Editing Paddle steamer

{{Short description|Steam-powered vessel propelled by paddle wheels}}
[[File:SteamboatBenCampbellb.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A typical river paddle steamer from the 1850s.]]
[[File:Providence (1866).jpg|thumb|right|200px|Fall Line's steamer ''Providence'', launched 1866]]
[[File:Tampere Finlandia Queen.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Finlandia Queen'', a paddle-wheel ship from 1990s in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]]<ref>[http://www.hhlweb.org/00-vellamo.htm PW/S VELLAMO]</ref>]]
 
A '''paddle steamer''' is a [[steamship]] or [[steamboat]] powered by a [[steam engine]] driving [[paddle wheel]]s to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, '''paddle wheelers''' followed the development of poles, oars and sails, whereby the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans.

[[File:Blockade-runner2 ADvance.jpg|thumb|{{USS|Advance|1862|2}}, a [[Greenock]]-built American Civil War [[Blockade runners of the American Civil War|blockade-running]] side-wheel steamer]]
In the early 19th century, paddle wheels were the predominant way of propulsion for steam-powered boats. In the late 19th century, paddle propulsion was largely superseded by the [[propeller|screw propeller]] and other [[marine propulsion]] systems that have a higher efficiency, especially in rough or open water. Paddle wheels continue to be used by small, pedal-powered paddle boats and by some ships that operate tourist voyages. The latter are often powered by diesel engines.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Experience of economics: The paddle designs using diesels are tourist vessels servicing sightseeing attractions or replica riverboats and are mainly restaurants and casinos.}}

== Paddle wheels ==
[[File:paddle wheel small.jpg|frame|right|Left: [[Rivet]]ed steel [[paddle wheel]] from a sidewheeler paddle steamer on the lake of Lucerne<br />Right: Detail of a steamer]]
The paddle wheel is a large steel framework wheel. The outer edge of the wheel is fitted with numerous, regularly spaced paddle blades (called floats or buckets). The bottom quarter or so of the wheel travels under water. An engine rotates the paddle wheel in the water to produce [[thrust]], forward or backward as required. More advanced paddle-wheel designs feature "feathering" methods that keep each paddle blade closer to vertical while in the water to increase efficiency. The upper part of a paddle wheel is normally enclosed in a paddlebox to minimise splashing.

== Types of paddle steamers ==
[[File:Nettie Quill steamboat.jpg|thumb|The ''Nettie Quill'', pictured in Alabama in 1906, shows a typical early sternwheeler design.]]
 
The three types of paddle wheel steamer are sidewheeler, with one paddlewheel {{nautical term|amidships}} on each side; sternwheeler, with a single paddlewheel at the [[stern]]; and (rarely) inboard, with the paddlewheel mounted in a recess amidships.<ref>{{cite book|title=Story of the Paddle Steamer|author=Bernard Dumpleton|publisher=Intellect Limited|year=2002|isbn=9781841508016|language=en|pages=1–47}}</ref> 

===Sidewheeler===

The earliest {{nautical term|steam vessel}}s were sidewheelers, and the type was by far the dominant mode of marine steam propulsion, both for steamships and steamboats, until the increasing adoption of [[Propeller|screw propulsion]] from the 1850s. Though the side wheels and enclosing [[sponson]]s make them wider than sternwheelers, they may be more maneuverable, since they can sometimes move the paddles at different speeds, and even in opposite directions.  This extra maneuverability makes side-wheelers popular on the narrower, winding rivers of the [[Murray–Darling basin|Murray–Darling system]] in Australia, where a number still operate.

European sidewheelers, such as {{ship|PS|Waverley}}, connect the wheels with solid drive shafts that limit maneuverability and give the craft a wide turning radius. Some were built with paddle clutches that disengage one or both paddles so they can turn independently. However, wisdom gained from early experience with sidewheelers deemed that they be operated with clutches out, or as solid-shaft vessels.  Crews noticed that as ships approached the dock, passengers moved to the side of the ship ready to disembark. The shift in weight, added to independent movements of the paddles, could lead to imbalance and potential [[capsizing]]. Paddle tugs were frequently operated with clutches in, as the lack of passengers aboard meant that independent paddle movement could be used safely and the added maneuverability exploited to the full.

