A chronological history of the origin and development of steam navigation

Preface

This volume is the outgrowth of a newspaper article on the origin, etc., of steam navigation, published in the Boston Commercial Bulletin in 1856 or 1857. My interest having been attracted to the subject, I have continued for twenty-five years to collect Notes for a History of Steam Navigation, most of which have been printed in the United Service during the last eighteen months.

Those Notes, revised and chronologically arranged, with many additions, are the substance of this volume, which is believed to contain more facts relating to the progress of steam navigation over the world than .have ever been gathered together in one book. The large share which is shown that Americans have had in the invention of the steamboat will be gratifying to my countrymen.

To record all the improvements' in the marine steam-engine from its inception to the present time would require many volumes. The abridgments or index of the specifications of patents in the English Patent-Office, relating to marine propulsion exclusive of sails, 1618 to 1866, fill two closely-printed 12mo volumes of 333 and 440 pages. The United States Patent-Office has published no such compendium.

Geo. Henry Preble.

Brookltne, Massachusetts, February 1, 1883.

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CONTEN

A HISTORY OF STEAM NAVIGATION.

Early Experimenters : Blasco de Garray, 1548. — David Ramseye, 1630. — Salomon de Carrs, 1641. — Marquis of Worcester, 1663. — Denis Papin, 1690-95.— Thomas Savary, 1698.— M. Duguet, 1699.— Jonathan Hulls, 1736.— M. Gautoir, 1752.— David Bournoulli, 1753.— Euler, 1753.— Mathonde la Cour, 1753.— M. Gautoir, 1756.— M. Genevois, 1759.— Comte de Auxiron, 1774. — Perrier, 1775. — M. Ducrest, 1777. — Guyon de la Plombiere, 1776. — Andrew Ellicott, 1775. — Marquis de Jouffroy, 1778 and 1783. — Thomas Paine, 1778. — Matthew Washbrough, 1779. — Abbe Darical, 1782.— Desblancs, 1782.— James Eumsey, 1784 and 1788.— William Bushnell. Inventor of the Screw, 1784. — Joseph Bramah, 1785. — John Fitch, 1785-91.— Oliver Evans, 1788.— Nathan Bead, 1788.— Patrick Millar, James Taylor, William Symington, 1788. — William Longstreet, 1790. — John C. Stevens, 1791.— Baron Seguier, 1792.— Earl Stanhope, 1792-94. —Elijah Ormsbee, 1792-94.— William Littleton, 1794.— Samuel Morey, 1794-97. — Edward Thomson, 1796. — Livingston. Stevens, and Roosevelt, 1800.— Hunter and Dickinson, 1800.— Edward Shorter, 1800— Samuel Brown, 1800

Wm. Symington's Steam-Tug, 1802. — Robert Fulton's French Experiments, 1802-4.— Oliver Evans, 1802-4.— Stevens, 1804.— The Clermont, Fulton's first successful Steamboat, 1807. — Robert L. Stevens, 1808. — Jonathan Nichols, 1807-9. — Inland Steam Navigation, United States, 1809. — John Cox Stevens's Sea-Voyage, 1809. — Robert Fulton's Patent, 1811. — Rapid Traveling in Steamboats, 1811. — First Steamboat on the Western Waters of the United States, 1811. — Fulton's Steamboats, 1812.— Steamboat on the Delaware, 1812. — Steamboats between Philadelphia and New York, 1818.— Hezekiah Bliss, 1810-19.— The Comet, and Henry Bell, 1812.— The Elizabeth, 1813.— The Clyde, and Glasgow, each 1813.— First Steamboat on the St. Lawrence, 1813.— Robert Fulton's Patent, 1813.— First Steamboat in India, 1810, 1819, 1821.— Early English Steamboats, 1813-15.— Loss by Wreck of Steamers in War, 1812-14. — The Margery et al., 1814. — The Demologos, or Fulton the First, the First War Steamship, 1814. — Steamers- in England in 1814. — The Argyle, or Thames, 1815. — Steam Navigation adopted in Russia, 1815-16. — Trevatheniet's Patents on Screw- Propeller in England, 1815. — Roosevelt claims the Invention of Paddle- Wheels, 1814-16.— Liverpool Steam Ferry-Boat, 1816.— The Majestic first to cross the English Channel, 1816. — First Line of Steamboats, New York to New London, 1816. — lona Morgan's Steamboat in Maine, 1816. — First Steamboat commanded by Cornelius Vanderbilt, 1817, — First Steam Tow-Boat, 1816.— The Firefly, 1817.— First Steamboat on the Rhine, 1817. — The Manifest of First Steamboat to Boston, 1817. — First Steamboat on

