Steamers (5/5)

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.

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Shipwreck Sumner
Type:
shipwreck, collier, converted to passenger freighter, USA
Built:
1883, Germany, as Rhaetia
Specs:
( 351 x 43 ft ) 3553 gross tons, 232+ passengers & crew
Sunk:
Tuesday December 12, 1916
ran aground - no casualties
Depth:
25 ft


Shipwreck Thurmond
The unusual submarine-like hull form of a whale-back steamer. Sea-keeping was poor, and the design was ultimately not successful, and died out.
Type:
shipwreck, "whale-back" steamer, USA
Built:
1890, AmShip Superior, Duluth MN USA, as Colgate Hoyt
Specs:
( 276 x 36 ft ) 1253 displacement tons
Sunk:
Saturday December 25, 1909
ran aground in thick fog - 10 casualties
Depth:
14 ft

Shipwreck Vizcaya
Type:
shipwreck, steamer, Spain
Name:
Vizcaya is a Basque province in northern Spain. The Basques are a fiercely independent seafaring people of unknown origin.
Built:
1872, England, as Santander
Specs:
( 287 x 38 ft ) 2458 gross tons, 103 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Saturday October 30, 1890
collision with schooner Cornelius Hargraves - 60 casualties
Depth:
80 ft

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

Shipwreck Yankee
Type:
shipwreck, Great Lakes freighter, USA
Built:
1890, AmShip Cleveland, Cleveland OH USA, as German
Specs:
( 296 x 40 ft ) 2418 gross tons, 30 passengers & crew
Sunk:
Wednesday June 11, 1919
collision with liner Argentina - no casualties
Depth:
110 ft

Steamers

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Fishing vessel Susan Rose was bound from her home port of Port Judith, Rhode Island to Manasquan to begin fluke fishing off New Jersey. Instead, just before 5AM * Friday November 17, 2023, she ran aground approximately 350 yards ** south of the inlet centerline. All four crew were safely gotten off. After de-fueling and de-watering, she was successfully pulled off the beach on the second attempt, at about 2AM Sunday morning, after rolling in the rough surf for almost two days. The vessel rapidly filled with water, capsized and sank, a few hundred yards ** off the beach, in approximately 50 feet of water. Again, everyone was gotten off safely.

* about 90 minutes after low tide
** news reporters said half a mile, but ... well, reporters