What river was the first to have a steam powered boat on it?
John Fitch (inventor)
The first successful trial run of his steamboat "Perseverance" was made on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. It was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. During the next few years, Fitch and Voigt worked to develop better designs, and in June 1790 launched a boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat, he carried up to 30 paying passengers on numerous round-trip voyages between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey during the summer of 1790. Estimates of miles traveled that summer range from 1,300 to 3,000, and Fitch claimed that the boat often went for 500 miles without mechanical problems. Estimated speeds were of a minimum 6 miles per hour under unfavorable conditions, to a maximum of 7 or 8 miles per hour.
Fitch was granted a U.S. patent on August 26, 1791, after a battle with James Rumsey, who had also invented a steam-powered boat. The newly created federal Patent Commission did not award the broad monopoly patent that Fitch had asked for, but rather a patent of the modern kind, for the new design of Fitch's steamboat. It also awarded steam-engine-related patents dated that same day to Rumsey, Nathan Read, and John Stevens. The loss of a monopoly due to these same-day patent awards led many of Fitch's investors to leave his company. While his boats were mechanically successful, Fitch no longer had the financial resources to carry on.
Steamboats on the Volga River
The first large steamers of the American type were built in 1872.
Thousands of steamers are now employed in the traffic, to say nothing of smaller boats and rafts. Many of the steamers use as fuel mazut or petroleum refuse. In 1870, the first Russian open hearth furnace was built in Nizhny Novgorod, followed by a two-decked steamship "Perevorot" just a year later. In 1913, it produced a dry bulk cargo ship "Danilikha". The shipyard built 489 ships between 1849 and 1918. In 1913 there were over 5,000 steamers on the Volga river system.
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.
Steamboats of the Columbia River
Another sidewheeler on the Willamette at this time was the Mississippi-style "Wallamet", which did not prosper, and was sold to California interests. In 1853, the side-wheeler "Belle of Oregon City", an iron-hulled boat built entirely in Oregon, was launched at Oregon City. "Belle" (as generally known) was notable because everything, including her machinery, was of iron that had been worked in Oregon at a foundry owned by Thomas V. Smith. "Belle" lasted until 1869, and was a good boat, but was not considered a substitute for the speed and comfort (as the standard was then) of the departed "Lot Whitcomb". Also operating on the river at this time were "James P. Flint", "Allen", "Washington", and the small steam vessels "Eagle", "Black Hawk", and "Hoosier", the first two being iron-hulled and driven by propellers.
"Jennie Clark", built by Jacob Kamm with John C. Ainsworth as her first captain, was placed in service in February 1855. She was the first sternwheeler on the Columbia River system. Her hull and upper works were built at Milwaukie, while her engines were built in Baltimore to Kamm's specifications, for a price of $1,663.16, and shipped around to the West Coast, which cost another $1,030.02. Kamm and Ainsworth had settled on the sternwheeler as superior to propeller-driven and side-wheel boats. Propellers were too vulnerable to expensive-to-fix damage to propellers and shafts from rocks and other obstructions in the river. Sidewheelers were too difficult to steer and needed expensive dock facilities.
Invention in Canada
It was via the paddle-powered steam boat that steam power was first introduced to Canada. The "Accommodation", a side-wheeler built entirely in Montreal by the Eagle Foundry and launched in 1809, was the first steamer to ply Canadian waters, making its maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec that same year in 36 hours.
Whanganui River
Although it was already a significant route to the interior, the major development of the river as a trade route was by Alexander Hatrick, who started the first regular steam-boat service in 1892. The service eventually ran to Taumarunui where rail and coach services connected with points north. One of Hatrick’s original boats, paddle-steamer PS "Waimarie", has been restored and runs scheduled sailings in Whanganui. Another of the Hatrick boats, MV "Wairua" has also been restored and can be seen on the river.
Missouri River
Boat travel on the Missouri started with the wood-framed canoes and bull boats of the Native Americans, which were used for thousands of years before the introduction of larger craft to the river upon colonization of the Great Plains. The first steamboat on the Missouri was the "Independence", which started running between St. Louis and Keytesville, Missouri around 1819. By the 1830s, large mail and freight-carrying vessels were running regularly between Kansas City and St. Louis, and many traveled even farther upstream. A handful, such as the "Western Engineer" and the "Yellowstone", were able to make it up the river as far as eastern Montana.
Steamboat
The first sailing was on the canal in Glasgow on 4 January 1803, with Lord Dundas and a few of his relatives and friends on board. The crowd were pleased with what they saw, but Symington wanted to make improvements and another more ambitious trial was made on 28 March. On this occasion, the "Charlotte Dundas" towed two 70 ton barges 30 km (almost 20 miles) along the Forth and Clyde Canal to Glasgow, and despite "a strong breeze right ahead" that stopped all other canal boats it took only nine and a quarter hours, giving an average speed of about 3 km/h (2 mph). The "Charlotte Dundas" was the first practical steamboat, in that it demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first to be followed by continuous development of steamboats.
The American, Robert Fulton, was present at the trials of the "Charlotte Dundas" and was intrigued by the potential of the steamboat. While working in France, he corresponded with and was helped by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell, who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. He designed his own steamboat, which sailed along the River Seine in 1803.
Seine River Steamers
Early experiments with steam were started in 1780s on the Rhone River in France, and were perfected
with Fulton's boat on the Seine in 1803. The British had the early lead with steam, from James Watt, William Symington, and Henry Bell,
and thus it became logical that the technology transfer would
migrate across the English Channel. The "Rob Roy" did such a task in
1816, while the "Aaron Maltby" left London and sailed up the Seine to Paris in 1822. A charter was issued for a tourist day tripper steamboat company in Paris.
Seine River Steamers
The Seine River was the scene of many early experiments with
steam navigation. The steamship has a long ancestry, dating back at least to 1783 when the Marquis de Jouffray d'Abbans steamed his little boat, the Pyroscaphe, across the Seine. Robert Fulton even exhibited one to
Napoleon's regime. With the success of the steam engine by the
1820s, the Second Republic embarked on a series of navigation
improvements to raise weirs and locks with which to deepen the navigation channel. By the 1860s improvements had changed the riverbed from low-lying sand banks and trickle to a series of cascading
ponds with a depth of 6 and a half feet.
Paddle steamer
In 1704, the French physicist Denis Papin constructed the first ship powered by his steam engine, mechanically linked to paddles. This made him the first to construct a steam-powered boat (or vehicle of any kind). Then he has poured the first steam cylinder of the world in the iron foundry Veckerhagen.
Steamboats of the Colorado River
After Overman arrived at the river mouth he built the "Black Crook", first tow barge to be used on the Colorado River. Of a type commonly used on the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento River and its tributaries, the barge was 128 x 28 feet capable of carrying 100 tons of freight. These barges were towed on a 100 foot cable secured to a short mast atop the steamboat amid-ship to avoid fouling with the stern-wheel. Each barge had a helmsman that steered the barge in the wake of the boat towing it. In early May, Trueworthy took the "Esmerelda" up river for the first time with the "Black Crook" in tow making it to Fort Yuma in three days, eight hours.
Steamboats of the Coquille River
As the river ran inland, it became so narrow that it was said that passengers could amuse themselves by leaning out the windows and picking flowers. William Russell Panter, a descendant of one of the first pioneer families in the area, was apparently one of the first to enter the inland steamboat business. Wm. R. Panter bought a small steamer, "Maria", and put her in service above Coquille, towing a boat hauling milk from farms to the first creamery on the Coquille River, which was about two miles (3 km) up the river from Coquille. Panter later organized a run to the Timmons cannery in Bandon, towing a scow loaded with salmon caught by fishermen.
