From the later decades of the 18th century experiments were in progress to find ways of powering ships with steam engines. In the first three decades of the 19th century paddle-wheel steam-powered ships were being developed and built on both sides of the Atlantic, showing clearly the wave of the future. One obvious project was that of establishing steamer services across the Atlantic, and by the later 1820s steam-powered ships had already begun to attempt that crossing.
". . . in 1836, H.M.S. Rhadamanthus was, par excellence,
the war-steamer of the day."
H.M.S. Rhadamanthus
The first steam powered ship to visit Jamaica seems to have been the H. M. S. Rhadamanthus, which is also often described as the first steam-powered ship to cross the Atlantic, and was certainly one of the earliest to open up that possibility. It is clear, however, from the pictures of all early steam-powered ships, that they had masts and sails, which were used whenever there were problems of any kind with the engines; this is why there is room for debate as to which ship was the first to cross the Atlantic using only steam power. The Guiness Book of Records seems to accept the claims of HMS Rhadamanthus, but accounts of the voyage given elsewhere seem to suggest sail was used to back up steam power.
The Guinness Book of Records, 1996 |
In relation to the first operation in which the Rhadamanthus was involved, Eric Osborne wrote in 2004-5:
"The British warship Rhadamanthus and others like it were invaluable despite their problems, as the potential of steam power was great. In 1832, the year before its voyage across the Atlantic, Rhadamanthus had proved the value of steam power in a blockade of the Netherlands coast in support of French operations to expel Dutch troops from Belgium. The vessel was able to stay on station regardless of changing wind patterns."
Captain Robert Otway, a contemporary naval expert on steam-power, was not very impressed with some of the early steam war ships, describing them as 'most inadequate sea boats', but wrote in 1837 -
"The British warship Rhadamanthus and others like it were invaluable despite their problems, as the potential of steam power was great. In 1832, the year before its voyage across the Atlantic, Rhadamanthus had proved the value of steam power in a blockade of the Netherlands coast in support of French operations to expel Dutch troops from Belgium. The vessel was able to stay on station regardless of changing wind patterns."
Captain Robert Otway, a contemporary naval expert on steam-power, was not very impressed with some of the early steam war ships, describing them as 'most inadequate sea boats', but wrote in 1837 -
and
An Elementary Treatise on Steam, more particularly as applicable to the purposes of Navigation, Robert Otway, Commander, R.N., 1837
It is of interest that two of the steam vessels mentioned, Comet and Medea, were built by Oliver Lang, originally from Devon, one of the great ship designers of the early 19th century. |