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The first steam ships. Return of paddle steamers. Steamships in Europe

By the middle of the 19th century. It is becoming clear to the main shipbuilding powers that the times when the movement of merchant ships and warships of the sailing fleet entirely depended on the direction and strength of the wind are becoming a thing of the past.

By that time there was a whole series inventions (for example, Denis Papin's steam engine, Robert Fulton's model of the steamship, which he demonstrated to Napoleon Bonaparte), providing for the construction of ships driven by steam power.

If the first such inventions were significantly ahead of their time and appeared in an era when the corresponding technologies were still absent, then by the time of the Crimean War (1853 - 1856), the first steamships appeared in the fleets of the main powers of Europe and Russia.

The first known successful test of a steamship model called the Pyroscaphe took place in 1784. But the double-acting steam engine that rotated the steamship's wheels quickly broke down.

The first steamship to be successfully operated was Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat, which sailed from Albany to New York along the river. Hudson.

The benefits of steam ships, independent of wind and weather conditions and able to sail quickly against the current, quickly became clear. And similar ships began to appear in the fleets of the main shipbuilding powers of Europe.

By 1853, steamboats became a generally accepted form of river water transport.

Steamboats on rivers, as vessels for navigation on inland waterways (IWW), quickly gained worldwide recognition. Repairing equipment and steam engines for river transport did not present any particular difficulties. The propellers of such steamships were wheels, and such steamships were called paddle wheel boats. Paddle wheels could be located on the sides or in the stern of the steamship. The paddle wheel continues to be used in our time as a propulsion device for river vessels, especially on pleasure or tourist vessels.

With the first steamships included naval fleets the situation was much more complicated. Due to the unreliability of the first engines - steam engines - the steamships were combined sailing-steam ships and had masts with spars and sails. If the car broke down, the ship could reach the port.

At first, the propeller of a sea-going steamship was also a paddle wheel. However, the unreliability of the paddle wheel as a propulsion device and its low efficiency led to the need to maintain sailing equipment during sea navigation. The engine on the first steamships was a steam engine, for example, like the one shown in Fig. 5.

Rice. 5. Steam engine for a steamship built in 1849, installed on the Atlantic sea liner.

Furnaces - fireboxes; boiler - steam boiler; steam pipe - steam pipeline; second engine - second engine (second steam engine); crankshaft - crankshaft; hot well - hot water tank; parallel motion linkage - parallel motion mechanism; cylinder - cylinder; side lever - side lever.

The steamship's wheels had a diameter of 11 m with 36 blades. The vessel was propelled by two side-lever steam engines with a power of 600 kW, one of which is shown in Fig. 5. Each steam engine had one cylinder with a diameter of 241 cm; steam entered the cylinder under a pressure of 120 kPa, which was then considered an example of expensive innovative technology. When the ship was moving with two cylinders of both steam engines running at full speed, the speed reached 16 rpm, and with the additional help of sails, the speed of the Collins liner reached 12-13 knots.

Fuel consumption (coal) was 1 ton for every 265 revolutions of the steamship wheel, or 85 tons within 24 hours. During the voyage, the steamship consumed an amount of coal almost equal to the weight of the steamship itself.

The Atlantic liner set off from Liverpool on its maiden voyage on April 27, 1850. It reached New York in a record time of 10 days and 16 hours. That is, during this time he completed a transatlantic voyage. Such was the ship technology of that time.

The first warships of that time were steam frigates. On the eve of the Crimean War last fight sailing warships was the destruction of the Turkish fleet at Sinop by the squadron of Admiral Nakhimov. During the siege of Sevastopol, the sailing ships of the Russian fleet were scuttled in the fairway to block enemy ships from entering the Sevastopol Bay. Steam frigates took part in the Crimean War in the fleets of both belligerents. The first battle of the steamships was indicative: the battle of the frigate Vladimir with the Turkish steamer Pervaz-Bahri.

The idea of ​​​​creating a self-propelled ship that could sail against the wind and currents occurred to people for a very long time. After all, it is often impossible to sail along a winding channel with a complex fairway, and it is always difficult to row against the current.

