Steamer or Steamship

Steamer is an early term for any vessel power by a steam engine rather than sails.

Shipwreck Delaware
The Delaware, an 1880s screw steamer

Early steamers were propelled by large paddlewheels. "Side-wheelers", with the paddlewheels on each side, were more seaworthy, and therefore more common in ocean waters, while "stern-wheelers", with a single large paddlewheel at the back, were more common as riverboats. Later, these were replaced by more efficient screw (or propeller) vessels.

Shipwreck Black Warrior
The Black Warrior, an 1850s side-paddlewheel steamer. There are no stern-wheelers in the region that I know of.
Click
This sketch of the Delaware shows the remains that you can expect to find of such a vessel.

Of note is the universal pattern of:

< bow - boilers - engine - drive shaft - propeller - rudder/stern )

and the fact that the boilers are always in front of the engine. Identify any one of these features on the wreck, and you can orient yourself in even the murkiest conditions.

Shipwreck Delaware boiler
Boilers on the Delaware. In the foreground is an intact one. Next to that is a collapsed one; there are four altogether. In the background is the engine.
steam engine
An old postcard of the City of Keansburg, the last of the New York commuter ferries, and one of the last steamships to ply local waters - until 1968.
steam engine
One of the Keansburg's two triple-expansion steam engines, at Allaire State Park.

Type:
shipwreck, steamer
Depth:
80 ft

A very small wreck, consisting of a primitive single-cylinder steam engine and a large, completely broken-down boiler. Odd pieces of pipe and machinery lie around, but no remains of a hull, although there appears to be some iron plating under the engine. Guessing from the technology, the construction would date to around 1860 +/- 10 years, and the sinking would have been sometime after that.


Shipwreck Volund
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, Norway
Built:
1889, Norway
Specs:
( 239 ft )
Sunk:
Sept 26, 1908; collision with liner Commonwealth
Depth:
105 ft

Shipwreck Hylton Castle
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, England
Built:
1871, England
Specs:
( 251 x 32 ft ) 1258 gross tons, 22 crew
Sunk:
Monday January 11, 1886
overloaded and foundered in storm - no casualties
Depth:
95 ft

Freighter Lillian
Type:
shipwreck, freighter, USA
Built:
1920, Wilmington DE USA, as Maddequet
Specs:
( 327 x 46 ft ) 3482 gross tons, 32 crew
Sunk:
Sunday February 26, 1939
collision with freighter Wiegand ( 6568 tons) - no casualties
Depth:
150 ft

Printed from njscuba.net