Steam wheeled boats. The first steamships. Steamships in Vietnam

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Pleasure boat with steam engine from the 1930s

Manufacturer: Falconet
Scale: 1:48
Length: 190 mm

During the steam era, many different boats were created for trips on rivers and lakes. Each project was completely individual, limited only by the imagination of the master or the customer. The model is made on the basis of the existing steam boat "Rusich", which is a member of the Classic Yacht Support Fund.

The model that will be discussed in this article has warmed the souls of more than one generation of young sailors. In the distant post-war years, and even back in the sixties, a similar boat could be found on store shelves. What distinguished it from many of its toy counterparts was the working steam engine in the hold - a real fire was burning in the firebox, water was heating up and boiling in a small steam boiler, quietly purring, two small water cannons made of thin tubes pushed the boat forward. It was impossible to look at the boat without admiration - it was so real! And the light soot from burnt fuel on the surface of the wheelhouse gave this amazing little machine a truly “combat” look. The greatest effect was achieved at dusk, when at full speed, flickering reflections of flame could be seen in the pilothouse windows.

The design of the boat model is so simple that literally anyone can make it. Propulsion is provided by a water-jet propulsion engine, which ejects water from thin tubes at the rear thanks to steam pressure in a steam boiler. Steam is generated by burning fuel (dry fuel or cotton wool with alcohol), which is located directly under the boiler and ensures engine operation for several minutes. The formation of steam in the boiler is accompanied by a characteristic rumbling sound, which creates the complete illusion of the operation of a “real” engine.

All you need to make a boat is some tinned tin, a thin long metal tube (copper, brass), a soldering iron and regular tin solder. Armed with everything you need and not forgetting about safety precautions, let's start making the model. The ideal material is white tinned tin, which is used in the manufacture of cans for condensed milk. On the one hand, it cuts well, and on the other hand, it is perfectly soldered using rosin and tin solder. A template for making a boat hull is shown in the figure. We cut out the tin according to the template and drill holes in it for subsequent fastening of the steam boiler. We form the boat hull by bending and soldering the sheet metal in accordance with the drawing.

Particular attention should be paid to the correct manufacture of a steam boiler and a water-jet propulsion engine from a long tube. In fact, this is one part that bends in a rather complex way, in accordance with the drawing. It is important that all bends are smooth and the tube is not pinched anywhere. You can check the finished “propulsion system” by blowing into one end of the tube - air should flow freely.

1 – body; 2 – steam boiler; 3 – fuel; 4 – flame; 5 – cutting; 6 – soldering; * – size for reference

A curved tube is threaded through the holes in the bottom and soldered so that part of it - the steam boiler itself - is inside the boat hull (in the hold), and two long straight tubes of the water jet pass under the bottom. The tin house can be made of any shape, for example, such as shown in the drawing. Having completed the installation and soldering of the entire structure, they begin the most exciting part of the work - water testing.

First you need to fill the ship's steam boiler with water. We turn the boat stern up and pour water into one of the tubes of the jet propulsion engine. It is convenient to use a medical syringe for these purposes. When water begins to pour out of the other end of the tube, the operation can be considered complete. Next, we carefully but quickly lower the boat into the water and, having previously removed the wheelhouse, place a tablet of dry fuel or cotton wool with alcohol under the boiler.

We ignite the fuel and return the wheelhouse to its place. Now you need to wait a little until the flame heats up the steam boiler and the water in it begins to turn into steam. A characteristic rumbling will tell us that the steam engine has started working - the boat will glide through the water, leaving behind not at all toy waves.

Of course, the shape of the vessel and its dimensions can be varied. For example, give it the characteristic features of a specific historical era, add elements of rigging, and color it accordingly. Undoubtedly, competitions of such toy models for speed, distance, and duration of swimming will be exciting. It is important not to forget that there is a real fire burning inside the model, and therefore handling it requires caution.

What is a steamboat?

A steamboat is a water vehicle propelled by steam power through the rotation of propellers or paddle wheels. The prefix SS, S.S. or S/S (for screw steamers) or PS (for paddle steamers) is sometimes used to designate steamships, but these designations are most often used to designate seagoing steamships (steamship).

The term steamboat refers to small, island, steam-powered vessels operating on lakes and rivers; more often, river vessels are called this. After the use of steam energy began to justify itself in terms of reliability, steam power began to be used on larger, ocean-going ships.

The history of the steamship

Who invented the first steamboat?