Amelia Wheaton
Amelia Wheaton was a stern-wheel driven steamboat that operated on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the St. Joe river from 1880 to 1892. This was the first steam-powered vessel to operate on the lake and the adjacent river. This boat was sometimes referred to as simply the "Wheaton".
Technological and industrial history of Canada
Steam power was first introduced to Canada via the paddle-powered steamboat. The "Accommodation", a side-wheeler built entirely in Montreal by the Eagle Foundry and launched in 1809, was the first steamer to ply Canadian waters, making its maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec that same year in 36 hours. Other paddle-wheel steamboats included the "Frontenac", Lake Ontario (1816), the "General Stacey" Smyth, Saint John River (1816), the "Union", lower Ottawa River (1819), the "Royal William", Quebec to Halifax (1831), and the "Beaver", BC coast (1836).
Paddle steamer
While "Charlotte Dundas" was the first commercial paddle-steamer and steamboat, the first commercial "success" was possibly Robert Fulton's "Clermont" in New York, which went into commercial service in 1807 between New York City and Albany. Many other paddle-equipped river boats followed all around the world.
George Tromley Sr. House
Tromley sailed the Mississippi River before the advent of the steamboat. He began his career on the river floating log rafts, which were common before the Civil War, and he built the first raft boat on the river at Le Claire. Eventually he sailed the river as a captain. Tromley and Thomas Doughty, a local engineer, took the small steamer the "Le Claire" upriver where they conducted an experiment to use a steamboat to push a log raft. The "Le Claire" was not powerful enough to control the raft, but the experiment led to a major development in being able to transport logs from the northern forests to the mills further south. Samuel Van Sant of Le Claire was able to use its results to build a boat that was large enough and had enough power to tow a log raft in 1870. George Tromley Sr. married Katherine McCaffrey and they raised three children. The house of their eldest son, George Tromley Jr., is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Paddle steamer
The next successful attempt at a paddle-driven steam ship was by the Scottish engineer William Symington, who suggested steam power to Patrick Miller of Dalswinton. Experimental boats built in 1788 and 1789 worked successfully on Lochmaben Loch. In 1802, Symington built a barge-hauler, "Charlotte Dundas", for the Forth and Clyde Canal Company. It successfully hauled two 70-ton barges almost 20 miles (30 km) in 6 hours against a strong headwind on test in 1802. There was much enthusiasm, but some directors of the company were concerned about the banks of the canal being damaged by the wash from a powered vessel, and no more were ordered.
William Murdoch
Boulton and Watt had been involved in a minor way with attempts to apply steam power to boats, providing in 1807 for Robert Fulton the engine for "North River Steamboat", the first steamboat to run on the Hudson River, (the boat later referred to as the "Clermont"). Murdoch was primarily responsible for designing and building this engine and for agreeing technical details and designs with Fulton, who also worked on the design of the engine. Boulton and Watt also provided engines for a number of other marine vessels. However, it was not until the purchase of "The Caledonia" by James Watt Jr. in 1817 that they became seriously involved in the marine engineering business. The task of refitting "The Caledonia", building and installing new engines and boilers and making her seaworthy and efficient in fuel consumption was a difficult process and Murdoch, although frequently suffering from fever and rheumatism, directed this. By August the vessel was able to be tested on its intended route, from Surrey Commercial Docks, London to Gravesend and at first made 8 miles per hour (mph). During its sea trials Murdoch carried out experiments on "The Caledonia" to measure the effect on fuel consumption and speed of changes in the depth of the paddles and whether one or both engines were used. This resulted in an increase of speed to .
Team boat
The first documented horse-powered boat in the United States was built on the Delaware River in 1791 by John Fitch.
There are three types of team boats. In one, four or five horses are placed in each side of the boat in a circular treadwheel, and the paddle wheels, arranged like the side wheel steamboat of later days were turned by means of cogs and gearing connected with other cogs on the shaft of the paddle wheels. The horses were hitched to strong timbers and by a forward movement of the feet caused the treadwheel upon which they stood to revolve and thus operate the gear wheels.
Steamboats of the Mississippi
Compression ignition or diesel engines were first used about 1910 for smaller sternwheel towboats, but did not gain ascendancy until the late 1930s, when diesel-powered propeller boats appeared. The introduction of screw propellers to the rivers came late because of their vulnerability to damage and the greater depth of water required for efficient operation. The Federal Barge Lines experiment was successful in restarting the river transportation industry.
Lot Whitcomb (sidewheeler)
Launched in 1850, Lot Whitcomb, later known as Annie Abernathy, was the first steam-powered craft built on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. She was one of the first steam-driven vessels to run on the inland waters of Oregon, and contributed to the rapid economic development of the region.
Canemah (sidewheeler)
Canemah was one of the first steamboats to run on the Willamette River above Willamette Falls. "Canemah" was the first steamboat to load grain at Corvallis, the first to carry the mail on the Willamette River, and the first steamboat in Oregon to suffer a fatal boiler explosion.
Battleship
The first major change to the ship of the line concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. Steam power was gradually introduced to the navy in the first half of the 19th century, initially for small craft and later for frigates. The French Navy introduced steam to the line of battle with the 90-gun in 1850—the first true steam battleship. "Napoléon" was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of , regardless of the wind condition. This was a potentially decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of steam accelerated the growth in size of battleships. France and the United Kingdom were the only countries to develop fleets of wooden steam screw battleships although several other navies operated small numbers of screw battleships, including Russia (9), the Ottoman Empire (3), Sweden (2), Naples (1), Denmark (1) and Austria (1).
Steamboats of the Oregon Coast
Two steamboat captains from the Columbia River began steamboat operations on Coos Bay in 1873. Inland riverboats were used to navigate the bay and the several rivers flow that flow into it. A mule-hauled portage was built between a shallow southern arm of Coos Bay and the Beaver Slough, a shallow north-extending branch of the Coquille River, in 1869; it was replaced in 1874 with a steam portage railroad. This connection established a convenient link between the steamboat operations of Coos Bay and those on the Coquille.
James Watt junior
Watt later gave some technical assistance to Robert Fulton, providing in 1807 for Fulton the engine for "North River Steamboat", which was the first steamboat to run on the Hudson River. Becoming more seriously interested in marine engines, he bought in 1817 the "Caledonia" of 102 tons, fitted her out with new engines, and went in her to Holland and up the River Rhine to Coblenz, the first steamship to leave an English port. On his return he made major improvements in marine steam engines.
Maritime history of the United Kingdom
Frederick W. Lanchester built the first power boat in 1898 using a , water-cooled engine. Since then power boats have been used as run-abouts and for racing, as well as for water-skiing. Both inboard and outboard engines are used. The British Power Boat Company built many power boats between 1927 and 1946 including Miss Britain III and PT9 that became the basis of Motor Torpedo Boats and the US PT boats during the Second World War. The power speed record rose from in 1930 to in 1939. After the war the record speed rose again with runs by Donald Campbell, who was killed during an attempt on the record in 1967.
Steamboats in Canada
Samuel Cunard of Nova Scotia developed the successful Atlantic Steam Liner service in the 1830s with the SS Royal William. While shipbuilding and huge fleets of lakers on the Great Lakes proliferated in the nineteenth century. Their success led to penetration deep into the central continent, with the Anson Northrup in 1859 which became first steamer to cross the Canada–United States border on the Red River, via the US Mississippi River system. Steamboats would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized the International at Fort Garry, or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by the vessel Northcote at Batoche.
