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1901.] MARINE REVIEW. 19 its boilers, is still, we believe, preserved in the Stevens Institute at Ho- boken. It is interesting to note that the young man whom Prof. Renwick saw in 1804 acting as coxswain in the queer little boat, was John 'Cox Stevens (son of the colonel), who in later years founded the New York yacht club, and steered the famous yacht America in her historic race off the Isle of Wight, when she won the international cup in 1851. He was sent over to England by his father to take out an English patent for the invention, and he called upon the famous James Watt with the plans. It is said that Watt objected to the thing, because he did not' believe in the practical use of steam at a pressure more than 2 or 3 lbs above the atmosphere. As to this we read, some years ago, in Cassier's Magazine that "At the date of the introduction into use of the screw propeller, 1838, the pressure of steam carried on the boilers of condensing engines of the vessels that now navigate the bays and rivers of the Atlantic sea- board, averaged about 30 lbs. per square inch, while on the innumerable steamboats on the Mississippi and-its tributaries the steam averaged 140 Ibs. per square inch. At the same time, the pressure on English vessels was the same that Watt had established, viz., 2%4 to 3 lbs. The Great Western, in 1838, carried that pressure and the iron screw propeller Great Britain, in 1846, carried only 5 Ibs. per square inch." Col. Stevens continued his experiments with the screw propeller for several years before Fulton brought out his paddle-boat. And it is re- markable that all his ideas have now, after half a century, been applied to steamship navigation, viz., the four-bladed screw, the use of high- pressure steam, the multi-tubular boiler, the direct connection of the engine with the propeller shaft, and the twin-screw. But in Stevens's time there were neither efficient tools nor competent workmen in America to carry his ideas into effect. Fulton, it must be recalled, did not build the engine for his steamer Clermont in America, but had it So P AN EARLY BEAM ENGINE. made by James Watt in England and taken over complete. This was in 1806, and special permission had to be obtained for it from the king in council, because the exportation of machinery from England was then illegal--and indeed remained illegal down to 1820. Stevens, cheerfully admitted that Fulton was the first to apply, with practical effect, '"water- wheels" to the side of a steamboat, but he adhered to the opinion that, with proper machinery, the screw would always be found superior to the paddle for sea-going vessels. It was just thirty years after Stevens discontinued his experiments | that John Ericsson, the Swedish engineer, submitted to the admiralty a plan for screw propulsion. He constructed a model boat, some 2 ft. long, and by means of a small model engine, fed with steam from outside, showed the practicability of his scheme. Nevertheless, the admiralty, having previously come to the conclusion that the screw was impracti- cable, rejected his plan, and did not adopt it until after Ericsson had built upwards of forty screw steamers in America. Ericsson's first test on a full scale was with the Francis B. Ogden, mentioned at the outset of this article. This was a wooden boat, built at Wapping on the Thames, into which he fitted an engine driving two screws, with which he obtained a speed of 10 miles an hour. Just about the time when Ericsson was taking out his patent, Thomas Pettit Smith also took out a patent for driving a vessel by means of a screw, or worm, revolving rapidly under water. He made trial of it in a small six-ton boat, and the experiment was so successful that a company was formed in 1839, called the Steamship Propeller Co., to purchase and work Smith's patent. The result was the