New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-09
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
STEAM NAVIGATION.

Rear u .. ~.
phia: 1. r Hammeray d Co.
R.ar Admiral George Henry Preble. OF the retired
Hat of the United States Navy anu one Oh us
oes.er. wbose contributions to The United Service
opete for the past eighteen months on steam navi-
cation have attracted general attention. has written
an interesting volume on the same subject
eptitled "A Chronological History oil the
origin and Development of Steam Navigation.
The historical memoranda, garnered after much
labor from transient literature and records, 10TH
valuable compilation of facts and statlsucs' emit
vened with many interesting and suggestive ihc'-
dents and anecdotes 1t is indeed surprising to see
how mucb interesting material has been here brought
together in single volume OF 4S3 pages. IL IN
eludes accounts of the most serious steamship disas
ters from 1888 to 1879, and copies THE 1RIBUNEs
records of steamship disasters all over the worio
from 1870 to 1888. The work begins with the prst
practical use of steam as motive power ior Vesseis
by Blasco de Garray at Barcelona. Spain, on June
IL 1913 and shows the advancement Oh s'ea'n
navigation 10 the present time. AS now inventors
are searching for some less expensive and less cuih-
bersomc motor than steam for propelnR vesseis,
and there are sigus that their success is not unlikely
IL may be that this history will scarcely need any
supplement.
The proposition of de Garray. in 1543, appeared
rdiculous but he was so convinced of Its ultimate
to appoint commission to witness his experiments
They were in a degree, successful. and de Garray
WAS promoted to the rank of officer and rewarded
with q considerable sum from the treasury. In
1880 Charles j. of England granted patent 10
David Ramseye to make boats, shlppes ana parges
to 90 against strong wind and tide" While Denis
Papin a French engineer, is claimed to have been
the inventor Of the steam engine in 1890, Jonathan
Rulls, who in 1896 obtained patent for propell-
ing q boat by steam, which, however, was never
mt 10 practical experiment. no doubt the first
Englishman who proposed to apply that power to
naval purposes James Watt. who did more to
make navigation by steam practical success than
any inventor who preceded him, obtained bis
first patent for steam-englne In
1860. The general idea of propeiling
vessels by submerged helix or screw is ancient
and its modern application to vessels propelled by
steam power Admiral Preble shows, is not due to
any one man. A vessel built by Captain Ericsson
was probably the first practical screw propeller the
world ever saw. The successful application OF steam
to the purposes of ocean navigation has brought
with it an era of rapid Improvement III naval archi-
lecture and all other matters relating to nautical
affairs.
In the year 1910 arrangements were MAIDS with
Robert Fulton toconstruct steam ferryboats and on
July 9. 1912. one named the Jersey began running
between Paulus Hook, Jersey City, and NewYork.
The event was celebrated with grand banquet
gwen by Jerseymen to the New-iork Common
Council The boat supposed to make half
hourly trips. but frequently an hour was consumed
in making the passage. Near the close of 1914
Fulton exhibited to the President of the United
States the drawing of proposed war-steamcr or
floating battery The project was favorably re-
ceived, and on June 20. 1914 the keel of Demo
locos or Fulton the First" was laid at Browns
nj in city W launched
October 90, 1914. After the she was
used as receiying-ship at the Brooklyn
NAVY Yard until June 4. 1929, when she
was accidentally or purposely blown up. Coming
down to the construction of the American steam
ship Savannah, the first ocean vessel propelled by
steam and which made the passage from New-York
to Liverpool in twentysi days in 1919, the author
declares that Mr.. Wocdcroft was grossly in error
when he pronounced her. in his work on Steam
Navigation" myth. She was built at Corlears
Hook, in this city, IN 1918, and was of 31S tons
burthen The first steamboats, to ascend the Mis-
souri,, Admiral Preble says, were three little
Government boats, in 1919, one of which
carried the fgure-hesd of a serpent at her
PROV, and through the reptiles mouth the
steam was discharged. When the savages saw this
they fed in alarm, fancying the spirit of evil was
coming bodily to devour them In the same year
the first steam vessel, the Robert Fulton was put
on the route between New-York, Charleston. Ha
vana and New Orleans. She was afterward sold TO
the Brazilian Government, and was running as late
as 1888. On July IL. 1922, the Rhode Island and
New-York Steamboat Company was formed, and
this was the beginning of the Long Island Sound
steam traffic.
The first iron-elad battery was conceived by
Robert L. Stevens of Hoboken, in 1882. 1t
was to be an iron-armored ship, $50 feet
in length. The keel was laid at the foot of Fourth
st. Hobokeo, in 1s43. At odd periods new I'M
prov ements were designed. and upon his death Mr.
T. A. Stevens left 81, 900 900 to complete the yes-
sci. directing that it should then be given to the
State of New-Jersey. The million was expended,
suits were brought by the heirs and at last. in
1880 the unfinished war vessel was sold as old
material 10 W. f. Laimbeer for sos, 900. Admiral
PrebIe accords to John Ericsson the credit of in
venting the fret practical screw steamer in 1886,
and the famous Monitor. Captain Ericsson also had
the honor of designing the Princeton the first screw
war vessel ever constructed, although Fulton the
Second was the pioneer steam war vessel OF our
present naval organization, and the second war
sci built by the United States.
Experience having shown that sea steamer of
1,sOO tons making the quickest passages to and
from England and Australia with full cargo and
complement of passengers. lost by the voyage from
Tl.O00 to 10000, did not deter the Eastern
Steam Navigation Company, with capital of
El2Oo, 0OO from building the Great Eastern.
vessel qaite overshadowing Noah's Ark. The Great
Eastern was $50 feet in length. SO feet beam, IS
feet depth of hold. and 2s.o93 tons measurement.
Noal's Ark was 547feet in length. OF feet BEAM "a
feet depth Of hold. aud q, 1852 tons measurement.
The Great Eastern was eleven days making the tip
to New-York.
Admiral Preble also gives An account of the latest
trunphs of marine engineering, and while his
work is almost confusing in its condensation. it
would be difficult to find volume containing such
vast wealth Of statistical and historical informs-
ton on the development of the mercantile marine.