CONTENTS,

-Baltimore and Philadelphia Steamboat, 1813-15. — The first English Steam-Tug, 1818. — Steamers between the Mersey and Clyde, 1819.— First Steamer, Liverpool and Ireland, 1819 44

Chapter Iii.— 1819-18s8

The Savannah, the First Ocean Steamship, 1819. — David Napier's Enterprise,' 1819-22.— First Steamboats on the Missouri, 1819.— The Robert Fulton Steamship between New Orleans and New York, 1819. — Walk-in-the- Water, First Steamboat on Lake Erie, 1819. — First Steamboat on Lake Michigan, 1827. — First Kamsgate Steamboat, 1820.— First Steam- Vessels in the Royal Navy, 1820-23. — French Oflacers sent to United States to inquire about Steam-Yessels, etc., 1820. — First Steamboat on the Indus, 1820.— First Sea-going Steamboat for Hull, England, 1821.— First Steamboat Excursion from New York to Providence, 1821. — First Steamboat Line between Providence and New York, 1822. — David Gordon's Patent for Boxing Paddle-Wheels, 1822. — Table of Comparative Voyages of Sailing- and Steam- Vessels, 1822. — Number of Steamboats on American Waters, 1823. — Captain de Lisle proposes Screws to be applied to French Ships of the Line, 1823. — Delangue, of Paris, patents a Screw, 1824. — Steamer Enterprise goes from London to Calcutta, 1825. — Jacob Perkins's Propeller, 1825. — Samuel Brown's Canal Towing Company's Propeller, 1825.— Steamboat Speed on the Hudson, 1826.— Woodcroft's Screw, 1826. — Winter Steamboats between Philadelphia and New York, 1827. — The Atlas launched at Rotterdam, 1828. — The Swift, First Steamer in Turkey, 1828.— The Cura9oa, 1828.— The Steam-Brig New York, 1826.— Patten's Screw ; Copley's Screw ; Pettier's Screw, 1830. — First Steamboats on the Danube, 1830. — Temperance Resolutions of the Livingston Steam-Packet Company, 1829. — The Meteor, the First Ship of the Royal Navy to carry the Mails, 1830. — The Hugh Lindsay, First Steamer to navigate the Red Sea, 1830. — Girard's Screw, 1831. — First Steamer to arrive at Chicago, 1831.— Woodcroft's Screw, 1832.— First Wrought-Iron Steamboat, 1832.— The Firebrand's Long Voyage, 1833. — First Vessel of the Royal Navy to West Indies, 1832.— Junius Smith, the Originator of Ocean Steam Navigation, 1832-38. — The Second Steamship to cross the Atlantic, 1832. — First Steamer on the Merrimac River, 1834. — Smith's Screw, 1835. — Fitzpatrick's, 1835.— French Steamboats, 1836.— First Steamer to China, 1832. — An American Ironclad, 1836. — Commodore Barron's Ram, 1836. — Steam Tow-Boats introduced on the Delaware, 1836. — Steam-Vessels of Great Britain, 1836-37.— The Francis B. Ogden, Ericsson's First Practical Screw Steamer, 1836.— The Enterprise, 1839.— The Robert F. Stockton Screw, 1838-39. — Crossing the Atlantic under Sail. — The Princeton, First Screw War Steamer. — Smith's Screw Steamer Archimedes, 1836-38. — The Rattler, First English Screw War Steamer, 1843. — Austrian, Russian, and Hungarian Steamers, 1837. — Dr. Lardner on Steam Navigation of the Atlantic, 1837.— Steam-Vessels of the United States, 1838.— The Germ of the United States Navy, 1837 109

The Inauguration of Regular Transatlantic Steam Navigation. — Arrival of the City of Kingston at New York from Cork, April 2, 1838.— Arrival of the Sirius from Cork and the Great Western from Bristol at New York, April 23, 1838.— The President, 1839.— The British Queen, 1839.— Dimensions of the Earliest and Largest Transatlantic Steamships, 1840. — Miscellaneous Notes.— The Cyclops, Steam Frigate, 1840.— The Nemesis,

