SHIP-BUILDING. 



5C3 



for S320|000. The offer being accepted, the vessel [ screw. One of these, the Robert F. Stockton, was 

 was built in 1814. She was 156 feet long, 56 feet launched in 1838. She was 70 feet long by 10 feet 

 wide, and 20 feet deep, drawing 10 feet of water, beam by 64 feet draught. She had two propellers 



in line, 6J feet in diameter. She made 12 knots an 

 Lour. The vessel was rigged as a schooner and sent 

 to America under sail under the command of Capt. 

 Crane, with a crew of four men and a boy, being the 

 first iron vessel to cross the Atlantic. She was old 



The paddle-wheel, for protection, was hung in the 

 middle of the hull ; it was 16 feet in diameter, the 

 buckets 14 feet long, with 4 feet dip. Her ton- 

 nage was 2475. The boiler was 22 feet long by 12 

 feet broad by 4 feet deep, the cylinder 4 feet in di- 



in 1840 to the Delaware and Raiitan Canal Company, 



She was 



ameter by 5 feet stroke. She made a speed of 



knots an hour, and was a most formidable vessel, j and her name changed to the New Jersey. 



Her magazine blew up in 1829, destroying the vessel. j used as a tug for several years. 



In 1809 the first race on the Hudson took place be- 1 Capt. Stockton having introduced the screw into 

 tween rival boats, Fulton's boat beating. For many I America in this way, and its advantages being recog- 

 years nearly all the steam-boats were built by Charles nized, it at once sprang into favor, and in less thaiv 

 Brown, but the industry soon spread, and vessels ten years 150 screw vessels had been built in Amer- 

 were built at Newburg, Philadelphia, and Balti- ica. It was through Stockton that Ericsson gave up 

 more. j his engagements in London and came to America. 



To Robert L. Stevens the Hudson is principally The government concluded to fit one of the war- 

 indebted for its steamers, as he carefully studied ships authorized in 1839 with an Ericsson propeller, 

 the conditions of river navigation and led off in en- ' and the Princeton was so fitted, the machinery being 

 gine improvements and in making the ends of ves- placed below the water-line, the first war-vessel of 

 sets long and sharp. Old boats were lengthened and this class in the world. She was 164 feet long, 30^ 

 some had false bows put on ; while some of the ves- feet beam, and drew, with outfit and 200 tons of coal, 

 sels built after 1830 had solid ends, go sliaip and BO 19J feet. She had flat floors amidships and a sharp 

 well designed that they parted the water with scarcely bow and stern. The stern post was 26 inches thick 

 a ripple, and lately such vessels as the Maiy Pow- where the screw shaft passed through it, tapering 

 ell have attained speeds of 25 to 28 miles an hour. ! above and below. The stern overhung 15 feet, and 



To traverse Long Island Sound boats were built hanging from it was a wrought-iion rudder-post, 

 broader and deeper than the river boats, as they ex- heeling on an oak extension of the keel, leaving a 

 perienced rougher weather. The Rhode Island, space of 6 feet between the stern and rudder-posts. 

 built in 1836, was 212 feet long and 28 feet wide. The screw was made of a brass drum 8 feet in diame- 



Fulton started with the paddle-wheel, and it is ter, fitted with six brass blades having a helk-oidnl 

 nsed to this day for river navigation, but the screw, twist, extreme diameter 14 feet, pitch 35 feet, length 

 being much better adapted for deep-sea service, has in direction of the axis 2 feet, and weight 12,000 ll>s. 

 entirely superseded the paddle-wheel in ocean-going The vessel made 13 miles an hour. The cost was 

 steamers. The invention of the screw is directly 212,000. 

 connected with the story of the advance of ship- The iron tug R. B. Forbes was built at Boston in 



building. 



1845. The first tug fitted with screws, built at Phil- 



As our earlier boats built for river traffic nsed the adelphia, was built by \Vm. Cramp in 1849, the en- 

 padille, developments were in that direction, and but gine being made by Jacob Neafie. This tug was of 

 little attention was given to the valuable experiments , wood, 80 feet long by 17 feet wide by 8 feet deep.. 

 of Fitch and Stevens. But in England they needed The screw up to this time had been placed below 

 something different from the paddle, as the paddle, the keel, but Mr. Cramp, seeing the disadvantage of 

 being often out of the water daring lolling and this, gave the tug Sampson a six-foot screw, extend- 

 pitching, was not suited to ocean work, and in 1825 ing 3 feet below the hull, with a keel built down aft 

 a premium was offered for the best device for pro- to protect, and in a short while he made another 

 pelling vessels other than by paddles. A naval step in advance and placed the screw above the keel 

 officer invented a screw with two blades, and one or i in the position where it is placed to this day. 

 two boats were fitted with it. This caused more at- i The English still adhere mainly to the paddle-wheel 

 tentiou to be devoted to the subject, and in 1836 tug. but the handy American screw tug-boat is un- 

 patents were taken out by F. P. Smith, of London, doubtedly superior. The average tug is about 90 feet 

 and John Ericsson. Smith's screw was a spiral long by 18 feet wide by 9^ feet deep. They are sharp 

 wrapped about an axis, and having been tried on a and deep, draw about 8 feet of water, having low 

 small boat, a larger vessel, the Archimedes, 125 feet free boards and considerable sheer forward. Tho 

 ling, was built, fitted with a screw 5 feet 9 inches in |*machinery is, covered by a house, with a pilot-house 

 diameter and 8 feet pitch, the blade making a com- j at the forward end. Strong towing bitts are placed 



Eletetum round the axis, this being shortly replaced forward and aft. 

 y two blades making half-turns. The Smith screw i The first steam-vessel to cross the Atlantic was the 

 was not commercially successful, but the world owes I Savannah, built by Crockett and Fickett, at New 



to John Ericsson the development of a new and suc- 

 cessful method of propulsion. 



The first practical screw vessel was the Francis B. 

 O-;den, built in 1837, and named after the U. S. con- 

 sul at .Liverpool, who had perceived the advantages 

 of Ericsson's screw. This boat, 45 feet long, was 

 fitted with two screws, 5 feet 3 inches in diameter, 

 consisting of a hub of iron around which were 

 placed several plates having a spiral twist. This lit- 

 tle boat, drawing 2} feet of water, developed a speed 

 of 10 miles an hour, and towed a schooner of 170 

 tons at 7 miles an hour. The Admiralty refused to 

 encourage Ericsson, however, as it was held that 

 vessels could not be steered with such an arrange- 

 ment. 



Capt. Robert F. Stockton took a trip on the 

 Tlmnes in tho Ogden in 1837, and at once gave nn 

 ordjr for two iron boats fi'tcd with tha Ericsson 



York, in 1819. Originally intended as a sailing 

 packet, she was rigged as a ship, a 90-horse-power 

 engine placed between decks, with boilers in the 

 hold, and was fitted with paddle-wheels. In May, 

 1819, she was taken by Capt. Moses Rogers to 

 Savannah, and on May 25 started thence to Liver- 

 pool, making the passage in 25 days, during 18 of 

 which she was under steam. The Savannah was not 

 a fast boat, and her machinery was finally taken out, 

 and she was wrecked on Long Island. However, 

 she showed to the world what could be done in 

 steam-navigation, and England at once began to de- 

 velop this part of her mercantile marine and navy. 

 She granted subsidies to lines to various points, and 

 by giving contracts for a number of steam men-of- 

 war enabled ship and engine builders to put in tho 

 expensive plants necessary for this sort of work. 

 The screw propeller made its first appearance ia 