Most sidewheelers used two wheels, but some ships had multiple wheels behind each other. The [[SS Bessemer]] was a noteworthy example.

===Sternwheeler===
Although the first sternwheelers were invented in Europe, they saw the most service in North America, especially on the Mississippi River. {{ship||Enterprise|1814|2}} was built at [[Brownsville, Pennsylvania]], in 1814 as an improvement over the less efficient side-wheelers. The second stern-wheeler built, ''Washington'' of 1816, had two decks and served as the prototype for all subsequent [[steamboats of the Mississippi]], including those made famous in [[Mark Twain]]'s book ''[[Life on the Mississippi]]''.<ref>''Life on the Mississippi'', by Mark Twain</ref>

===Inboard paddlewheeler===
Recessed or inboard paddlewheel boats were designed to ply narrow and snag-infested backwaters. By recessing the wheel within the hull it was protected somewhat from damage. It was enclosed and could be spun at a high speed to provide acute maneuverability. Most were built with inclined steam cylinders mounted on both sides of the paddleshaft and timed 90 degrees apart like a locomotive, making them instantly reversing.

== Feathering paddle wheel ==
[[File:Morgan's feathering paddlewheel (Steam and the Steam Engine, Evers).jpg|thumb|Morgan's feathering paddle wheel (Steam and the Steam Engine, Evers)]]
In a simple paddle wheel, where the paddles are fixed around the periphery, power is lost due to churning of the water as the paddles enter and leave the water surface. Ideally, the paddles should remain vertical while under water. This ideal can be approximated by use of levers and linkages connected to a fixed eccentric. The eccentric is fixed slightly forward of the main wheel centre. It is coupled to each paddle by a rod and lever. The geometry is designed such that the paddles are kept almost vertical for the short duration that they are in the water.<ref>{{cite book | last=Evers | first=Henry | date=1873 | title=Steam and the Steam Engine: Land, Marine and Locomotive | location=Glasgow | publisher=[[William Collins, Sons]] | page=98 | url=https://archive.org/details/steamsteamengine00everuoft/page/98 }}</ref>

== History ==
=== Western world ===
[[File:De Rebus Bellicis, XVth Century Miniature.JPG|thumb|Ox-powered Roman paddle wheel boat from a 15th-century copy of {{Lang|la|[[De Rebus Bellicis]]}}]]
[[File:D'AbbansSteamshipModel.jpg|thumb|left|Model made by de Jouffroy in 1784 to show the French Science Academy the engine and paddle wheels used on {{ship||Pyroscaphe}}: The model is now in the National Maritime Museum in Paris.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musee-marine.fr/cartel.php?lg=fr&id=60|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091118194528/http://www.musee-marine.fr/cartel.php?lg=fr&id=60|title=Musée national de la Marine: Pyroscaphe. Bateau à vapeur|access-date=2012-07-29|archive-date=2009-11-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>]]
The use of a paddle wheel in navigation appears for the first time in the mechanical treatise of the [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] engineer [[Vitruvius]] (''De architectura'', X 9.5–7), where he describes multigeared paddle wheels working as a ship [[odometer]]. The first mention of paddle wheels as a means of propulsion comes from the fourth– or fifth-century military treatise {{Lang|la|[[De Rebus Bellicis]]}} (chapter XVII), where the anonymous Roman author describes an ox-driven paddle-wheel warship:
{{cquote|Animal power, directed by the resources on ingenuity, drives with ease and swiftness, wherever utility summons it, a warship suitable for naval combats, which, because of its enormous size, human frailty as it were prevented from being operated by the hands of men. In its hull, or hollow interior, oxen, yoked in pairs to capstans, turn wheels attached to the sides of the ship; paddles, projecting above the circumference or curved surface of the wheels, beating the water with their strokes like oar-blades as the wheels revolve, work with an amazing and ingenious effect, their action producing rapid motion. This warship, moreover, because of its own bulk and because of the machinery working inside it, joins battle with such pounding force that it easily wrecks and destroys all enemy warships coming at close quarters.<ref>De Rebus Bellicis (anon.), chapter XVII, text edited by Robert Ireland, in: ''BAR International Series'' 63, part 2, p. 34</ref>}}
[[File:Anonymous of the Hussite Wars. Clm 197, Part 1, Folio 17v Supra.jpg|thumb|left|A 15th-century paddlewheel boat powered by crankshafts (Anonymous of the [[Hussite Wars]])]]
Italian physician [[Guido da Vigevano]] (''circa'' 1280–1349), planning for a new crusade, made illustrations for a paddle boat that was propelled by manually turned [[crank (mechanism)|compound cranks]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Bert S.|title=The Technological Illustrations of the So-Called "Anonymous of the Hussite Wars". Codex Latinus Monacensis 197, Part 1|year=1979|publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=3-920153-93-6|page=80}}</ref>

