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109-570: SS Gothenburg was an iron-hulled sail- and steamship that was built in England in 1854 and sailed between England and Sweden until 1862. She then moved to Australia, where she operated across the Tasman Sea to and from New Zealand until 1873, when she was rebuilt. After her rebuild, she operated in the Australian coastal trade . In February 1875 Gothenburg was wrecked in a storm on

218-443: A day when travelling at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph). Her maiden outward voyage to Melbourne took 42 days, with one coaling stop, carrying 4,000 tons of cargo. Other similar ships were rapidly brought into service over the next few years. By 1885 the usual boiler pressure was 150 pounds per square inch (1,000 kPa) and virtually all ocean-going steamships being built were ordered with triple expansion engines. Within

327-603: A deep water passage between the North Queensland coastline and the Great Barrier Reef , known as the inner route. Although taking this route provided some protection from the open sea, captains had to navigate and thread their way through a number of then-uncharted reefs. All passengers and crew expected to be in Newcastle on Sunday evening for a scheduled stopover. On the evening of 24 February 1875,

436-566: A demonstration project for the potential use of nuclear energy. Thousands of Liberty Ships (powered by steam piston engines) and Victory Ships (powered by steam turbine engines) were built in World War II. A few of these survive as floating museums and sail occasionally: SS  Jeremiah O'Brien , SS  John W. Brown , SS  American Victory , SS  Lane Victory , and SS  Red Oak Victory . A steam turbine ship can be either direct propulsion (the turbines, equipped with

545-430: A few further experiments until SS  Aberdeen  (1881) went into service on the route from Britain to Australia. Her triple expansion engine was designed by Dr A C Kirk, the engineer who had developed the machinery for Propontis . The difference was the use of two double ended Scotch type steel boilers, running at 125 pounds per square inch (860 kPa). These boilers had patent corrugated furnaces that overcame

654-551: A few years, new installations were running at 200 pounds per square inch (1,400 kPa). The tramp steamers that operated at the end of the 1880s could sail at 9 knots (17 km/h; 10 mph) with a fuel consumption of 0.5 ounces (14 g) of coal per ton mile travelled. This level of efficiency meant that steamships could now operate as the primary method of maritime transport in the vast majority of commercial situations. In 1890, steamers constituted 57% of world's tonnage, and by World War I their share raised to 93%. By 1870

763-473: A given distance, but fewer firemen were needed to fuel the boilers, so crew costs and their accommodation space were reduced. Agamemnon was able to sail from London to China with a coaling stop at Mauritius on the outward and return journey, with a time on passage substantially less than the competing sailing vessels. Holt had already ordered two sister ships to Agamemnon by the time she had returned from her first trip to China in 1866, operating these ships in

872-510: A head wind, most notably against the southwest monsoon when returning with a cargo of new tea. Though the auxiliary steamers persisted in competing in far eastern trade for a few years (and it was Erl King that carried the first cargo of tea through the Suez Canal ), they soon moved on to other routes. What was needed was a big improvement in fuel efficiency. While the boilers for steam engines on land were allowed to run at high pressures,

981-627: A heart condition for some time. A few days later Doctor Millner tendered his resignation. In 1874 he was back in South Australia, where in April he remarried, to Elizabeth (née Wood). The following month Doctor Millner, his new wife and the three children of his first marriage (Grace Maude, Esther Eustace and William Sturt) boarded the Gothenburg for Darwin, where he resumed his modified appointment. In 1874, under Doctor Millner's authority,

1090-403: A long bush of soft metal was fitted in the after end of the stern tube. SS  Great Eastern had this arrangement fail on her first transatlantic voyage, with very large amounts of uneven wear. The problem was solved with a lignum vitae water-lubricated bearing, patented in 1858. This became standard practice and is in use today. Since the motive power of screw propulsion is delivered along

1199-502: A number of inventions such as the screw propeller , the compound engine , and the triple-expansion engine made trans-oceanic shipping on a large scale economically viable. In 1870 the White Star Line ’s RMS  Oceanic set a new standard for ocean travel by having its first-class cabins amidships, with the added amenity of large portholes, electricity and running water. The size of ocean liners increased from 1880 to meet

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1308-458: A particularly compact compound engine and taken great care with the hull design, producing a light, strong, easily driven hull. The efficiency of Holt's package of boiler pressure, compound engine and hull design gave a ship that could steam at 10 knots on 20 long tons of coal a day. This fuel consumption was a saving from between 23 and 14 long tons a day, compared to other contemporary steamers. Not only did less coal need to be carried to travel

1417-468: A permit to enter the 200m protected zone that has been declared around the wreck. Its official location is: Old Reef, Great Barrier Reef, 75 kilometres (47 mi) north-east of Ayr , at 19°22′06″S 148°03′21″E  /  19.36833°S 148.05583°E  / -19.36833; 148.05583 . The reef around the wreck provides good diving with an extensive coral garden. A strict non-disturbance policy applies to marine flora and fauna as well as to