Early attempts to equip a boat with a steam engine were carried out by the French inventor Denis Papin and the English inventor Thomas Newcomen. Papin invented a steam autoclave (like a pressure cooker) and experimented with closed cylinders and pistons pushed by atmospheric pressure, similar to the pump built by Thomas Savery in England during the same period. Papin proposed using this steam pump for use on a wheeled boat and tried to sell his idea in Great Britain. It was unable to successfully convert the motion of the piston into rotational motion and its steam could not produce sufficient pressure. Newcomen's design solved the first problem, but remained constrained by the limitations of the engines of the time.

The steamboat was described and patented by the English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls received a patent in England for a steamboat powered by a Newcomen engine (using a pulley instead of a drawbar, and a ratchet latch to achieve rotational motion), but it was the improvement of steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry Lancaster, Pennsylvania, learned about Watt's engine during a trip to England and made his own engine. In 1763 he put it on a boat. The boat sank, and although Henry made an improved model, he was not very successful, although he may have inspired others.

The first steam-powered ship, the Pyroscaphe, was powered by a Newcomen steam engine; it was built in France in 1783 by the Marquis Claude de Geoffroy and his colleagues as a modernization of the earlier Palmipède model of 1776. During its first demonstration on July 15, 1783, the Piroscap sailed against the flow of the Saône River for fifteen minutes until a technical failure occurred. The malfunction was probably not serious, as the ship is said to have made several more such trips. Following this, de Geoffroy tried to interest the government in his work, but for political reasons he was asked to build another version of the vessel, this time on the Seine in Paris. But De Geoffroy did not have the funds for this, and after the events of the French Revolution, work on the project was stopped, as the inventor left the country.

Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries, Scotland. Fitch successfully tested his cutter in 1787, and in 1788, he began regular commercial service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying at least 30 passengers. This boat typically reached speeds of 11 to 13 km/h and traveled more than 3,200 km during its short service. Fitch's cutter was not a commercial success because the route was properly served by relatively good rail service. The following year, a second boat served a 26-mile excursion, and a third boat was tested on the Delaware River in 1790 before patent disputes discouraged Fitch from continuing.

At the same time, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton, near Dumfries in Scotland, developed double-hulled boats propelled manually by cranked paddle wheels located between the hulls, and even tried to interest various European governments in a giant version of the warship, 75 m in length. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden a working scale model, 30 m long, called the "Experiment". Then, in 1785, Miller hired engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine, which drove the cutter's stern paddle wheel. The vessel was successfully tried on Lake Dalswinton in 1788 and was followed by a large steamship the following year. But Miller soon abandoned this project.

Steamboats in the 19th century

Patrick Miller's failed project attracted the attention of Lord Dundas, manager of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, and at a meeting with the directors of the company on June 5, 1800, his proposals for the use on the canal of "Captain Shank's model of a ship, powered by Mr. Symington's steam engine" were approved ".

The vessel was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth and was powered by a Symington engine with vertical cylinders and cable transmission of power to a crank that turned the paddle wheels. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 involved towing ships from the River Forth down the River Carron and thence along the Forth-Clyde Canal, where they were successful.

In 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine connected directly to a crank. He received support from Lord Dundas to build a second steamship, which became known as the Charlotte Dundas, named after Lord Dundas' daughter. Symington designed a new hull for his powerful horizontal engine, with a crank driven large paddle wheel enclosed in the center of the hull to prevent damage to the canal banks. The new ship had a wooden hull and was 17.1 m long, 5.5 m wide and 2.4 m deep. The steamboat was built by John Allan and the engine was built by the Carron Company.

The maiden voyage took place on the Glasgow canal on 4 January 1803 with Lord Dundas and some 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 test was made on 28 March. This time, the Charlotte Dundas towed two 70-ton barges 30 km along the Forth Clyde Canal in Glasgow, and despite the "strong headwind" that stopped all other canal vessels, it took her only nine and a quarter hours to complete the passage. which amounted to an average speed of about 3 km/h. The Charlotte Dundas was the first practical steamship in the sense that she demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first steamship to begin their continuous production and development.

American Robert Fulton attended the trials of the Charlotte Dundas and was intrigued by the steamship's potential. While working in France, he was an assistant and corresponded with the Scottish engineer Henry Bell, who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. He designed his own steamboat, which sailed on the Seine River in 1803.

He later received Watt's steam engine, which was taken to America, where he built his first real steamboat in 1807. This was the North River Steamboat (later known as the Clermont) and carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York. Claremont was able to complete the voyage of 150 miles (240 km) in 32 hours. The steamer was equipped with a Bolton-Watt engine and was capable of long-distance voyages. It was the first commercially successful steamship to carry passengers on the Hudson River.