[[File:Taccola ship.jpg|thumb|Paddle boat, by the Italian artist-engineer [[Taccola]], ''De machinis'' (1449): The paddles wind a rope fixed to an anchor upstream, thus moving the boat against the current.]]
One of the drawings of the Anonymous Author of the [[Hussite Wars]] shows a boat with a pair of paddlewheels at each end turned by men operating compound cranks.<ref name="whitejr">{{cite book|last=White|first=Lynn Jr.|author-link=Lynn Townsend White Jr.|title=Medieval Technology and Social Change|year= 1962|publisher=At the Clarendon Press|location=Oxford |page=114}}</ref> The concept was improved by the Italian [[Roberto Valturio]] in 1463, who devised a boat with five sets, where the parallel cranks are all joined to a single power source by one connecting rod, an idea adopted by his compatriot [[Francesco di Giorgio]].<ref name="whitejr" />

In 1539, Spanish engineer [[Blasco de Garay]] received the support of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] to build ships equipped with manually-powered side paddle wheels. From 1539 to 1543, Garay built and launched five ships, the most famous being the modified Portuguese [[carrack]] ''La Trinidad'', which surpassed a nearby [[galley]] in speed and maneuverability on June 17, 1543, in the harbor of [[Barcelona]]. The project, however, was discontinued.<ref name=Maroto>{{cite book|last=Jiménez Maroto|first=Alfonso José|url=https://elfarodeceuta.es/blasco-de-garay-ingenio-corona/|title=Blasco de Garay, el ingenio de la Corona de España|date= October 14, 2020|access-date=October 31, 2022|publisher=El Faro de Ceuta|language=Spanish}}</ref> 19th century writer Tomás González claimed to have found proof that at least some of these vessels were steam-powered, but this theory was discredited by the Spanish authorities. It has been proposed that González mistook a steam-powered [[desalinator]] created by Garay for a steam boiler.<ref name=Maroto/>

In 1705, Papin constructed a ship powered by hand-cranked paddles. An apocryphal story originating in 1851 by [[Louis Figuire]] held that this ship was steam-powered rather than hand-powered and that it was therefore the first steam-powered vehicle of any kind. The myth was refuted as early as 1880 by {{ill|Ernst Gerland|de|Ernst Gerland (Physiker)}}, though still it finds credulous expression in some contemporary scholarly work.<ref name=wootton>{{cite book |author=Wootton, David|title=The Invention of Science |year=2015|publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |page=498,647 }}</ref>

In 1787, [[Patrick Miller of Dalswinton]] invented a double-hulled boat that was propelled on the [[Firth of Forth]] by men working a capstan that drove paddles on each side.<ref name=sam>{{Citation|last = Smiles, Samuel|author-link = Samuel Smiles|title = Men of Invention and Industry|publisher =  Gutenberg e-text |year = 1884 }}</ref>