The real opportunity to build such a high-speed self-propelled vessel appeared only after the invention steam engine. A steam engine converts the energy of heated steam into mechanical work a piston that reciprocates and drives the shaft. Steam is generated in a steam boiler. The first attempts to construct such a machine were made at the end of the 17th century.

One of the inventors who worked on the problem of converting thermal energy into work was the French physicist Denis Papin(1647 - 1712). He was the first to invent a steam boiler, but was unable to come up with a design for a working steam engine. But he designed the first boat with a steam engine and paddle wheels (1707). The world's first steam-powered ship was launched in Kassel, Germany, and quite confidently sailed along the Fulda River. However, the inventor's joy was short-lived. Local fishermen considered the boat, moving without oars or sails, a diabolical invention and hastened to set fire to the first steamer. Papin later moved to England and presented his developments to the Royal Scientific Society. He asked for money to continue experiments and recreate a steam ship. But Papen never received the money and died in poverty.

Thirty years later, in 1736, the Englishman Jonathan Hulls, a watchmaker by profession, invented the steam tug. He received a patent for a ship propelled by steam. However, during the tests it turned out that the steam engine installed on the ship was too weak to move it. The disgraced watchmaker did not find the strength to continue working on improving the invention and died in desperate poverty, like Papin.

The Frenchman was closest to the goal Claude-François-Dorothe, Marquis de Jouffroy. In 1771, the 20-year-old Marquis received the rank of officer, but showed a violent disposition and a year later found himself in prison for gross violation of discipline. The prison was located near the city of Cannes, and the Marquis's cell overlooked the sea, so that de Jouffroy could watch from the barred window the galleys driven by the muscular power of the convicts. Filled with sympathy for them, the Marquis came to the idea that it would be nice to install a steam engine on the ship - the kind he heard set in motion the pumps that pumped out water from the English mines. After leaving prison, de Jouffroy sat down to books and soon had his own opinion on how best to build a steamship.

When he arrived in Paris in 1775, the idea of ​​a steam ship was already in the air. In 1776, the Marquis built a steam boat at his own expense, but the tests, according to a contemporary, ended “not entirely happily.” However, the inventor did not give up. At his instigation, the French government promised a 15-year monopoly on the construction and operation of steam ships to the first one to build a steamship suitable for permanent use, and de Jouffroy knew that winning the steam race would mean wealth and prosperity for the rest of his days.

In 1783, in Lyon, the Marquis finally tested his second steam model. On June 15, on the banks of the Saone River, spectators watched as the boat of the Marquis de Jouffroy moved against the current. True, by the end of the demonstration voyage the engine became unusable, but no one noticed this, and besides, de Jouffroy hoped to make the car more reliable. The Marquis was now confident that he had the monopoly in his pocket, and sent a report of his success to Paris. But the Paris Academy was not inclined to trust messages from the provinces, no matter who they came from. The academicians asked to give an opinion on the invention of the chief specialist in steam engines - manufacturer Jacques Perrier, who himself sought a steamship monopoly, and therefore did everything to quickly forget about the invention of the Marquis. De Jouffroy did not receive financial support from the academicians, and he no longer had money to build the next boat.

Soon a revolution began in the country, and the French had no time for steamships. In addition, the Marquis de Jouffroy found himself on the side of the counter-revolution, and the royalists in France were awaiting not patents, but the guillotine. De Jouffroy was able to return to invention only after the Bourbon restoration, and in 1816 he finally received a patent. But they never gave him money to start a shipping business. De Jouffroy died in 1832 in a home for veterans, forgotten and abandoned by everyone.

In 1774, the outstanding English inventor James Watt created the first universal heat engine (steam engine). This invention contributed to the creation of steam locomotives, steamships and the first (steam) cars.

In 1787 in America John Fitch built the steam boat "Experiment", which for a long time made regular trips along the Delaware River between Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) and Burlington (New York). It carried 30 passengers and traveled at a speed of 7-8 miles per hour. J. Fitch's steamship was not commercially successful because its route was competing with a good overland road.