In October 1811, the John Stevens-designed ship Little Juliana operated as the first steam ferry between Hoboken and New York. Stevens's ship was designed as a twin-screw steamship, as opposed to the Bolton-Watt engine on the Claremont. This design was a modification of Stevens's previous steamship, The Phoenix, the first steamship to successfully operate open ocean voyages from Hoboken to Philadelphia.

Henry Bell's PS Comet opened passenger traffic on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1812.

The Margery, launched at Dumbarton in 1814, became the first steamship on the River Thames in January 1815, much to the surprise of Londoners. She sailed from London to Gravesend until 1816, when she was sold to the French and became the first steamship to cross the English Channel. When she reached Paris, her new owners renamed her Elise and opened a steamship service on the Seine River.

In 1818, Ferdinando I, the first Italian steamship, left the port of Naples, where it was built.

The first sea steamship

The first seagoing steamship was Richard Wright's Experiment, a former French lugger; he, having sailed from Leeds to Yarmouth, arrived at Yarmouth on July 19, 1813. "Tug" - the first tugboat, was launched by the Wood brothers in Port Glasgow on November 5, 1817. In the summer of 1818 she became the first steamship to sail across Northern Scotland to the East Coast.

Use of steamships

The era of the steamboat began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743-1798) made the first successful test of a 14-meter steamboat on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention. Fitch later built a larger vessel that carried passengers and cargo on the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey. His ship was not a financial success and was closed after several months of service.

Oliver Evans (1755-1819) - Philadelphia inventor, was born in Newport, Delaware into a family of Welsh settlers. He developed an improved high-pressure steam engine in 1801, but did not build it (patented in 1804). The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and clearing ship repair docks, and in 1805 Evans persuaded them to contract with him to develop a steam-powered dredge, which he called the "Oruktor Amphibolos". The dredge was built, but had only minor success. Evans' high-pressure steam engine had a significantly high power-to-weight ratio, making it practical for use on locomotives and steamships. Evans was so depressed by the poor protection that US patent law afforded inventors that he eventually took all his technical drawings and invention sketches and destroyed them to prevent his children from wasting their time fighting patent infringement lawsuits.

Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston, who owned extensive properties on the Hudson River in New York, met in 1802 and drew up an agreement to build a steamboat to service the route between New York and Albany, New York on the Hudson River. They successfully obtained a monopoly on navigation on the Hudson River after Livingston broke a preliminary agreement of 1797 with John Stevens, who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement gave the northern Hudson River route to Livingston and the southern route to Stevens, with the agreement to use ships designed by Stevens for both routes. With the beginning of the new monopoly, the Fulton and Livingston steamship, named Claremont in honor of Livingston's estate, was able to turn a profit. Among doubters, Claremont earned the nickname "Fulton's Folly." On Monday, August 17, 1807, Claremont's memorable maiden voyage up the Hudson River began. The ship traveled 240 km to Albany in 32 hours and covered the return journey in about 8 hours.

Fulton's success in 1807 was soon followed by the use of steamboats on major rivers in the United States. In 1811, the first continuous (still (in 2007) commercial passenger service) line began operating river steamboats, leaving its dock in Pittsburgh to travel down the Ohio River to Mississippi and New Orleans. In 1817, a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York financed the construction of the first American steamship, the Ontario, to navigate Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, ushering in the growth of lake-based commercial and passenger shipping. In his book Life on the Mississippi, river pilot and author Mark Twain described the operation of such vessels.

Types of vessels and ships

By 1849, the shipping industry had entered a period of transition from sailing ships to steam ships and from wooden structures to an ever-increasing number of metal structures. Three different types of ships were then generally used: standard sailing ships of several different types, clippers, and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on the sides or stern. River steamers typically used rear-mounted paddle wheels and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls, being designed to carry large loads on mostly flat and sometimes shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheel paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed for travel in the stormy weather often encountered at sea. The design of a vessel's hull is often based on that of a clipper ship, with additional bracing to support the stresses and deformations transmitted by the paddle wheels when they come into contact with rough waters.

The first paddle steamer to make a long voyage on the ocean was the 320-ton, 30-meter SS Savannah, built in 1819 specifically to carry mail and passengers from Liverpool, England. On May 22, 1819, the lookout on the Savannah sighted Ireland after a 23-day sea voyage. Aller's Ironworks in New York supplied the Savannah's engine cylinder, while the remainder of the engine and chassis components were manufactured by the Speedwell Ironworks in New Jersey. The 90-horsepower low-pressure engine was of an inclined direct-acting type, with one 100 cm cylinder and a 1.5 m stroke. The Savannah's engine and technology were unusually large for its time. The ship's wrought iron wheels were 16 feet in diameter with eight scoops on each wheel. For kindling, the ship took on board 75 short tons of coal and 25 bundles of firewood.