One of the first functioning [[steamship]]s, ''[[Palmipède]]'', which was also the first paddle steamer, was built in France in 1774 by Marquis [[Claude de Jouffroy]] and his colleagues. The {{convert|13|m|ftin|adj=on|abbr=on}} steamer with rotating paddles sailed on the [[Doubs (river)|Doubs River]] in June and July 1776. In 1783, a new paddle steamer by de Jouffroy, {{ship||Pyroscaphe}}, successfully steamed up the river [[Saône]] for 15 minutes before the engine failed. Bureaucracy and the French Revolution thwarted further progress by de Jouffroy.
[[File:The First Paddle Steamer to Navigate the Exe up to Exeter - W H Cox - 44 1929.jpg|thumb|The first paddle steamer to navigate the River Exe up to Exeter in the UK]]
The next successful attempt at a paddle-driven steam ship was by Scottish engineer [[William Symington]], who suggested steam power to [[Patrick Miller of Dalswinton]].<ref name=sam /> Experimental boats built in 1788 and 1789 worked successfully on [[Lochmaben]] Loch. In 1802, Symington built a [[barge]]-hauler, {{ship||Charlotte Dundas}}, for the [[Forth and Clyde Canal Company]]. It successfully hauled two 70-ton barges almost {{convert|20|mi|km|abbr=on}} in 6&nbsp;hours against a strong headwind on test in 1802. Enthusiasm was high, but some directors of the company were concerned about the banks of the canal being damaged by the wash from a powered vessel, and no more were ordered.

While ''Charlotte Dundas'' was the first commercial paddle steamer and [[steamboat]], the first commercial success was possibly [[Robert Fulton]]'s ''[[North River Steamboat|Clermont]]'' in New York, which went into commercial service in 1807 between New York City and [[Albany, New York|Albany]]. Many other paddle-equipped river boats followed all around the world; the first in Europe being {{PS|Comet}} designed by [[Henry Bell (engineer)|Henry Bell]] which started a scheduled passenger service on the [[River Clyde]] in 1812.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robins |first=Nick |date=2012 |title=The Coming of the Comet: The Rise and Fall of the Paddle Steamer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXmuCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |location=Barnsley |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |page=3 |isbn=978-1848321342}}</ref>
[[File:The Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner, National Gallery.jpg|thumb|A paddle tug pulling {{HMS|Temeraire|1798|6}} to a [[Ship breaking|breaking yard]] in 1838]]
In 1812, the first U.S. Mississippi River paddle steamer began operating out of New Orleans. By 1814, [[Henry Miller Shreve|Captain Henry Shreve]]{{refn|group=lower-alpha|The namesake of [[Shreveport, Louisiana]]}} had developed a "steamboat"{{Refn|group=lower-alpha|Vessels operating on the Mississippi River system are referred to as "boats".}} suitable for local conditions. Landings in New Orleans went from 21 in 1814 to 191 in 1819, and over 1,200 in 1833.

The first stern-wheeler was designed by [[Gerhard Moritz Roentgen]] from Rotterdam, and used between Antwerp and Ghent in 1827.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=[[The Monitor (Sydney)|The Monitor]]|date=21 May 1828|url= http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article31760025|location=Sydney, NSW|title=Steam-boat on a new construction}}</ref>

[[Team boat]]s, paddle boats driven by horses, were used for [[ferries]] the United States from the 1820s–1850s, as they were economical and did not incur licensing costs imposed by the steam navigation monopoly. In the 1850s, they were replaced by steamboats.<ref>{{Cite news| last = Viegas
| first = Jennifer| title = When Horses Walked on Water to Transport Humans| work = Discovery News| access-date = 2014-04-17| date = 2010-08-24
| url = http://news.discovery.com/history/when-horses-walked-on-water-to-transport-humans.htm}}</ref>