Archimedes, a vessel of 237 tons built under the direction of Smith and specially for his screw propeller... Smith ex- pected a speed of 12 or 13 miles an hour, but the Archimedes never de- veloped more than about 9 miles an hour. She was eventually sold at a heavy loss. - Both Ericsson and Smith claimed the invention, but neither, as we have seen, originated the idea. Both took out patents in America, as well as in England, but in neither case were the patents sustained. The Robert F. Stockton was built, in 1838, for Ericsson's screw, but she was sent across the Atlantic under sail. The designs of the inventors were quite different. Smith was well backed and succeeded in getting his screw taken up in England, while Ericsson, not finding favor in that country, went over to the United States. Both Ericsson and Smith eventually abandoned their original plans and adopted the short screw now in use. In Smith's patent the screw was a long single blade, after the model of the Archimedes screw; in Ericsson's patent there were two separate blades, one behind the other. Both were inferior designs to Stevens's, but Ericsson and Smith together revolutionized steam navigation, for oe their complicated screws rapidly evolved the propeller now univers- ally in use. The first screw steamer to cross the Atlantic was the Great Britain (of Bristol) which took some six years to build. She was a vessel of some 3,618 tons, measuring 322 ft. in length, 50 ft. in extreme breadth, and 32 ft. in depth. She had six masts and one funnel, and with the aid of a screw propeller went from Liverpool to New York, in August, 1845, in fifteen days, making an average speed of nine knots. She made several voyages back and forward until September, 1846, when she ran ashore on the coast of Ireland, where she remained stranded for nearly a year. She was floated off in the autumn of 1847, taken to Liverpool for repairs, and then put into the Australian trade. After serving in that trade for some twenty years, her propeller and machinery were taken out, and the first -- transatlantic screw steamer was converted into a full-rigged sailer. The last stage in her eventful history was as a coal-hulk in the Pacific. MONTHLY SUMMARY OF NAVAL CONSTRUCTION. In the monthly summary of naval construction, issued by the bureau of construction and repair, the armored cruiser Colorado at Cramps is the only one of the recent order of eleven battleships and cruisers actually laid down. The protected cruiser Cleveland at the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Me., is 61 per cent. completed and will be launched on Sept. 22. Following is the summary: Degree BATTLESHIPS. of completion, ae Per cent. Name. Building at July 1. Aug. 1. Tinos =<... pre eeee eens joes NOWDOIt NGWS s2. sconces. scan eee 96 98 Maine: 23. ccas BR wore sis coc nies © Cramp -@.SO08,.s.s. sees ss ce 55 58 Missouri ...... 4 Pe civs veces ee cs «Newport "NOWS cise. ..css5 cine ee eae ge eo 42 Ohi0 se snceee «Union Tron: Works 2026 <0 oeesce s 43 43 Virginia . sn INOW DORE NGWSiccccc5 iene de ese 0 0 Nebraska ~sMOTaN Ss BYOS: CO. che. cee ee ee 0 0 Georgia .... .- Bath Iron Works 0 0 New Jersey . .-Fore River Co... 0 0 Rhode Island <. 2)... ....0t wrens Bore -RAver CO. cmccca oecmucs woke 0 0 ARMORED CRUISERS. PénNSYlVania- 2.5.45 ovens ss cee Cramp & Sons 3.6.2) -0 cee 0 0 Wests Virginia oo. eins secs «Newport NOWws <7... eos eee 0 0 California acco crcte cece es eee Union: Tron Works. 0. .e5 oe ae 0 0 Colorado: 25223 son sss eens @ramp:& (Sons (coc. over ecnke 2 3 Maryland 3. 5. esns cee ci NiewpOrtuNGws: ¢..00. sess an ee ees 0 0 Sotith: Dakota 222.0. 5.280. esse Union "Irom: Works'. os ok 0 0 SHEATHED PROTECTED CRUISERS. DOWVer kee es cries Neafle-& Levy 2:5...) eee 49 51 Des Moines .. s«lore River Engine Cor... 1. 