1526-412: A photo of the engraved turtle shell. Known discrepancies have been clarified, where possible, in the comments section. Cave dive sites: Steamship As steamships were less dependent on wind patterns, new trade routes opened up. The steamship has been described as a "major driver of the first wave of trade globalization (1870–1913)" and contributor to "an increase in international trade that

1635-482: A raffish reputation, was renamed the Crown and Anchor around 1870, five years before the tragedy. In 1875, a detailed list of all passengers and crew was published by JH Lewis, Printer & Publisher, albeit with several errors and spelling mistakes. That document was used as the main source of the following survivors' table. The survivors' surnames have been reconciled against rescue ships' log books, other records and

1744-474: A reduction gear, rotate directly the propellers), or turboelectric (the turbines rotate electric generators, which in turn feed electric motors operating the propellers). While steam turbine-driven merchant ships such as the Algol -class cargo ships (1972–1973), ALP Pacesetter-class container ships (1973–1974) and very large crude carriers were built until the 1970s, the use of steam for marine propulsion in

1853-426: A sailing vessel. The steam engine would only be used when conditions were unsuitable for sailing – in light or contrary winds. Some of this type (for instance Erl King ) were built with propellers that could be lifted clear of the water to reduce drag when under sail power alone. These ships struggled to be successful on the route to China, as the standing rigging required when sailing was a handicap when steaming into

1962-512: A senior public servant ; Commander Andrew Ross of the Royal Navy ; C. J. Lyons, Justice Wearing's senior assistant; William Shoobridge, Secretary to several mining companies; A. L. McKay, Government Surveyor ; and several Overland Telegraph employees. Never before in Australian history had so many high-profile public servants, dignitaries, and diplomats died in a single tragedy. Many passengers who died were Darwin residents and news of

2071-399: A shaft that is positioned above the waterline, with the cylinders positioned below the shaft. SS  Great Britain used chain drive to transmit power from a paddler's engine to the propeller shaft – the result of a late design change to propeller propulsion. An effective stern tube and associated bearings were required. The stern tube contains the propeller shaft where it passes through

2180-481: A surgeon. Millner immigrated to Australia in 1855, arriving at Port Adelaide on 24 August aboard the barque Lismoyne . Prior to settling in Adelaide, Dr Millner was engaged as ship's surgeon, travelling around the world and working on several immigrant vessels between England and Adelaide. After settling in South Australia, Dr Millner practised at Port Adelaide, Angaston and Gawler . In 1861 and 1862, Millner

2289-406: A tin box with him containing gold sovereigns and coins worth in excess of £3,000. In three days of fine weather, Gothenburg travelled 1,500 kilometres (900 mi) from Palmerston (Darwin) to Somerset on Cape York . The weather began to worsen so the ship stopped to take on ballast at Somerset. While she was anchored, conditions deteriorated to a point where both anchor chains parted. After

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2398-528: The Board of Trade (under the authority of the Merchant Shipping Act 1854 ) would not allow ships to exceed 20 or 25 pounds per square inch (140 or 170 kPa). Compound engines were a known source of improved efficiency – but generally not used at sea due to the low pressures available. Carnatic (1863) , a P&O ship, had a compound engine – and achieved better efficiency than other ships of

2507-462: The Burdekin and other rivers discharging themselves into the sea at that portion of the coast; at the same time they do not consider that due caution was observed in the navigation of the vessel, as they are of the opinion that some attempt should have been made to sight Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse, or Cape Upstart , and, failing that, that the lead should have been used, which, on this part of

2616-458: The Cold War (eg. Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov ), because of needs of high power and speed, although from 1970s they were mostly replaced by gas turbines . Large naval vessels and submarines continue to be operated with steam turbines, using nuclear reactors to boil the water. NS Savannah , was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, and was built in the late 1950s as

2725-711: The East Coast to the West Coast of the United States began on 28 February 1849, with the arrival of SS  California in San Francisco Bay . The California left New York Harbor on 6  October 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California, after a four-month and 21-day journey. The first steamship to operate on the Pacific Ocean was

2834-570: The Governor of South Australia , Sir Anthony Musgrave , presented passengers James Fitzgerald and John Cleland and crewman Robert Brazil with gold medals and a gold watch. The Gothenburg Relief Fund Committee also presented each of them with a gold chain. The report of the Marine Board of Queensland determined that: the loss of the Gothenburg may in a great measure be attributed to an unexpected offset seawards, caused by heavy floods in

2943-522: The Great Barrier Reef off the north coast of Queensland . Twenty-two people survived in three lifeboats. Between 98 and 112 people were killed, including a number of civil servants and dignitaries. Charles Lungley & Co built Gothenburg at Millwall on the River Thames . Her launch on 1 April 1854 was marred by her colliding with the steamship Clyde . Clyde was sunk and Gothenburg sustained damage to her stern and her propeller. As built,

3052-594: The Mediterranean and then through the Red Sea . While this worked for passengers and some high value cargo, sail was still the only solution for virtually all trade between China and Western Europe or East Coast America. Most notable of these cargoes was tea , typically carried in clippers . Another partial solution was the Steam Auxiliary Ship – a vessel with a steam engine, but also rigged as

