The first steamship to cross the Atlantic without sails. The largest passenger liners of the XX century

The first steamship, like its counterparts, is a variant of a reciprocating steam engine. In addition, this name is applied to similar devices equipped with a steam turbine. For the first time, the word in question was introduced into use by a Russian officer. The first version of a domestic ship of this type was built on the basis of the Elizabeth barge (1815). Previously, such vessels were called "pyroscaphes" (in the Western manner, which means a boat and fire in translation). By the way, in Russia, a similar unit was first built at the Charles Bendt plant in 1815. This passenger liner ran between St. Petersburg and Krondshtat.

Peculiarities

The first steamship was equipped with paddle wheels as propellers. There was a variation from John Fish, who experimented with the design of oars powered by a steam device. These devices were located on the sides in the frame compartment or aft. At the beginning of the twentieth century, an improved propeller came to replace the paddle wheels. Coal and oil products were used as energy carriers on the machines.

Now such ships are not being built, but some copies are still in working condition. First-line steamers, unlike steam locomotives, used steam condensation, which made it possible to reduce the pressure at the outlet of the cylinders, significantly increasing the efficiency. On the technique under consideration, efficient boilers with a liquid turbine can also be used, which are more practical and reliable than fire-tube counterparts mounted on steam locomotives. Until the mid-70s of the last century, the maximum power indicator of steamships exceeded that of diesel engines.

The first screw steamer was absolutely undemanding to the grade and quality of fuel. The construction of machines of this type lasted several decades longer than the production of steam locomotives. River modifications left mass production much earlier than their marine "competitors". There are only a few dozen operating river models in the world.

Who invented the first steamboat?

Steam energy was used to give the object movement even Heron of Alexandria in the first century BC. He created a primitive turbine without blades, which was operated on several useful devices. Many such aggregates were noted by chroniclers of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

In 1680, a French engineer living in London provided the local Royal Society with a design for a steam boiler with a safety valve. After 10 years, he substantiated the dynamic thermal cycle of a steam engine, but he never built a finished machine.

In 1705, Leibniz presented a sketch of Thomas Savery's steam engine designed to raise water. Such a device inspired the scientist to new experiments. According to some reports, in 1707 a journey was made through Germany. According to one version, the boat was equipped with a steam engine, which is not confirmed by official facts. Subsequently, the ship was destroyed by embittered competitors.

Story

Who built the first steamboat? Thomas Savery demonstrated a steam pump for pumping water from mines as early as 1699. A few years later, an improved analogue was introduced by Thomas Nyukman. There is a version that in 1736 the British engineer Jonathan Hulse created a ship with a wheel at the stern, which was driven by a steam device. Evidence of successful testing of such a machine has not been preserved, however, given the design features and the amount of coal consumption, the operation can hardly be called successful.

Where was the first steamship tested?

In July 1783, the French marquis Geoffois Claude presented a ship of the Piroscaphe type. This is the first officially documented steam-powered ship, which was propelled by a single-cylinder horizontal steam engine. The car rotated a pair of paddle wheels, which were placed along the sides. The tests were carried out on the Seine River in France. The ship traveled approximately 360 kilometers in 15 minutes (approximate speed - 0.8 knots).

Then the engine failed, after which the Frenchman stopped the experiments. The name "Piroskaf" has long been used in many countries as the designation of a vessel with a steam power plant. This term in France has not lost its relevance to this day.

American projects

The first steamboat in America was introduced by the inventor James Ramsey in 1787. The test of the boat was carried out on the ship moved with the help of jet propulsion mechanisms operating from steam energy. In the same year, the engineer's compatriot tested the Perseverance steamship on the Delaware River. This machine was driven by a pair of rows of oars, which were powered by a steam plant. The unit was created together with Henry Foygot, as Britain blocked the possibility of exporting new technologies to its former colonies.

The name of the first steamboat in America is "Perseverance". Following this, Fitch and Foygot built an 18-meter vessel in the summer of 1790. The steam ship was equipped with a unique oar propulsion system and operated between Burlington, Philadelphia and New Jersey. The first passenger steamer of this brand was capable of carrying up to 30 passengers. In one summer, the ship covered about 3 thousand miles. One of the designers stated that the boat has mastered 500 miles without any problems. The nominal speed of the craft was about 8 miles per hour. The design under consideration turned out to be quite successful, however, further modernization and improvement of technologies made it possible to significantly refine the ship.

"Charlotte Dantes"

In the autumn of 1788, Scottish inventors Symington and Miller designed and successfully tested a small wheeled steam-powered catamaran. The tests took place on Dalswinston Lough, a ten-kilometer zone from Dumfries. Now we know the name of the first steamboat.

A year later, they tested a catamaran of a similar design with a length of 18 meters. The steam engine used as an engine was able to produce a speed of 7 knots. After this project, Miller abandoned further development.

The world's first Charlotte Dantes-type steamship was built by Seinmington in 1802. The ship was built from wood 170 millimeters thick. The power of the steam mechanism was 10 horsepower. The ship was effectively operated to transport barges in the Fort Clyde Canal. The owners of the lake feared that the jet of steam discharged by the steamer could damage coastline. In this regard, they banned the use of such ships in their waters. As a result, the innovative ship was abandoned by the owner in 1802, after which it fell into complete disrepair, and then it was dismantled for spare parts.

real models

The first steamship, which was used for its intended purpose, was built in 1807. The model was originally called the North River Steamboat and later the Claremont. It was set in motion by the presence of paddle wheels, was tested on flights along the Hudson from New York to Albany. The distance of movement of the instance is quite decent, given the speed of 5 knots or 9 kilometers per hour.

