Bulletin - United States National Museum (1960) (20481436476)

Title: Bulletin - United States National Museum
Identifier: bulletinunitedst2191960unit (find matches)
Year: 1877 (1870s)
Authors:Jean-Baptiste Marestier, United States National Museum; Smithsonian Institution; United States. Dept. of the Interior
Subjects: Science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution Press, (etc. ); for sale by the Supt. of Docs. , U. S. Govt Print. Off.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries



Text Appearing Before Image:
'
Text Appearing After Image:
First Steamship To Cross the Atlantic, the Savannah, as drawn by the French naval constructor Marestier in 1820 and published in 1824 in his report on American steamers. (Smithsonian photo 45434-a.) fashion and within a few years the forerunner of the modern ore and bulk cargo carrier of the Lakes appeared, with pilothouse right forward and the engine, boiler, fuel, and a deckhouse for crew's quarters at the extreme stern. The steamboats of the Ohio and Mississippi and their tributaries have had a remarkable development. Fulton and Livingston had built the Orleans at Pitts- Ijurgh in 1811 in hopes of obtaining a monopoly in steam navigation on the Ohio as they had on New York waters. The Orleans was fitted with side paddle wheels and was of about 200 tons, measured for register. She was fitted with masts and sails. The hull was probably like that of the Ranlan in form; the cabins were in the hold and there were port holes in the sides. According to a contemporary description, the vessel had one stack and no superstructure. A stern-wheeler, the Comet was built at Pittsburgh in 1813. Fulton built the Vesuvius there in that year, and steamboat construction soon spread along the Monongahela and the Ohio, the boats gradually increasing in power as they began to take the now well known form of the Mississippi River steamboat. Racing of these steamers began in about 1830, the size of vessels rapidly increased as it had on the Hudson, and after about 1839 cabins on top of the deckhouse came into fashion and high-pressure boilers were usually installed. On the lower Ohio and on the Mississippi the side-wheeler was popular; on the upper Ohio and on the tributaries the stern-wheeler was preferred. By 1852 steamers on the lower rivers had become very large. The Eclipse, built that year, was 363 feet long, 36 feet beam and 9 feet deep; she was capable of making 16 miles per hour against the current, so that her speed in still water must have been about 19-20 miles per hour. In model such side-wheelers were shallow hulls having a straight keel, a curved and slightly raking stem, short vertical post with (page) 116