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propeller against

The Great Eastern, the largest vessel of its time, complete a very special mission in 1866. It was the only one capable of carrying the 4,260 miles the first transatlantic telegraph cable. This milestone is worth an entry by itself, but today we are talking about the propulsion of the boat. It had six masts for sails, two paddle wheels and was the first to bring a propeller. Now, that is redundancy.

The pallets were proposed as means of propulsion long before steam engines. Vitruvius, a Roman engineer the time of Julius Caesar, suggested using animal power to drive and shift paddles a boat. It was a way to replace the slaves used as a propulsive force in the Roman galleys.








It was not until the advent of steam engines that began to spread. First, in combination with candles for periods of quiet and then as the main thrust. For several decades the blades, in the rear and the sides of the boats, were the preferred form of mechanical propulsion. And indeed they had many advantages. The blades were easy to manufacture and easy to repair. Represent a proven, known and reasonably effective. In return they were very vulnerable, especially when mounted on the sides, which caused problems in military vessels. Were not very useful in case of bad weather, because the waves were taking them out of the water too often.





The alternative was the propellers but was not free of problems and enemies. Its manufacture was more complicated, especially in large sizes, and the need to define very precisely the shape and dimensions. Its axis penetrating the hull below the waterline and could cause seepage through the joints or even break. Not to mention the repairs. A damaged propeller had to be taken underwater or repaired in dry dock. Could your compensate for this performance?

The British decided to try it. In 1845 he made a series of races between two corvettes, Rattler and Alecto, very similar but fitted with a propeller and a paddle. Between testing and racing highlights one where you can see in the two boats and propeller Rattler dragged nearly 3 miles per hour at Alecto. The fate of the blades was determined and all new Royal Navy vessels were built with no propellers and blades.


As we can see the propeller in marine propulsion have only century of history. And, like others, was a new technology whose success was unclear. I wonder which of the continue their current path.


Category: History of science