bucket dredgers, the first steam powered Navy vessels?

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

Hi all,

recently on Gareth's thread following his Shemarah II build he posted a picture of Bertha, an old iron built dredger, built by Brunel, and the remains sit on the quayside at Eyemouth. She is dated about 1848, and is claimed as a first for steam power.

Now here's a plan of a steam poered dredger, drawn in Jan 1801, and shows what became a working dredger in either Plymouth of Portsmouth harbour for a short while. She used a single cylinder condensing steam plant run on seawater, I believe. Hence the short life span.

Any one know different, as this could be claimed the first steam powered Navy craft.

Kim

 

Edited By Kimosubby Shipyards on 28/09/2012 19:09:02

[Kimosubby ShipyardsParticipant @kimosubbyshipyards]

[David WooleyParticipant @davidwooley82563]

When it comes to the steam paddle boats, sadly the French beat the Brits to the accolade of being the first with a little know ship called the Pyroscaphe which could sail against the prevailing current and steamed upstream on the river Saone for 15 minutes and this was in 1783. Yet when it comes to paddle powered boats Leonardo De Vinci got the idea almost right .Bill Richardson known for his experimental timber ship models built this working model, gears and all seen recently at a Model ship seminar at the Boat Museum Ellesmere Port.

Dave Wooley

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