After the American Civil War, as the expanding railroads took many passengers, the traffic became primarily bulk cargoes. The largest, and one of the last, paddle steamers on the Mississippi was the sternwheeler ''Sprague''. Built in 1901, she pushed coal and petroleum until 1948.<ref>{{cite book|last=Paine|first=Lincoln P|title=Ships of the World|year=1997|publisher=Houghton-Mifflin|isbn=0-395-71556-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/shipsofworldhist00pain/page/182 182, 350, 357, 433–434, 487]|url=https://archive.org/details/shipsofworldhist00pain/page/182}}</ref><ref name=acesteamboat>{{cite web|title=Steamboat navigation|url=http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/PAO/history/MISSRNAV/steamboat.asp|work=Mississippi River Navigation|publisher=US Army Corps of Engineers Team New Orleans|access-date=25 Feb 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100129211955/http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/PAO/history/MISSRNAV/steamboat.asp |archive-date=2010-01-29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ewen|first=William H|title=Days of the Steamboats|year=1988|publisher=Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc|isbn=0-913372-47-1|pages=27, 53, 70–71}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gandy|first1=Joan W|last2=Gandy|first2=Thomas H|title=The Mississippi Steamboat Era in Historic Photographs|year=1987|publisher=Dover Publications, Inc|isbn=0-486-25260-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mississippisteam00gand/page/2 2–3, 116]|url=https://archive.org/details/mississippisteam00gand/page/2}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sprague|url=http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/bus/river/boats19.htm|publisher=Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp|access-date=25 Feb 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121042049/http://wheeling.weirton.lib.wv.us/history/bus/river/boats19.htm|archive-date=21 January 2013|url-status=dead}}Dead link January 27, 2018</ref>

In Europe from the 1820s, paddle steamers were used to take tourists from the rapidly expanding industrial cities on river cruises, or to the newly established [[seaside resort]]s, where [[Pier#Pleasure piers|pleasure piers]] were built to allow passengers to disembark regardless of the state of the tide. Later, these paddle steamers were fitted with luxurious saloons in an effort to compete with the facilities available on the railways. Notable examples are the [[Thames steamers]] which took passengers from London to [[Southend-on-Sea]] and [[Margate]], [[Clyde steamer]]s that connected Glasgow with the resort of [[Rothesay|Rothsay]] and the [[Köln-Düsseldorfer]] cruise steamers on the [[River Rhine]]. Paddle steamer services continued into the mid-20th century, when ownership of motor cars finally made them obsolete except for a few heritage examples.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gladwell |first=Andrew |date=2015 |title=London's Pleasure Steamers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YP0mCgAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Amberley Publishing |chapter=Introduction |isbn=978-1445641584 }}</ref>

=== China ===
[[File:Radpaddelsch.jpg|thumb|upright|A Chinese paddle-wheel ship from a [[Qing dynasty]] [[encyclopedia]] published in 1726]]
The first mention of a paddle-wheel ship from China is in the ''[[History of the Southern Dynasties]]'', compiled in the 7th century but describing the naval ships of the [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420–479) used by admiral Wang Zhen'e in his campaign against the [[Qiang people|Qiang]] in 418 AD. The ancient Chinese mathematician and astronomer [[Zu Chongzhi]] (429–500) had a paddle-wheel ship built on the Xinting River (south of [[Nanjing]]) known as the "[[Qianli chuan|thousand league boat]]".<ref name="Needham">[[Joseph Needham|Needham, Joseph]] (1965). ''Science and Civilization in China, Vol. IV: Physics and Physical Technology'', p.416. {{ISBN|978-0-521-05802-5}}.</ref> When campaigning against [[Hou Jing]] in 552, the [[Liang dynasty]] (502–557) admiral Xu Shipu employed paddle-wheel boats called "water-wheel boats". At the siege of Liyang in 573, the admiral Huang Faqiu employed foot-treadle powered paddle-wheel boats. A successful paddle-wheel warship design was made in China by Prince Li Gao in 784 AD, during an imperial examination of the provinces by the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907) emperor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|title=Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics|year=1986|publisher=Caves Books|location=Taipei|page=31}}</ref> The Chinese [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279) issued the construction of many paddle-wheel ships for its standing [[History of the Song dynasty|navy]], and according to the British biochemist, historian, and sinologist [[Joseph Needham]]:

