steam navigation

The art or practice of applying steam to the propelling of boats and ve els; the art or practice of navigating steam ve els. A doubtful claim has been made that on June 17, 1543, a Spaniard, Blasco de Garay, exhibited a steam-ship, which made an experimental trip in the port of Barcelona, in presence of commi ion ers appointed by Charles V. The Marquis of Worcester described a steam-ship in 1655, though he did not publish his description till 1663. On Dec. 21, 1736, a patent was granted to Jonathan Hulls for a kind of steam-tug, which he does not seem actually to have constructed. In 1783, Fitch, an American, moved a boat on the Delaware by pad. dles worked by a steam-engine; and in the same year Claude, Comte de Jouffroy, comstructed an engine which propelled a boat on the Saône. Paddle wheels had been patented by Miller in 1781, and for some time all steam-boats were propelled by paddles. [SCREW-PROPELLER.] Symington used a steam-boat on the Forth and Clyde in 1790, and in 1802 he had one on the Clyde which was able to tow ve els. Fulton used a steam-boat on the Seine in 1803; and in 1807 his boat, the Clermont , with engines built by Boulton and Watt, ran from New York to Albany, and soon afterward there was a regular service between these towns. The first succe ful steam-boat in Europe was Bell's Comet , which in 1812 ran on the Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, three times a week, with a maxi mum speed of five miles an hour. The first voyage of a steam-ship from New York to Liverpool was made by the Savannah in twenty-six days, in 1819. The first steam voyage to India was made by Cap. tain Johnson, Enterprise , 1825. Regular steam communication with America was begun in 1838; in 1845 the Great Britain did the distance from New York in fourteen days, about double the time now taken by fast liners. Marine engines are constructed on the same principle as land engines, differing mainly in their great size and power. Oscillating engines, beam engines with the beams below the cylinders, and engines in which the motion is communicated to the cranks by connect ing rods, are all employed. Since water is plentiful, even high-pre ure engines are worked at sea with condensers. Compound engines are also used to a considerable extent. [STEAM-SHIP.]