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125-575: SS Valencia was an iron-hulled passenger steamer built for the Red D Line for service between Venezuela and New York City . She was built in 1882 by William Cramp and Sons , one year after the construction of her sister ship Caracas . She was a 1,598-ton vessel (originally 1,200 tons), 252 feet (77 m) in length. In 1897, Valencia was deliberately attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba . The next year, she became

250-419: A telegraph line strung between the trees. They followed the line through thick forest until they came upon a lineman 's cabin, from which they were able to summon help. These nine men, who became known as the "Bunker" Party, after the survivor Frank Bunker, eventually received much criticism for not attempting to reach the top of the nearby cliff, where they might have received and made fast the cable fired from

375-616: A 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention . Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks

500-472: A Confederate prison camp, blew up, causing more than 1,700 deaths. For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats. Their use generated rapid development of economies of port cities; the exploitation of agricultural and commodity products, which could be more easily transported to markets; and prosperity along

625-800: A Cuban poet, writer, and national hero, is buried in Santa Ifigenia Cemetery in this city. Santiago was the home of the 20th-century revolutionary hero Frank País . On 26 July 1953, the Cuban Revolution began with an ill-prepared armed attack on the Moncada Barracks by a small contingent of rebels led by Fidel Castro . Shortly after this disastrous incident, País began talking with students and young working people informally, drawing around him what became an extremely effective urban revolutionary alliance. He and his followers developed highly organized cells, coordinating

750-478: A Seine steamboat service. In 1818, Ferdinando I , the first Italian steamboat, left the port of Naples , where it had been built. The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat "Experiment", an ex-French lugger ; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth , arriving Yarmouth 19 July 1813. "Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on 5 November 1817; in

875-534: A coastal passenger liner on the U.S. West Coast and served periodically in the Spanish–American War as a troopship to the Philippines . Valencia was wrecked off Cape Beale , which is near Clo-oose , on the west coast of Vancouver Island , British Columbia , on 22 January 1906. As her sinking killed 100 people (including all of the women and children aboard), some classify the wreck of Valencia as

1000-519: A crank. He got support from Lord Dundas to build a second steamboat, which became famous as the Charlotte Dundas , named in honour of Lord Dundas's daughter. Symington designed a new hull around his powerful horizontal engine, with the crank driving a large paddle wheel in a central upstand in the hull, aimed at avoiding damage to the canal banks. The new boat was 56 ft (17.1 m) long, 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 8 ft (2.4 m) depth, with

1125-414: A giant warship version, 246 feet (75 m) long. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual small-scale version, 100 feet (30 m) long, called Experiment . Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine that drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a larger steamboat

1250-498: A large-scale urban resistance that became instrumental in the success of the Cuban Revolution. País' group prepared carefully, accruing weapons, collecting money and medical supplies. They published a cheap newsletter that reported news critical of the government, attempting to counter Batista's censorship of the mainline press. In the summer of 1955, País's organization merged with Castro's 26 July Movement. País became

1375-541: A lot of stress on the rear of the ships and would not see widespread use till the conversion from wood boats to iron boats was complete—well underway by 1860. By the 1840s the ocean-going steam ship industry was well established as the Cunard Line and others demonstrated. The last sailing frigate of the US Navy, Santee , had been launched in 1855. In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up

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1500-651: A partial load of her about 60 saloon (about $ 300 fare) and 150 steerage (about $ 150 fare) passenger capacity. Only a few were going all the way to California. Her crew numbered about 36 men. She left New York well before confirmed word of the California Gold Rush had reached the East Coast. Once the California Gold Rush was confirmed by President James Polk in his State of the Union address on 5 December 1848 people started rushing to Panama City to catch

1625-474: A passing vessel. Some observers onboard claimed they could make out the shape of Valencia within the black exhaust emanating from City of Topeka ' s funnel. In fact, while steaming to port with survivors, a ship approached her and passed close by. To the horror of all on board, it appeared to be the Valencia , and the crew on board skeletons. The phantom steamer was on the same course, heading straight for

1750-590: A permanent fleet would need to be provided. Resulting from this decision, two steamships were ordered from William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia . Both ships were to carry a combination of passengers, cargo and mail, sail under American Registration and be manned by American crews. In 1881, the first of this duo, the 1,200-ton Caracas , was completed and began service in July 1881 between New York City and Caracas via Laguayra and Puerto Cabello . In 1882,

1875-419: A second boat made 30-mile (48 km) excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing. Meanwhile, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton , near Dumfries , Scotland , had developed double-hulled boats propelled by manually cranked paddle wheels placed between the hulls, even attempting to interest various European governments in