In 1802, a mining engineer William Symington from England built the towing boat "Charlotte Dundas" with a Watt engine with a power of 10 horsepower, which rotated a paddle wheel located in the stern. The tests were successful. In 6 hours, with a strong headwind, the Charlotte Dundas towed two barges along the canal 18 miles. The Charlotte Dundas was the first serviceable steam boat. However, authorities began to fear that waves from the paddle wheel would wash away the banks of the canal. The steamer was pulled ashore and condemned to scrapping. Thus, this experience did not interest the British either.

Robert Fulton

Among the spectators watching the tests of the unusual vessel was an American Robert Fulton. He was interested in steam engines from the age of 12 and already as a teenager (at the age of 14) he made his first boat with a wheel engine. After school, Robert moved to Philadelphia and got a job first as a jeweler's assistant and then as a draftsman. At the age of 21 (1786), Fulton went to England to study architecture there. However, here Fulton abandoned drawing and concentrated on inventing. He designed canals, locks, conduits and various machines - for sawing marble, spinning flax, twisting ropes... And then he returned to his old hobby - the use of steam in shipping. However, the English government did not want to give money for his project, and in 1797 Fulton moved to France. But here his inventions were not appreciated either. Fulton thought about it and came up with the idea of ​​a submarine that could be used to mine the bottoms of enemy ships. At first, the French government rejected the project, considering this method of warfare too brutal. But the inventor, at his own expense, built and tested the wooden submarine Nautilus. In 1800, Fulton presented a practical model of his submarine to Napoleon. Having finally appreciated the invention, the French government finally allocated money to build a boat made of sheet copper and even promised to pay Fulton for every enemy ship sunk. However, the English ships deftly dodged the slow Nautilus. Therefore, the Nautilus did not sail for long. Fulton's attempt to sell the submarine to France's naval enemy, England, also failed. The true significance of this invention only became apparent closer to the outbreak of the First World War.

Offended by the whole world, Fulton returned to his homeland and began to look for funds for the steamship project. Here he was much more fortunate. The North River Steamboat of Clermont, with a displacement of 79 tons and a 20-horsepower steam engine that rotated five-meter paddle wheels, was tested in August 1807. Many of those gathered on the shores of Hudson Bay did not believe in success. . Fulton set off on his first voyage on September 4, 1807 without cargo and without passengers: there were no people willing to try their luck aboard the fire-breathing ship. But on the way back, a daredevil showed up - a farmer who bought a ticket for six dollars. This was the first passenger in the history of the shipping company. The touched inventor gave him a lifetime right of free travel on his ships. That same year, Fulton's first steamship began operating profitably between New York and Albany. This ship went down in history as the Claremont, although Claremont simply referred to the estate of Fulton's partner, Livingston, on the Hudson River, 177 km from New York, which the ship visited during its first voyage.

From that time on, a constant steamship service opened on the Hudson. Newspapers wrote that many boatmen closed their eyes in horror as the “Fulton monster,” spewing fire and smoke, moved along the Hudson against the wind and current.

"North River Steamboat"
Robert Fulton

In 1809, Fulton patented the Claremont design and went down in history as the inventor of the steamboat.

In Russia, the first steamship was built at the Charles Bird plant in 1815. It was called "Elizabeth" and made flights between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. A report on one of these flights was published by the magazine "Son of the Fatherland". This article is Russian naval officer, later Admiral Peter Ricord, first used the term “steamboat” in print. Before this, such ships were called “steamboats” or “pyroscaphes” in the English manner.

By the way...

In 1813, Fulton turned to the Russian government with a request to grant him the privilege to build a steamboat he had invented and use it on rivers Russian Empire. Emperor Alexander I granted the inventor a monopoly right to operate steamship vessels on the St. Petersburg-Kronstadt line, as well as on other Russian rivers for 15 years. However, Fulton did not create steamships in Russia and was unable to take advantage of the agreement, since he did not fulfill the main condition of the agreement - within three years he did not commission a single ship. Fulton died in 1815, and in 1816 the franchise given to him was revoked, and the contract went to Byrd.