Fulton was delighted to appreciate such a trip in the sense that he was able to get ahead of all the schooners and other boats, although few believed that the steamer was able to go even one mile per hour. Despite the sarcastic remarks, the designer put the improved design of the unit into operation, which he did not regret a bit. He is credited with being the first to build the Charlotte Dantès fixture type structure.

Nuances

An American propeller-wheeled vessel called the Savannah in 1819 crossed Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, the ship sailed most of the way. Steam engines in this case served as additional engines. Already in 1838, the Sirius steamer from Britain crossed the Atlantic completely without the use of sails.

In 1838, the Archimedes screw steamer was built. It was created by the English farmer Francis Smith. The ship was a design with paddle wheels and screw counterparts. At the same time, there was a significant improvement in performance compared to competitors. At a certain period, such ships forced sailboats and other wheeled analogues out of service.

In the navy, the introduction of steam power plants began during the arrangement of the Demologos self-propelled battery, headed by Fulton (1816). This design at first did not find wide application due to the imperfection of the wheel-type mover, which was bulky and vulnerable to the enemy.

In addition, there was difficulty with the placement of the warhead of the equipment. There was no question of a normal onboard battery. For weapons, only small gaps of free space remained at the stern and bow of the vessel. With a decrease in the number of guns, an idea arose to increase their power, which was realized in the equipment of ships with large-caliber guns. For this reason, the ends had to be made heavier and more massive from the sides. These problems were partially solved with the advent of the propeller, which made it possible to expand the scope of the steam engine not only in the passenger fleet, but also in the navy.

Modernization

Steam frigates - this is the name given to medium and large combat units on a steam course. It is more logical to classify such machines as classic steamships rather than frigates. Large ships could not be successfully equipped with such a mechanism. Attempts at such a design were undertaken by the British and French. As a result, combat power was incomparable with analogues. The first combat frigate with a steam power unit is the Homer, which was created in France (1841). It was equipped with two dozen guns.

In conclusion

The middle of the 19th century is famous for the complex conversion of sailboats into steam-powered ships. The improvement of the ships was carried out in wheeled or screw modifications. The wooden case was cut in half, after which a similar insert was made with a mechanical device, the power of which ranged from 400 to 800 horsepower.

Since the location of heavy boilers and machines was moved to the part of the hull under the waterline, the need to receive ballast disappeared, and it also became possible to achieve a displacement of several tens of tons.

The screw is located in a separate nest, located in the stern. This design did not always improve movement, creating additional resistance. So that the exhaust pipe does not interfere with the arrangement of the deck with sails, it was made of a telescopic (folding) type. Charles Parson in 1894 created an experimental ship "Turbinia", the tests of which proved that steam ships can be fast and used in passenger transportation and military equipment. This "flying Dutchman" showed a record speed for that time - 60 km / h.

More than a century ago, the fastest and most elegant passenger ships were created to sail in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and it was here that the fierce struggle for the Blue Riband was born and developed - at first a symbolic prize, and later a silver cup awarded to the one who won the marathon distances between Europe and North America. In this uncompromising struggle, the liners collided with other ships, landed on rocks, and crashed against icebergs, as in a fierce race the captains could not slow down or bypass the dangerous area. Therefore, the history of the Blue Ribbon is a mournful list of people who found their death in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

To start telling your tale of fate steamer « Britannia"Perhaps it would be correct to mention the name of its creator Samuel Cunard.

In the city of Halifax North America Samuel Cunard was born in a poor hut by the sea in 1787. From an early age, he sold coffee, spices and delivered mail to earn a living. After saving some money, Cunard bought his first sailing schooner « Waite Auk”And since 1808 he began to make coastal flights on it. Things went smoothly and by 1812 Samuel already owned a whole fleet of 40 sailboats.

Samuel Cunard

With a fair amount of capital, Samuel Cunard began to invest in any enterprise that promised to bring profit: in forestry, coal mining, brick production, etc. Excellent commercial skills, an amazing sense of the market, natural intelligence and good judgment - all this fruit. By the age of fifty, Samuel Cunard was a multimillionaire, the happy father of seven daughters and two sons. It seemed that everyone could retire and enjoy life without tempting fate with unnecessary risks. But then he wouldn't be Samuel Cunard. His seething energy urgently demanded an outlet, and he began to look for a new big deal.

In 1831, during the launching of the next steamer Samuel Cunard uttered the words that became his motto, or rather the slogan of his company: “ Steam-powered ships, well built and well-crewed, could leave and arrive with as much precision as land-based trains.". And now, eight years later, having reached the heights in his business, Samuel Cunard boards a steamship and goes to Europe, to London, to convince the Lords of the Admiralty that he is Samuel Cunard, he can organize regular mail from Europe to America and back.

In London, in Piccadilly Circus, this inflexible man, who was called the "Napoleon of Business", rented an office and offered to build ocean-going ones with a power machine capacity of at least 300 hp. s., to transport mail from England to Halifax twice a month, the first of which will be built on May 1, 1840. Samuel Cunard also invited the best steam engine builder of the time, Robert Napier, to participate. His machines were of excellent quality and the most reliable in the world.

Two steam navigation enthusiasts easily found a common language and achieved a complete understanding. Robert Napier undertook to supply Samuel Cunard with steam engines for three passenger ships at a price of £32,000 per car. But with all the wealth of Samuel Cunard and the pliancy of Robert Napier, the new venture needed additional capital. Their friends George Burns and David MacIvera were involved in the case. The total investment was £325,000. In 1839, the newly created company entered into a contract with the government of England to transport mail across the Atlantic Ocean, for which the Admiralty undertook to pay the company 60,000 pounds a year.

Samuel Cunard thought he would need all three steamers to make two voyages a month, but the Admiralty insisted on building four ships, increasing the company's annual subsidy to £80,000.