2000-687: A steamboat to ply a route between New York City and Albany, New York on the Hudson River . He successfully obtained a monopoly on Hudson River traffic after terminating a prior 1797 agreement with John Stevens , who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement had partitioned northern Hudson River traffic to Livingston and southern to Stevens, agreeing to use ships designed by Stevens for both operations. With their new monopoly, Fulton and Livingston's boat, named

2125-709: A trip around Cape Horn . About 20–30% of the California Argonauts are thought to have returned to their homes, mostly on the East Coast of the United States via Panama—the fastest way home. Many returned to California after settling their business in the East with their wives, family and/or sweethearts. Most used the Panama or Nicaragua route till 1855 when the completion of the Panama Railroad made

2250-483: A visit to England, made his own engine, and put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. The first steam-powered ship, Pyroscaphe , was a paddle steamer powered by a double-acting steam engine ; it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt,

2375-551: A well-equipped steamboat be stationed at Bamfield. The Government of Canada immediately set to work building a lighthouse and trail; in 1908, the Pachena Point Lighthouse was lit, and in 1911 work on the trail – later known as the West Coast Trail  – was completed. Estimates of how many people died in the sinking vary; some sources list that 117 people were killed, while others claim that

2500-645: A wooden hull. The boat was built by John Allan and the engine by the Carron Company . The first sailing was on the canal in Glasgow on 4 January 1803, with Lord Dundas and a few of his relatives and friends on board. The crowd were pleased with what they saw, but Symington wanted to make improvements and another more ambitious trial was made on 28 March. On this occasion, the Charlotte Dundas towed two 70 ton barges 30 km (almost 20 miles) along

2625-451: A wreck and of the echo of that great hymn sung by the women who, looking death smilingly in the face, were able in the fog and mist and flying spray to remember: Nearer, My God, to Thee . Once word of the disaster reached Victoria, three ships were dispatched to rescue the survivors. The largest was the passenger liner SS Queen : accompanying her were the salvage steamer Salvor and the tug Czar . Another steamship, City of Topeka ,

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2750-604: Is named in his honor. The mural relief portrait on the building façade depicts Juan Almeida Bosque , a commander of insurgent forces in the Cuban Revolution. It is the birthplace of the world-famous Bacardi brand, which was started by Facundo Bacardi Masso in 1862. It now houses a museum that displays the extensive art collection of the Bacardí family. Santiago de Cuba is well known for its cultural life. Some of Cuba's most famous musicians, including Compay Segundo , Ibrahim Ferrer and Eliades Ochoa (all of whom participated in

2875-502: Is now on display in the Maritime Museum of British Columbia . Coincidentally, Valencia' s sister ship Caracas , was also wrecked. On 9 December 1888, shortly after arriving on the west coast as Yaquina Bay , she broke free from her tugboat, ran aground at the bay of her namesake and was declared a total loss. Valencia ' s dramatic end has made her the subject of several local rumors and ghost stories. Six months after

3000-515: Is the most populated municipality of Cuba. The city has developed at the foot of the bay and is surrounded on land by the Sierra Maestra . It has a hot and humid climate. The landscapes includes the complexity of urban elements, and natural greenery and marine settings, all at the same time. It has an irregular offset to the bay, which contributed to the development of an urban setting where the avenues and streets are steep or descend. Under

3125-504: The Phoenix , which used a high-pressure engine in combination with a low-pressure condensing engine. The first steamboats powered only by high pressure were the Aetna and Pennsylvania , designed and built by Oliver Evans . In October 1811 a ship designed by John Stevens , Little Juliana , would operate as the first steam-powered ferry between Hoboken and New York City. Stevens' ship

3250-739: The Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River . The SS California (1848) , the first Pacific Mail Steamship Company paddle wheel steamship, left New York City on 6 October 1848 with only

3375-497: The Clermont after Livingston's estate, could make a profit. The Clermont was nicknamed "Fulton's Folly" by doubters. On Monday, 17 August 1807, the memorable first voyage of the Clermont up the Hudson River was begun. She traveled the 150 miles (240 km) trip to Albany in a little over 32 hours and made the return trip in about eight hours. The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811,

3500-412: The Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour (11 to 13 km/h) and travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year,

3625-497: The Forth and Clyde Canal to Glasgow , and despite "a strong breeze right ahead" that stopped all other canal boats it took only nine and a quarter hours, giving an average speed of about 3 km/h (2 mph). The Charlotte Dundas was the first practical steamboat, in that it demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first to be followed by continuous development of steamboats. The American Robert Fulton

3750-424: The Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua typically took about one week by native canoe and mule back. The 4,000 miles (6,400 km) trip to or from San Francisco to Panama City could be done by paddle wheel steamer in about three weeks. In addition to this, travel time via the Panama route typically had a two- to four-week waiting period to find a ship going from Panama City, Panama to San Francisco before 1850. It