The Savannah was too small to carry much fuel, and the engine was intended only for use in calm weather and for sailing in and out of harbors. With favorable winds, the sails alone were able to provide a speed of at least four knots. Savannah was considered a commercial failure, the engine was removed from her, and she was converted back into a regular sailing vessel. By 1848, steamships built by both American and British shipbuilders were being used to carry passengers and mail across the Atlantic Ocean, making 4,800-kilometre voyages.

Because paddle steamers typically required 5 to 16 short tons of coal (4.5 to 14.5 t) per day to keep them running, they were expensive to operate. Initially, almost all ocean-going steamships were equipped with a mast and sails to supplement the power of the steam engine and provide propulsion when the steam engine required repair or maintenance. These steamships tend to focus on carrying high-value cargo, mail, and passengers, and have only a moderate cargo capacity due to their heavy coal load requirements. The typical paddle wheel vessel was powered by a coal engine, which required stokers to shovel coal into the fireboxes.

By 1849 the propeller had been invented and was slowly being adopted as iron was increasingly used in shipbuilding and the stress created by the propellers could now be carried by ships. Due to progress in the 1800s, the use of wood and lumber in the construction of wooden ships became more expensive, and the production of the iron sheet needed to build an iron ship was much cheaper, since the large ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for example, received iron even more effective. The propeller placed heavy loads on the sterns of ships, and its use did not become widespread until the transition from wooden steamships to iron ships was well under way in the 1860s. By the 1840s, ocean shipping was well established, as demonstrated by the Cunard Line and others. The last sailing frigate of the US Navy, the Santee, left the slipways in 1855.

West Coast Steamships

In the mid-1840s, the acquisition of Oregon and California opened the West Coast to American steamship navigation. Beginning in 1848, Congress subsidized the Pacific Steamship Mail Company with $199,999 to establish regular mail, passenger, and freight routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular route went from Panama, Nicaragua and Mexico to San Francisco and Oregon. Panama City was the Pacific end of the portage across Panama along the Isthmus of Panama. The contract to carry Atlantic mail from the cities of the East Coast and New Orleans along the Chagres River in Panama was won by the American Mail Steamship Company, whose first paddle steamer, the SS Falcon (1848), was sent on December 1, 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic). ) portage terminal Panama Isthmus-Chagres River.

SS California (1848) - the first paddle steamer of the Pacific Mail Shipping Company, left New York on October 6, 1848 only partly loaded with a passenger capacity of about 60 first class passengers (about $300 fare) and 150 third class passengers (about $150 toll). Only a few made it all the way to California. The crew consisted of about 36 people. The California left New York long before confirmation of reports of the California Gold Rush reached the East Coast. As soon as the California Gold Rush was confirmed by President James Polk in his Address to the United States on December 5, 1848, people began rushing to Panama City to catch the California. The California took on more passengers at Valparaiso, Chile, Panama City and Panama City, and on February 28, 1849, she appeared at San Francisco laden with about 400 passengers—a number twice her calculated capacity. She did not take on board about 400 - 600 potential passengers who wanted to get out of Panama City. The California sailed from Panama and Mexico after rounding Cape Horn en route from New York.

The paddle steamer route to Panama and Nicaragua from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, via New Orleans and Havana was a distance of about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) and took about two weeks. Traveling across the Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua typically takes about one week by local canoe and mule back. The 6,400 km trip from San Francisco to Panama City can be made by paddle steamer in about three weeks. In addition to this time, the Panama route typically had a two to four week waiting period to find a ship going from Panama City to San Francisco before 1850. Only in 1850 did a sufficient number of paddle steamers appear capable of making regular trips across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle steamers such as the SS McKim (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies along the 201 km (201 km) route from San Francisco up the vast Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta to Stockton ( California), Marysville (CA), Sacramento, etc. to get 201 km closer to the gold mines. Steam and non-steam tugboats began operating in San Francisco Bay shortly thereafter to make it easier for ships to enter and leave the bay.