3161-624: The lifeboats almost impossible. At about 3:00 am, Captain Pearce ordered the two port lifeboats lowered, each with four crew on board. While being passed astern one of the boats broke the painter and became adrift. Her crew tried hard to pull up to the ship's side, but it was impossible in the heavy squall . The other was accidentally let go and both boats, in heavy seas, were unable to be retrieved. At about 3:30 am on Thursday, 25 February, Gothenburg continued to heel over. The deck became so steep that passengers and crew had to climb over

3270-696: The reciprocating steam engine , and was far easier to control. Diesel engines also required far less supervision and maintenance than steam engines, and as an internal combustion engine it did not need boilers or a water supply, therefore was more space efficient and cheaper to build. The Liberty ships were the last major steamship class equipped with reciprocating engines. The last Victory ships had already been equipped with marine diesels, and diesel engines superseded both steamers and windjammers soon after World War Two. Most steamers were used up to their maximum economical life span, and no commercial ocean-going steamers with reciprocating engines have been built since

3379-777: The 116-ton Aaron Manby , built in 1821 by Aaron Manby at the Horseley Ironworks , and became the first iron-built vessel to put to sea when she crossed the English Channel in 1822, arriving in Paris on 22 June. She carried passengers and freight to Paris in 1822 at an average speed of 8 knots (9 mph, 14 km/h). The American ship SS  Savannah first crossed the Atlantic Ocean arriving in Liverpool, England, on June 20, 1819, although most of

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3488-401: The 1960s. Most steamships today are powered by steam turbines . After the demonstration by British engineer Charles Parsons of his steam turbine-driven yacht, Turbinia , in 1897, the use of steam turbines for propulsion quickly spread. The Cunard RMS Mauretania , built in 1906 was one of the first ocean liners to use the steam turbine (with a late design change shortly before her keel

3597-475: The Atlantic Ocean on a scheduled liner voyage before she was converted to diesels in 1986. The last major passenger ship built with steam turbines was the Fairsky , launched in 1984, later Atlantic Star , reportedly sold to Turkish shipbreakers in 2013. Most luxury yachts at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries were steam driven (see luxury yacht ; also Cox & King yachts ). Thomas Assheton Smith

3706-596: The Atlantic, around the southern tip of Africa, and across the Indian Ocean . Before 1866, no steamship could carry enough coal to make this voyage and have enough space left to carry a commercial cargo. A partial solution to this problem was adopted by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O), using an overland section between Alexandria and Suez , with connecting steamship routes along

3815-471: The Bristol-New York route. The idea of regular scheduled transatlantic service was under discussion by several groups and the rival British and American Steam Navigation Company was established at the same time. Great Western's design sparked controversy from critics that contended that she was too big. The principle that Brunel understood was that the carrying capacity of a hull increases as

3924-731: The Escape Cliffs settlement party as Surgeon and Protector of Aborigines, replacing Dr Goldsmith , whose resignation Finniss, the Government Resident, had requested and received. Finniss himself had been recalled, so Millner was to work under Manton , his replacement. That party, Millner included, was recalled to South Australia in November 1866, and the site was abandoned, the men returning to Adelaide on 2 February 1867. On 22 January 1870, Doctor Millner arrived in Darwin on

4033-470: The Liverpool to New York route. RMS  Titanic was the largest steamship in the world when she sank in 1912; a subsequent major sinking of a steamer was that of the RMS ; Lusitania , as an act of World War I . Launched in 1938, RMS  Queen Elizabeth was the largest passenger steamship ever built. Launched in 1969, Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was the last passenger steamship to cross

4142-429: The alarm was raised. At Holbourne Island , the other 18 survivors were living off raw bird's eggs and rainwater that had pooled in the island rocks. Because rescue was uncertain, they engraved ship details and their names on the concave side of a large turtle shell, in the hope that it would be found in the future. On Sunday, 28 February 15 of them set off in the starboard lifeboat for an island about 20 miles away to

4251-635: The barque Kohinoor as Acting Government Resident of the Northern Territory of South Australia. His commencing annual salary was listed at £500. As the South Australian Government's representative in the Northern Territory, he had jurisdiction over a white population of just forty-four, until the arrival of South Australia's substantive Government Resident. Millner was described as a tall man, heavily bearded, with thinning hair, who always wore glasses. Doctor Millner

4360-404: The boiler fires were extinguished by water rising through the damaged stern . Around midnight, the chief engineer came on deck to report that the engine room was flooded and the engine was of no further use. With heavy seas now rushing down hatchways and into the cabins, Gothenburg was doomed and Captain Pearce was forced to admit that the situation had become desperate. The storm made launching

4469-517: The coast, is a sufficient guide for keeping clear of the Barrier ; a vessel carrying a depth not exceeding 15 fathoms (27 m) or 16 fathoms (29 m) being well clear of that danger, while a less depth would show an approach to the shore of the mainland. There was also much speculation at the time in the Adelaide and Melbourne press on why the lifeboats had not been launched earlier. Survivor James Fitzgerald pointed out in his recollection that, had