CONTENTS. 7

1840.— The Screw Steamer Archimedes, 1840.— The Argyle, Chili, and Peru, 1839.— The Cunard Line Inaugurated, 1840.~The Bangor, 1842. — The French Steam Navy, 1840. — Screw Steamers in Great Britain, 1842. — Steam Navigation on the Indus, Established 1842. — The Driver, the First Steamship to Circumnavigate the Globe, 1842. — United States Steamship Princeton, the First Screw Steam War-Yessel^^ 1843. — H. M. Ship Rattler, the Second Screw Steam War-Vessel, 1843. — The Great Britain, 1843.— First English Steam Collier, 1814.— The Midias and Edith, the First Steam Screw Vessels to China, 1844-45.— The Witch, 1845 — American Mail Steamships to Havre and Bremen, 1845-50. — The Propeller Massachusetts, 1845. — Thames Steamboats, 1845. — The North River Steamer Oregon, 1846. — The First French Atlantic Steamer, 1847. — First American Steamer to the Pacific, 1848. — The Gemini Iron Twin Steamer, 1850.— Screw Steamship Himalaya, 1851.— The Francis Skiddy, 1852.— The Australian, 1852. — The Argo, the Second Steamship and First Screw to Circumnavigate the Globe, 1854. — The Golden Age, 1854. — The Cunard Steamer Persia, 1855. — Steam Vessels of the Royal Navy, 1856 175

The Great Eastern, 1858 ; Description of the Vessel, etc. ; Her First Voyage to New York and Arrival described. — The Emperor, a Steam Yacht, presented to the Japanese, 1859. — The Scotland and England purchased by the Prince of Satsuma, 1861.— The Monitor, First Turreted Steam War- Vessel, 1861.— The Faid Rabani Yacht of the Khedive, 1863.— Number of British Inventions patented in the Ten Years preceding 1866. — Steamers on Lake Memphremagog, 1867. — The Kate Corser, the First Steamer on the Great Salt Lake, 1869. — An Extraordinary Inland Voyage, 1869. — • Coal-Saving Discovery, 1872.~-The Cable Steamer Faraday, 1873.— A Chinese Steamboat Enterprise, 1874. — The Bessemer Anti-Sea-Sick Steamboat, 1875.— The Double-Hulled Castalia, 1875.— The lona, 1876.— Steamboats in Corea, 1878. — The Solano, 1879. — The Remarkable Voj^age of a Wrecked Steamer, 1880.— The Comet on Lake Bigler, 1880.— A Mountain Steamer on Twin Lakes, 1880. — The Three Brothers transferred to the British Flag, 1880.— A Canal-Boat propelled by Air, 1880.— The Hochung, the First Chinese Steamer to cross the Pacific, 1880. — The Chinese Steamer Meefoo arrives at London with a Cargo of Tea, 1881. — Taggart's Screws, 1880. — The Anthracite, the Smallest Steamer that has crossed the Atlantic, 1880.— The Harriet Lane, 1881.— The Dessoug, 1881.— A Hydraulic Ship, 1881.— A Novel Steam Yacht, 1881.— The Kittatinny, 1881.— Steamboat Disaster, 1881.— The Fall River Line, 1882.— A West India Steamship Enterprise, 1882. — The Colossus, 1882. — Recent Novel Inventions and Experiments. — MdVse's Unsinkable Ship. — Lundborg's Twin-Screws. — Root's Side-Screw Steamship. — Coppin's Triple Steamship. — Fryer's Buoyant Propeller. — Rosse's Catamaran Steam Tugs 221

CHAPTER VI.

The Great Ocean Steamship Companies. — General Remarks, Ocean Tramps, etc. — The Cunard, 1840. — The Peninsular and Oriental, 1840. —Pacific Steam Navigation, 1840.— Royal West India Mail, 1841.— Collins Line, 1847. — Pacific Mail Steamship Company, 1848. — Warren Line, 1850. — Inman Line, 1850. — The Messageries Maritimes, 1851. — Allan Line, 1854 — Hamburg American Packet Company, 1855. — Anchor Line, 1856. — North German Lloyds, 1857. — Leyland Line, 1860. — Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 1862. — National Steamship Company,