60 BULLETIN 127, UNITED STATES XATIOXAL MUSEUM, 



Distensions of vessel. — Length over all. 103 feet 3 inches; on deck, 

 101 feet; beam, 16 feet; depth, 6 feet 9 inches; foremast above 

 deck, 57 feet; foreyard, 35 feet; mainmast above deck, 50 feet 2 

 inches; mainboom, 40 feet; maingalf, 21 feet. Scale of model, one- 

 half inch equals 1 foot. 



The hull and engine of the Phoenix were built under the personal 

 direction of Col. John Stevens. Originally the vessel was equipped 

 with a crosshead engine, with twin condensing cylinders, 16 inches 

 diameter and 3-foot stroke. The boiler, set in brickwork, consisted 

 of a cylindrical shell with one return flue. After making the trip 

 from Sandy Hook to Philadelphia the double cylinders were replaced 

 by a single cylinder of 24 inches diameter, a flywheel being used to 

 actuate the shaft " over the center." 



The Phoenix made her trip from Sandy Hook to Cape May, the 

 first sea voyage ever made by a steam vessel, in the summer of 1808. 

 On her passage she encountered a storm, which damaged her some- 

 what and compelled her to seek shelter in Barnegat Bay. After 

 reaching Philadelphia she ran for a number of years as a packet on 

 the Delaware River. She was finally wrecked at Trenton, X. J., 

 in 1814. 



The experience obtained in constructing and operating this vessel 

 formed the basis for the successful career of Robert L. Stevens as 

 a marine engineer. 

 Made in the Museum. Cat. No. 160,303 U.S.N.M. 



Model of steamboat. 



The Orleans was the first steamboat to navigate the Ohio and 

 Mississippi Rivers. She was constructed at Pittsburgh, Pa., 1810-11, 

 by Nicholas Roosevelt, from plans and capital furnished by Robert 

 Fulton. 



She was a wooden, carvel-built, stern paddle-wheel steamboat, 

 with blunt bow, scowlike run. and light draft. 



Dimensions of hoat. — Length, 116 feet; beam, 20 feet; depth, 7 

 feet. Scale of model, about one-sixteenth inch equals 1 foot. 



The engine had a single horizontal cylinder 34 inches diameter, 

 constructed by Fulton at his shops in Jersey City, N. J., which actu- 

 ated a single paddle wheel attached to the stem of the boat. 



Nicholas Roosevelt, accompanied by his bride, made the first jour- 

 ney from Pittsburgh to New Orleans in a steamboat in this vessel 

 m the summer of 1811. 



The Orleans plied between New Orleans and Natchez for several 

 years. 