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4578-426: The commercial market has declined dramatically due to the development of more efficient diesel engines . One notable exception are LNG carriers which use boil-off gas from the cargo tanks as fuel. However, even there the development of dual-fuel engines has pushed steam turbines into a niche market with about 10% market share in newbuildings in 2013. Lately, there has been some development in hybrid power plants where

4687-436: The competing problems of heat transfer and sufficient strength to deal with the boiler pressure. Aberdeen was a marked success, achieving in trials, at 1,800 indicated horsepower , a fuel consumption of 1.28 pounds (0.58 kg) of coal per indicated horsepower. This was a reduction in fuel consumption of about 60%, compared to a typical steamer built ten years earlier. In service, this translated into less than 40 tons of coal

4796-501: The connected, but upturned lifeboat and further secured it with a rope tied to Gothenburg . In less than fifteen minutes, nearly 100 people had drowned; washed away, or trapped in their water-filled cabins. By this time, several sharks were circling the wreck. Those still on board Gothenburg tried to cling to the rigging, but throughout the early morning of 25 February, several more people were drowned after they were swept overboard by large broadside waves. Many passengers associated with

4905-435: The cube of its dimensions, while water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This meant that large ships were more fuel efficient, something very important for long voyages across the Atlantic. Great Western was an iron-strapped, wooden, side-wheel paddle steamer, with four masts to hoist the auxiliary sails. The sails were not just to provide auxiliary propulsion, but also were used in rough seas to keep

5014-550: The deteriorated iron hull and the coal-fired square boilers of Gothenburg remain. The wreck lies in 9 to 16 metres (30 to 52 ft) of water on the western side of Old Reef, 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of Townsville . The Gothenburg shipwreck is registered on the Queensland National Estate (place ID #8923) as a Heritage site , and is protected under Section 7 of the (Commonwealth) Historic Shipwrecks Act 1976 , which requires that divers have

5123-435: The distance. When they arrived, they were met by four of the crew from one of the port lifeboats. Their lifeboat had been severely damaged on the rocks on the opposite side of the island in an attempt to land there the day before. The other port lifeboat, with four crew on board, was picked up by the steamer Leichhardt at an island at the entrance to Whitsunday Passage . The steamer immediately reversed course back towards

5232-444: The early 1850s. This was superseded at the beginning of the 20th century by floating pad bearing which automatically built up wedges of oil which could withstand bearing pressures of 500 psi or more. Steam-powered ships were named with a prefix designating their propeller configuration i.e. single, twin, triple-screw. Single-screw Steamship SS , Twin-Screw Steamship TSS , Triple-Screw Steamship TrSS . Steam turbine-driven ships had

5341-412: The fabric of the wreck. Pelagic fish and reef sharks are common. The northern Darwin suburb of Millner was named after Dr James Millner who, together with his family, lost their lives on Gothenburg . Most streets in the northern Darwin suburb of Coconut Grove and some in the adjacent suburb of Millner, were named after local Darwin residents, interstate visitors, and crew who lost their lives in

5450-531: The first hospital was opened in Packard Street above Doctors Gully. In February 1875, after five years service in the north, Doctor Millner resigned and was returning to Adelaide with his wife and four children aboard the SS ; Gothenburg . On the evening of 24 February 1875, off the north Queensland coast, the Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier Reef near Holbourne Island , during

5559-411: The first screw propeller to an engine at his Birmingham works, an early steam engine , beginning the use of a hydrodynamic screw for propulsion. The development of screw propulsion relied on the following technological innovations. Steam engines had to be designed with the power delivered at the bottom of the machinery, to give direct drive to the propeller shaft . A paddle steamer's engines drive

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5668-461: The gold diggings were unwilling to let go of their gold and money belts, as it was probably their life savings; these individuals insisted on keeping them tied and once overboard reportedly drowned very quickly. By the morning of 25 February, only the masts were visibly protruding from the water, with 14 people clinging to the rigging , where they remained for the next twenty-four hours in cyclonic weather. At low tide, Gothenburg sank stern first and

5777-425: The hull as waves pass beneath it—becomes too great. Iron hulls are far less subject to hogging, so that the potential size of an iron-hulled ship is much greater. In the spring of 1840 Brunel also had the opportunity to inspect SS  Archimedes , the first screw-propelled steamship, completed only a few months before by F. P. Smith's Propeller Steamship Company. Brunel had been looking into methods of improving

5886-429: The hull structure. It should provide an unrestricted delivery of power by the propeller shaft. The combination of hull and stern tube must avoid any flexing that will bend the shaft or cause uneven wear. The inboard end has a stuffing box that prevents water from entering the hull along the tube. Some early stern tubes were made of brass and operated as a water lubricated bearing along the entire length. In other instances

5995-494: The lifeboats been filled to capacity, no one would have survived the severe weather conditions experienced. He also commented that passenger vessels were not required to carry enough lifeboats, concluding that there were insufficient places for all Gothenburg' s passengers and crew. It was not until some 37 years later, after RMS Titanic had sunk in 1912, that it was made compulsory for all British registered ships to carry enough lifeboats for everyone aboard. Today, only parts of