February 5, 1840 at the shipyard " Robert Duncan & Company» in Scotland, a solemn launching of the first-born postal company took place - steamer, named " Britannia". This was followed by the construction of similar steamships « Acadia», « Caledonia" and " Columbia". Steamboats of the company ” were intended to sail from Liverpool to Boston with a stop at Halifax, delivering passengers and Her Majesty’s mail. So on July 4, 1840, a significant event took place - the first Transatlantic steamship line was born, which to this day is celebrated annually on both sides of the Atlantic.

And in maritime history the name of Samuel Cunard is forever inscribed - the man who believed in the steamship and made it an obedient means for regular communication between Europe and America. In 1859, for outstanding service to the development transatlantic shipping Samuel Cunard received a knighthood, and after his death in 1865 the company became known as " Cunard Line” and under this name it exists today.

Owner of company " British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company"Radically changed the atmosphere on their own. On the steamships « Britannia», « Acadia», « Caledonia" and " Columbia»Captains were categorically forbidden to use corporal punishment. They were staffed by highly disciplined and highly trained sailors. Navigators had to navigate their ships at high speed, but with maximum precautions.

steamer « Britannia' was small. However, in all of Liverpool there was no suitable berth for mooring the ship, and passengers had to be boarded in the roadstead, from a boat.

In the tradition of sailing packet boats steamer « Britannia» was two-deck. On the upper deck were the officers' quarters, a galley, a bakery, a tiny smoking room and... a cow stall. On the main deck passenger cabins were located: in the stern - first class, spacious, well ventilated; in the bow - second class, as well as two dining salons. A third of the ship's length was occupied by a steam engine and boilers.

So, July 4, 1840 at 2:00 pm on a windy overcast day steamer « Britannia"left Liverpool along the Mersey River on its maiden voyage, heading for the open sea. On board, in addition to the mail cargo, there were 63 passengers. Among them was Samuel Cunard himself with his daughter Anna. It was a subtle move - a wise businessman showed by personal example that swimming on steamboat « Britannia» is so safe that the life of the owner and his beloved daughter is entrusted to the ship.

The captain of the ship, Henry Woodruff, following the will of Samuel Cunard, steered the ship with the utmost care, not daring to start the steam engine at full power. And accordingly, the result of the transition was rather modest 14 days 8 hours, including a seven-hour stop in Halifax. However, in Boston steamer greeted with enthusiasm. There was a festival, a procession of mayors, foreign consuls and politicians, bands thundered. A five-hour banquet was held in honor of the founder of the new transatlantic line.

The company was compared to a pendulum, which invariably worked like a clock, and this was the reason that the company " Cunard Line” turned out to be the only organization that, in the conditions of fierce competition, managed not only to survive, but also to convey its traditions to the present day.

Returning from Boston to Liverpool, the captain and the owner of the ship felt incomparably more confident. steamer « Britannia"Went at a full speed of 10.98 knots and immediately beat all the previous achievements of the courts, covering the distance in 9 days, 21 hours, 44 minutes. This record was broken on May 11, 1842 steamer « Great Western».

first transatlantic liner - steamship Britannia

"Britannia" in the ice

The world was deeply shocked, and the name of Samuel Cunard thundered in Europe and America. In January 1842 on board steamer « Britannia»was visited by a young English journalist and future writer Charles Dickens, who in his stories about America, described his impressions on sea ​​vessel: his luggage was squeezed into the cabin, like a giraffe in a flower pot, and he compared the dining room to a hearse with windows.

Just like on transatlantic, meat and milk were taken for steamer « Britannia” in its original form: in roughly knocked together wooden boxes, randomly piled up on the deck. Chickens clucked all over the ship, ducks, geese, turkeys screamed, rabbits darted from corner to corner. Sheep bleated in the paddock and pigs grunted, doomed to be eaten while swimming. Nearby, a cow, a supplier of milk for children and the sick, phlegmatically chewed its cud. During a storm, when the waves were walking on the deck, many representatives of the "ship fauna" choked, and they were sent to the galley out of turn. Fresh vegetables were stored under the overturned boats. Having received a complete impression of the ship, the journalist returned back already on a typical sailing packet boat - one voyage on a steam ship was enough for the future writer for a long time.

in destiny steamer « Britannia” there is a place of one story that happened to him in Boston in the winter of 1844. In that year, winter just broke the brakes. The water area of ​​the port was covered with ice, the thickness of which reached 2 meters. The ice was so thick and strong that cotton and other goods were hauled across the ice in carts.

1st of February steamer « Britannia”was supposed to go on another voyage to the port of Liverpool, but this was out of the question. And then the townspeople came to the rescue steamer. Initially, two furrows 20 cm deep were cut with plows pulled by horses, and then 20 by 30 m slabs were cut with saws. These “icebergs” were hooked with hooks and driven under the ice cover with the help of horses. When there were not enough horses, people harnessed 50 people to one ice floe.

The people of Boston worked like crazy and in two days and two nights cut a canal 7 miles long and 30 meters wide. steamer « Britannia” came out on time, and when a considerable amount of money was offered to the participants in this colossal work, they proudly refused, saying that they did this to maintain the prestige and prosperity of their city.

For the first stage of his marine life" Britannia" made 40 flights across the Atlantic Ocean, after which in March 1849 it was sold to new owners " German Federation Navy". Entitled " barbarossa"And already with nine guns on board in 1852, the ship became part of the Prussian navy, where it served until 1880. ended the fate of the steamer « Britannia"as a floating target for torpedoes, which were then only being developed.

And who knows, maybe thanks to the first steamer « Britannia» companies « Cunard"German torpedoes gained sufficient destructive power and accuracy, which allowed German submarines to sink many peaceful ships during the First World War, including" Lusitania».

