Sea History 134 - Spring 2011

Page 24

It Seems Moses Caught the Fever Sail to Steam in the Nineteenth C e ntur y

- -Deirdre O'Regan, Editor, Sea History

or hundreds of years, naval architecture evolved very slowly. C hances are, a sailor from the nineteenth century could have sailed one of Columbus's ships with little guidance, and one of Columbus's crew could have sailed a nineteenth-century vessel with nearly equivalent ease. All this would change in the nineteenth century. In 1800, American ports and waterways were the domain of the sailing vessel, and, with the exception of the rowing galley, wind was the only propulsion the world had ever used. By 1900, mariners would still be using sailing vessels for limited commercial and recreational purposes, bur the shipping lanes were now filled with watercraft of all kinds, and few depended on the wind for power. There were steam paddlewheelers in rivers and coastal waters, ocean liners and seagoing vessels powered by steam and driven with the screw propeller, and even submarines had been developed for the navy. Before the century was out, the first experiments with diesel engines aboard ship were underway. The development of the marine steam plant changed not just the way ships were powered and designed, but civilization itself in myriad ways from passenger travel to communications, which in turn affected the movement of people from In this 1856 bird's-eye view of New York, looking north from the Battery, Corlears Hook juts out into the hinterland to the coasts and the East River, just north ofSouth Street; the North (Hudson) River is to the left. Notice the even ratio of across the oceans. Steam travel steamships to sailing vessels. Just fifty years before, no one could have imagined a scene like this. In 1807, changed commerce in every way Robert Fulton's experimental vessel, the North River Steam Boat (/,ater known as the Clermont), would imaginable, including the types embark on a journey up the Hudson River and change the course of maritime history. of cargo carried, where they were carried to, and how often it was done. Sailing ships had been transporting goods and people for hundreds of years, but where they went, how long it took to get there, and the reliability of arrivals and departures were unpredictable. In a broad overview of these dramatic changes across the nineteenth century, it is easy to forget, at times, that huge changes usually start with a small first step, and often with an individual who gets an idea and follows it to fruition , or from a series of steps taken by individuals to carry a process to its ultimate form. And so it was with the transition from sail to steam for boats and ships during this time. It didn't occur overnight, and for a long time the steam-powered vessel was simply a sailing vessel outfitted with an engine and paddlewheels or a screw propeller. In time the steam engine would change everything about how ships were designed, how they were built, and from what materials they were made. Historian John Laurence Busch became fascinated with the story of Captain Moses Rogers, one of the early players in the transiFulton's North River Steam Boat, 1807 tion from sail to steam, and his quest to take the evolution of steam-powered water transport to the next level after Robert Fulton's successful steamboat run in New York. Mr. Busch's fascination resulted in his new book, Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier. H ere, the author paints us a picture of that time in the summer of 1807, when Moses Rogers first got the spark, a spark that would lead to his taking a crucial step in the history of steamship development and oceanic travel. ,!,

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SEA HISTORY 134 SPRING 20 11


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