The Story Of The Paddle Steamer

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THE STORY OF THE

PADDLE STEAMER

BERNARD DUMPLETON

© 1973 Bernard Dumpleton New paperback edition 2002 by venton, an imprint of intellect. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission. Electronic ISBN 1-84150-863-2 / ISBN 1-84150-801-2 Cover design by Daniel Carpenter and May Yao

LIST OF CONTENTS Chapter

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

Page

INTRODUCTION THE PIONEERS OCEAN PADDLE STEAMERS THE ‘GREAT WESTERN’ PADDLE STEAMERS OF THE THAMES AND MEDWAY THE ‘NAVVIES’ THE BIG SINKING FREAKS AND FAILURES THE GREAT LEVIATHAN THE POWER AND THE GLORY THE BONNY BOATS OF CLYDE PADDLE STEAMERS OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST WEST COUNTRY PADDLE STEAMERS SOUTH COAST PADDLE STEAMERS TUGS AND TUGMEN RIVERBOATS OF AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA UNDER THE WHITE ENSIGN THE TWILIGHT YEARS

9 11 21 33 40 50 58 66 73 80 92 108 124 138 154 161 173 184

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

198 199 200

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THE STORY O F THE PADDLE STEAMER The paddle steamer holds a unique place in the history of maritime engineering. When the engineers of the early nineteenth century experimented with steamboats, they chose the paddle wheel as the form of propulsion. Within twenty years the paddle steamers were at work on inland waters and short sea passages. They were graceful, elegant ships, but in the jet-age too slow and uneconomical. In the 1950s they went to the breaker’s yards in droves, and now there are only a few left. This book tells the story of the paddle steamers, and of the men who built, owned and sailed them. BERNARD DUMPLETON is a freelance journalist and has written feature articles for a number of magazines. Ships have long been one of his favourite subjects, and it was a visit to the paddle-steamer Medway Queen, preserved in the Isle of Wight, which led him to become a member of the Paddle-Steamer Preservation Society and subsequently to write this book. Also available: Brunel’s Three Ships by Bernard Dumpleton and Muriel Miller.

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