As the boom in highly profitable passenger, mail, and freight service to and from California grew, more paddle steamers were put into service—eleven by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company alone. The trip from California via Panama by steamship, without waiting for space on the ship, took approximately 40 days, which was 100 days less than by wagon or 160 days less than the route around Cape Horn. About 20-30% of the Argonauts from California are believed to have returned to their homes, mostly to the East Coast of the United States via Panama, the fastest route. Many returned to California after incorporating their businesses in the East with their wives, families and/or lovers. The most heavily used route was via Panama or Nicaragua until 1855, when the completion of the Panama Railroad made the Panama route much easier, faster, and more reliable. Between 1849 and 1869, while the first transcontinental railroad across the United States was being completed, approximately 800,000 travelers took the route through Panama. Most traveled east through Panama on paddle steamers, mule wagons and canoes, and later on the Panama Railroad through Panama. After 1855, when the Panama Railroad was completed, the Panama Route became the fastest and easiest way to get to California from the East Coast of the United States or Europe. Most California-related goods were still shipped via the slower but cheaper sailing route via Cape Horn. The sinking of the steamship Central America (Gold Ship) during a storm on September 12, 1857 and the loss of approximately $2 million in California gold indirectly led to the Panic of 1857.

Steamboat navigation, including passenger and freight traffic, grew exponentially in the decades before the Civil War. Which also led to economic and human losses, in addition to those caused by snags, shoals, boiler explosions and human errors.

During the American Civil War, the Battle of Hampton Roads, often called either the Battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack or the Battle of the Ironclads, was fought over two days (March 8–9, 1862) using ironclad steam ships. The battle took place at Hampton Roads, in the roadstead into Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before entering Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk. The battle was part of the Confederate States of America's efforts to break the Union naval blockade that had cut off Virginia from all international trade.

The Civil War in the West was fought to gain control of major rivers, especially the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, where wheeled ships were used. Only the Union had them (the Confederates captured a few but could not use them.) The Battle of Vicksburg involved scout ships and ironclads. USS Cairo is an ironclad that survived the Battle of Vicksburg. Merchant river traffic, suspended for two years by the Confederate blockade of the Mississippi until the Northern victory at Vicksburg, was resumed on July 4, 1863. The victory of the Eads-class ironclads and Farragut's capture of New Orleans secured the river for the Union.

Although Union forces gained control of tributaries of the Mississippi River, river travel continued to be suppressed by the Confederates. The ambush of the J.R. Williams, which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River on July 16, 1863, demonstrated this. The steamer was destroyed, its cargo was lost, and the small Allied escort fled. However, these losses did not affect the military achievements of the North.

The worst of all steamship accidents occurred at the end of the Civil War in April 1865, when the steamship Sultana, overloaded with Union soldiers returning from southern captivity, exploded, killing more than 1,700 people.

River transport

For much of the 19th century and early 20th century, the merchant marine fleet on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle steamers. Their use generated rapid economic development in port cities. Agricultural and primary products were developed that could be most easily transported to markets, and settlements along major rivers flourished. This success of steamships led them to penetrate deep into the continent, where the Anson Northup in 1859 became the first steamship to cross the border between Canada and the United States along the Red River. They also took part in major political events, such as those that occurred when Louis Riel captured the International at Fort Garry, or Gabriel Dumont occupied the Northcote at Batoche. Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they became state symbols. The steamboat Iowa (1838) is included in the Iowa state seal because it symbolizes speed, power and progress.

At the same time, expanding steamboat traffic had a major negative impact on the environment, especially in the Middle Mississippi Valley, between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio. Steamboats consumed a lot of wood for fuel, and the forests in the river's floodplain and on the banks were cut down. This resulted in unstabilized banks, introducing silt into the water, making the river shallower and therefore wider, and causing unpredictable, lateral movement of the river bed across the wide, ten-mile floodplain, compromising navigation. Vessels designed to fish out snags to keep the canals clear had crews who sometimes cut down the remaining large trees or more beyond the banks, exacerbating the problem. In the 19th century, flooding on the Mississippi became a greater problem than when the floodplain was filled with trees and shrubs.

Most of the ships were destroyed by boiler explosions or fires, many sank in the river, and some are now buried in the mud as the river changed its course. From 1811 to 1899, 156 steamboats sank into snags or crashed on rocks between St. Louis and the Ohio River. Another 411 were damaged by fires, explosions or crushed by ice during this period. One of the few surviving Mississippi steamships of the period with a wheel on the stern, the Julius C. Wilkie was operated as a museum ship in Winona, Minnesota, until it was destroyed by fire in 1981.

From 1844 to 1857, luxury palace steamships carried passengers and cargo across the North American Great Lakes. Great Lakes passenger steamships reached their zenith during the century from 1850 to 1950. The SS Badger is the last of the once numerous passenger car ferries operating on the Great Lakes. The unique style of bulk carrier known as the lake truck was developed on the Great Lakes. St. Marys Challenger, launched in 1906, is the oldest operating steamship in the United States. A marine 4-cylinder reciprocating steam engine is installed as a power unit. However, the steam yacht Gondola is even older and still operates on Coniston Water in the UK.