<blockquote>
"...between 1132 and 1183 (AD) a great number of treadmill-operated paddle-wheel craft, large and small, were built, including sternwheelers and ships with as many as 11 paddle-wheels a side,".<ref name="needham 476">Needham, 476</ref>
</blockquote>

The standard Chinese term "wheel ship" was used by the Song period, whereas a litany of colorful terms were used to describe it beforehand. In the 12th century, the Song government used paddle-wheel ships ''en masse'' to defeat opposing armies of pirates armed with their own paddle-wheel ships. At the [[Battle of Caishi]] in 1161, paddle-wheelers were also used with great success against the [[Jin dynasty, 1115–1234|Jin dynasty]] (1115–1234) navy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Needham|first=Joseph|title=Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Part 7, Military Technology; The Gunpowder Epic|year=1986|publisher=Caves Books|location= Taipei|pages=165–166}}</ref> The Chinese used the paddle-wheel ship even during the [[First Opium War]] (1839–1842) and for transport around the [[Pearl River (China)|Pearl River]] during the early 20th century.

== Seagoing paddle steamers ==
[[File:PS Waverley off Greenock 1994.jpg|thumb|right|{{ship|PS|Waverley}}, the last seagoing paddle steamer]]
The first seagoing trip of a paddle steamer was by the ''Albany'' in 1808. It steamed from the [[Hudson River]] along the coast to the [[Delaware River]]. This was purely for the purpose of moving a river-boat to a new market, but paddle-steamers began regular short coastal trips soon after. In 1816 Pierre Andriel, a French businessman, bought in London the {{convert|15|hp|abbr=on|lk=in}} paddle steamer ''Margery'' (later renamed ''Elise'') and made an eventful London-[[Le Havre]]-Paris crossing, encountering heavy weather on the way. He later operated his ship as a river packet on the Seine, between Paris and Le Havre.

In 1822 [[Charles John Napier|Charles Napier's]] {{ship||Aaron Manby}}, the world's first iron ship, made the first direct steam crossing from London to Paris and the first seagoing voyage by an iron ship.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Edgar C. |title=A short history of naval and marine engineering |date=1938 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-67293-2 |page=98 |edition=2013}}</ref> The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage crossing the Atlantic Ocean was {{SS|Savannah}}, built in 1819 expressly for this service. ''Savannah'' set out from the port of [[Savannah, Georgia]] for [[Liverpool]] on May 24, 1819, sighting Ireland after 23&nbsp;days at sea.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=J. Caldwell |title=The Steamship Savannah |journal=The Georgia Historical Quarterly |date=1933 |volume=17 |issue=3 |page=214 |jstor=40576268 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40576268 |issn=0016-8297}}</ref> This was the first powered crossing of the Atlantic, although ''Savannah'' was built as a sailing ship with a steam auxiliary; she also carried a full rig of sail for when winds were favorable, being unable to complete the voyage under power alone.

In 1838, {{SS|Sirius|1837|2}}, a fairly small steam packet built for the [[Cork (city)|Cork]] to [[London]] route, became the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under sustained steam power, beating [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s much larger {{SS|Great Western|3=2}} by a day. ''Great Western'', however, was actually built for the transatlantic trade, and so had sufficient coal for the passage; ''Sirius'' had to burn furniture and other items after running out of coal.<ref>Men of Iron : Brunel, Stephenson and the Inventions That Shaped the Modern World by Sally Dugan {{ISBN|978-1-4050-3426-5}}</ref> ''Great Western''{{'}}s more successful crossing began the regular sailing of powered vessels across the Atlantic. {{ship||Beaver|steamship|2}} was the first coastal steamship to operate in the [[Pacific Northwest]] of North America. Paddle steamers [[Black Ships|helped open Japan]] to the Western World in the mid-19th century.
<!--Too many images [[File:SophiaJane.jpg|thumb|left|{{ship||Sophia Jane}}]]!-->

The largest paddle-steamer ever built was Brunel's {{SS|Great Eastern|3=2}}, but it also had screw propulsion and sail rigging. It was {{convert|692|ft|m|abbr=on}} long and weighed 32,000&nbsp;tons, its paddlewheels being {{convert|56|ft|m|abbr=on}} in diameter.

