The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-05-26
ACENTURY OF STEAM VESSELS
PROGRESS FROM THE CLERMONT
TO THE OCEAN HOTEL.

VI w
II will be one hundred years on August
: next sinoa the Clermont. tie first praoti-
raj q vessel. nado ieT maiden voyage
from New York TO Albany. This vossel
proceeded without stopping from New
York TO CIermont, the home Of Robert Lv
inEston. who was helping Robert Fulton,
the builder Of the Clermont, Tho distance
was no miles, After a stop Of twenty
Tours shc proceeded to Albany.
Then she went back to New York and made
the trip in thirty hours, at an average
speed OF Ave miles an hour. In less than q
month the Clernont was plying regularly
between New York and Albany and estab-
1ished the praoticability OF steam vessels
for trade.
The clermont was 1856 feet long. IS feet
broad, I feet deep and OF foO tons displace-
mont. The diameter Of her wheels wa
Is feet.
In one hundred years the steamship has
vsry nearly driven the sailing vessel on
the seas. When Fulton first suggested the
idea he was laughed at.
When IL was suggested that steamships
would cross the western ocean the idea
ives said to be senseless and before the
Savannah, the vessAl hrst to cross using
steam, made her trip eminent engineers
RAid that no vessel could be built large
enough 10 carry the necessary amount OF
fuel. The Savannah made her first trip
IN twenty five days, and she used rails
when the winds were favorable. Clipper
ships crossed In less than half that time,
and now II a hurried traveller does not
get to the other side in less than six days he
10 disappointed.
To grasp the advance made in the CEN
tury compare the Clermont with the Llsi-
tahia, the big turbine driven vessel Of the
Cunard Line, which will make her first
voyage across the ocean early this summer.
This vessel ID the largest Of all ocean steam
ships.
She measures 100 feet from end to end.
Her beam Ia IS feet. She ~displaces 5000
tons and her turbine engines will develop
about 10000 horse power, which It lie ex-
pected will drive the vessel at the rate OF
25 nautical miles an hour.
At this speed she will make the trip from
Queenstown to this port, which is about
$500 miles, in 4 days 10 hours. The fastest
trim hitherto made was ny the Lucania,
5 days 7 hours % minutes. Sha will make
the trip to Plymouth, 2,s6n miles, In about
4 days % hours. The Deutschland made
that journey in s days : hours IS minutes.
The Lusitania Ii TO make rs nautical
miles, or ~. 70 statute miles, an hour. The
Clermout for thirty hours averaged five
miles. There have hean steam vessels
Of about the same size as the Clermont
that have made between rs and 20 miles
an hour. These are torpedo boats or
steamers built for speed only.
Sir Hugh Bell, president Of the Iron and
STEEL Institute in London, recently pre-
dicted that within the next century vessels
would cross the Atlantic propelled by wire
less. and that power would be transmitted
from Mia Rara Falls. This statement may
seem wild, but II is probably no more 60
than the idea OF steam navigation seemed
one hundred years ago.
Fulton was not the drst to apply steam
to navigation. A steam vessel had been
tried on the Clyde in 1889, and by engineers
named Rumsay and Fitch In American
waters In 17se-s7, but Fulton was the first
to make a success Of his vessel.
The first steamship to 60 out on the
ocean was the Phoenix, a queer looking
craft, but a marvel in her day. She was
built by Fulton in 1909 and made a trip
from New York to Philadelphia, starting
on June 8 and arriving at her destination
on June II. She was a low, rakish looking
craft, fitted with a small engine and rugged
with two long masts on which sails were
carried.
From the Clermont steam navigation
began to be q success. Other vessels fol-
lowed. and with improvements in model
and in machinery speed was inoreas ed.
~ -. 49, ,,soI affair m a. nm nv
iliary to a large extent and sails were carried
on all vessels and used whenever possible.
while the engines were used in oalms or
adverse winds.
From the river the steamers soon went
out to sea and regular steam packet COM
munication was established between coast
ports. In 1919 the Savannah crossed the
Atlantic.
She was built as a sailing ship to ply be-
tween New York and Savannah and was
launched at Corlears Hook, New York, on
August %, 1878. She was then purchased
by some Savannah merchants and fitted
with steam machinery and paddle wheels.
The wheels were made 10 fold up 30 that
they could be laid on the deck when not in
use.
She left Savannah on May 20 and reached
Liverpool in twenty-five days, using steam
eighteen days. The log Of this vessel,
still preserved. notes that several times
during the voyage the wheels were taken
in and laid on deck in thirty minutes.
Then the Savannah vent 10 Cronstadt,
and an effort was made 10 sell her to the
Russian Government. but this failed and size
returned 10 Savannah, taking ffty-three
days for the voyage. There her machinery
Vas taken out and she finished her days
az q sailing vessel, finally being wrecked
OF the south coast Of Long Island.
The Enterprise, a British vessel 122 feet
long, went from Calcutta TO London IN
Ils days, ten Of which were spent In stop
pages. The voyages Of the Savannah and
the Enterprise settled the possibility Of the
use Of steam at sea and the question that
naval engineers next tackled wac whether
a ship could be built to cross the Atlantic
depending entirely on her steam power.
II was q question really Of fuel consumption.
The Savannah used pitch pine. and wood
vac for a long time the chief fuel for steam
ing In this country.
II was not until 1888 that any real success