Steam and Sail in Britain and North America

The steam engine, developed by Newcomen and Watt, performed useful functions ashore during the 1700's, but steam navigation became a possibility only at the end of the century. This volume is the first book-length treatment of the maritime, naval and special-purpose vessels propelled by both steam and sail which plied the oceans during the ensuing period.

The transition from sail to steam power was an extraordinarily long one, extending over most of the nineteenth century. Despite its "obsolescence," the wooden sailing ship still developed in size and efficiency from 1860 to the end of the century, in the guise of the American 4- and 5-masted schooners and the British 3-masted schooners and ketches, while naval vessels were slowly replacing sail with steam. Ironclad ships, the screw propeller, the double screw, the compound engine, establishment of a network of bunkering stations, the passenger trade as a commercially valid enterprise, armament and metallurgy maritime rivalries – all had their place in the significant era of industrial and maritime history described in these pages.

In the course of this transition from sail to steam power some notable ships were launched. The Great Eastern, six times the size of any earlier ship, is perhaps the most famous, for from her prodigious decks were laid 5 trans- Atlantic cables and another from Bombay to Suez. Originally designed to carry 4,000 passengers and enough coal for a non-stop voyage to Australia, she never was fitted for or accomplished those grandiose goals. At 22,000 tons, powered by two separate systems, one to drive her paddle wheels and the other the screw, with over 6,500 square feet of canvas, she was, nevertheless, the Wonder of the Seas.

The naval expert authors provide full particulars on 64 other ocean-going vessels representing various stages in the transition: tonnage, building, dimensions, engine size and types, area of canvas, rig, guns carried and a succinct "shipography" from launching through decommissioning or refittings. Approximately one-third of these vessels were American. Each one is illustrated with a photo, some published here for the first time, along with some interesting pictures of other ships for comparison.

STEAM AND SAIL IN BRITAIN AND NORTH AMERICA contains a wealth of information for the ship and sailing buffs, students of transportation, maritime history and the history of technology. The volume contains a special list of readings from English and American sources.

– From the dust jacket