List of plantations in Louisiana
Until the development of the steamboat, transportation of goods on major rivers was generally accomplished either with barges or flatboats, floated downstream or pushed upstream with poles or by hand using overhanging tree limbs. On the Mississippi River, most shipping was down river on log rafts or wooden boats that were dismantled and sold as lumber in the vicinity of New Orleans. Steam-powered river navigation began in 1811-12, between Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and New Orleans. Inland steam navigation rapidly expanded in the following decades. Railroads appeared before the Civil War, though at first were used to link waterways. After the Civil War, railroads took over most of the hauling of goods.
William Longstreet
Born in Allentown NJ as a boy, he moved to Augusta, Georgia. As early as 26 September 1790, he addressed a letter to Thomas Telfair, then governor of Georgia, asking his assistance, or that of the legislature, in raising funds to enable him to construct a boat to be propelled by the new power. This was three years before Robert Fulton's letter to the Earl of Stanhope announcing his theory “respecting the moving of ships by the means of steam.” Failing to obtain public aid at that time, Longstreet's invention remained for several years in abeyance until, at last securing funds from private sources, he was enabled to launch a boat on Savannah River, which moved against the current at the rate of five miles an hour. This was in 1807, a few days after Fulton had made a similarly successful experiment on the Hudson River.
Steamship
The American ship first crossed the Atlantic Ocean, although most of the voyage was actually made under sail. The first ship to make the transatlantic trip substantially under steam power may have been 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.
Marine steam engine
Following Fulton's success, steamboat technology developed rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. Steamboats initially had a short range and were not particularly seaworthy due to their weight, low power, and tendency to break down, but they were employed successfully along rivers and canals, and for short journeys along the coast. The first successful transatlantic crossing by a steamship occurred in 1819 when sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England. The first steamship to make regular transatlantic crossings was the sidewheel steamer in 1838.
Steam-powered vessels
Steam-powered vessels include steamboats and steamships. Smaller steamboats were developed first. They were replaced by larger steamships which were often ocean-going. Steamships required a change in propulsion technology from sail to paddlewheel to screw to steam turbines. The latter innovation changed the design of vessels to one that could move faster through the water. Engine propulsion changed to steam turbine in the early 20th century. In the latter part of the 20th century, these, in turn, were replaced by gas turbines.
Steamboats of the Mississippi
British-born actor William Chapman, Sr. created the first showboat, named the "Floating Theatre," in Pittsburgh in 1831. He and his family performed plays with added music and dance at stops along the waterways. After reaching New Orleans, they got rid of the boat and went back to Pittsburgh in a steam boat in order to perform the process once again the year after. Showboats had declined by the Civil War, but began again in 1878 and focused on melodrama and vaudeville. Major boats of this period included the "New Sensation", "New Era", "Water Queen", and the "Princess". With the improvement of roads, the rise of the automobile, motion pictures, and the maturation of the river culture, showboats declined again. In order to combat this development, they grew in size and became more colorful and elaborately designed in the 20th century. These boats included the "Golden Rod", the "Sunny South", the "Cotton Blossom", the "New Showboat", and the Minnesota Centennial Showboat. Jazzmen Louis Armstrong and Bix Biederbecke played on Mississippi River steamers.
Isaac Briggs
On 1 February 1788, the Georgia legislature awarded Augusta inventor William Longstreet and his associate Isaac Briggs a patent for a steam engine. It is the only patent issued by the state because this was before the adoption of the Federal Constitution. In 1807 their engine was used to power a boat on a 5-mile journey against the current on the Savannah River. Only days before, Robert Fulton had sailed his new steamboat, the Clermont, from New York City up the Hudson River to Albany.)
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.
Steamboats of the Colorado River
Steamboats were tried in Glen Canyon, the Green River in Utah and Wyoming and the Grand River, (after 1921 renamed as the upper part of the Colorado River), above its confluence with the Green River in Utah and in Colorado. Unlike the Lower Colorado, the railroads made possible most of this steam navigation on the Upper Colorado, bringing in the boats or their parts and their fuel to the points on the river where they were assembled and launched.
Riverboat
As early as 20,000 BC people started fishing in rivers and lakes using rafts and dugouts. Roman sources dated 50 BC mention extensive transportation of goods and people on the river Rhine. Upstream, boats were usually powered by sails or oars. In the Middle Ages, towpaths were built along most waterways to use working animals or people to pull riverboats. In the 19th century, steamboats became common.
The most famous riverboats were on the rivers of the midwestern and central southern United States, on the Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers in the early 19th century. Out west, riverboats were common transportation on the Colorado, Columbia, and Sacramento rivers. These American riverboats were designed to draw very little water, and in fact it was commonly said that they could "navigate on a heavy dew".
Carrie Ladd
"Carrie Ladd" was one of the first steamboats of the Columbia River type. Unlike most other early steamboats "Carrie Ladd" was built from scratch, rather from discarded hulls, works, or machinery of previous vessels. The vessel was not particularly large, but had powerful engines, and was probably the best of the steamboats built in Oregon in the 1850s. John T. Thomas built "Carrie Ladd" for Jacob Kamm, Capt. John C. Ainsworth and other co-owners. The vessel was named the Carrie Ladd in honor of the daughter of an early Portland banker who helped arrange the financing for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company which later held a monopoly on steam navigation on the Columbia River.
Ume River
The River Ume water-powered sawmill was under threat when steam power was introduced further south at Tunadal in Sweden in 1849. Twenty more steam powered Swedish saw mills were started within a decade. These sawmills were usually placed near ports and the former saw mills which had been positioned near water power were closed. The water powered saw mill on the River Ume was one of the last to close in 1884 when Holmsund was given a steam powered mill.
Pend Oreille River
In the 19th century, logging was the other major industry of the Pend Oreille River area, and attracted hundreds to thousands of men to the region, many of them Scandinavian. Logging was profitable because almost the entire Pend Oreille watershed was forested with various types of trees. However, shipping logs to ports lower on the Columbia River (to the southwest of the Pend Oreille River) was a problem. Not only was the river riddled with frightening waterfalls and rapids, but it flows north, in the opposite direction that the logging companies wanted to move their logs. At about this time, steamboats were introduced to the Pend Oreille River. The first steamboat on the river was "The Bertha", built in 1887 at Albeni Falls. Other well-known craft included "Ione", "Spokane", and "Metaline" ("Pend Oreille"). These boats carried passengers and ore and also towed log rafts up the river. (Since it flows north, they had to tow the logs south, against the current, to ship it a shorter distance to the lumber mills and factories lower in the Columbia Basin.) Navigation on the Pend Oreille presented few problems upstream of the Box Canyon rapids about three-fourths of the way down the Pend Oreille River (today close to the site of Box Canyon Dam). Many boats were wrecked in the stretch between Box Canyon and the river's mouth (including "Metaline", which was the only large steamer to operate on the lower river on a regular basis). After the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad was built in the area, steamboat commerce faded and the logs were transported by rail. The Idaho & Washington Northern was eventually succeeded by the Milwaukee Road.
Electric boat
While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power and gasoline engines also popular, boats powered by electricity have been used for over 120 years. Electric boats were very popular from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the internal combustion engine took dominance. Since the energy crises of the 1970s, interest in this quiet and potentially renewable marine energy source has been increasing steadily again, especially as solar cells became available, for the first time making possible motorboats with an infinite range like sailboats. The first practical solar boat was probably constructed in 1975 in England. The first electric sailboat which made a round-the-world tour, including the through the Panama Canal, with only green technologies is EcoSailingProject.
