STEAMSHIPS
During the nineteenth century, large sailing ships almost completely disappeared as steam power took over. The first successful steam-powered vessel was a river steamer built in the USA by Robert Fulton in 1808. On early steamships the steam engine turned paddle wheels that moved the ship along, but by the 1850s most ships were using propellers instead. Ocean-going steamships kept sails, too, because they could not carry enough coal or water for long-distance voyages, and their engines were not very reliable.
One of the most important sea routes in the nineteenth century was across the Atlantic from Europe to the USA. Millions of people immigrated to the USA in ships. The first regular transatlantic service, starting in 1837, was the wooden paddle-steamer Great Western, built by English engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Larger and larger ships followed, including in 1858 Brunel’s Great Eastern, easily the biggest ship in the world at the time, which could carry 4000 passengers. Both passenger ships and merchant ships continued to increase in size, especially with the introduction of steel hulls in the late nineteenth century.
By the early twentieth century, huge luxury liners were crossing the Atlantic, and steam-powered merchant ships were carrying most of the world’s cargo. The fastest liners used the new steam turbine engine, in which the steam turned a fan-like turbine, which turned the propellers at high speed.
The Grand Princess (launched 1998) is one of the largest of the new generation of cruise liners designed especially for holiday cruising. It is larger than even the biggest of the transatlantic liners. On the ship’s 18 decks there are cabins for 2600 passengers, including luxury suites with balconies, several swimming pools, bars, cafes and a theatre. At the stem is a night club suspended over the ocean.
The Queen Elizabeth was one of the largest and most luxurious liners ever built. It was 314 m long and weighed more than 80,000 tonnes. It entered transatlantic service in 1946 after carrying troops during World War II, and retired in 1968.
In the middle of the twentieth century, steam power began to give way to diesel power. Diesel engines are smaller, cleaner, far more efficient, and need fewer crew to operate them. Steam had almost completely disappeared by the 1980s.
As air travel became convenient and cheap in the 1960s, passengers stopped travelling by sea and the age of the liner came to an end. But as cruise holidays became popular in the 1980s, construction of new, giant cruise liners began.
The French liner Normandie, launched in 1935, was nearly 300 m long, accommodated 1975 passengers and needed 1345 crew. It was the first of what were called the “1000-foot” liners.
HMS Dreadnought, launched in 1906, was the first battleship driven by steam turbines.
Picture Credit : Google