- Aaron Manby
"Aaron Manby" was a landmark vessel in the science of
shipbuilding .Launched in 1821, "Aaron Manby" was the first
steamship to be built of iron. She was thebrainchild of the eccentric but far-seeing naval officerCaptain (laterAdmiral ) Charles Napier, who had conceived the idea of a fleet of steamships for service on the RiverSeine . The ship was named after the master of theHorseley Ironworks ,Tipton ,Staffordshire , where she was pre-fabricated to a design jointly formulated by Captain Napier, Aaron Manby and his sonCharles Manby . She was then assembled atRotherhithe on theThames . Of 116 tonsburthen , the ship was 120 feet (36.6 m) long. Her flat-bottomed hull was made of quarter-inch thick iron plate fastened to angle-iron ribs. There was onedeck , of wood, and abowsprit . The ship’s distinctive profile boasted a single convert|47|ft|m|sing=on-high funnel. The engine was designed by Henry Bell (designer of the wooden steamship "Comet"), as were thepaddlewheel s: these were 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter but only 1.5 feet (46 cm) wide, because the vessel's maximum beam was limited to 23 feet (7.0 m) for service on the Seine. Defying the prevailing wisdom of the day, the iron-hulled vessel not only floated but made 9 knots (10 mph, 17 km/h) and drew one foot (30 cm) less water than any other steamboat then operating.After trials in May 1822, "Aaron Manby" crossed the
English Channel toLe Havre under Napier’s command onJune 10 , at an average speed of 8 knots (9 mph, 14 km/h), carrying passengers and freighted with a cargo oflinseed and iron castings. The ship proceeded up the Seine toParis , where she caused a great stir and where she was based for the next decade. This has been claimed (incorrectly) as the first passage from Britain to France by steam ship. There had been shorter crossings by wooden steamers, but Napier's was the first direct steam crossing from London to Paris and the first seagoing voyage by an iron ship anywhere. After some further channel voyages the ship was used for pleasure trips up and down the Seine. On the failure of Napier’s enterprise throughbankruptcy in 1827 (after he had financed the building of five similar iron steamships) she was sold to a Frenchconsortium who operated her on the RiverLoire until she was broken up in 1855. The use of iron plates for the hull, in place of wood, was widely copied in shipbuilding during the following decades. Napier had conceived the ship as a first step towards an iron warship, and in this sense "Aaron Manby" could be considered a direct ancestor of theRoyal Navy 's first ironfrigate , "Warrior", built the year of Napier's death.ources
Peter Kemp (ed), "The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea" (Oxford University Press, 1976, corr. edition 1979) ISBN 0-19-211553-7
ee also
*"Vulcan" (barge), first iron vessel, a horse-drawn barge, maiden voyage May 1819
*"Charlotte Dundas ", first commercial steam propelled vessel, maiden voyage 1802
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