Technical data of the steamer "Britannia":
Length - 62 m;
Width - 10 m;
Draft - 6.4 m;
Displacement - 1135 tons;
Power point- one two-cylinder Robert Napier steam engine;
Speed ​​- 9 knots;
Power - 740 l. with.;
Paddle wheel - 2;
Number of masts - 3;
Number of passengers - 115 people;
Crew - 82 people;

THE FIRST RUSSIAN STEAMSHIP

In 1815, the first steamship was built in Russia. This significant event for domestic shipping took place in St. Petersburg at the Berd plant. The Scot Charles Byrd arrived in Russia in 1786. At first, he worked as an assistant to Carl Gascoigne, also a visiting specialist in Petrozavodsk at the Alexander Cannon and Foundry. Later in 1792, together with his father-in-law, another Scot, Morgan organized a partnership. One of the enterprises of the partnership was a foundry and mechanical plant, later called the Byrd plant.

At that time, the monopoly on the production of steamships was given by Alexander I to Robert Fulton, who was the inventor of the steam engine. But since for 3 years Fulton did not build a single steamboat on the rivers of Russia, the privilege to build passed to Charles Byrd.

The Scot took up the matter seriously, and already in 1815 in St. Petersburg, the first Russian steamship, called the Elizabeth, was built at the Byrd factory. The ship, called in the English manner "pyroscaphe" or "steamboat" became the ancestor of Russian steamships. As an engine on the "Elizabeth" they used Watt's balancing steam engine, the power of which was 4 horsepower, and the shaft speed was forty revolutions per minute. 6-bladed side wheels 120 cm wide and 240 cm in diameter were installed on the steamer. The length of the “Elizabeth” was 183 cm, the width was 457, and the ship’s draft was 61 cm. The steam boiler for one furnace worked on wood, a chimney came from it made of brick, which was later replaced with metal. Such a pipe could serve as the basis for a sail, its height was 7.62 m. The Elizabeth could reach speeds of up to 5.8 knots (almost 11 km / h).

The first time the steamer "Elizaveta" was tested on the pond of the Tauride Garden and showed good speed there. Subsequently, Charles Byrd continued to promote his invention. For example, he invited St. Petersburg officials for a boat trip. During the trip along the Neva, the guests were entertained and treated, but, in addition, the route included a visit to the plant.

The first regular flight of the steam boat "Elizaveta" from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt departed on November 3, 1815. The road there took 3 hours 15 minutes, back due to bad weather - just over 5 hours. There were thirteen passengers on board. In the future, "Elizabeth" began to regularly walk along the Neva and the Gulf of Finland, and with the light hand of P.I. Rikord, the English name "steamboat" was replaced by the Russian "steamboat". Rikord was one of the first to compose detailed description the first Russian steamer "Elizaveta". Thanks to the success of his invention, Charles Bird received several large government orders and created his own shipping company. New steamships carried both cargo and passengers.

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THE FIRST STEAMSHIPS

The beginning of the use of steam engines "on the water" was 1707, when the French physicist Denis Papin designed the first boat with a steam engine and paddle wheels. Presumably, after a successful test, it was broken by boaters who were afraid of competition. After 30 years, the Englishman Jonathan Hulls invented the steam tug. The experiment ended unsuccessfully: the engine turned out to be heavy and the tugboat sank.

In 1802, the Scotsman William Symington demonstrated the steamship Charlotte Dundas. The widespread use of steam engines on ships began in 1807 with voyages passenger steamer Claremont, built by American Robert Fulton. From the 1790s, Fulton took up the problem of using steam to propel ships. In 1809, Fulton patented the Clermont design and went down in history as the inventor of the steamboat. Newspapers reported that many boatmen turned a blind eye in horror as the "Fulton monster", belching fire and smoke, moved along the Hudson against the wind and current.

Already ten or fifteen years after the invention of R. Fulton, steamships seriously pressed sailing ships. In 1813, two factories for the production of steam engines began operating in Pittsburgh, USA. A year later, 20 steamboats were assigned to the port of New Orleans, and in 1835 there were already 1,200 steamboats operating on the Mississippi and its tributaries.

By 1815 in England on the river. Clyde (Glasgow) already operated 10 steamers and seven or eight on the river. Thames. In the same year, the first sea steamer "Argyle" was built, which completed the passage from Glasgow to London. In 1816, the steamer "Majestic" made the first trips to Brighton-Havre and Dover-Calais, after which regular sea steam lines began to open between Great Britain, Ireland, France and Holland.

In 1813, Fulton turned to the Russian government with a request to grant him the privilege to build the steamboat he invented and use it on the rivers Russian Empire. However, Fulton did not create steamships in Russia. In 1815 he died, and in 1816 the privilege granted to him was annulled.

The beginning of the 19th century in Russia is also marked by the construction of the first ships with steam engines. In 1815, the owner of a mechanical foundry in St. Petersburg, Karl Byrd, built the first paddle steamer "Elizaveta". A factory-made Watt steam engine with a capacity of 4 liters was installed on a wooden "tikhvinka". with. and a steam boiler that powered the side wheels. The car did 40 revolutions per minute. After successful tests on the Neva and the transition from St. Petersburg to Kronstadt, the steamer made voyages on the St. Petersburg-Kronstadt line. The steamer traveled this route in 5 hours and 20 minutes at an average speed of about 9.3 km/h.

The construction of steamships on other rivers of Russia also began. The first steamship in the Volga basin appeared on the Kama in June 1816. It was built by the Pozhvinsky iron foundry and ironworks of V. A. Vsevolozhsky. With a capacity of 24 liters. s., the ship made several experimental trips along the Kama. By the 20s of the 19th century, there was only one steamboat in the Black Sea basin - Vesuvius, not counting the primitive steamboat "Pchelka" with a capacity of 25 hp, built by Kyiv serfs, which two years later was carried through the rapids to Kherson, from where he made flights to Nikolaev.

