The Story of the Paddle Steamer

Bernard Dumpleton

Description

The paddle steamer holds a unique place in the history of maritime engineering. When the engineers of the early nineteenth century experimented with steamboats they chose the paddle wheel as the form of propulsion. Within twenty years the paddle steamers were at work on inland waters and short sea passages. They were graceful, elegant ships, but in the jet age too slow and uneconomical. In the 1950s they went to the breaker’s yards in droves, and now there are only a few left. This book tells they story of the paddle steamers, and of the men who built, owned and sailed them.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autres sports
• Bateaux
• Bateau
• Cultural Studies
• General
• Recreation
• Sailing
• General officer
• List of water sports
• Boating
• Maritime history
• Local history
• Sports
• Water Sports

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841508634
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

THE STORY OF THE PADDLE STEAMER
TO MY FATHER
Who first introduced me to a paddle steamer.
THE STORY OF THE
PADDLE STEAMER
BY
BERNARD DUMPLETON
1973 Bernard Dumpleton
New paperback edition 2002 by venton, an imprint of intellect.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission.
Electronic ISBN 1-84150-863-2 / ISBN 1-84150-801-2
Cover design by Daniel Carpenter and May Yao
LIST OF CONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION
1
T HE P IONEERS
2
O CEAN P ADDLE S TEAMERS
3
T HE G REAT W ESTERN
4
P ADDLE S TEAMERS OF THE T HAMES AND M EDWAY
5
T HE N AVVIES
6
T HE B IG S INKING
7
F REAKS AND F AILURES
8
T HE G REAT L EVIATHAN
9
T HE P OWER AND THE G LORY
10
T HE B ONNY B OATS OF C LYDE
11
P ADDLE S TEAMERS OF THE N ORTH -W EST C OAST
12
W EST C OUNTRY P ADDLE S TEAMERS
13
S OUTH C OAST P ADDLE S TEAMERS
14
T UGS AND T UGMEN
15
R IVERBOATS OF A MERICA AND A USTRALIA
16
U NDER THE W HITE E NSIGN
17
T HE T WILIGHT Y EARS

A CKNOWLEDGEMENTS

B IBLIOGRAPHY

I NDEX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Frontispiece P.S. Royal Eagle
Fig. 1 P.S. Charlotte Dundas
Fig. 2 P.S. Comet
Fig. 3 P.S. President
Fig. 4 P.S. Sirius
Fig. 5 P.S. Great Western
Fig. 6 P.S. Great Eastern
Fig. 7 P.S. Laverock
Fig. 8 P.S. Golden Eagle
Fig. 9 P.S. Medway Queen
Fig. 10 P.S. Queen of Kent
Fig. 11 Drawings of the P.S. London Engineer
Fig. 12 Engines of the P.S. Caledonia
Fig. 13 P.S. Glen Sannox
Fig. 14 P.S. Ivanhoe
Fig. 15 P.S. Bournemouth Queen
Fig. 16 P.S. Princess Elizabeth
Fig. 17 Mississippi steamboat race
Fig. 18 H.M.S. Terrible
Fig. 19 H.M.S. Gorgon
Fig. 20 P.S. Jeanie Deans
Fig. 21 P.S. Old Caledonia

Jacket Illustration-The Crested Eagle passing Chapmans Light on the Thames. From the painting by J. Spurling (Courtesy General Steam Navigation Co.)