6104-434: The loss of the anchors, Gothenburg was forced to prematurely steam out 13 kilometres (7.0 nmi) because of strong currents; at that point, she brought up for the night. Two days later, Tuesday 23 February, Gothenburg passed Cooktown at about 2:00 pm. The wind and rain severely increased and cloud cover became so thick it blocked out the sun. Despite this, she continued the journey south into worsening weather, in

6213-402: The needs of the human migration to the United States and Australia. RMS  Umbria and her sister ship RMS  Etruria were the last two Cunard liners of the period to be fitted with auxiliary sails. Both ships were built by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. They were record breakers by the standards of the time, and were the largest liners then in service, plying

6322-577: The newly formed Blue Funnel Line . His competitors rapidly copied his ideas for their own new ships. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 gave a distance saving of about 3,250 nautical miles (6,020 km; 3,740 mi) on the route from China to London. The canal was not a practical option for sailing vessels, as using a tug was difficult and expensive – so this distance saving was not available to them. Steamships immediately made use of this new waterway and found themselves in high demand in China for

6431-797: The officers died. Edward W. Price, Magistrate and Commissioner Circuit Court of the Northern Territory , who remained behind in Darwin, lost his wife and six children. Devastated by the news, he was given six months leave on full pay by the government. The retired fifth Premier of South Australia , Thomas Reynolds and his wife, Anne, both drowned as did Eduard Durand, the French Vice Consul. Other notable passengers who died were Dr James Millner and his family, Justice William A. Wearing QC , Circuit Court Judge; Joseph Whitby, acting South Australian Crown Solicitor ; Richard Wells, NT Times & Gazette editor ; Lionel Pelham,

6540-419: The operating costs of steamships were still too high in certain trades, so sail was the only commercial option in many situations. The compound engine, where steam was expanded twice in two separate cylinders, still had inefficiencies. The solution was the triple expansion engine, in which steam was successively expanded in a high pressure, intermediate pressure and a low pressure cylinder. The theory of this

6649-456: The paddle steamer Beaver , launched in 1836 to service Hudson's Bay Company trading posts between Puget Sound Washington and Alaska . The most testing route for steam was from Britain or the East Coast of the U.S. to the Far East . The distance from either is roughly the same, between 14,000 to 15,000 nautical miles (26,000 to 28,000 km; 16,000 to 17,000 mi), traveling down

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6758-515: The paddle wheel causing a substantial decrease in performance. Within a few decades of the development of the river and canal steamboat, the first steamships began to cross the Atlantic Ocean . The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat Experiment , an ex-French lugger ; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth in July 1813. The first iron steamship to go to sea was

6867-453: The performance of Great Britain ' s paddlewheels, and took an immediate interest in the new technology, and Smith, sensing a prestigious new customer for his own company, agreed to lend Archimedes to Brunel for extended tests. Over several months, Smith and Brunel tested a number of different propellers on Archimedes in order to find the most efficient design, a four-bladed model submitted by Smith. When launched in 1843, Great Britain

6976-795: The port of Savannah, Georgia , US, on 22 May 1819, arriving in Liverpool , England, on 20 June 1819; her steam engine having been in use for part of the time on 18 days (estimates vary from 8 to 80 hours). A claimant to the title of the first ship to make the transatlantic trip substantially under steam power is the British-built Dutch-owned Curaçao , a wooden 438-ton vessel built in Dover and powered by two 50 hp engines, which crossed from Hellevoetsluis , near Rotterdam on 26 April 1827 to Paramaribo , Surinam on 24 May, spending 11 days under steam on

7085-512: The prefix TS . In the UK the prefix RMS for Royal Mail Steamship overruled the screw configuration prefix. The first steamship credited with crossing the Atlantic Ocean between North America and Europe was the American ship SS  Savannah , though she was actually a hybrid between a steamship and a sailing ship, with the first half of the journey making use of the steam engine. Savannah left

7194-424: The rails to get on her side. At about 4:00 am, the two remaining starboard lifeboats were lowered and were rushed by the passengers. One starboard lifeboat, crammed with women and children, capsized when others tried to board it. Some half dozen men righted her in the water, but, damaged and without oars, food, or water, it quickly drifted away and was never found. The second starboard lifeboat also capsized when

7303-502: The restriction of the air line made it impossible. The gold in the Captain's cabin was recovered after much difficulty. While recovering the gold, several sharks that were caught near the wreck were found to contain human bones, remains and jewellery. There were three heroes identified that tragic night, all attested to by all the other survivors, for their attempts to save other passengers. In recognition of their bravery, on 26 July 1875,

7412-539: The revolutionary SS  Great Britain , also built by Brunel, became the first iron-hulled screw-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. SS Great Britain was the first ship to combine these two innovations. After the initial success of its first liner, SS  Great Western of 1838, the Great Western Steamship Company assembled the same engineering team that had collaborated so successfully before. This time however, Brunel, whose reputation

7521-441: The sea crashed over, washing all the occupants into the sea. One passenger recalled the sea on the downwind side of the ship being covered with human heads bobbing up and down like corks. Five or six men and one woman climbed onto the upturned hull . The boat was still connected to its painter , but it was unable to be recovered from the heavy sea and wind which swept the woman off and drowned her. A passenger, John Cleland, swam to