THE BEGINNING OF DOMESTIC SHIPBUILDING

Despite all the unfavorable conditions that hinder the implementation and dissemination of Russian inventions, the works of Russian innovators back in the 18th century. in the field of construction of steam engines and metallurgy contributed to the introduction of steam and iron shipbuilding in Russia. Already in 1815, the first Russian steamship "Elizaveta", a car, made flights between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt; which has a capacity of 16 liters. with. was made in St. Petersburg at the Byrd factory. In 1817, the first Volga-Kama steamships and machines for them were built in the Urals. In 1817, the Izhora Admiralty Shipyard built the Skory steamship, 18 m long, with a 30-hp engine. with. and in 1825 the steamer "Provorny" with an 80 hp engine. with. Vesuvius (1820) and the 14-gun steamer Meteor (1825) were the first steamships on the Black Sea.

Based on the experience of building small steamships that served for port needs and transportation of goods, in 1832 the military steamship "Hercules" was built. It was equipped with the world's first improved steamship machine without a balancer, built by Russian innovative technicians. Such machines appeared in England only at the end of the thirties of the XIX century. In 1836, the first wheeled 28-gun steamship-frigate "Bogatyr" was built with a displacement of 1340 tons, with a machine with a capacity of 240 liters. with., manufactured at the Izhora plant.

The first steamship to cross the Atlantic was a small American sailing packet boat, the Savannah, with a steam engine installed on it. The historic voyage began on May 24, 1819 in Savannah, Georgia and ended on June 20 of the same year in Liverpool.

The porridge was brewed by 39-year-old captain Moses Rogers. He commanded one of Fulton's steamships, and the experience inspired him so much that the captain convinced his employers, the shipping firm Scarborough & Isaacs, to buy a sailboat and convert it into a steamer. The New York-built Savannah packet ship was chosen.

It was a small ship with a displacement of 320 tons and a length of just over 30 meters. It was equipped with a steam engine with a capacity of 90 horsepower (give or take like Daewoo Lanos). The Savannah was supposed to be driven by paddle wheels located on the sides of the hull with a diameter of almost 5 meters. The fuel supply was to be 75 tons of coal and 100 cubic meters of firewood. The purchase of the ship, its refitting and finishing cost $50,000.

According to Rogers' project, the Savannah was supposed to carry wealthy passengers across the Atlantic Ocean. For them, the ship had 16 richly decorated double cabins and three common salons, decorated with carpets, mirrors, paintings, draperies and other things - "... like on the most expensive yachts." For sailors, the ship did not seem to be so attractive - in New York it was nicknamed the "steam coffin". An attempt to hire a crew ended in complete failure. The sailors had to be transported from Rogers' home state, Connecticut, where the captain was well known and trusted.

The Savannah was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

On March 22, 1819, the first sea trials of the "transatlantic" were carried out, and on March 28, the ship set off under its own power to its home port - Savannah. The Savannah reached its destination after 207 hours, of which 41 (and a half) hours the ship was moving using a steam engine. In Georgia, a crowded and solemn meeting was organized for the packet boat - despite the fact that it arrived at the port at four in the morning.

The ship began to prepare for a transatlantic voyage. Additional advertising for the enterprise was made by US President James Monroe, who was just visiting nearby. The shipowners managed to persuade him to take a ride on the steamer and even eat lunch there. The President expressed deep satisfaction with the realization of the prospects for American shipbuilding; rejoiced at the bright future of American shipping; and expressed a desire to acquire Savannah after transatlantic flight for subsequent use as a cruiser - to combat piracy in the Caribbean.

And finally the big day came. On May 19, 1819, an announcement appeared in the Savannah Republican: "Steamboat Savannah (Captain Rogers) will sail for Liverpool tomorrow, 20th, under any circumstances." Apparently, any expected circumstances did not arise - the Savannah set sail (in puffs of steam and smoke) at five o'clock in the morning, Monday, May 24, 1819. As soon as the shore with admiring onlookers disappeared from sight, the steam engine was drowned out, sails were raised and the ship sailed to Liverpool, using a mover, albeit less impressive, but more reliable.

In fact, most of this historic voyage went under sail - the steam engine worked for only 80 hours - out of 707. In addition, the steam engine regularly caused misunderstandings - oncoming ships, seeing the sailboat sailing in clouds of smoke, made the quite logical conclusion that “ Savannah is on fire. And, of course, they hurried to the rescue - to help put out the fire.

On June 18, the ship was already in sight of Cork, Ireland. On the same day, the holds ran out of fuel. I had to replenish his supplies in Kinsale - a triumphant appearance in Liverpool without puffs of steam and smoke was not taken into account.

On June 20, 1819, between five and six o'clock in the evening, there was a sensation in Liverpool. The Savannah, puffing with clouds of smoke, entered the port. Of course, boats rushed to her from all sides to help put out the fire. The first steamship in history crossed the Atlantic in 29 days and 11 hours.

“The fantastic ingenuity of the Yankees took away the primacy of the seas from the British Empire,” wrote the British press, “and at the same time paved a new route of communication between the Western and Eastern hemispheres.”

Savannah spent 25 days in Liverpool. All this time, visitors were coming on board in an endless stream - everyone was interested to look at the miracle of technology. Curiosity was fueled by the rapidly spreading rumor that an unusual ship was hired by Jerome Bonaparte in order to kidnap Napoleon from St. Helena.

From Liverpool, the ship headed for St. Petersburg. On the way between England and Russia, the steam engine was used much more actively than in the Atlantic - almost a third of the distance from Liverpool to Kronstadt, the Savannah passed under steam. Two stops were made along the way - in Elsinore (Denmark) and Stockholm (Sweden). The Swedes even tried to buy the ship, but the Americans were not satisfied with the proposed amount. Having entertained the crowned heads of Scandinavia and Russia (for which Rogers was awarded a considerable number of very valuable gifts), on October 10, 1819, the ship set off from Kronstadt on its way back. Having crossed the stormy Atlantic Ocean under sail, on November 30, at ten o'clock in the morning, the steamer entered Savannah. The journey across the Atlantic and back took six months and eight days.