Columbia (sidewheeler 1850)
The Columbia was a steamboat built at Astoria, Oregon in 1850. Columbia was the first steamboat built in the Oregon Territory, and the first to establish regular service on the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers. This vessel should not be confused with the many other craft with the same or a similar name, including in particular at least four other vessels named "Columbia" which ran on the Columbia river or its tributaries.
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.
Baltimore Steam Packet Company
In this period, steamships on rivers such as the Ohio and Mississippi or large inland bodies of water such as the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay offered a comfortable and relatively fast mode of transportation. The first steamboat to serve Baltimore was the locally built "Chesapeake", constructed in 1813 to link Baltimore with Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Operated by the Union Line, the boat connected with a stagecoach for the overland portion of the journey. Two years later, the Briscoe-Partridge Line's "Eagle" was the first steamboat to sail the length of Chesapeake Bay.
Jennie Clark
Jennie Clark, also seen spelled "Jenny Clark", was the first sternwheel-driven steamboat to operate on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, including British Columbia. This vessel was commonly known as the "Jennie" when it was in service. The design of the "Jennie Clark" set a pattern for all future sternwheel steamboats built in the Pacific Northwest and in British Columbia.
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.
Thames steamers
The first steam tug on the Thames was the "Majestic" in 1816. The use of tugs to guide sailing boats bringing passengers and cargo up the London river increased the efficiency of operations enormously and the paddle wheel showed off its maximum advantage. Paddle tugs could apply full power quickly in either direction and by having separate engines for each paddle wheel could virtually turn on the spot.
Steam power during the Industrial Revolution
After the first steamboat was invented and achieved a number of successful trials, it was quickly adopted and led to an even quicker change in the way of water transport. 
In 1814, the city of New Orleans recorded 21 steamboat arrivals, but over the course of the following 20 years that number exploded to more than 1200. The steamboat's role as a major transportation source was secured. 
The transport sector saw enormous growth following the steam engine's application, leading to major innovations in canals, steamboats, and railroads. The steamboat and canal system revolutionized trade of the United States. As the steamboats gained popularity, enthusiasm grew for the building of canals. 
In 1816, the US had only 100 miles of canals. This needed to change, however, as the potential increase in traded goods from east to west convinced many that canals were a necessary connection between the Mississippi-Ohio waterways with the Great Lakes.
Steamboats of the Arrow Lakes
The first steamboat on the route was the "Forty-Nine", built to service a brief gold rush on the Big Bend of the Columbia River, attempting the run from Marcus, Washington Terr., just above Kettle Falls, to the La Porte, one of the main boomtowns of the rush, which was site at the foot of the infamous and also impassable Dalles des Morts or Death Rapids, which were at the head of river navigation but also just below the richest of the Big Bend's goldfields, on the Goldstream River which meets the Columbia just upstream. Another major goldfield, Downie Creek, joined the Columbia just below the rapids and was the site of the boomtown Downie Creek, British Columbia, another port-of-call on the run. When the gold rush ended, "Forty-Nine" was withdrawn for lack of clientele, and the captain gave free passage out of the Big Bend area for those who could not afford passage. After that, the small steam launch "Alpha" ran supplies up to Revelstoke (then called Farwell) where the Canadian Pacific Railway was building a crossing over the Columbia River for its transcontinental line. In 1885, a much larger vessel, the sternwheeler "Kootenai", was built at the Little Dalles at Northport, Washington Terr., for the CPR, but grounded in September of that year, and was laid up for a number of years afterwards. After that, three businessmen formed the Columbia Transportation Company, and put "Dispatch" on the Arrow Lakes route. The "Dispatch" (sometimes spelled ""Despatch"") was a clunky-looking catamaran, which first ran on August 9, 1888. Her owners made enough money from her operations to buy the "Marion", which had been operating above the Big Bend. She was shipped over and launched at Revelstoke.
The owners of the Columbia Transportation Company brought in some bigger businessmen, J.A. Mara, Frank S. Barnard, and Captain John Irving, who formed the Columbia River and Kootenay Steam Navigation Company on January 21, 1890, with a capital of $100,000. In 1889 through 1890, the new firm purchased the idle "Kootenai" for $10,000 and built and launched the "Lytton" at Revelstoke, which was ready for service in July, 1890. The first trip taken by the "Lytton" on July 2, 1890, was transporting rails and other track-building supplies south through the Arrow Lakes to Sproat's Landing, where the Kootenay River flowed into the Columbia, for a railroad that the CPR was building from the landing to Nelson on Kootenay Lake. The trip was 150 miles each way, and Lytton averaged 12 miles an hour downstream and 11 miles an hour upstream, including stops for wooding up and minor repairs.
By August 1890, American interests had completed a railroad, called the Spokane Falls and Northern, from Spokane Falls (later simply Spokane) to Little Dalles, Washington (Northport). "Lytton", "Kootenai" and the Arrow Lakes route formed a link between the northern CPR railhead at Revelstoke the Arrow Lake to the southern railhead at Little Dalles.
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.
Samuel Morey
Morey's first patent, in 1793, was for a steam-powered spit, but he had grander plans. Morey realized that steam could be a power source in the 1780s, and he probably appreciated a steamboat’s potential from work on his father’s ferry and the locks he designed along the Connecticut river. In the early 1790s he fitted a paddle wheel and steam engine to a small boat and powered it up and down the Connecticut River. Legend has it, this was done on a Sunday morning, when the town was at church, to avoid ridicule if he failed.
The most important aspect of this craft was the paddle wheel. It was an old idea – supposedly dating to antiquities – and previously tried with a steam engine. Jonathan Hulls of England used a rear-mounted paddle wheel in 1737 but an inefficient method of turning the steam engine’s reciprocating motion into the circular motion hobbled it. In 1789, Nathan Reed of Massachusetts experimented with a paddle wheel, and considered patenting it, but eventually patented a different method instead. The American John Fitch experimented with side-mounted paddle wheels, but in 1791 used and patented oars instead. Morey's may have been the first successful use of a steam power paddle wheel, which was the best method of propulsion until the propeller, invented by Fitch, was perfected.
Thames steamers
Steamboat services started on the Thames in around 1815 and for nearly 25 years were the main use of steam to carry passengers before the emergence of railways in the south of England. During this time at least 80 steamers are recorded in the Thames and the "Steamboat Act" of 1819 became the first statute to regulate the safety of the new technology for the public. Wooden boats driven by paddle-wheels, they managed during this time to establish themselves as faster and more reliable than the earlier use of sailing and rowing boats for passenger transport within the Thames estuary.
Arkansas River
On March 31, 1820, the "Comet" became the first steamboat to successfully navigate part of the Arkansas River, reaching a place called Arkansas Post, about above the confluence of the Arkansas and the Mississippi Rivers. In mid-April, 1822, the "Robert Thompson", towing a keelboat, was the first steamboat to navigate the Arkansas as far as Fort Smith. For five years, Fort Smith was known as the head of navigation for steamboats on the river. It lost the title to Fort Gibson in April, 1832, when three steamboats, "Velocipede", "Scioto" and "Catawba", all arrived at Fort Gibson later that month.