In oceangoing service, paddle steamers became much less useful after the invention of the screw propeller, but they remained in use in coastal service and as river [[tugboats]], thanks to their shallow draught and good maneuverability.

The last crossing of the Atlantic by paddle steamer began on September 18, 1969, the first leg of a journey to conclude six months and nine days later. The steam paddle tug {{ship||Eppleton Hall}} was never intended for oceangoing service, but nevertheless was steamed from Newcastle to San Francisco. As the voyage was intended to be completed under power, the tug was rigged as steam propelled with a sail auxiliary. The transatlantic stage of the voyage was completed exactly 150 years after the voyage of ''Savannah''.

As of 2022, the [[PS Waverley]] is the last seagoing passenger-carrying paddle steamer in the world.

== Paddle-driven steam warships ==
===Paddle frigates===
{{main|Paddle frigate}}
[[File:Mississippi, starboard side - NARA - 513004.jpg|thumb|[[Matthew C. Perry]]'s paddle frigate {{USS|Mississippi|1841|6}}, part of the [[Black Ships]] expedition to Japan (1853–1854)]]

Beginning in the 1820s, the British [[Royal Navy]] began building paddle-driven [[steam frigate]]s and [[steam sloop]]s. By 1850 these had become obsolete due to the development of the [[propeller]] – which was more efficient and less vulnerable to cannon fire. One of the first screw-driven warships, {{HMS|Rattler|1843}}, demonstrated her superiority over paddle steamers during numerous trials, including one in 1845 where she pulled a paddle-driven sister ship backwards in a [[tug of war]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Morriss |first=Roger |date=1997 |title=Cockburn and the British Navy in Transition: Admiral Sir George Cockburn 1772-1853 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G2Cb30bdutcC&pg=PA252 |location= |publisher=Liverpool University Press |pages=251–252 |isbn=978-0859895262 }}</ref> However, paddle warships were used extensively by the [[Imperial Russian Navy|Russian Navy]] during the [[Crimean War]] of 1853–1856, and by the [[United States Navy]] during the [[Mexican–American War|Mexican War]] of 1846–1848 and the [[American Civil War]] of 1861–1865. With the arrival of [[ironclad battleship]]s from the late 1850s, the last remaining paddle frigates were decommissioned and sold into [[merchant navy|merchant-navy]] service by the 1870s. These included {{USS|Miami|1861|2}}, which became one of the first [[Boston steamer]]s in 1867.<ref>
{{cite web|url= https://americancivilwar.com/tcwn/civil_war/Navy_Ships/USS_Miami.html|title= USS Miami Civil War Union Navy}}</ref> Other paddle frigates were converted to auxilliary roles, a notable example is {{HMS|Birkenhead|1845|6}}, a [[troopship]] which was wrecked in 1852.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-g3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA327 |journal=The Mechanics' Magazine, Register, Museum, Journal and Gazette|title=The Steam Frigate "Birkenhead" – Iron v Wood|author1=Percy, Sholto|author-link=Sholto Percy|author2=Nursery, Perry Fairfax |pages=327–29|date=3 January 1852|volume=LVI}}</ref>

===Paddle minesweepers===
[[File:HMS Plumpton IWM SP 1266.jpg|thumb|right|{{HMS|Plumpton}}, a British paddle minesweeper built in 1916.]]
At the start of the [[First World War]], the Royal Navy requisitioned more than fifty pleasure paddle steamers for use as auxiliary [[minesweeper]]s.<ref name="Plummer1995_p3">Plummer 1995, p. 3</ref> The large spaces on their decks intended for promenading passengers proved to be ideal for handling the minesweeping booms and cables, and the paddles allowed them to operate in coastal shallows and estuaries. These were so successful that a new class of paddle ships, the [[Racecourse-class minesweeper]]s, were ordered and 32 of them were built before the end of the war.<ref>Robins 2012, pp. 145-146</ref>