In January 1820, a fire broke out in Savannah, as a result of which the Scarborough & Isaacs company suffered significant losses. To cover them, the Savannah was sold. After the change of ownership, the steam engine was dismantled and the packet boat - now sailing - cruised between New York and Savannah. On November 5, 1821, the ship ran aground near Long Island. Soon the waves finished the job and the land (more precisely, sea) path of the Savannah, the first steamer to cross the Atlantic, was completed.

Captain Moses Rogers briefly survived the ship that was the fruit of his dreams. He died of yellow fever in Georgetown (South Carolina) ten days after the crash of the Savannah on November 15, 1821.

The owners of transatlantic packet boats, keen on competition, did not immediately notice that they had a terrible enemy, who, after a couple of decades, would begin to displace sailing ships from all ocean routes. These were ships.

The task of our book is not to tell how and where the first steam-powered ships appeared. We confine ourselves to a reference that by the time the first regular line was founded on the Atlantic, dozens of steamships had already been built in different countries of the world. But then they did not pose the slightest threat to the packet boats, since the main place of their work was rivers and canals.

When one of the creators of the early steamships, John Fitch, expressed a prophetic thought in the presence of a group of entrepreneurs that the time would come and steamships, especially passenger ones, would be preferred to all others vehicles, one of the participants in this meeting whispered to another: "Poor fellow! What a pity that he went crazy!" And one of the prominent scientists of the early 19th century, Dionysius Lardner, quite authoritatively stated that a steamship would never be able to take on board such an amount of fuel as was necessary to cross the ocean, and therefore the creation of a steamship operating on the New York-Liverpool line is the same absurdity, like a trip from New York to ... the moon.

However, life disproved these prophecies, and the steamboats began to gradually make their way through unbelief and prejudice.

When the sailing ship Savannah was being built at one of the American shipyards, no one thought that it would be included in all books on the history of navigation. The sailboat owes this to the excellent sailor Moses Rogers, who commanded the first steamships of Robert Fulton and believed in the future of steamships so much that he decided to found his own steamship company. To this end, he acquired a steam engine and was now looking for a ship to put this unit on it. The choice fell on the newly built Savannah.

The ship had a gracefully curved prow and a stern that seemed to be chopped off, the so-called transom. Among the three high masts carrying the sails, a bizarre pipe consisting of two elbows looked very unusual - so that it could be turned in different directions so that smoke and sparks did not fall on the sails. Paddle wheels with a diameter of 4.6 m were installed along the sides of the Savannah, which, when sailing, were removed, folded like a fan and laid in this form on the deck, where they did not take up too much space. To protect the deck and the people on it from splashes, removable canvas shields were mounted above the paddle wheels.

Savannah had two saloons and first class cabins for 32 passengers. The speed of Savannah during the operation of the steam engine was snail's: only 6 knots.

Initially, Rogers intended to operate Savannah along the Atlantic coast of the United States, but at that time a depression set in in the country, and the owner decided to drive the ship across the ocean, where it would be profitable to sell it and establish a more profitable enterprise,

On May 19, 1819, the following announcement appeared in the Savannah Republican: "Steamboat Savannah (Captain Rogers) to-morrow, the 20th, under any circumstances, will sail for Liverpool." As for "any circumstances," the captain overestimated his capabilities somewhat. But on May 22 - the day that is still celebrated in America as a holiday of navigation - Savannah nevertheless went on a voyage, having on board 75 tons of coal and about 100 m 3 of firewood. Puffs of black smoke enveloped the onlookers who had gathered on the shore to see the outlandish vessel sail. As soon as the shore was out of sight, the fire in the furnaces was extinguished, and the further part of the way Savannah went mainly under sail.

However, despite the extremely rare use of the steam engine, more than a modest fuel supply came to an end very quickly, and on June 18 an entry appeared in the ship's log: "There is no coal to support steam." Fortunately, the energy crisis came at Rogers already near the coast of England, so that the ship reached the nearest port of Kinsale without any incidents and replenished its supplies.

And two days later there was a sensation near the Liverpool port. The coast guard saw the ship covered in smoke, and several ships rushed to her aid. What was the surprise of the sailors when they were convinced that the ship being rescued was leaving them briskly enough and its crew did not at all want to be rescued.

So 27 days 11 hours after leaving the American port, Savannah reached Liverpool. In England, the novelty was treated with great curiosity, but no more. Nobody wanted to buy a ship. Rogers' commercial affairs in Stockholm and St. Petersburg ended just as unsuccessfully. In the deep autumn of the same year, Savannah returned back to America. For the entire time of sailing from west to east and back, the Savannah steam engine worked only 80 hours, and therefore the British by no means agree to recognize this ship as the first transatlantic steamer.

Moses Rogers, who returned to the United States, was on the verge of ruin and, in order to somehow save the situation, offered Savannah to the naval department, but his proposal was rejected. With great difficulty, Rogers sold Savannah at auction to a small New York sailing packet boat company. The new owners first of all removed the steam engine from the ship, and then put it on the New York-Savannah line. But the work of the ex-steamboat turned out to be very short-lived. A year later, Savannah sat on the rocks off Long Island and was not even filmed. Rogers himself returned to the river steamers, but soon died of a fever.