Steamboat

What is a steamboat?

A steamboat is a watercraft vehicle, driven by the energy of steam 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 political reasons he was asked to build another version of the ship, 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. IN next year, a second boat served the 48 km excursion, and a third boat was tested on the Delaware River in 1790 before patent disputes discouraged Fitch from continuing the business.

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 steamship. 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, born in Newport, Delaware in a family of Welsh settlers. He developed an improved steam engine high pressure 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 Hudson River navigation after Livingston broke a 1797 preliminary agreement 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 the ever-growing number metal structures. At that time, three different types of ships were mainly used: standard sailing ships of several various types, clippers and paddle steamers with blades 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 km 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 seagoing steamships were equipped with a mast and sails to supplement the power of the steam engine and provide propulsion when the steam engine needed repairs 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 large loads on the stern of ships, and its use was not widespread until the transition from wooden steamships to iron ships was completed. in full swing 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 Ocean 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 intensively used route was through Panama or Nicaragua until 1855, when the completion of the Panama Railway railway 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 in a simple way to get to California from the US East Coast or Europe. Most California-related goods were still shipped via the slower but cheaper sailing route via Cape Horn. Steamboat Wreck Central America" (Gold Ship) during a storm on September 12, 1857 and a loss of about $2 million in California gold indirectly led to the Panic of 1857.

Steamship navigation, including passenger and freight transport, grew in geometric progression for decades before 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 Ironclad, 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 that which 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 unprotected 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. Unique style The 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 operates week-long 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 their triple expansion steam piston engine components 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 being displaced by the expansion of railways and highways. 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.

Simple, universal boilers locomotive type installed on most sternwheelers after about the 1860s could run on coal, if available in densely populated areas, such as the lakes of the Kootenays and Okanagan regions of southern British Columbia, or on wood in more remote areas, as did 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. It was built in 1937 by the Canadian Federal Department 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, 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 "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 the SS Nipissing, she was converted from a steamship with side 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 the first commercially successful steamship in Europe, 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 for summer season on Coniston Water.

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 railroads in 1838, steamboats confidently fulfilled the role of many sailing ships and paddle ferries, at least 80 ferries, which until 1830 operated routes from London to Gravesend and Margate, and upstream to Richmond. 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 was reconstructed with original design and elegance, even with a raised roof, wood panels saloon and open upper deck. The restoration was completed in 1997 and a 106-passenger MCA passenger certificate 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, the 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.

The history of any invention plays a big role in the advancement of humanity along the path of progress. People attach particular importance to the appearance of steamships, and this is fair, because from that moment on, water transport became exponentially faster and more powerful and the development of civilization rose by new level.

• So who was first?
• How the oceans were conquered
• Device principle
• Video: Modern steamships

So who was first?

If you analyze the history of steam ships, it is difficult to determine which of them appeared first, although it is believed that the first was the "Clermont" ("North River Steamboat"), built by Robert Fulton in 1807 and set sail along the Hudson River from the New Pier. York to Albany.

The steamboat "Clermont" by Robert Fulton

It is not clear what to do with the fact that there was also a ship "Charlotte Dundas" in England and freely transported barges along the London Canal already in 1801 and its steam power was 10 horsepower. The very strong wooden hull of the ship was 17 meters long, which was enough unique phenomenon, but somehow they didn’t notice him and didn’t take him seriously, so the name of the creator, Englishman William Symington, remained in the shadows. The steamship became unclaimed within a year; in 1802 it was put on its eternal berth and remained there until 1861, when it was taken away for parts.

But Robert Fulton did not suffer a similar fate. His steamer set out on its first voyage almost to the hooting of onlookers on the pier, everyone was expecting it to sink or stop, but the ship quickly moved away from the shore and, overtaking all the boats and sailing ships along the way, it kept speeding up. For that time, a speed of 5 knots for water transport was fantastic.

Standing on the deck of his steamship, Robert Fulton understood that a miracle was happening and steam, as a propulsion device for ships, would henceforth replace the sail and the fleet would become completely different.