In the [[Second World War]], some thirty pleasure paddle steamers were again requisitioned;<ref name="Plummer1995_p3"/> an added advantage was that their wooden hulls did not activate the new magnetic mines. The paddle ships formed six minesweeping [[flotilla]]s, based at ports around the British coast. Other paddle steamers were converted to anti-aircraft ships. More than twenty paddle steamers were used as emergency troop transports during the [[Dunkirk Evacuation]] in 1940,<ref name="Plummer1995_p3"/> where they were able to get close inshore to embark directly from the beach.<ref>Robins 2012, pp. 149-150</ref> One example was {{ship|PS|Medway Queen}}, which saved an estimated 7,000 men over the nine days of the evacuation, and claimed to have shot down three German aircraft.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.medwayqueen.co.uk/dunkirk.html |title=Dunkirk - Operation Dynamo 1940 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=www.medwayqueen.co.uk |publisher=Medway Queen Preservation Society |access-date=10 July 2021 }}</ref> Another paddle minesweeper, {{HMS|Oriole}}, was deliberately beached twice to allow soldiers to cross to other vessels using her as a jetty.<ref>Plummer 1995, pp. 28-29</ref> The paddle steamers between them were estimated to have rescued 26,000 Allied troops during the operation, for the loss of six of them.<ref name="Plummer1995_p3"/> A number of paddle steamers participated in various roles in the [[Normandy landings]] in 1944 and supported the Allied advance along the coast of the Belgium and Holland.<ref>Plummer 1995, pp. 25-27</ref>

== See also ==
[[File:Bayou Navigation in Dixie, 1863.jpg|thumb|''Bayou Navigation in Dixie'', 1863]]
* {{annotated link|Experiment (horse-powered boat)}}
* {{annotated link|List of extant paddle steamers}}
* {{annotated link|Murray–Darling steamboats}}
* {{annotated link|Pedalo}}
* {{annotated link|River cruise}}
* {{annotated link|Roller ship}}
* {{section link|Science and technology of the Song dynasty|Paddle-wheel ships}}
* {{annotated link|Steamboats of the Columbia River}}
* {{annotated link|Steamboats of the Mississippi}}
* {{annotated link|Steamboats of the Willamette River}}

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha|30em}}
{{Notelist-lr}}

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== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Clark, John and Wardle, David (2003). ''PS Enterprise''. Canberra: [[National Museum of Australia]].
* [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/LaCrosseSteamboat/ University of Wisconsin–La Crosse Historic Steamboat Photographs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927095810/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/LaCrosseSteamboat/ |date=2010-09-27 }}
* Dumpleton, Bernard, "The Story of the Paddle Steamer", Melksham, 2002.
* {{ cite book | title=Paddle Steamers At War 1939-1945 | last=Plummer | first=Russell | publisher=GMS Enterprises | date=1995 | isbn=1-870384-39-3 }}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Paddle steamers}}
* [http://galutschek.at/ships/paddle_wheeler/ links to videos on paddle wheelers]
* [http://eboatz.com/m/photos/view/Side-Wheeler-2011-03-26 links to photos of a modern design on paddle wheelers]
* [http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/ps_enterprise/paddle_steaming_history Australian paddle steamers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114075905/http://www.nma.gov.au/collections/ps_enterprise/paddle_steaming_history/ |date=2011-11-14 }} A brief history
* [http://www.paddlesteamers.org/ Paddle Steamer Preservation Society (PSPS)]

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[[Category:Paddle steamers| ]]
[[Category:1774 introductions]]
[[Category:Vehicles introduced in the 18th century]]
[[Category:Marine steam propulsion]]
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