Frontispiece - The General Steam Navigation s paddle steamer ROYAL EAGLE.
(Photo courtesy of Southern Ferries).
INTRODUCTION
F ROM the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution steam power has been successfully applied to all forms of transport except aircraft, and even that has been tried. Nowhere, however, has the application been more successful than in marine engineering. Whether it be in the form of reciprocating or turbine engines steam has been the driving force for the majority of the world s ships for over 100 years. In the development of marine engineering the paddle steamer held a unique place. The first faltering steps with simple atmospheric engines were taken using the paddle-wheel as the driving medium. Steam engines developed rapidly and before long the paddle steamer moved from the rivers and canals onto the oceans.
Their life there was short once the superiority of the screw had been proved, but the advantages of shallow draft and good manoeuvrability were still important on the inland and coastal waters. All over the world the paddle steamers became a familiar sight on rivers and lakes and around the coastlines. They provided essential links with remote places and connected the big cities to the sea.
Then came the railways.
Faster and more direct they crossed rivers and traversed the land in an intricate network which ensured that there were few places which could not be reached quickly and in comfort. The paddle steamers fell back on pleasure excursion work, and for a while this was their major role, but the coming of the motor-coach and private car gave the public greater independence.
Two World Wars, in which the paddlers served gallantly, bit savagely into their ranks. Operating costs mounted and owners were forced to sell off their fleets. In the years after the Second World War they did so with such rapidity that the paddle steamers became almost extinct. Only the efforts of a few people who recognised the historical importance of these vessels ensured that they did not completely disappear.
The story of the paddle steamer covers approximately 150 years. This book tells that story from its beginning to the present day. It tells of the men who built and designed them, who made and lost fortunes, who saw their dreams realised or shattered. It also tells of the men who sailed in them, often with only their experience under sail to draw upon, men who could barely read or write, but had the mariner s instinct for knowing the sea and respecting its authority.
But above all it tells the story of the paddle steamers, their triumphs and tragedies, their rise and decline on the oceans of the world and on the waterways of Britain, America and Australia.
Technical details have been kept to a minimum and are given only where they are important or are of special interest. There are many vessels which have not been mentioned, to list every paddle steamer ever built would be an impossible task, but in writing this book it has been my aim to show the part that these wonderful vessels have played in maritime history. Older readers will, I hope, be reminded of pre-war days when a paddle steamer trip was a memorable event. The younger generation, brought up on hovercraft and jet-power, will perhaps feel that there is something they have missed, and will be encouraged to seek out the few remaining paddlers and join forces with those who wish to see them preserved.
Bernard Dumpleton
St. Albans. 1973
Chapter One
THE PIONEERS
Early experiments - Charlotte Dundas - Fulton s Clermont - The Comet - Early Thames steamers - Channel crossings - The beginning of the ocean steamships.
T HE paddle-wheel has been in use for centuries. There is evidence that the Romans experimented with paddle-wheels in ships, using oxen to supply the power. It would seem that the experiments were not very successful as the long-oared galley is best known as the typical vessel of those times. The Chinese are believed to have used man-powered paddle-wheels in their warships during the seventh century and throughout the ages various ideas have been put forward to use this form of propulsion.
Leonardo da Vinci, who invented just about everything, produced drawings in the year 1500 showing a vessel paddle-propelled and driven by two pedals, thus anticipating the pedalo by some four centuries. In 1543 a Spanish sea-captain, Blasco de Garay, submitted plans to the Emperor Carlos V for a machine that would propel a ship without the aid of oars or sail . The idea is said to have been tried in a ship called Trinidad in Barcelona Bay. The paddle-wheels were each turned by 25 men and the vessel attained a speed of 3.5 m.p.h.
The development of steam power also has a long history, starting with Hero of Alexandria s re-action device in about A.D. 50.
Many scientists and inventors of the past wrote vaguely about the possibility of driving up water by fire , but it was Denis Papin, a Frenchman, who first proposed the use of steam to propel a ship. It is known that he built a paddle boat in 1707, but whether it was driven by steam or par la force humaine is a subject of argument among historians. The following year Papin submitted a paper to the Royal Society proposing the construction of a steamboat. The proposal was never acted upon, but it would appear that Papin was the first man to see the possibility of a practical paddle steamer.
After Papin s death, in 1714, numerous attempts to harness steam-power for ship propulsion were made, particularly in France.
In 1783 the Marquis De Jouffroy D Abbans launched his steamboat, the Pyroscaphe , on the river Saone, near Lyons. It sailed under steam power for 15 minutes. The engine was a horizontal, double acting cylinder of 25.6 inches diameter with a stroke of 77 inches. The piston rod operated a double ratchet mechanism which produced a continuous rotative motion at the paddle-shaft.
Many of the engines used in these early experiments were designed by, or based on the design of, the English steam pioneer Thomas Newcomen. Newcomen himself had little interest in marine engineering and it was left to William Symington to design an engine for steamboat experiments.
In 1788 Symington was commissioned by Patrick Miller, a wealthy banker, who had earlier experimented with manual paddle-ships. The engine, which is still preserved in the Science Museum in London, consisted of two vertical cylinders, 4 inches diameter by 18 inches stroke. The two pistons were connected by chains to a drum which rotated in opposite directions alternately. The two paddle-wheels were mounted on shafts on each of which were two pulleys with internal ratchet teeth. Between each pair of pulleys was a disc fitted with two pawls. The pulleys were turned in opposite directions by chains from the drum and the teeth on the ratchet wheels engaged with the pawls to drive the paddle-wheels continuously in one direction.
The boat was double-hulled, catarmaran style, and the engine was located in one hull with the boiler in the other. The paddle-wheels were placed between the hulls in tandem. Principal dimensions of the boat were: displacement, about five tons, length 25ft, breadth 7ft, and draught 2.2ft. On October 14th, 1788, the vessel was tried on Dalwinston Lake, near Dumfries, and reached a speed of 5 m.p.h. On board were Miller, Symington, James Taylor, Alexander Nasmyth and the poet, Robert Burns.
Two years earlier, the American inventor, John Fitch, had achieved some success with an extraordinary contrivance which used 12 vertical oars. The oars were mounted six on each side and were operated by a steam engine of Fitch s own design.
As the six forward oars dipped and rose from the water they were followed by the rear bank of six and so propelled the ship in canoe-like fashion. Fitch followed this with a larger version in 1788, and two days before Patrick Miller s experiment the vessel steamed from Philadelph