Riverboat
It is these early steam-driven river craft that typically come to mind when "steamboat" is mentioned, as these were powered by burning wood, with iron boilers drafted by a pair of tall smokestacks belching smoke and cinders, and twin double-acting pistons driving a large paddlewheel at the stern, churning foam. This type of propulsion was an advantage as a rear paddlewheel operates in an area clear of snags, is easily repaired, and is not likely to suffer damage in a grounding. By burning wood, the boat could consume fuel provided by woodcutters along the shore of the river. These early boats carried a brow (a short bridge) on the bow, so they could head in to an unimproved shore for transfer of cargo and passengers.
Steamboat
Early attempts at powering a boat by steam were made by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented the steam digester (a type of pressure cooker) and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed in by atmospheric pressure, analogous to the pump built by Thomas Savery in England during the same period. Papin proposed applying this steam pump to the operation of a paddlewheel boat and tried to market his idea in Britain. He was unable to successfully convert the piston motion into rotary motion and the steam could not produce enough pressure. Newcomen's was able to produce mechanical power, but produced reciprocating motion and was very large and heavy.
François Bourdon
The "SS Sirius" was the first steamboat to cross the Atlantic, in 1838, closely followed by the paddleboat "SS Great Western", which began regular crossings. In 1840, a French law authorized construction of 18 similar trans-Atlantic steamers. The Schneiders won orders to build 450-horsepower steam engines to power four of them.
A new type of hammer was needed for industrial production of the large forgings needed in these engines.
François Bourdon is best known for his invention of the steam hammer, an idea that is also attributed to the Scottish engineer James Nasmyth.
In 1839, Bourdon conceived of the idea of directly attaching a mass of iron to the piston rod of a steam engine.
Bourdon called his engine a "Pilon" and made detailed drawings of his design that he showed to all engineers who visited the works at Le Creusot.
Around the same time, Nasmyth was faced with the problem of forging a diameter shaft for a paddle steamer, larger than any that had been previously made. He came up with his own steam hammer design, making a sketch dated 24 November 1839, but the immediate need disappeared when the practicality of screw propellers was demonstrated. Nasmyth also showed his design to all visitors.
Fairy (steamboat)
Fairy was a small wooden sidewheel-driven steamship placed into service on Puget Sound in 1853. "Fairy" was the first steam-powered vessel to conduct regularly scheduled service on Puget Sound.
Experiment (horse-powered boat)
"Experiment" was a horse-powered ferry boat. It was a 12-ton, three-masted boat drawing a few feet of water, about long by beam. Its driving mechanism was an in-water screw invented by David Grieve in 1801. The boat was constructed by David Wilkinson (some sources give his name as "Varnum") in 1807 to 1810, depending on the source. It was propelled by a "goose-foot paddle," a large mechanical screw propeller in the water instead of a paddle wheel at water surface. The new technology devised by Grieve and Wilkinson was powered by eight horses on a treadmill. The technology to propel the boat upstream was originally invented by David Grieve and granted a patent February 24, 1801 in the category of "Boats to ascend rivers". The complete recorded patent was lost in the 1836 U.S. Patent Office fire. The idea of propelling vessels by a mechanical screw in the water is now referred to as Ericsson's propeller.
Thames steamers
One of the earliest records is of a vessel "Margery" which was launched at Dumbarton in June 1814 and having run for a few months on the Clyde was purchased by the London firm of Cortis & Co. She steamed down the east coast and arrived at Gravesend in January 1815, entering service on the "Long Ferry" route from Gravesend to London on 23 January. Another contender for the first steamboat on the Thames was the "Richmond" which was brought from Bristol by a Mr. Dawson in 1813, but this was not a success. Civil engineer George Dodd placed an order for a steam paddle boat, also called "Richmond", with Lepinghall & Co of Yarmouth in 1814 and this may have gone into service the same year, or possibly the next, on the route from London to Richmond. Dodd next bought the steamboat "Duke of Argyll" in Scotland, which reached London on 12 June 1815 having covered 756 miles at sea. She was put into service as "Thames" between London and Margate, the third major route in the Thames estuary, much used by passengers from the continent as well as for pleasure trips to the Kent coast by Londoners. The first steam passenger boat to have been built on the Thames, the "Regent", designed by Marc Isambard Brunel built by Henry Maudsley and at 112 feet long larger than previous boats, was put into service in 1816 on the Margate run and served as a mail boat. Brunel's attempt to interest the Admiralty in steam-powered tugs for getting naval vessels in and out of harbour was met by the rebuff that they "consider the introduction of steam is calculated to strike a fatal blow at the naval superiority of the empire".
Steamboats on the Volga River
Alfred Nobel built fifty steamers at Baku to move Caspian oil. He also built the MS Vandal, which in 1903, was probably the first ship (and not barge) propelled by a diesel engine. In 1902 Karl Hagelin, "a veteran of the Volga and sometime visionary", suggesting mating diesel engines to river barges. He envisioned direct shipment of oil through a 1,800-mile route from the lower Volga to Saint Petersburg and Finland. The first Volga steamers 'Komar', 'Shmel', and 'Tungus' were constructed between 1908 and 1917 in the Nobel Shipyard in Rybinsk.
Steamboats of the Colorado River
In November 1852, the "Uncle Sam", a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle steamer, also built by Domingo Marcucci, became the first steamboat on the Colorado River. It was brought by the schooner "Capacity" from San Francisco to the delta by the next contractor to supply the fort, Captain James Turnbull. It was assembled and launched in the estuary, 30 miles above the mouth of the Colorado River. Equipped with only a 20 horsepower engine, the "Uncle Sam" could only carry 35 tons of supplies, taking 15 days to make the first 120 mile trip. It made many trips up and down the river, taking four months to finish carrying the supplies for the fort, improving its time up river to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of 1853. Turnbull who meanwhile had returned to the Delta from San Francisco with another cargo and a more powerful engine for the "Uncle Sam". He returned for a new hull, while the army sent wagons to recover the cargo from the delta again. However, Turnbull in financial difficulty, disappeared from the city leaving creditors unpaid. Nevertheless, Turnbull had shown the worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem.
Motorboat
The earliest boat to be powered by a petrol engine was tested on the Neckar River by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1886, when they tested their new "longcase clock" engine. It had been constructed in the former greenhouse (converted into a workshop) in Daimler's back yard. The first public display took place on the Waldsee in Cannstatt, today a suburb of Stuttgart, at the end of that year. The engine of this boat had a single cylinder of 1 horse power. Daimler's second launch in 1887 had a second cylinder positioned at an angle of 15 degrees to the first one, and was known as the "V-type".
Chain boat navigation
With advancing industrialisation in the 19th century, the demand for transport capacity on the waterways increased markedly. But this industrialisation also revolutionized the methods of transport themselves. The invention of the steam engine meant that, for the first time, a motor was now available to power ships independently of wind and wave. The power of the first steam engines was, however, relatively low whilst, at the same time, they were very heavy. So attempts were made to utilize its power in the most effective way to move ships.
Steamboat
The oldest operating steam driven vessel in North America is the . It was built in Scotland in 1887 to cruise the Muskoka Lakes, District of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. Originally named the S.S. "Nipissing", it was converted from a side-paddle-wheel steamer with a walking-beam engine into a two-counter-rotating-propeller steamer.