Steamboats also operated on the Red River at Shreveport, Louisiana, after Captain Henry Miller Shreve cleared the jam.

Oldest operating steamship

The Belle of Louisville is the oldest operating steamship in the United States, and the oldest operating Mississippi-style steamship in the world. It was launched as "Idlewild" in 1914 and is currently located in Louisville, Kentucky.

Steamships at present

Five large commercial steamships currently operate on the inland waterways of the United States. The only remaining overnight cruise ship is the American Queen, which carries 432 passengers and runs weeklong cruises on the Mississippi, Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers 11 months a year. Other daytime steamers: "Chautauqua Belle" on Lake Chautauqua (New York); "Minne Ha-Ha" in Lake George (New York); "Belle of Louisville" in Louisville (Kentucky), operating on the Ohio River; and "Natchez" in New Orleans (Louisiana), operating on the Mississippi River.

During World War II, Kaiser's Richmond Shipyards in Richmond, California (a Kaiser facility) operated four shipyards located in Richmond, California and one shipyard in Los Angeles. Kaiser had other shipyards in Washington State and other states. They were managed by Kaiser-Permanente Metals and Kaiser Shipyards. Richmond Shipyards was responsible for the production of the majority of Liberty ships during World War II, 747 ships—more than any other shipyard in the United States. The Liberty ships were chosen for mass production because their somewhat antiquated design was relatively simple, and the components of their triple expansion steam piston engine were simple enough to be manufactured by a few companies that were not critically needed to make other parts. The shipbuilding industry was given high priority for the supply of steel and other necessary components, since more ships were sunk by German submarines before 1944 than all the shipyards in the United States could build. American shipyards built approximately 5,926 ships during World War II and more than 100,000 small vessels manufactured for the U.S. Army's naval units.

In Canada, Terrace, British Columbia (BC) celebrates Riverboat Days every summer. Built on the banks of the Skeena River, the city depended on steamships for transportation and trade in the 20th century. The first steamship to enter Skeena was the Union. This happened in 1864. In 1866, the Mumford attempted to ascend the river, but was only able to reach the Kitsumkalum River. No one succeeded until 1891; only the Hudson Bay Company's sternwheeler Caledonia succeeded in passing Kitselas Canyon and reaching Gazelton. A number of other steamships were built at the turn of the 20th century, partly due to the growing fishing industry and gold rush.

Steamships equipped with stern wheels became an instrumental and transport technology for the development of Western Canada. They were used on most of the shipping routes of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon at one time or another, generally with shipping superseded by the expansion of railways and roads. In the more mountainous and remote areas of the Yukon and British Columbia, operational sternwheel steamships continued well into the 20th century.

The simplicity of these ships and their shallow draft made them indispensable to pioneers who were otherwise virtually cut off from the outside world. Because of their shallow, flat-bottomed design (Canadian examples of western river sternwheelers typically required less than three feet of water to float), they could land almost anywhere on the riverbank to pick up or disembark passengers and cargo. Sternwheel steamers also proved vital in the construction of the railroads that eventually replaced them. They were used to transport cargo, rails and other materials for the construction of camps.

The simple, general-purpose locomotive-type boilers found on most sternships after about the 1860s could be fired by coal, if available, in densely populated areas, such as the lakes of the Kootenays and Okanagan regions of southern British Columbia, or by wood in more remote areas. , as did the steamboats of the Yukon River or northern British Columbia.

Hulls were generally made of wood, although iron, steel and composite hulls were gradually gaining ground. They were internally strengthened by a series of built-in longitudinal beams called "keelsons". Further stability of the hull was achieved by a system of “deflection rods” or “deflection nets”, which were strengthened into keelsons and led up and behind the vertical masts, called “deflection pillars”, and back down.

Like their counterparts on the Mississippi and its tributaries, and vessels on the rivers of California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, Canadian sternwheelers generally had a fairly short service life. The harsh operating conditions and the inherent flexibility of their shallow wooden hulls meant that relatively few lasted longer than ten years.

In the Yukon, two ships remain: the SS Klondike in Whitehorse and the SS Keno in Dawson City. Many abandoned shipwrecks can still be found along the Yukon River.

In British Columbia, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built the steamship Moyie in 1898 and operated until 1957 on Kootenay Lake in southeastern British Columbia. It has been restored and displayed in the village of Kaslo, where it is used as a tourist attraction in close proximity to the Kaslo Visitor Centre. Moyi is the world's oldest intact stern paddle steamer. While the SS Sicamous and SS Naramata (steam tug and icebreaker) built by the Canadian Pacific Railway at Okanagan Landing on Okanagan Lake in 1914, are preserved in Penticton at the southern end of Okanagan Lake.