7630-461: The second port lifeboat that were picked up by the steamer Leichhardt , remained with that ship and subsequently made way for Brisbane . Two weeks later a hard-hat diver , sent down to recover the gold and other valuables, found the bodies of two women at the foot of the saloon staircase, one with her arm around the other. The diver tried to reach them to take a lock of hair or some other personal item that could be identified by their loved ones, but

7739-478: The shaft, a thrust bearing is needed to transfer that load to the hull without excessive friction. SS  Great Britain had a 2 ft diameter gunmetal plate on the forward end of the shaft which bore against a steel plate attached to the engine beds. Water at 200 psi was injected between these two surfaces to lubricate and separate them. This arrangement was not sufficient for higher engine powers and oil lubricated "collar" thrust bearings became standard from

7848-478: The ship had a registered length of 187.4 ft (57.1 m), her beam was 28.1 ft (8.6 m) and her draft was 12.9 ft (3.9 m). Her tonnages were 572  GRT and 345  NRT . She had a two-cylinder steam engine that was rated at 120 horsepower . She had three masts and was rigged as a barquentine . Her single funnel was set well aft, between her main and mizzen masts. She carried four lifeboats, two on each side. Gothenburg first owner

7957-537: The ship on an even keel and ensure that both paddle wheels remained in the water, driving the ship in a straight line. The hull was built of oak by traditional methods. She was the largest steamship for one year, until the British and American's British Queen went into service. Built at the shipyard of Patterson & Mercer in Bristol, Great Western was launched on 19 July 1837 and then sailed to London, where she

8066-537: The ship was still heading south in almost cyclonic conditions with fore, top, and mainsails set and the steam engines running at full speed. Flooding rains lashed the entire Queensland coast and Captain Pearce reportedly could not see land or sun. At about 7:00 pm, and for reasons undetermined, he changed course and shortly afterwards, at full speed (11 to 12 knots ), hit a section of the Great Barrier Reef at low tide 31 miles (50 km) northwest of Holbourne Island . Gothenburg struck with such force that she

8175-566: The shipwreck. Gothenburg Crescent, in the inner Darwin suburb of Stuart Park , was named after the ship. The large turtle shell, which was engraved by the 18 survivors at Holbourne Island , is displayed at the South Australian Museum , on North Terrace, Adelaide . By August 1866 there was a pub named The Gothenburg in Flinders Street, Melbourne . It had an image of the ship above the entrance. The pub, which had

8284-504: The south, which appeared to be closer to the main shipping lane. A rescue ship sent looking for survivors, picked up the group and took them safely to Bowen. Another rescue ship, Bunyip from Townsville, subsequently returned to Holbourne Island and rescued the three remaining survivors. Although reports vary, records show that between 98 and 112 people drowned. Most records state the death toll at 102. Only 22 people survived (12 crew and 10 passengers). All 25 women and children aboard and all

8393-521: The start of the 1870 tea season. The steamships were able to obtain a much higher rate of freight than sailing ships and the insurance premium for the cargo was less. So successful were the steamers using the Suez Canal that, in 1871, 45 were built in Clyde shipyards alone for Far Eastern trade. Throughout the 1870s, compound-engined steamships and sailing vessels coexisted in an economic equilibrium:

8502-629: The steam turbine is used together with gas engines. As of August 2017 the newest class of Steam Turbine ships are the Seri Camellia -class LNG carriers built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) starting in 2016 and comprising five units. Nuclear powered ships are basically steam turbine vessels. The boiler is heated, not by heat of combustion , but by the heat generated by nuclear reactor. Most atomic-powered ships today are either aircraft carriers or submarines . James Millner (doctor) James Stokes Millner (1830 – 25 February 1875)

8611-414: The technology changed the design of ships for faster, more economic propulsion. Paddlewheels as the main motive source became standard on these early vessels. It was an effective means of propulsion under ideal conditions but otherwise had serious drawbacks. The paddle-wheel performed best when it operated at a certain depth, however when the depth of the ship changed from added weight it further submerged

8720-427: The tide rose, but without success. Finally, a fatal attempt was made to refloat her, by reversing the engine hard. The vessel came half off the reef, but holed herself badly and then slewed broadside to the waves, in a much worse position. However, with the tide rising and some cargo now being dumped overboard, all aboard still expected Gothenburg to float free. With strong winds changing direction and seas increasing,

8829-612: The time. Her boilers ran at 26 pounds per square inch (180 kPa) but relied on a substantial amount of superheat . Alfred Holt , who had entered marine engineering and ship management after an apprenticeship in railway engineering, experimented with boiler pressures of 60 pounds per square inch (410 kPa) in Cleator . Holt was able to persuade the Board of Trade to allow these boiler pressures and, in partnership with his brother Phillip launched Agamemnon in 1865. Holt had designed

8938-547: The tragedy severely affected the small community, reportedly taking several years to recover. Most of Gothenburg's crew were from Melbourne and as a result of the shipwreck, 11 widows and 34 children were left destitute in Victoria. At Bowen, twelve survivors left with Captain Lake on the ship Victoria headed for Sydney. They all got free passage from McMerkan, Blackwood and Co, the owners of Gothenburg . The four survivors from