Steamboats of the Mississippi
The historical roots of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat, or Western Rivers steamboat, can be traced to designs by easterners like James Rumsey, John Fitch, John Stevens, Oliver Evans, Robert Fulton and Daniel French. In the span of just six years the evolution of the prototypical Mississippi steamboat would be well underway:In the 1810s there were 20 boats on the river; by the 1830s there were more than 1200. By the 1820s, with the southern states joining the Union and the land converted to cotton plantations so indicative of the Antebellum South, methods were needed to move the bales of cotton, rice, timber, tobacco and molasses. The steamboat was perfect. America boomed in the age of Jackson. Population moved west, and more farms were established. In the 1820s Steamers were fueled first by wood, then coal, which pushed barges of coal from
Pittsburgh to New Orleans. Regular steamboat commerce begun between Pittsburgh and Louisville.
Technological and industrial history of the United States
Despite the new efficiencies introduced by the turnpikes and canals, travel along these routes was still time-consuming and expensive. The idea of integrating a steam boiler and propulsion system can be first attributed to John Fitch and James Rumsey who both filed for patents or state monopolies on steamboats in the late 1780s. However, these first steamboats were complicated, heavy, and expensive. It would be almost 20 years until Robert R. Livingston contracted a civil engineer named Robert Fulton to develop an economical steamboat. Fulton's paddle steamer, "The North River Steamboat" (erroneously referred to as the "Clermont"), made its first trip from New York City north on the Hudson River to Albany on August 17, 1807. By 1820, steamboat services had been established on all the Atlantic tidal rivers and Chesapeake Bay. The shallow-bottomed boats were also ideally suited navigating the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and the number of boats on these rivers increased from 17 boats to 727 boats between 1817 and 1855. The speed of the steamboats decreased travel times between coastal ports and upstream cities by weeks and costs for transporting goods along these rivers by as much as 90%.
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.
Steamboats of the Colorado River
From 1853, ranches were developed nearby up river to supply the fort with beef and barley. That same year gold was found up river. By 1854, copper mines were developed along the river 40 miles above Fort Yuma. The ore provided George A. Johnson & Co. with their first commercial cargo to take to the estuary anchorage. Old Mexican mines where reopened in the interior of the Gadsden Purchase that increased the traffic bringing in machinery and shipping out ore. By 1855, the volume of cargo necessitated putting another boat on the river. By December 1855, Johnson had John G. North build and bring in sections a new steamboat from San Francisco to the Delta estuary. There North assembled and launched the 120 foot long, 80 hp, wood hulled "Colorado". It was capable of carrying 70 tons of cargo while drawing only 2 feet of water and was the first stern-wheeler on the river.
Once the backlog of cargo was relieved by the "Colorado", Johnson looked for ways to keep his boats from being idle. He knew that Brigham Young wanted to establish a route to the Mormon settlements in Utah from the sea up the Colorado River and that merchant interests had been interested in establishing trade with the Mormons by the river route since 1852 when the "Uncle Sam" came to the river. Additionally there was the claim that the river was navigable by steamboat as far as the Virgin River by the fur trapper Antoine Leroux who had successfully rafted down the Colorado from the Virgin River in 1837. In 1856, George A. Johnson was instrumental in getting the support for Congressional funding a military expedition up the river. With those funds Johnson expected to provide the transportation for the expedition but was angry and disappointed when the commander of the expedition Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives rejected his offer of one of his steamboats claiming its cost was too high. Ives, a topographic engineer, used the money to build his own steamboat, the small, iron hulled, sternwheeler "Explorer" in Philadelphia, test it, disassemble and ship it to the Colorado estuary. There at Robinson's Landing, Ives spent a month assembling his steamboat, launching it on December 30, 1857. Johnson had lent Ives one of his men David C. Robinson as a pilot for the expedition, which set off for Fort Yuma the next day.
John Stevens (inventor, born 1749)
In October 1811, Stevens' ship the "Juliana" began operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service was between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
Steamboats of the Oregon Coast
The history of steamboats on the Oregon Coast begins in the late 19th century. Before the development of modern road and rail networks, transportation on the coast of Oregon was largely water-borne. This article focuses on inland steamboats and similar craft operating in, from south to north on the coast: Rogue River, Coquille River, Coos Bay, Umpqua River, Siuslaw Bay, Yaquina Bay, Siletz River, and Tillamook Bay. The boats were all very small, nothing like the big sternwheelers and propeller boats that ran on the Columbia River or Puget Sound. There were many of them, however, and they came to be known as the "mosquito fleet."
Steamboat
He later obtained a Boulton and Watt steam engine, shipped to America where his first proper steamship was built in 1807, "North River Steamboat" (later known as "Clermont"), which carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York. "Clermont" was able to make the trip in 32 hours. The steamboat was powered by a Boulton and Watt engine and was capable of long-distance travel. It was the first commercially successful steamboat, transporting passengers along the Hudson River.
Allaire Iron Works
James Peter Allaire founded his first company, a brass foundry, at 466 Cherry Street, New York, in 1804. In 1807, Allaire received an order from steamboat pioneer Robert Fulton for brass fittings for the "North River Steamboat", the world's first commercially successful steam-powered vessel. Allaire and Fulton struck up a friendship, and Allaire provided fittings for later vessels built by Fulton.
Skeena River
While canoes played a crucial role on the Skeena for centuries, the age of the steamboat heralded a new era of boating on the Skeena. The first steam-powered vessel to enter the Skeena was the "Union" in 1864. In 1866 the "Mumford" attempted to ascend the river but was only able to reach the Kitsumkalum River. It was not until 1891 that the Hudson's Bay Company sternwheeler the "Caledonia" successfully negotiated through the Kitselas Canyon and reached Hazelton. A number of other steamers were built around the turn of the century, in part due to the growing fish industry and the gold rush.
Steamboats of the Willamette River
Steam powered vessels did not operate on the Willamette River above Willamette Falls until 1851. Other than the small "Hoosier", a converted ship's long boat with a pile driver engine, the first boat on the Willamette above the falls was the "Canemah", built at the town of the same name and launched towards the end of September, 1851. Her owner was Absalom F. Hedges, the founder of Canemah. "Canemah" proved to be a profitable boat, she got the contract for carrying mail upriver, and earned 20 cents a bushel hauling grain downriver from Corvallis to Canemah. A boat of her size could load 1,000 to 1,500 bushels a trip. "Multnomah", prefabricated back east and shipped out to Oregon, was apparently assembled at Canemah and launched about the same time as the steamer "Canemah". She operated on the Willamette and also on the Yamhill River as far up as Dayton. "Multnomah"'s draft was too deep for the upper stretches of the Willamette (where the real money could be made hauling cargo) and so in May 1852, she was portaged over the falls to operate in the lower Willamette and Columbia rivers.
New Orleans (steamboat)
"New Orleans" was the first attempt in the rapid development of technology, which included more efficient steam engines, improvements in steamboat designed for western rivers, as well as lock and canal construction. After "New Orleans", several steamboats were quickly built at Pittsburgh over the next couple of years, including "Comet" (1813), "Vesuvius" (1814), and "Aetna". Around 1817, when there were twelve steamboats on the mid-western rivers, a skeptical public became convinced that steamboat navigation would work, and so within two years, there were over sixty steamboats on the western waters. By 1826, there were 143 steamboats on the river; a total of 233 had existed up to that time, despite the constant threat and dangers of overheated boiler explosions and wrecks from river obstructions.
Steamboat
In Canada, the city of Terrace, British Columbia (BC), celebrates "Riverboat Days" each summer. Built on the banks of the Skeena River, the city depended on the steamboat for transportation and trade into the 20th century. The first steamer to enter the Skeena was "Union" in 1864. In 1866 "Mumford" attempted to ascend the river, but it was only able to reach the Kitsumkalum River. It was not until 1891 Hudson's Bay Company sternwheeler "Caledonia" successfully negotiated Kitselas Canyon and reached Hazelton. A number of other steamers were built around the turn of the 20th century, in part due to the growing fish industry and the gold rush. For more information, see Steamboats of the Skeena River.