How the oceans were conquered

The steamship arrived in the ocean spaces in 1819. It was the ship "Savannah" from America with paddle wheels, like all the very first ships. It was she who conquered the Atlantic, the ocean was crossed, although many miles of the journey were under sail. Then all ships were equipped with additional sails, this provided maneuverability in emergency and speed control.

Only in 1838 were they able to completely abandon sails and the English ship Sirius decided to sail across the Atlantic without sails. It, like all ships before it, had paddle wheels that were installed on the side or at the rear. In the same year (1838), the first version of a screw steamship appeared, the ship was called “Archimedes”, it was built by the English farmer Francis Smith. This was a revolution in world shipping, because the speed of movement increased significantly and the ship’s course itself became different, this was a completely new level of development of maritime transport, and it was screw steamers that completely replaced the sailing fleet.

Device principle

Subsequently, all ships were designed according to a similar principle. Propellers installed on a single shaft with a steam engine. There were other steamships - with turbines, they are driven through a gearbox or the turbine is driven by an electric transmission, they are called turboships and also have their own history from low-speed turbines to high-speed ones.

On the eve of the 20th century, namely 1894, became another milestone in the history of shipping, Charles Parsons built a ship similar to the prototype “Turbinia”, driven by a steam turbine. It was the first high-speed ship; it accelerated to 60 kilometers per hour. Even steamships of the mid-20th century were inferior to turbo ships; the efficiency of steamships was 10% less.

About the beginning of the Russian Shipping Company

In Russia, Fulton's name is also associated with the development of shipping. In 1813 he decided to turn to Russian government with a request to grant him the privilege to build the steamship he created and use it on Russian rivers. Emperor Alexander I granted the designer a monopoly right to establish a steamship service between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt and on other Russian rivers for 15 years. But the inventor was unable to fulfill the contract within three years, as stipulated by the contract, and lost the privilege. Bird began to implement the contract in 1815.

Karl Byrd owned a mechanical foundry in St. Petersburg; the plant produced Wyatt's 4-horsepower steam engine. and boiler, which were installed in wooden boat and set the side wheels in motion. The first steamship was named in honor of the Empress “Elizabeth” and sailed from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt in 5 hours 20 minutes. The people waiting on the shore were very surprised at such speed, since this rowing journey took the whole day. It was hard to believe this, so they decided to test a rowing speedboat and a steamship in a competition. "Elizabeth" overtook the boat and it became clear to everyone that Russia had the prospect of building a new fleet.

Major milestones in the development of steamships in Russia

Further, the development of shipbuilding began to grow gradually, the era was marked by a new development of river communication routes, at first this affected the Volga region. In 1816, the steamship “Pozhva” began to ply on the Kama River between Pozhva and Yaroslavl; it was built at an iron foundry in the city of Pozhva, which belonged to V.A. Vsevolzhsky.

Byrd also continued to build steamships, in 1820 he launched the Volga steamship on the Mologa River, the ship then plied on the Volga until the middle of the century, it was modernized, the engines and hull were improved, and the ship served regularly on the great Russian river.

In 1823, the baton was picked up by the Dnieper, the steamship “Pchelka” was built on his estate by the governor of Novorossiya, Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov, the ship overcame the Kherson rapids and regularly made voyages along the Kherson-Nikolaev route.

Then a quiet season begins in the shipping business in Russia. This happened because horse-drawn ships sailed on all the rivers, barge haulers worked, and the traditional technology of moving cargo along the waterway won and destroyed the desire for something new. But the commercial interests of business increasingly required speeding up movement and increasing the transportation of cargo volumes, and this could only be done if steam-powered ships were included in cargo transportation. Merchants and industrialists were ready to create a river fleet, public opinion turned out to be a hindrance, people considered shipping a frivolous activity, including officials, on whom the movement along the path of creation depended.

