second World War the need of quick expansion of the 

 merchant fleet caused these to be employed in the 

 "Liberty Ships." The modern American merchant 

 marine employs the turbine-electric drive as well as 

 geared turbines, and marine engineering has reached 

 a high level of effectiveness in the United States. 



Though the speed of ships has increased, much of 

 this increase has been due to improved powering and 

 engineering rather than to better hull design. The 

 difficulties in designing an efficient hull were recog- 

 nized very early in the development of modern naval 

 architecture. In Europe, in the 17th and 18th cen- 

 turies, the idea was put forward of using models of 

 ships to predetermine the performance of full-sized 

 vessels and a number of experiments were made; in 

 1721 the first known proposal for the use of towed 

 models was made by Swedenborg but without effect. 

 About the middle of the 18th century Chapman, an 

 eminent Swedish naval architect, carried out some 

 model experiments. Others were Bird in 1756, 

 Benjamin Franklin in 1764, and d'Alembert, Con- 

 dorcet, and Bossut, who built a test tank in 177,S at 

 the Paris Ecole Militaire; this was operated at least 

 until 1779 and perhaps longer. In 1790 a "Society 

 for the Improvement of Naval Architecture" was 

 formed in England and between 1793 and 1798 

 Beaufoy carried out experiments for the Society in 

 the Greenland Dock at London which were reported 

 privately in 1799. Charles Gore continued these 

 experiments and reported upon the effect of length 

 in proportion to beam; he designed a large, 3-mast 

 lugger to illustrate the application of the results of 

 his tests. 



About 1830 Alexander Hall and Company, at Aber- 



deen, Scotland, established a private model-testing 

 tank and as a result of experiments this firm built 

 some very fast sailing vessels. At about the same time 

 Robert L. Stevens was carrying out extensive model 

 testing at New York with both sailing and towed 

 models; using the latter method he also experimented 

 with steamboat hull forms. Other experimenters used 

 model testing in various ways; among them William 

 Froude, who began testing models privately in 1862- 

 63. In 1870, obtaining aid from the British Admi- 

 ralty, he established a model testing tank at Torquay. 

 Froude's work and general methods may be said 

 to have established the basis for modern model-testing 

 techniques. In 1886 a larger tank was built in Eng- 

 land; by that time one was in use in Holland and 

 another in Scotland. 



The first model tank in the United States was estab- 

 lished at the Washington Navy Yard in 1 900 and was 

 operated under the supervision of Rear Admiral David 

 W. Taylor. Since that time many model-testing tanks 

 have been established in this country, at the University 

 of Michigan, Northwestern University, \Vebb Insti- 

 tute of Naval Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of 

 Technology, Stevens Institute of Technology, Newport 

 News Shipbuilding Company, and the very large test- 

 ing facility operated by the United States Navy at 

 Carderock, Maryland — the David Taylor Model 

 Basin. 



The use of these test facilities has raised the stand- 

 ards of boat and ship design in the LTnited States. 

 Although there is still much to be done, not only in 

 tests but in improvement of testing technique, Amer- 

 ican designers now ha\e facilities for scientific study 

 equal or superior to any country in the world. 



Catalog of the Collection — Merchant Steam 



JOHN FITCH'S STEAMBOAT, 1786 

 Rigged Model, usnm 203712 



This model was made in the Museiun to represent 

 the first steamboat Fitch tried out in July 1786 on the 

 Delaware River. The boat is supposed to have been 

 about 34 feet long and was propelled by two banks 

 of oars, one on each side, operated by a ratchet-chain- 

 and-drum drive. In August 1786 a second boat, 45 

 feet long and 8 feet beam, was begun and in 1788 a 

 third boat, 60 feet long and 12 feet beam, was 



launched. A fourth boat was started in 1790 Ijut was 

 wrecked before its trials and never repaired. The 

 third boat ran as a packet between Philadelphia and 

 Trenton. She is described as having stern oars, as 

 indicated in the drawing for the French patent granted 

 Fitch (see p. 109). This is apparently the steamboat 

 referred to by a Philadelphia newspaper. She was 

 named Experiment. 



In its issue of Monday, July 26, 1790, the Federal 

 Gazette and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser had the 

 following notice: "Tfe Steamboat sets out tomorrow at 



121 