Sternwheelers were an instrumental transportation technology in the development of Western Canada. They were used on most of the navigable waterways of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, BC (British Columbia) and the Yukon at one time or another, generally being supplanted by the expansion of railroads and roads. In the more mountainous and remote areas of the Yukon and BC, working sternwheelers lived on well into the 20th century.
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.
Denis Papin
During his stay in Kassel in Hesse, in 1704, he constructed a ship powered by his steam engine, mechanically linked to paddles. This made him the first to construct a steam-powered boat (or vehicle of any kind). Later, at the iron foundry in Veckerhagen (now Reinhardshagen), he cast the world's first steam cylinder.
Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works
These ships are notable for being the first three U.S.-built ships to be powered by steam turbines. Design of the engines was licensed by W. & A. Fletcher from the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company, inventor of the turbine engine. "Governor Cobb", a 2,700 ton passenger steamer built in 1906 for the Boston-New Brunswick trade, has the double distinction of being not only America's first turbine-powered vessel, but also of eventually becoming the world's first helicopter carrier. The ship had a top speed of . The 3,750-ton sister ships "Yale" and "Harvard"—built in 1907 for the Metropolitan Steamship Company, which operated them between New York and Boston—had a top speed of and when first entering service were the fastest American-flagged vessels afloat.
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".
Fishing trawler
The earliest purpose built fishing vessels were designed and made by David Allan in Leith in March 1875, when he converted a drifter to steam power. In 1877, he built the first screw propelled steam trawler in the world. This vessel was "Pioneer LH854". She was of wooden construction with two masts and carried a gaff rigged main and mizen using booms, and a single foresail. Allan argued that his motivation for steam power was to increase the safety of fishermen. However local fishermen saw power trawling as a threat. Allan built a total of ten boats at Leith between 1877 and 1881. Twenty-one boats were completed at Granton, his last vessel being "Degrave" in 1886. Most of these were sold to foreign owners in France, Belgium, Spain and the West Indies.
Scottish east coast fishery
The earliest steam powered fishing boats first appeared in the 1890s and used the trawl system of fishing as well as lines and drift nets. These were large boats, usually in length with a beam of around . They weighed 40-50 tons and travelled at . The first steam boats were made of wood, but steel hulls were soon introduced and were divided into watertight compartments. They were well designed for the crew with a large building that contained the wheelhouse and the deckhouse. The boats built in the 20th century only had a mizzen sail, which was used to help steady the boat when its nets were out. The main function of the mast was now as a crane for lifting the catch ashore. They also had a steam capstan on the foredeck near the mast for hauling nets. The boats had narrow, high funnels so that the steam and thick coal smoke was released high above the deck and away from the fishermen. These funnels were nicknamed "woodbines" because they looked like the popular brand of cigarette. These boats had a crew of twelve made up of a skipper, driver, fireman (to look after the boiler) and nine deck hands.
The earliest purpose built fishing vessels were designed and made by David Allan (Born 1840 Orkney)In Leith in March 1875, he converted a drifter to steam power.In 1877 it is said that he built the first screw propelled steam trawler in the world. This vessel was "Pioneer LH854".She was of wooden construction with two masts and carried a gaff rigged main and mizen using booms, and a single foresail. Pioneer is mentioned in the Shetland Times of 4 May 1877. In 1878 he completed three steam-powered trawlers: "Forward" for Methven of Leith and "Onward" for Sharp and Murray of Cellardyke. In an interview with the Scotsman Mr. Allan stated that his motivation for auxiliary power was to increase the safety of fishermen. However local fishermen saw power trawling as a threat, remember that local boats of this period were or so, Mr. Allan's largest were . Some landowners questioned the sustainability of fish stocks to power trawlers. The Lammas Drive of 1878 states" It was reported that D. Allan of Granton had built two steam drifters the Forward and the Onward. The latter was unable to get a Celardyke crew so she fished from Aberdeen." During this time Mr. Allan was also skippering the boats to ensure that they were successful in their catches.
In total he built ten boats at Leith between 1877 and 1881. Twenty-one boats were completed at Granton, his last vessel being "Degrave" in 1886. Because of the prejudices mentioned, most of these were sold to foreign owners, France, Belgium, Spain and the West Indies amongst them. A full, complete account of his ventures can be found on Grantontrawlers.com. David Allan was buried on Christmas Day in South Shields in 1911. On page 14 of the "Daily Mirror" of 27 December 1911 there is a photograph and a line drawing of "Onward". It reads "The death was announced in South Shields of Mr David Allan, the founder of the steam fishing industry. In 1877 he designed and built the steam Drifter Onward especially for fishing purposes. He afterwards commanded and worked the vessel himself."
MV Pentowna
MV "Pentowna" was a motor ship that transported passengers, and later freight, on Okanagan Lake from 1926 to 1973. It was the first boat to be owned and operated by Canadian National Railway (CNR) on Okanagan Lake and the first diesel-powered boat on the lake. "Pentowna" served the communities between Kelowna and Penticton with two daily round trips, aiding the development of the Okanagan Valley with its modern technology and speed.
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.
Missouri River
Water transport increased through the 1850s with multiple craft ferrying pioneers, emigrants and miners; many of these runs were from St. Louis or Independence to near Omaha. There, most of these people would set out overland along the large but shallow and unnavigable Platte River, which was described by pioneers as "a mile wide and an inch deep" and "the most magnificent and useless of rivers". Steamboat navigation peaked in 1858 with over 130 boats operating full-time on the Missouri, with many more smaller vessels. Many of the earlier vessels were built on the Ohio River before being transferred to the Missouri. Side-wheeler steamboats were preferred over the larger sternwheelers used on the Mississippi and Ohio because of their greater maneuverability.
Samuel Owen
Samuel Owen was also engaged in the development of steam engine-driven ships and was the first person in Sweden to build a ship with a steam engine. His first ship was called "Amphitrite", built in 1818 at his shipyard close to the workshop; it had a steam engine with 6 hp. His new steam ship was a sensation for the people around the waters around Stockholm but many were also skeptical of the new "fire and air engines" that required a lot of wood for the steam boiler. He also carried out tests with early types of propeller. In July 1816 he presented the first propeller-driven steamship "The Witch of Stockholm". These early propeller designs, however, required many years before they came into practical use. The steamships in those days were normally driven by paddle wheels.
Marine propulsion
The first commercial success accrued to Robert Fulton's "North River Steamboat" (often called "Clermont") in US in 1807, followed in Europe by the of 1812. Steam propulsion progressed considerably over the rest of the 19th century. Notable developments include the steam surface condenser, which eliminated the use of sea water in the ship's boilers. This, along with improvements in boiler technology, permitted higher steam pressures, and thus the use of higher efficiency multiple expansion (compound) engines. As the means of transmitting the engine's power, paddle wheels gave way to more efficient screw propellers.
Paddle steamer
The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage crossing the Atlantic Ocean was , built in 1819 expressly for this service. "Savannah" set out for Liverpool on May 22, 1819, sighting Ireland after 23 days at sea. This was the first powered crossing of the Atlantic, although "Savannah" was built as a sailing ship with a steam auxiliary; she also carried a full rig of sail for when winds were favorable, being unable to complete the voyage under power alone. In 1822, Charles Napier's "Aaron Manby", the world's first iron ship, made the first direct steam crossing from London to Paris and the first seagoing voyage by an iron ship.