The situation changed a quarter of a century later. By the mid-19th century, the shipbuilding industry began to grow at a rapid pace. Historical data indicate that by 1850, about one and a half hundred steamships were already sailing along Russian rivers. By this time they began to open joint stock companies and shipyards on the Volga, on the Kama, in the North Dvina region, in Siberia. This fact contributed to active industrial activity and the growth of cities along the Volga and Siberia, the development of the natural resources of these lands and an increase in population on the outskirts of Russia.

Thus, the appearance of the first steamship in America on the Hudson River can be considered a global event and a positive moment for a new round of development of world civilization.

Video: Modern steamships

These days, steamships are popular mainly among enthusiasts. Watch the video.

Robert Fulton (1765-1815)

Sailing shipbuilding, having created a type of vessel called a clipper, had reached its limit. These were unusually elegant and sometimes quite large (up to 3000 tons of displacement) ships with a huge sail area, which made it possible to use the slightest wind. But the clippers could not oppose anything to the opposite wind, or calm (calm).

The first attempt to apply steam to the movement of a vessel was made by the Spaniard Blasco de Garay in 1543. In the works of Leonardo da Vinci, sketches of a vessel equipped with side paddle wheels were preserved. In 1705, the Frenchman Denis Papin installed a steam-atmospheric machine he invented on a boat and got the desired result. But the boatmen of the river where Papin carried out his experiments destroyed his boat for fear of competition. Papin was unable to find funds to continue the experiments.

In 1750, the Paris Academy of Sciences announced a competition for an engine that would replace wind power in the movement of ships. Then Daniel Bernoulli, a prominent scientist and founder of hydrodynamics, proposed the use of paddle wheels, proving that Newcomen's existing steam engine would not be able to produce practically valuable results. Somewhat later, when Watt's machine appeared, the Frenchman Geoffroy built a paddle steamer, but was unable to use his invention.

The American Fitch was working at the same time on a different type of engine: he tried to adapt a steam engine to oars. In 1768 and 1801, the English engineer Symington built two successful steamships, but the canal owners banned navigation under the pretext that steamships would destroy the canals. Seymington refused further work. Some inventors have tried to use jet engine, using a stream of water thrown out by a strong pump installed on the ship.

The first person to build a steamship whose practical value seemed undeniable was Robert Fulton.

Robert Fulton was born in 1765 in America, into the family of an Irish farm laborer. The death of his father forced Fulton to take up work very early. Twelve-year-old Robert is apprenticed to a jeweler in Philadelphia.

Spending the whole day doing hard work, Fulton enthusiastically painted at night. Frequent caricatures of the owner finally led to a quarrel, and Fulton was kicked out of the workshop. Several successful sketches made in a tavern secured Fulton’s reputation as a good portrait painter. Fulton spent six years painting portraits of his fellow citizens and considered himself an artist by vocation.

In 1786, an incident brought Fulton into contact with the famous American politician and scientist Benjamin Franklin. Franklin easily proved to Fulton that he was still very far from perfect, and offered to help him go to London to see his friend, the famous painter West.

Several months spent with West convinced Fulton that he would never be able to become a good artist, and Fulton found the courage to say goodbye to illusions. He went on a journey through the industrial cities of England as a simple worker, diligently studying the machines that had long interested him.

Diagram of the engine part of the steamship R. Fulton "Clermont"

Three years passed like this. During this time, Fulton gained fame as a skilled mechanic. In 1789 he returns to London, and here he meets the American Ramsay. Ramsay is hard at work inventing the steamboat. He recruits talented mechanic Fulton to work together.

Ramsay soon died, but Fulton never gave up the idea of ​​a steamship. Fulton himself does not have a single shilling, and it is impossible to find a person who would finance further work on the steamship. At this time, numerous canals were being built in England.

In 1793, Fulton, as a famous mechanic, was invited to take part in these works. A number of significant inventions by Fulton in the field of canal construction and other branches of technology date back to this time. He proposes, instead of the very slow passage of ships through the locks, to use the movement of ships on special rollers inclined planes; in addition, he invented a special plow for digging canals, a machine for sawing and polishing marble, a machine for buckling flax and hemp and twisting ropes. Fulton publishes several articles on the benefits of using steam in navigation on rivers, canals and seas. However, Fulton's inventions and plans were not appreciated by the English government.