39 45 Chattanooga wueWis SNIXON: 4 i vsc.cee cau nico ee 35 37 Galveston ..Wm,. R. Trigg Co. 31 33 Tacoma: se... .. Union Iron Works 20 20 Cleveland .. Bath Iron Works 58 61 St. Louis . ..Neafie & Levy .... 0 0 Milwaukee . Union Iron Works. 0 0 Charleston ce NOWDPOLtINGWS tec.e coh enilc heen sles es 0 0 MONITORS. s APNWAnNSaS 3 oi sees eee on sae Newport NGWS> ios <i5 25 cote ee ae 60 61 INGVEGde ice eine eee ic ce Bath: Tron Works). isc cis icc ceteee ne 89 90 PN OUIGA ooo kis i oi ees ee Lewis: Nixon << csccuprccset thease 67 68 WYOMIng oo. os eres eet ee wee eee Union' Tron Works: 2. ii... 2s eee 15 15 j TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYERS. Bainbridge so. vias ceca ee Neatle &: Levy. iii. voc cee es 94 95 ASAT DY Ss safes eth sian oben ei Neafie: Qo hevy soso ceie cc cee 88 90 CHAUNCEY: ates ei es cee eee Neasfie:& Levy iiss nee acs 90 90 DBI Oooo visser seco nanos a ee estaba Witt. cRcinigg. Cog senatere cen cat ne as 95 96 DOCAtUR sess cases cece Soe Wits Ry Drige-Core. jcc. cee 00 97 ROPING iow. csc ues eee re nos Harlan & Hollingsworth .............. 75 75 FW ei ae eee ae eae pee Harlan & Hollingsworth .............. 74 74 LEAWIONCO. oo oo ok Sin nee eee Fore River Engine Co................. 99 99 MacDonough: <......<- sauces Fore River Engine Co..... Reis cca Se 98 98 Paul JONCS oc. ses cccces cet se wee Union iron? Works: ..5 s35- occa ess c cues 85 85 Perr ye siieccc tes hades eee eee Union: Tron: Works 0.8 20. ise cess 89 89 Preble sveccc scsi ee ate eee Union. Iron WOrkKS. ooe.. cscs s cesses ss 87 87 BtGWaALb 2. in cons eet ea wee eee Gas Engine & Power Co............... 54 55 DPuxton <5 oi5% cscs v as cases ae ee Maryland: Steel Coc... ae. ceca css 68 70 WIpplOsoicsecic cee eeenee Maryland Steel Co..................005 67 69 Worden ye ciiee eae cet ca Maryland Steel Co..................0.: 67 69 TORPEDO BOATS. ; Stringham 3 vec: lai cceesece Harlan & Hollingsworth .............. 98 98 Goldsborough : <22.5. 200 cei eee - Wolfl & Zwicker 20.3. vos. oes sco 99 95 Blakelyoe 27 Basta cee Geo. Lawley & Son ................ cece 08 98 DeLOng 2 ii esas. civic cos casuie cee Geo, Lawley &: Son ii cisiucc ccs eace ss 98 98 Nicholson <7 2.40.40 .002 3 ee Lewis Nixon' .ct.2cncc. seu. es 90 91 OBrien isos i see sees ee Trawis (Nixon eee ei seas 94 96 THOPNtON os ooh cease eee ees Win. R.- Drige®* Concer svamuseieces cs 97 97 TIN GCy- Gs Fie eee eee cere Columbian Iron Works ..............+. 68 68 WHIKGS 0s an cane pera sens oes eee Gas Engine & Power Co...............- 82 84 SUBMARINE TORPEDO BOATS. PlUD Gene ae on Lewis Nixon: ou0.0 sheccsvacs 1 ee ee 15 19 Adder gee ee cee ees Dewis Nixon. sas ieee cae cer ue 70 75 Gramps: i. eyes eeeeenes cone aloes Union Iron Works ee Oke 51 MOCCASIN. ccc 4 ss osu cis acces Lewis Nixon .......... > 66 70 PURO ee oo Pewee wea pies anes Union Iron Works . 2700: 50 POPDOISG 770.55 civ ve doen tas rues Lewis Nixon 2.. 6 i... «60 64 Sar ea eee ca wee cae Te Wis NiRON cece veces Say ce ae te cere er 58 63 Alvin R. Morrison, president of the Delaware Construction Co., of Wilmington, announces that the large dry dock which the company is building for the William Skinner & Sons of Baltimore, will be com- pleted in about three weeks. This dry dock job is the largest contract ever undertaken by the Delaware Construction Co., and much time has been required to do the work. The construction company is now in the hands of receivers, but it is expected that the receivership will be ter- minated in the near future. The recently launched battleship Maine was brought from Cramps' ship yard to League Island on Thursday last and put in dry dock, Her huge bulk completely filled the dock and the keel blocks had to be-raised 15 in. higher than in ordinary cases to keep her clear of the dock's altars. The ship's bottom is at present receiving one coat of two coats of non-corro- sive paint and one of anti-fouling paint. The Maine will be returned to the ship yard about Aug. 18. | : | 4 4