The SS Samson V is the only Canadian sternwheeler still afloat. She was built in 1937 by the Canadian federal Department of Public Works as a ship to clear logs and debris from the lower Fraser River and to maintain docks and navigational aids. The fifth in the Fraser River line of snagheads, the Samson the Fifth has engines, paddle wheels and other components that were transferred to it from the 1914 Samson the Second, currently moored on the Fraser River as floating museum in his home port of New Westminster, near Vancouver in British Columbia.

The oldest operating steam ship in North America is the RMS Segwun. It was built in Scotland in 1887 for cruise routes on Lake Muskoka in the county of the same name in Ontario, Canada. Originally named "SS Nipissing", she was converted from a steamship with side-mounted paddle wheels and a beam engine to a steamship with two counter-rotating propellers.

It is believed that the engineer Robert Furness and his cousin, the physician James Ashworth, came to own the steamship operating between Hull and Beverley after they were granted British Patent No. 1640 of March 1788 for "a new invented machine for working, hauling, accelerating and to facilitate the navigation of ships, boats and barges and other vessels on the water." James Oldham - Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE), described how well he knew those who built the F&A steamship in his lecture entitled "On the Rise, Progress and Present State of the Hull Shipping Company", which he gave on 7 September 1853 at 23 - meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Hull, England. With Europe's first commercially successful steamship, Henry Bell's Comet, the rapid expansion of the steamship system on the Firth of Clyde began in 1812, and within four years steamships were in operation on the inland Loch Lomond, as a harbinger of the lake steamers that still grace the scenery of the Swiss lakes.

There were almost fifty steamships on the Clyde itself within ten years of the launch of the Comet in 1812, and steamship traffic also began on the Irish Sea at Belfast and in many British estuaries. By 1900 there were over 300 steamships on the Clyde.

People had a special affection for Clyde steamships, small steam-powered freight craft of traditional design designed for use on the Scottish canals and for service in the Highlands and Islands. They were immortalized by Neil Munro's stories of the Vital Spark and the film Maggie, and a small number are now preserved to continue steam navigation of the sea lake arms of the Western Highlands.

From 1850 until the early decades of the 20th century, Windermere, in the English Lakes region, was home to many elegant steam launches. They were used for private parties, watching yacht races or, in some cases, for transportation to work across the rail connection at Barrow-in-Furness. Many of these fine ships were saved from destruction when steam went out of fashion, and part of the collection is now housed in the Windermere Steamship Museum. The collection includes the SL Dolly (1850), believed to be the world's oldest power-driven vessel, and several classic Windermere longboats.

Today, the 1900s steamship SS Sir Walter Scott still sails on Loch Katrine, while the PS Maid of the Loch is being restored on Loch Lomond, and the most The oldest active passenger yacht on the English lakes, SY Gondola (built 1859, restored 1979), sails daily on Coniston Water during the summer season.

The paddle steamer Waverley, built in 1947, is the last survivor of these fleets, and the last seagoing paddle steamer in the world. The ship makes all-season cruises around Britain every year and has visited the English Channel in memory of her 1899-built predecessor, which sank at the Battle of Dunkirk in 1940.

After the Clyde, the Thames Estuary became a major growth area for steamships, starting with the Margery and Thames in 1815, which both came from the Clyde. Until the advent of the railways in 1838, steamships reliably filled the role of many sailing ships and paddle ferries, with at least 80 ferries operating routes from London to Gravesend and Margate, and upstream to Richmond, until 1830. By 1835, the Diamond Steamship Mail and Passenger Company, one of several popular companies, reported carrying more than 250,000 passengers in one year.

The first metal-hulled steamship, the Aaron Munby, was laid down at the Horsley Ironworks in Staffordshire in 1821 and launched at Surrey Docks in Rotherhithe. After testing on the Thames, the ship went to Paris, where it was operated on the Seine River. Three similar iron steamships were followed within a few years.

The SL (steam launch) 'Nuneham' is an authentic Victorian steamship, built in 1898 and operated on the non-tidal upper Thames by the Thames Steam Packet Boat Company. It is anchored at Runnymede.

"SL Nuneham" was built at the port of Brimscombe on the Thames and Severn Canal by Edwin Clarke. It was built for the Salter Brothers Company in Oxford to regularly transport passengers between Oxford and Kingston. Sissons' original triple expansion steam engine was removed in the 1960s and replaced with a diesel engine. In 1972, SL Nuneham was sold to a London shipowner and arrived at Westminster Pier for service at Hampton Court. In 1984 the ship was sold once again - now virtually abandoned - to French Brothers Ltd in Runnymede as a restoration project.