After Savannah, there were several more steam ships that were not at all intended to conquer the Atlantic, but by chance directed across the ocean, they, partially using wind energy, reached their goal. Among these Atlantic pioneers were the USS Rising Star; the sailing schooner Caroline, which, like the Savannah, was later equipped with a steam engine: the steamship Kalp, renamed Curaçao a few years later; steamship Royal William. The last ship, built in 1831, is interesting in that among its 235 shareholders-co-owners were Samuel Cunard, whose name is associated with the entire subsequent history of transatlantic shipping, as well as his two brothers: Henry and Joseph.

The ship was laid down in Quebec in September 1830 and launched on April 29, 1831. On the occasion of the descent, the mayor of Quebec declared a public holiday. Thousands of residents of the city attended the ceremony, orchestras thundered and cannons fired. The launched ship was towed to Montreal, where two steam engines with a total capacity of about 300 hp were put on it. with.

Externally, Royal William resembled a traditional sailing schooner with a sharp bow and a long bowsprit, but between the three masts a modest thin chimney was visible.

On the sides of the wooden hull, paddle wheels revolved and desperately splashed through the water - as a person who cannot swim does who has fallen into the river. The ship could take on board 130 passengers: 50 cabin and 80 cabinless.

Initially, the Royal William was intended for short flights between the Canadian ports of Halifax and Quebec, but passengers did not indulge this "flammable" ship with their attention, and when a cholera epidemic broke out in Canada, the ship was completely out of work. And then the owners of the Royal William decided to do the same thing that the owner of Savannah Moses Rogers did ten years ago: try to sell a ship that no one needs in Europe.

This flight, which was scheduled for August 1, 1833, was widely advertised in Canadian newspapers. Passengers were promised "tasteful, elegant cabins" and excellent service. The ticket price was £20, "not including the cost of wine".

Despite widespread advertising, the owners of the ship managed to seduce only seven passengers (all British), who entrusted their lives to the fire-breathing monster. The cargo of the ship was also small: stuffed birds - samples of the fauna of Canada, which a certain master McCulloch sent to London for sale.

On August 4, 1833, at 5 o'clock in the morning, the ship left Quebec. At the port of Pictou, Nova Scotia, the steamer took in coal and other supplies, and the pedantic customs officer made the following entry in the register:

"August 17. Royal William. 363 registered tons, 36 people. Port of destination - London. Cargo - about 330 tons of coal, a box of stuffed birds, six spare bars for spars, a box, ten trunks of luggage. Some furniture and a harp" .

The Atlantic met Royal William with a terrible storm. The foremast was broken, one of the two steam engines failed. With great difficulty, Captain John McDougall and the mechanic managed to repair the car. Every fourth day, cars had to be stopped to clean the boilers from scale.

Nevertheless, the steamer safely reached England, and, unlike Savannah, they managed to sell it profitably - for 10 thousand pounds sterling. The new owner did not use the steamer for long and, not without profit, resold it to Spain, where, under the name Isabella Sekhunda, the former Royal William became the first steamship in the Spanish navy. It is noteworthy that McDougall was invited to the post of commander of this ship, who so masterfully brought the steamer from America to Europe.

In 1837, another Royal William was built - this time on the other side of the Atlantic, in Liverpool. This is the first steamship with watertight iron bulkheads, although the hull was still made of wood.

The new Royal William went on her maiden voyage on July 5, 1838, with 32 passengers on board. According to eyewitnesses, the ship sat in the water so deep that the passengers had to bend over the bulwark to wash themselves.

The Atlantic met the liner with severe storms, so it took 19 days to overcome the ocean. Nevertheless, the Americans gave the steamer high marks. The following advertisements appeared in American newspapers:

"The English steamer Royal William, 617 reg. tons, Captain Swanson. This beautiful steamer, recently arrived in New York, will leave for Liverpool on Saturday, August 4 at 4 pm. The ship was built only 16 months ago. Due to its design (divided five watertight compartments) she is considered one of the safest ships in England. The ship has spacious and comfortable cabins. The fare is $ 140, including food and wine. The cost of mailing letters is 25 cents per sheet or one dollar per ounce. "

As announced, on August 4 at 4 p.m., the ship left New York for Europe and crossed the Atlantic in a very good time - 14.5 days. This ship served for a very long time and was scrapped only in 1888.

Among the ships - the predecessors of steam transatlantic liners, one cannot but mention the steamship Liverpool, named after the city where it was launched. For its time, it was a rather large vessel 70 m long, taking on board 700 tons of cargo and 450 tons of coal. As the Liverpool Mercury wrote on October 12, 1838, it is "a floating leviathan, having mighty means to overcome thousands of miles against wind and opposing currents."

"Floating Leviathan" Liverpool

Liverpool entered the history of transatlantic shipping as the first double-tube steamship. With the interior design of the cabins and other premises on this ship, those elements of luxury have already appeared, which later turned the liners into floating palaces and hotels.

On October 20, 1838, the ship left Liverpool with 50 passengers on board. 150 tons of cargo, 563 tons of coal. But already on the sixth day of the voyage, the captain saw that the fuel reserves were dwindling with catastrophic speed, and he had no choice but to return to the port of Cork. to replenish the bunker.

Only on November 6, the steamer set sail for the second time and on November 23, on the 17th day of sailing, arrived in America. It must be said that Liverpool did not have much success: well-designed interiors could not compensate for the poorly made hull of the vessel, through the grooves of which water seeped in during storms, and in terms of speed the liner was inferior not only to steam ones, but also to many sailing ships. Therefore, after several trips to America and back with the same results (there - in 17, back - in 15 days), the ship was sold to another company, which began to call it Great Liverpool, and under this name the liner died in 1846.

The first ship to cross the Atlantic without the aid of the wind was the relatively small steamer Sirius, built in 1837 and intended to carry goods and passengers between London and the Irish port of Cork.

