize the dynamo and incandescent light bulb. Furthermore, "Columbia" was the first structure besides Thomas Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey to use the incandescent light bulb.
1810s
The first commercially successful steamboat in Europe, Henry Bell's "Comet" of 1812, started a rapid expansion of steam services on the Firth of Clyde, and within four years a steamer service was in operation on the inland Loch Lomond, a forerunner of the lake steamers still gracing Swiss lakes. On the Clyde itself, within ten years of "Comet's" start in 1812 there were nearly fifty steamers, and services had started across the Irish Sea to Belfast and on many British estuaries. P.S."Thames", ex "Argyle" was the first seagoing steamer in Europe, having steamed from Glasgow to London in May 1815. P.S."Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on November 5, 1817; in the summer of 1817 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast.
The first steamship credited with crossing the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe was the American ship "SS Savannah", though she was actually a hybrid between a steamship and a sailing ship. The "SS Savannah" left the port of Savannah, Georgia, on May 22, 1819, arriving in Liverpool, England, on June 20, 1819; her steam engine having been in use for part of the time on 18 days (estimates vary from 8 to 80 hours).Lord Byron, regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, wrote his most well-known work during this decade. Amongst Byron's works are the brief poems "She Walks in Beauty", "When We Two Parted", and "So, we'll go no more a roving", in addition to the narrative poems "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" and "Don Juan".
SY Gondola
The steam yacht Gondola is a rebuilt Victorian, screw-propelled, steam-powered passenger vessel on Coniston Water, England. Originally launched in 1859, she was built for the steamer service carrying passengers from the Furness Railway and from the Coniston Railway. She was in commercial service until 1936 when she was retired, being converted to a houseboat in 1946. In 1979, by now derelict, she was given a new hull, engine, boiler and most of the superstructure. She is back in service as a passenger boat, still powered by steam and now operated by the National Trust.
Age of Sail
Sailing ships sometimes continued to be an economical way to transport bulk cargo on long voyages into the 1920s, even if steamships also were used for such transports and became more and more common. Sailing ships do not require fuel or complex engines to be powered; thus they tended to be more independent from requiring a dedicated support base on the mainland. Crucially though, steam-powered ships held a speed advantage and were rarely hindered by adverse winds, freeing steam-powered vessels from the necessity of following trade winds. As a result, cargo and supplies could reach a foreign port in half the time it took a sailing ship.
Steamboat
For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats. Their use generated rapid development of economies of port cities; the exploitation of agricultural and commodity products, which could be more easily transported to markets; and prosperity along the major rivers. Their success led to penetration deep into the continent, where "Anson Northup" in 1859 became first steamer to cross the Canada–US border on the Red River. They would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized "International" at Fort Garry, or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by "Northcote" at Batoche. Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they could become state symbols; the Steamboat "Iowa" (1838) is incorporated in the Seal of Iowa because it represented speed, power, and progress.
TS King Edward
In 1803, "Charlotte Dundas" showed the practicality of steam power for marine use, and in 1812 Henry Bell's PS "Comet" began the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe, sailing on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Helensburgh. Others soon followed, and by mid century a large fleet of Clyde steamers competed for holiday and excursion traffic down the River and Firth of Clyde. By the end of the century paddle steamers had reached a peak of design, with a maximum economic operating speed of around 19 knots (35 km/h), but speed was at a premium, particularly on the longer routes such as sailings from Glasgow to Inveraray and Campbeltown. Up to this time, vessels had been powered by reciprocating steam engines. Steam was generated by boilers, and piped to cylinders wherein it drove pistons, the back-and-forth motion of which was converted to rotary motion by connecting rods. Early vessels were driven by paddle wheels, but at mid-century screws became more prevalent. Although increased boiler pressures and the reuse of partially expanded steam in compound engines greatly increased efficiency, the continual creation and destruction of momentum of their heavy reciprocating parts each turn of the crankshaft put great strain on the engines, which required constant maintenance.
History of steamship lines
Three companies were almost simultaneously organized: the British and American Steam Navigation Company, which made the Thames its headquarters; the Atlantic Steamship Company of Liverpool and the Great Western Steamship Company of Bristol. Each company set to work to build a wooden paddle steamer in its own port. The first to be launched was the "Great Western", which took the water in the Avon on 19 July 1837. On 14 October following, the "Liverpool" was launched by Messrs Humble, Milcrest & Co., in the port from which she was named, and in May 1838 the Thames-built "British Queen" was successfully floated. The "Great Western" was the first to be made ready for sea.
Great Lakes passenger steamers
Steamboat lines were established by railroads on the Great lakes to join railheads in the 1850s. This service carried goods and passengers from railroads in the East across the length of the lakes to railroads for the journey West. Railroads bought and built steamship lines to complement railroad services. One such railroad-owned steamship line was formed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1865 to connect their terminals at Buffalo to those of the Northern Pacific Railroad at Duluth, Minnesota. This new line, owned by the Erie and Western Transportation Co., became the well-known "Anchor Line." The Northern Pacific started its own Northern Steamship Company which, from the mid-1890s, operated the steamers, "North Land" and "North West" on 7-day round trip cruises between Buffalo to Duluth. Travelers could disembark at several points and were allowed to finish their voyage later in the season.
SS Agamemnon (1865)
Before "Agamemnon", steamships were not a practical commercial option for trade between Britain and the Far East. The amount of coal that they needed to carry left little space for cargo. "Agamemnon" could steam at , consuming only 20 tons of coal a day. This was substantially less than other ships of the time – a saving of between 23 and 14 tons per day was achieved. This enabled her to steam to China with a coaling stop at Mauritius on the outward and return journey.