In 1796, the American poet Barlow, who was then the United States ambassador to France, invited Fulton to Paris. The inventor gladly took advantage of this invitation, hoping that the bourgeois revolution in France would break the deep conservatism with which he so often encountered in England.

In Paris, Fulton begins to intensively study mechanics, mathematics and physics; diligently studies languages, knowing full well that in most cases the failures of his predecessors in working on the steamship were due to insufficient theoretical preparedness.

However, the money accumulated over the years of work in England was soon spent, and it was inconvenient to continue to enjoy Barlow’s hospitality. Then painting comes to the rescue once again. Fulton paints a panorama depicting the leaders of the revolution and episodes of the battles of the French army. The panorama was a huge success among patriotic Parisians. Fulton acquired money to continue his experiments and studies.

Despite the brilliant successes of the French revolutionary armies on the continent, supremacy at sea remained with England, hostile to France. The French fleet was too weak. Fulton, taking this circumstance into account, turns to the French government with a proposal to build a cheap but formidable weapon - an underwater vessel equipped with mines.

According to Fulton, this type of ship could break the English blockade and implement freedom of maritime trade for France. Fulton has been trying to convince the government of this for three years. Finally, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed an authoritative commission to review Fulton's invention. The commission approved the project and the funds were released. In 1800, in the city of Cherbourg, Fulton launched the first submarine, but it almost died when it ran aground.

Drawing of a steamship built according to the design of R. Fulton

In 1801, Fulton continued experiments with a second ship, first on the Seine, then in Brest. The results were excellent. During experiments in the summer of 1801, Fulton stayed under water for 4.5 hours and covered about 8 km during this time. Fulton blew up the old ship with the underwater mines he invented, proving the combat effectiveness of his underwater vessel.

It should be noted that Fulton was not the inventor of the submarine; he only continued and improved the idea of ​​the American inventor Buchnel.

Fulton's first submarine was called the Nautilus. It was built of wood and, in principle, almost completely anticipated modern submarines. The propeller for moving underwater was driven manually. The second boat, built in 1801, was more advanced: made of sheet copper, it could accommodate 4 people, and its speed under water reached 60 m per minute. The boat was armed with a mine invented by Fulton (a prototype of a torpedo).

Fulton's experiments were not always successful, and the government's patience was soon exhausted. A commission consisting of famous scientists - Laplace and Monjou - petitioned Napoleon for further funding of Fulton's experiments, but Napoleon, under the influence of the conservative Minister of Navy Decree, rejected the petition.

During a meeting with Fulton, Decre hypocritically stated that his submarine was a weapon for corsairs, and not for a powerful power like France. In desperation, Fulton decided to go to America, but new ambassador United States in France Livingston, who himself worked a lot on the invention of the steamboat, suggested that Fulton build a steamboat in France. Fulton took up the construction with enthusiasm.

Having decided to build an engine in the form of an endless chain with blades, Fulton learned about the failure of the French mechanic Deblanc, who was working in Lyon on a ship with a similar engine, and decided to build the engine in the form of a wheel with blades. In the winter of 1802, Fulton's small steamboat was already sailing along the Seine. In the spring of 1803, a second steamship was built, but unknown attackers destroyed it.

In the summer of 1803, a new ship of quite significant size was ready. And so, on August 2, 1803, admiring Parisians saw an extraordinary ship on the Seine, going against the current without oars or sails. Fulton's brilliant success, however, did not convince Napoleon of the steamship's suitability. He called the inventor a dreamer and rejected the project to build steamships.

French industrialists also did not realize what the greatest invention they could acquire. Fulton and Livingston approached the administration of the State of New York in America with a proposal to organize steamship traffic on the Hudson River. The agreement was signed, Fulton and Livingston began building the steamship. 20 liter car. With. for the steamship was ordered from the Watt plant in England. Fulton, living in England, supervised its construction, checking every detail.