9047-404: The voyage was actually made under sail. The first ship to make the transatlantic trip substantially under steam power may have been the British-built Dutch-owned Curaçao , a wooden 438-ton vessel built in Dover and powered by two 50 hp engines, which crossed from Hellevoetsluis , near Rotterdam on 26 April 1827 to Paramaribo , Surinam on 24 May, spending 11 days under steam on

9156-479: The way out and more on the return. Another claimant is the Canadian ship SS  Royal William in 1833. The British side-wheel paddle steamer SS  Great Western was the first steamship purpose-built for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings, starting in 1838. In 1836 Isambard Kingdom Brunel and a group of Bristol investors formed the Great Western Steamship Company to build a line of steamships for

9265-504: The way out and more on the return. Another claimant is the Canadian ship SS  Royal William in 1833. The first steamship purpose-built for regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings was the British side-wheel paddle steamer SS  Great Western built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1838, which inaugurated the era of the trans-Atlantic ocean liner . SS  Archimedes , built in Britain in 1839 by Francis Pettit Smith ,

9374-453: The wreck fell apart. However, the remaining starboard lifeboat, which had capsized, was still held by her painter and the rope attached by Cleland. At first light on 26 February the weather eased and the survivors managed to right the boat and bail it out; they prepared a makeshift sail and paddled for the mainland. About seven hours later they realised they could not make the mainland, so they altered course for an island that could be seen in

9483-498: The wreck, which she reached about 3.30 pm on Friday, 26 February. Gothenburg was a complete wreck; the funnel was gone and she had sunk to the eyes of the lower rigging. Leichhardt' s Chief Officer and four hands went alongside, but nothing other than her masts could be seen above the water except for the body of a naked man floating nearby. They assumed the other victims had been taken by sharks. Leichhardt searched for survivors until last light and then made way for Bowen where

9592-528: Was 196.6 ft (59.9 m), her beam was 28.2 ft (8.6 m) and her draft was 20.5 ft (6.2 m). Her tonnages were increased to 737 GRT and 501 NRT. By 1874 her owners were registered as McMeckan and Blackwood. In November 1874, several shipowners were contracted for two years by the Government of South Australia to provide ten round trips between the colonial capital of Adelaide and its furthest outpost, Port Darwin . Port Darwin

9701-469: Was a medical practitioner and administrator in the early history of the Northern Territory of Australia. Dr J. Stokes Millner (as he was generally known) was born in Birmingham , England in 1830, the second son of Thomas and Eleanor Millner according to the 1841 census. He was educated at Marischal College , University of Aberdeen : licentiate of faculty of physicians and surgeons and was trained as

9810-559: Was an English aristocrat who forwarded the design of the steam yacht in conjunction with the Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier . By World War II , steamers still constituted 73% of world's tonnage, and similar percentage remained in early 1950s. The decline of the steamship began soon thereafter. Many had been lost in the war, and marine diesel engines had finally matured as an economical and viable alternative to steam power. The diesel engine had far better thermal efficiency than

9919-566: Was an elected Alderman on the Port Adelaide Council . Millner was appointed Surgeon to the McKinlay party to the Northern Territory, whose brief was to investigate alternative sites for "Palmerston", the proposed new settlement, independent of the work being done by Finniss at Escape Cliffs . The party left Port Adelaide by the ship Ellen Lewis on 25 September 1865 and arrived at Adam Bay on 5 November. He transferred to

10028-471: Was at its height, came to assert overall control over design of the ship—a state of affairs that would have far-reaching consequences for the company. Construction was carried out in a specially adapted dry dock in Bristol , England. Brunel was given a chance to inspect John Laird 's 213-foot (65 m) (English) channel packet ship Rainbow —the largest iron- hulled ship then in service—in 1838, and

10137-483: Was by far the largest vessel afloat. Brunel's last major project, SS  Great Eastern , was built in 1854–1857 with the intent of linking Great Britain with India, via the Cape of Good Hope , without any coaling stops. This ship was arguably more revolutionary than her predecessors. She was one of the first ships to be built with a double hull with watertight compartments and was the first liner to have four funnels. She

10246-402: Was established in the 1850s by John Elder , but it was clear that triple expansion engines needed steam at, by the standards of the day, very high pressures. The existing boiler technology could not deliver this. Wrought iron could not provide the strength for the higher pressures. Steel became available in larger quantities in the 1870s, but the quality was variable. The overall design of boilers

10355-755: Was feeling the effects of a gold rush at Pine Creek and growing quickly as a trading post with the Dutch East Indies . However, all the local banks sent their money, together with government paperwork and the Royal Mail , around the east coast to Adelaide. On successful completion of each voyage, the South Australian government would pay the owners £1,000 sterling. When Gothenburg left Port Darwin on Tuesday, 16 February 1875, Captain Robert George Augustus Pearce

10464-452: Was fitted with two side-lever steam engines from the firm of Maudslay, Sons & Field , producing 750 indicated horsepower between them. The ship proved satisfactory in service and initiated the transatlantic route, acting as a model for all following Atlantic paddle-steamers. The Cunard Line 's RMS  Britannia began her first regular passenger and cargo service by a steamship in 1840, sailing from Liverpool to Boston. In 1845

