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Historical Materials: Vessel Types
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Steamship / Engine-Powered Vessel / Coastal Steamer
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (36) »
"Engine-powered vessel" is a collective term used by nautical historians to include all vessel types using engine power of any type for propulsion, whether assisted by sails, oars, or other motive power. In Lane's time, steam reciprocating engines fueled by wood or coal were the only practical source of this power for ships using paddle-wheels or screw propellers to convert heat energy into motion.
For most of the nineteenth century, steamships had sails for auxiliary power; indeed the earliest examples relied principally on sails, using engine power in calm weather to shorten the voyage time or keep to a schedule. As engines became more efficient, powerful, and reliable, sail plans were reduced, to be used only to steady a vessel's motion in a seaway (for the sake of seasick passengers), or to maintain headway if the engine broke down. Only harbor craft, ferry boats, and coastwise passenger steamers relied solely on engine power.
Among Lane's depictions of steamships, the auxiliary steam packet Auxiliary Steam Packet Ship Massachusetts (inv. 442) is a good example of primary reliance on sails, while the steam demi-bark The "Britannia" Entering Boston Harbor, 1848 (inv. 49) and the Cunard Liner "Britannia", 1842 (inv. 259) have relegated sails to secondary (or simply emergency) motive power.
– Erik Ronnberg
Related tables: "Antelope" (Steam Demi-Bark) » // "Britannia" (Cunard Steamship) » // "Caledonia" (Cunard Steamship) » // "Harvest Moon" (Side-Wheel Steamer) » // "Massachusetts" (Auxiliary Steam Packet Ship) » // "R. B. Forbes" (Tow Boat) » // "T. F. Secor" (Steamboat) » // "Yacht" (Side-Wheel Steamboat) » // Steamers »
Castine Historical Society Collections (2015.03)
Also filed under: Historic Photographs » // Steamers »
Published by James French, Boston
Volume 1848-49
Boston Public Library
Call number 39999059856813
See p. 30 of directory.
Also filed under: "Britannia" (Cunard Steamship) » // "Caledonia" (Cunard Steamship) » // Trade Routes and Statistics »
Cartoon
9 1/4 x 13 3/4 in (23.495 x 34.925 cm)
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Mass.
Jonny and a Yankee:
Jonny: "Ho my Hi! 'ow she goes!! it his'nt fair I ham sure t'aint!!! She must 'av an engine hunder the keel..."
Yankee: "Where are your yachts now, Jonny? s-a-y- Do you think your wash tubs can come up to a real Yankee Clipper? Sorry for you, Jonny, but it can't be helped... A Yankee Ship a Yankee Crew, you know Jonny."
Also filed under: "America" (Schooner Yacht) »
Lithograph
Library of Congress Catalog Number 2002706878
Design of side wheel steamer showing wheel mechanism, side view and cross-section in ten figures. This design proved a failure in the few vessels that employed it. The paddle wheel enclosures filled with water, causing resistance which greatly impaired efficiency and increased fuel consumption.
– Erik Ronnberg
Oil on canvas
Maine Maritime Museum
Also filed under: Castine »
Steamer schedules for 1855, including the schedule for the steamer, "T. F. Secor" which served Castine, see pp. 234–35.
Also filed under: "T. F. Secor" (Steamboat) » // Castine » // Publications » // Steamers »