Robert Fulton's steamship "Clermont"

At this time, the English government, alarmed by rumors of a new invention, wishing to maintain dominance over the seas, decided to lure Fulton. Fulton's experiments with mines and the submitted drawings of the submarine convinced the British Admiralty of the enormous importance of the invention. The Admiralty offered Fulton a large sum to give up building the submarine forever... Fulton, enraged by the cynical proposal, broke off the negotiations.

In the fall of 1806, the engine for the steamship was ready and brought to America. Fulton and Livingston spent all their property on the construction of the steamship, even mortgaging Livingston's house.
“Clermont,” as the steamer was called, was a fairly large ship, 50 m long and 5 m wide. It was equipped with a Watt engine with a capacity of 20 hp. The steamer was driven by two onboard paddle wheels.

Fulton checked all the calculations dozens of times, without losing sight of the slightest screw, taking into account the mistakes of his predecessors. Still, Fulton was painfully worried. Finally, the day of descent arrived. The Claremont, churning up the foam with its clumsy wheels, confidently and quickly went up the river. The inventor's enormous perseverance was rewarded. Practical Americans very quickly appreciated the advantages of the steamship. Fulton waited for the complete triumph of his idea.

Arriving in New York in December 1806, Fulton supervised the construction of a steamship planned in Paris with Livingston. He also tries to interest the American government in the submarine, but its demonstration ends in failure.

By the beginning of August 1807, the “Steamboat” (as Fulton called it), 45 m long, was ready for testing. Its steam engine had only one cylinder and used oak and pine wood as fuel. When tested, the steamship sailed the 240 km distance from New York to Albany in just 32 hours at an average speed of 4.7 mph, while the Monopoly required a speed of only 4 mph.

After installing cabins on the steamboat, renamed the Northern River Steamboat, Fulton began commercial travel in September 1807. He made three round trips every two weeks between New York and Albany, carrying passengers and light freight. During the first winter season, Fulton expanded the ship's hull, made improvements to the design of the crankshaft, wheels and improved passenger spaces. Following these modifications, the steamship was registered in 1808 as the Northern River Steamboat Claremont, a name soon shortened by the press to Claremont.

In 1808 Fulton married his partner's niece, Harriet Livingston.

In 1811, the steamship New Orleans, designed by R. Fulton, was built. He was sent south to establish the monopoly of R. Livingston and R. Fulton in navigation in the territory of New Orleans. Travel was slow and risky due to river conditions and the risk of earthquakes.

In 1812, R. Fulton built the first steam warship to defend New York Harbor from the British fleet, the Demologos, or Fulton. It had two parallel hulls with paddle wheels between them. The steam engine was placed in one housing, and the steam boiler in the other. It had a displacement of 2,745 tons, a length of 48 m and a speed of no more than 6 knots (or 11 km/h). In October 1814, this armored steamship underwent successful sea trials, but was never used in battle. In 1829 it was destroyed by an accidental explosion.

Since 1810, Fulton's three steamboats served voyages on the Hudson and Raritan rivers. His steamships also replaced ferries in New York, Boston and Philadelphia.

Fulton spent much of his capital in litigation over infringement of his steamboat patent rights and in attempts to suppress rival steamboat builders who had found loopholes in the government-granted monopoly. His wealth was then depleted by failed submarine projects and financial philanthropy.

After testifying at a legal hearing in Trenton in 1815, he caught a cold en route to New York, where he died. His family asked for help from the American government, and only in 1846 Congress allocated $76,300.

In 1965, on the 200th anniversary of Fulton's birth, a commemorative stamp was issued in the United States and the state of Pennsylvania purchased and restored the two-story country house, in which he was born.

Speaking about his invention, Fulton noted with the greatest modesty that he was only a link in the chain of great inventors who, for almost three centuries before him, had worked on the problem of the steam engine in shipbuilding.

Robert Fulton lived exactly 50 years, working until the last moment. He died of a cold at work in the winter of 1815.

V. Sergeev

Well, we can look at what shipbuilders have achieved now using the example of such ships as: or