10573-459: Was given several roles including; Protector of Aborigines , quarantine officer and registrar of births and deaths, as well as caring for the sick and injured, being the only doctor in the Northern Territory. Doctor Millner established good relations with the local aborigine people, who soon realised he had skills and knowledge they could use. In December 1872 his wife Esther (née Sanders) died at Yankalilla, south of Adelaide, having suffered from

10682-563: Was improved in the early 1860s, with the Scotch-type boilers – but at that date these still ran at the lower pressures that were then current. The first ship fitted with triple expansion engines was Propontis (launched in 1874). She was fitted with boilers that operated at 150 pounds per square inch (1,000 kPa) – but these had technical problems and had to be replaced with ones that ran at 90 pounds per square inch (620 kPa). This substantially degraded performance. There were

10791-405: Was laid down) and was soon followed by all subsequent liners. Most larger warships of the world's navies were propelled by steam turbines burning bunker fuel in both World Wars, apart from obsolete ships with reciprocating machines from the turn of the century, and rare cases of usage of diesel engines in larger warships. Steam turbines burning fuel remained in warship construction until the end of

10900-416: Was left high up on the reef. Immediately, an order came out to lower the sails. At first, there was no panic and many passengers returned to their cabin bunks expecting Gothenburg would come off the reef at high tide . In an attempt to refloat her, Captain Pearce ordered Gothenburg to be lightened forward. Water casks used as ballast and passengers were positioned aft in an endeavour to refloat her as

11009-567: Was one of the most modern vessels working in Australian waters in the 1860s, and became a popular ship as she was considered reliable. After several years on the Trans-Tasman route between Australia and New Zealand, her owners transferred her to the Australian coastal service. By 1871 her tonnages had been reassessed to 675 GRT and 459 NRT. In 1873 Gothenburg was rebuilt at Adelaide to increase her range, cargo capacity and passenger accommodation. As rebuilt, her registered length

11118-416: Was soon converted to iron-hulled technology. He scrapped his plans to build a wooden ship and persuaded the company directors to build an iron-hulled ship. Iron's advantages included being much cheaper than wood, not being subject to dry rot or woodworm , and its much greater structural strength. The practical limit on the length of a wooden-hulled ship is about 300 feet, after which hogging —the flexing of

11227-641: Was the French Vice Consul Edouard Durand and James Millner , the medical officer in George W. Goyder 's 1869 expedition to found the first colony at Port Darwin. There were also several prisoners aboard, bound for the Adelaide jail. Locked in the Captain's cabin was about 93 kilograms (3,000 ozt) of gold valued at £40,000 consigned to the ES&;A Bank in Adelaide, worth about US$ 2.6 million in 2008. Durand reportedly also carried

11336-596: Was the North of Europe Steam Navigation Company, who registered her at London . Under the Merchant Shipping Act 1854 , her official number was 23071. The North of Europe SN Co operated Gothenburg between Irongate Wharf near the Tower of London and Sweden . In 1862 John H Blackwood bought her and she sailed to Australia, where Blackwood re-registered her in Melbourne . By 1866 her code letters were NQDB. Gothenburg

11445-456: Was the biggest liner throughout the rest of the 19th century with a gross tonnage of almost 20,000 tons and had a passenger-carrying capacity of thousands. The ship was ahead of her time and went through a turbulent history, never being put to her intended use. The first transatlantic steamer built of steel was SS  Buenos Ayrean , built by Allan Line Royal Mail Steamers and entering service in 1879. The first regular steamship service from

11554-399: Was the change from the paddle-wheel to the screw-propeller as the mechanism of propulsion. These steamships quickly became more popular, because the propeller's efficiency was consistent regardless of the depth at which it operated. Being smaller in size and mass and being completely submerged, it was also far less prone to damage. James Watt of Scotland is widely given credit for applying

11663-519: Was the world's first screw propeller -driven steamship for open water seagoing. She had considerable influence on ship development, encouraging the adoption of screw propulsion by the Royal Navy , in addition to her influence on commercial vessels. The first screw-driven propeller steamship introduced in America was on a ship built by Thomas Clyde in 1844 and many more ships and routes followed. The key innovation that made ocean-going steamers viable

11772-461: Was under orders to make best possible speed. Pearce had been her captain on the Adelaide – Darwin run for some time and had built up a solid reputation. He was a man of the sea, a man of sobriety and kindness, and was well respected by his fellow sea captains. Amongst the approximately 98 passengers and 37 crew (surviving records vary) were government officials, circuit court judges, Darwin residents taking their first furlough , and miners. Also aboard

11881-497: Was unprecedented in human history". Steamships were preceded by smaller vessels, called steamboats , conceived in the first half of the 18th century, with the first working steamboat and paddle steamer , the Pyroscaphe , from 1783. Once the technology of steam was mastered at this level, steam engines were mounted on larger, and eventually, ocean-going vessels. Becoming reliable, and propelled by screw rather than paddlewheels,

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