Over the years, French Brothers have carefully restored the original specification. A similar Sissons triple expansion engine was found in a museum in America, shipped to Britain and installed, along with a new coal-fired Scottish boiler designed and built by Alan McEwan of Keighley, Yorkshire. The superstructure has been restored with original design and elegance, including a raised roof, wood paneled saloon and open upper deck. The restoration was completed in 1997 and an MCA passenger certificate for 106 passengers was granted for launch. "SL Nuneham" was commissioned by French Brothers Ltd but operated under the flag of the Thames Steam Packet Boat Company.

Steamships in Europe

Built in 1856, PS Skibladner is the oldest steamship still in operation, serving towns along the shores of Lake Mjøsa in Norway.

In Denmark, steamboats were a popular means of transportation in earlier times, and were used mainly for recreational purposes. They were adapted to carry passengers short distances along coastlines or across large lakes. Built in 1861, the PS Skibladner ranks second as the oldest steamship in service and sails on Lake Julsø near Silkeborg.

The 1912 steamship TSS Earnslaw still makes regular excursion trips on the high-altitude Lake Wakatipu, near Queenstown in New Zealand.

Swiss lakes became a haven for a number of large steamships. On Lake Lucerne, five paddle steamers are still in service: Uri (1901) (built 1901, 800 passengers), Unterwalden (1902) (1902, 800 passengers), Schiller " (1906) (1906, 900 passengers), "Gallia" (1913) (1913, 900 passengers, the fastest paddle steamer on the European lakes) and "City of Lucerne" (1928) (1928, 1200 passengers, the last steamship built for Swiss lake). There are also five steamers converted, as is the case with some old ships, into diesel wheeled vessels on the shores of Lake Geneva, two steamers on Lake Zurich and the rest on other lakes.

In Austria, the vintage paddle steamer Gisela (1871) (250 passengers) continues to operate on Lake Traunsee.

Steamships in Vietnam

Seeing the enormous potential of steam ships, the Vietnamese Emperor Minh Mang attempted to reproduce the French steamship. The first test in 1838 was unsuccessful because the boiler failed. The project manager was chained and two officials Nguyen Trung Mau and Ngo Kim Lan from the Ministry of Construction were jailed for making false reports. The project was again entrusted to Hoang Van Lich and Vo Huy Trinh. The second test two months later was successful. The Emperor generously gifted two new performers. He noted that although this machine could be purchased in the West, it was important that his engineers and mechanics could become familiar with modern technology, so no expense was spared. Encouraged by the success, Minh Mang ordered engineers to study and develop steam engines and steamships to equip his navy. By the end of Minh Mang's reign, 3 steamships were produced, named Yen Phi, Van Phi and Vu Phi. However, his successor was unable to save the industry due to financial problems complicated by years of social unrest caused by his rule.

Steam boat “Shutka” By order of ROPiT, a steam boat was built at the Tornikroft & C shipyard in London (England) in 1871, which received the name “Shutka”.

“Shutka” was built as a pleasure boat for the Tsarevich, the future Emperor Alexander III. On the eve of the war with Turkey, the Tsarevich handed over the boat to the Maritime Department, which included it in the Black Sea Fleet as a steam boat.

During the war, on June 8, 1877, the mine boat "Shutka", armed with a pole mine, attacked a Turkish steamer on the Danube near the island of Mechka. However, an enemy shell broke the pole mounts and the conductors going from the galvanic battery to the mine. The ship's commander and mechanical engineer were wounded. The famous artist V.V. Vereshchagin, who took part in this attack, was also seriously wounded.

Later the boat was used as a patrol vessel on the Danube. In 1889, the boat was returned to ROPiT, and in 1895 it was sold for scrap.

Characteristics of the steamer "Joke"

The steam boat DAGMAR was built for the future Emperor Alexander III in 1870 by J.S. White & Co., Cowes. The customer demanded from the builder that the boat have the necessary seaworthiness for sea voyages between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. The shipyard offered an increased to 37 ft. version of its field-proven 6-gauge steam boat. strength In addition to the steam engine, Dagmar could carry sailing weapons. The boat received its name in honor of the beloved wife of the Tsarevich - her maiden name was the Danish princess Dagmara. After the accession of Alexander III to the throne in 1881, the boat was included in the imperial yachts, becoming the smallest RIF yacht.

Set features:

• small size (25 cm)
• complete and reliable reconstruction based on archival drawings
• domestic imperial fleet
• detailed copy of a steam engine and boiler (casting)
• turned brass parts
• high-quality photo-etching
• high-precision laser cutting of all parts
• simple and clear photo instructions

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