In those years, the London entrepreneur Junius Smith founded the transatlantic steamship company and ordered a steamer for it, which later received the name British Queen. The ship was designed in such a way that it could not cross the Atlantic without the help of the wind. But unexpectedly, the company that built the ship went bankrupt, and it remained unfinished.

Meanwhile, the outstanding engineer Brunel (we will devote quite a lot of space to him on the pages of our book) was finishing the construction of his first-born Great Western. Smith had no doubt that Brunel's steamer would be the first to cross the Atlantic without the help of the wind, and Smith did not want to allow this, and he makes a desperate decision: to find a suitable steamer and send it to America to get ahead of the Great Western.

Of course, Smith did not find a suitable steamer - there were simply no such ships at that time, and therefore, after a long search, he opted for the Sirius steamer, which was clearly not suitable for its historical mission. The only thing the entrepreneur could rely on was luck and the desperate captain Roberts, an ardent supporter of steam engines.

On April 3, 1838, at 10:30 a.m., Sirius set sail with 98 passengers and 450 tons of coal on board. The overloaded steamboat sat in the water almost to the very deck. If there had been a small squall, Sirius would have inevitably capsized, but, apparently, fate itself protected the ship - the weather was excellent.

In total, there were 37 crew members on Sirius, including two cabin boys, a flight attendant and a "servant", whose functions are still a mystery.

Almost simultaneously, the Great Western also took off, but it was clear to everyone that only a miracle could bring victory to Sirius. But this miracle happened: at the very beginning of the journey, a fire broke out on the Great Western, and he had to return to port. So Captain Roberts got an unexpected head start, and he used it to the fullest. If the sailor did not act quickly enough, the captain pulled out a pistol and he had to move. When the steamship ran out of coal, pieces of mast chopped into firewood, furniture and ... a wooden doll, requisitioned in the name of a noble goal from one little passenger, flew into the furnace.

On April 22, late in the evening, Sirius completed the transition, and on the morning of April 23, he triumphantly entered the New York port with a result of 18 days 2 hours. The following lines appeared in the Curir Inquirer on April 24:

"We cannot judge how profitable it is to use steamers on regular postal lines in terms of fuel consumption. But if we talk about the very possibility of crossing the Atlantic under steam ... - even the most convinced skeptics should stop doubting this issue."

On May 1, Sirius set out on a return voyage, and on the 18th, Prosperity moored in the port of Falmouth. For this feat, Roberts was appointed captain of the large steamship British Queen, but his triumph was short-lived. Soon Captain Roberts perished along with the steamship President. Sirius himself was no longer sent across the Atlantic, and he worked modestly on the London-Cork line.

As for Sirius' competitor, the great steamship Great Western, it went on a voyage three days later after repairs and lagged behind Sirius by only six hours. But if on Sirius absolutely all fuel resources were used up, then on the Great Western there was still a fair amount of coal.

We have already mentioned the British Queen, which was to be the first steamship to cross the Atlantic without the aid of the wind. When she was finally built, the newspapers called this liner "the most beautiful example of London shipbuilding, which knows no equal in elegance, strength and perfection of proportions." Launched on May 24, 1838, British Queen became the world's largest steamship. It was a three-masted liner with barque rigging. The nose of the wooden hull was decorated with a sculpture of Queen Victoria. It was assumed that the ship would be named Princess Victoria, but while construction was underway, Victoria became queen, and the ship was named British Queen, that is, the British Queen. The completion of the ship was delayed until the summer of 1839, and when the work was completed, the Great Western already reigned supreme in the Atlantic.

On the first voyage, British Queen, under the command of our friend Captain Roberts, crossed the Atlantic in 15 days. The new liner left New York on August 1 back. By coincidence, the Great Western was leaving on the same day, and many passengers and New Yorkers made a bet: which of the two ships would come first. Perhaps it was then, on the New York pier, that the idea of ​​the symbolic prize "Blue Ribbon" was born, under the banner of which the entire subsequent history of transatlantic passenger shipping passed. I must say that this race was won by Great Western, ahead of the competitor by 12 hours.

With great difficulty the ship won its right to exist, and this was understandable. After all, for a long time the steamship lost to sailboats in almost all respects - in terms of construction cost, operating costs, safety. Indeed, in the period 1816-1838 alone, 260 American river steamers perished, including 99 as a result of a boiler explosion.

The reliability of steam engines was extremely low - they often broke down. And they needed so much fuel that the captain was always in danger of being left in the middle of the ocean without coal. Therefore, even many decades later, when steamships completely replaced packet boats, masts with sails were kept on them for a long time "just in case".

The steamships also lost a lot according to purely aesthetic criteria. They had nothing of the beauty and elegance of their ancestors - sailing ships, and nothing of the grandiosity and power of their descendants - steamers, turboships and motor ships. Dirty, smoky, with awkward pipes, ugly architecture, they looked like the ugly duckling from Andersen's fairy tale, and it took great effort, creative effort of scientists and designers of several generations to turn the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

Even the most important factor that, it would seem, should have been the decisive argument in favor of the steamer - speed - at the first stage of the development of steam ships turned against them. Sailboat captains, who had vast experience in navigation, overtook steamships, although today this seems incredible. And yet it is so. By the beginning of the 30s of the last century, steamships crossed the Atlantic in 15-20 days, and back in 1815, the Galatea sailboat traveled from Newfoundland to Liverpool in 11 days, the Yorktown sailboat crossed the Atlantic in 13.5 days, Oxford took about 14 days, and the clipper Dreadnought covered the distance from New York to Queenstown in one of its flights in... 9 days 17 hours! Decades passed before steamboats broke these records set by sailboats. And it was necessary to have the gift of great foresight in order to see in the first steam ships, so far from perfection, that decisive force that would subsequently make the steamship the master of the sea: namely, the ability to get out of the power of the elements, become independent of the whims of the winds and ensure the regularity of navigation .