In 1838, , a fairly small steam packet built for the Cork to London route, became the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under sustained steam power, beating Isambard Kingdom Brunel's much larger by a day. "Great Western", however, was actually built for the transatlantic trade, and so had sufficient coal for the passage; "Sirius" had to burn furniture and other items after running out of coal. The "Great Western"’s more successful crossing began the regular sailing of powered vessels across the Atlantic. "Beaver" was the first coastal steamship to operate in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Paddle steamers helped open Japan to the Western World in the mid-19th century.
The largest paddle-steamer ever built was Brunel's , but it also had screw propulsion and sail rigging. It was 692 ft (211 m) long and weighed 32,000 tons, its paddle-wheels being 56 ft (17 m) in diameter.
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.
Rhône
The first experimental steam boat was built at Lyon by Jouffroy d'Abbans in 1783. Regular services were not started until 1829 and they continued until 1952. Steam passenger vessels long made up to and could do the downstream run from Lyon to Arles in a day. Cargo was hauled in "bateau-anguilles", boats with paddle wheels amidships, and "bateaux crabes", a huge toothed "claw"wheel across to grip the river bed in the shallows to supplement the paddle wheels. In the 20th century, powerful motor barges propelled by diesel engines were introduced, carrying .
History of fishing
The earliest steam powered fishing boats first appeared in the 1870s and used the trawl system of fishing as well as lines and drift nets. These were large boats, usually in length with a beam of around . They weighed 40-50 tons and travelled at .
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.
Steamboats of the Columbia River
In the 1840s and 1850s, ocean-going ships equipped with auxiliary steam engines were able to and did come up the lower river as far as Portland, Oregon and Fort Vancouver. However, no other riverine steamboat worked in the region until the side-wheeler "Columbia" was launched in early June 1850, at Astoria. "Columbia" was a basic vessel, built with no frills of any kind, not even a passenger cabin or a galley. Her dimensions were in length, beam, of draft and 75 gross tons. On July 3, 1850, "Columbia" began her first run from Astoria to Portland and Oregon City. "Columbia's" first captain was Jim Frost, who had been a pilot on the Mississippi river. It took two days to get to Portland, largely because of the captain's lack of familiarity with the river channel and his resulting caution. After that, "Columbia" made the Oregon City-Portland-Astoria run twice a month at four miles per hour, charging $25 per passenger and $25 per ton of freight.
Daniel French (inventor)
In 1807 Robert Fulton placed on the Hudson River the steamboat "North River" (aka "Clermont") which was powered by a low pressure Boulton and Watt steam engine. The heavy and inherently inefficient engine required an increase in the size, and hence the weight, of the steam cylinder for an increase in power. Mounting the cylinder vertically, Fulton "invented" a complex series of levers and cranks to transmit the power of the piston to each paddle wheel crank. Two paddle wheels, one on each side, were mounted midway between the bow and the stern. On the western rivers, Fulton's design was the standard for steamboats until the "Enterprise" which was designed by French.
Steamboats of the Mississippi
Steamboats on the Mississippi benefited from technology and political changes. The US bought the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. At the time, a semi-bankrupt Napoleon was attempting to extend his hegemony over Europe in what came to be known as the Napoleonic Wars. As a result, the US was then free to expand westward out of the Ohio valley and into the Great Plains and the Southwest.
The success of the "Charlotte Dundas" in Scotland in 1801 and Robert Fulton's "Clermont" on the Hudson River in 1807 proved the concept of the steamboat. At this time, walking beam mill engines, of the Boulton and Watt variety, were dropped onto wood barges with paddles to create an instant powerboat. The overhead engines of the "walking beam" type became the standard Atlantic Seaboard paddle engine for the next 80 years. For smaller boats, Watt perfected the side-lever engine with the engine cut down using side bell-cranks to lower the center of gravity. Sidewheel paddlers were the first to enter the scene. In 1811 the steamer "New Orleans" was built in Pittsburgh for Fulton and Livingston. Fulton started steamboat service between Natchez and New Orleans.
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.
History of Rockland County, New York (1798–1900)
With the lack of roads, travel was largely confined to sloops, which made regular trips up and down the river. Steamboats were built to travel up and down the Hudson, carrying both passengers and freight. Steamboats provided much of the transportation to New York City. Steamboat navigation in Rockland started with a local steam vessel named the "Orange" referred by some as "Pot-Cheese" in reference to her beauty and others “The Flying Dutchman" because of her speed. She provided regular schedule between Nyack and New York. The North River Steamboat or North River (often erroneously referred to as Clermont) is widely regarded as the world's first commercially successful steamboat. It was not until twenty years later that a boat was used that could be depended on to make a round trip in one day attracting competition from steamboats later built at Haverstraw and Tappan. To facilitate steamboat traffic from Tappan Landing, a road was built over the marshes to the end of a 500-foot pier, which within a few years became the terminus of the New York & Erie Railroad. The construction of this road was an invaluable aid in the development of the county. It caused the building of Piermont with its lone pier which made possible the founding of a half dozen villages and opened the way to the utilization of the mineral and agricultural resources of Rockland. Other railroads followed. The first steamer bringing passengers to the railroad for the historic trip from Piermont to Ramapo was named ""South American"" and the steamer ""Utica"" brought passengers from New york City on the opening of the Erie railroad to Goshen, New York.
Ferry
Speculation that a pair of oxen propelled a ship having a water wheel can be found in 4th century Roman literature ""Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis"". Though impractical, there is no reason why it could not work and such a ferry, modified by using horses, was used in Lake Champlain in 19th-century America. See ""When Horses Walked on Water: Horse-Powered Ferries in Nineteenth-Century America"" (Smithsonian Institution Press; Kevin Crisman, co-authored with Arthur Cohn, Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum). "See" Experiment (horse powered boat).
Kootenay River
Because of the rugged terrain and rough waters on the two rivers, especially on the glacier-fed Kootenay, steamboat operation was extremely difficult and proved to be anything but cost effective. The roughest water was in Jennings Canyon, now mostly submerged in the Lake Koocanusa reservoir behind Libby Dam. Two of the first steamers, the "Duchess" and the "Cline", both sank when transporting miners to the Wild Horse gold rush on the Kootenay. Both ships had not even reached Canal Flats when they hit rocks in the Columbia. The first steamboat to actually run the Kootenay was the "Annerly" in 1893. Later vessels, such as the "Gwendoline", had mixed success. Captain Frank P. Armstrong, who had piloted several earlier steamboats on the Golden-Jennings run, was her builder and when she was about three-quarters completed, Armstrong decided to take her to Golden to complete the job. "Gwendoline" sailed up to the canal, which unfortunately was unusable because the gates of the lock had been dynamited due to a Kootenay flood. Armstrong was forced to portage the vessel and eventually made it to Golden. "Gwendoline" eventually sailed back south to Jennings to haul iron ore on the Kootenay. She was also the only ship to ever travel through the canal by proper means, and made two of the only three steamboat trips through the canal.
Ob River
Tyumen had its first steamboat in 1836, and steamboats have navigated the middle reaches of the Ob since 1845. The first steamboat on the Ob, Nikita Myasnikov's "Osnova", was launched in 1844; the early starts were difficult, and it was not until 1857 that steamboat shipping started developing in the Ob system in a serious way. Steamboats started operating on the Yenisei in 1863, on the Lena and Amur in the 1870s. 
In 1916 there were 49 steamers on the Ob; 10 on the Yenisei.