3875-490: The Köppen climate classification , Santiago de Cuba has a tropical savanna climate with no significant wet and dry periods through the year. In the 2012 population census the city of Santiago de Cuba recorded a population of 431,272 people. Santiago is served by Antonio Maceo Airport . Cubana de Aviación connects the city with Havana , Port Au Prince , and Santo Domingo , with other airlines connecting to other cities in

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4000-449: The Lyle gun on board Valencia . Meanwhile, the ship's boatswain and a crew of volunteers had been lowered in the last remaining lifeboat with instructions to find a safe landing place and return to the cliffs to receive a lifeline from the ship. Upon landing, they discovered a trail and a sign reading "Three miles to Cape Beale ". Abandoning the original plan, they decided to head toward

4125-735: The Panic of 1857 . Steamboat traffic including passenger and freight business grew exponentially in the decades before the Civil War. So too did the economic and human losses inflicted by snags, shoals, boiler explosions, and human error. During the US Civil War the Battle of Hampton Roads , often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads ,

4250-814: The River Clyde in Scotland. The Margery , launched in Dumbarton in 1814, in January 1815 became the first steamboat on the River Thames, much to the amazement of Londoners. She operated a London-to-Gravesend river service until 1816, when she was sold to the French and became the first steamboat to cross the English Channel. When she reached Paris, the new owners renamed her Elise and inaugurated

4375-687: The Steamboat Iowa (1838) is incorporated in the Seal of Iowa because it represented speed, power, and progress. At the same time, the expanding steamboat traffic had severe adverse environmental effects, in the Middle Mississippi Valley especially, between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio . The steamboats consumed much wood for fuel, and the river floodplain and banks became deforested. This led to instability in

4500-541: The Valencia off Guantánamo Bay . One of the shots missed Valencia ' s stern by 240 ft (73 m) Immediately, the American flag was raised on Valencia ' s stern, preventing Reina Mercedes from firing any further shots. It was later revealed that the shots were fired by Reina Mercedes in order to intimidate Valencia into raising her colors. The crew of Reina Mercedes was otherwise well aware of Valencia ' s identity. Despite not being able to see

4625-425: The Valencia sinking, believes the story to be apocryphal: however, if it is true, the lifeboat in question was likely No. 5, explaining its eventual rediscovery in 1933. Local fisherman similarly reported lifeboats being rowed by skeletons of Valencia ' s victims. When transporting the survivors of Valencia to Seattle, City of Topeka stopped in the water to relay the news of Valencia ' s foundering to

4750-400: The lighthouse on the cape, where they arrived after 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 hours of hiking. The lighthouse keeper phoned Bamfield to report the wreck, but the news had already arrived and been passed on to Victoria . This last group of survivors was "well-nigh crazed" by their last sight of the remaining passengers stranded on the ship: the brave faces looking at them over the broken rail of

4875-412: The steam engine power and provide power for occasions when the steam engine needed repair or maintenance. These steamships typically concentrated on high value cargo, mail and passengers and only had moderate cargo capabilities because of their required loads of coal. The typical paddle wheel steamship was powered by a coal burning engine that required firemen to shovel the coal to the burners. By 1849

5000-612: The tug Meteor helped her free herself, and she resumed her voyage southward. During the winter season, Valencia spent most of her time sitting at her dock in San Francisco, only seeing use as a backup vessel. In January 1906, the Valencia was temporarily diverted to the San ;Francisco – Seattle route to take over from the SS City of Puebla , which was undergoing repairs in San Francisco. The weather in San Francisco

5125-436: The 1776 Palmipède . At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on

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5250-408: The 1890s, the steamship technology so improved that steamships became economically viable even on long-distance voyages such as linking Great Britain with its Pacific Asian colonies, such as Singapore and Hong Kong . This resulted in the downfall of sailing. The era of the steamboat in the United States began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of

5375-590: The 19th century, the flooding of the Mississippi became a more severe problem than when the floodplain was filled with trees and brush. Most steamboats were destroyed by boiler explosions or fires—and many sank in the river, with some of those buried in silt as the river changed course. From 1811 to 1899, 156 steamboats were lost to snags or rocks between St. Louis and the Ohio River. Another 411 were damaged by fire, explosions or ice during that period. One of

5500-515: The Arkansas River on 16 July 1863 demonstrated this. The steamboat was destroyed, the cargo was lost, and the tiny Union escort was run off. The loss did not affect the Union war effort, however. The worst of all steamboat accidents occurred at the end of the Civil War in April 1865, when the steamboat Sultana , carrying an over-capacity load of returning Union soldiers recently freed from

5625-592: The British flag, as she did not operate into the United States. Voyages on Valencia and Caracas were scheduled twice a month, once for each ship, and lasted around 26 days. In 1888, Caracas was sold to Thomas Egenton Hogg of the Oregon Pacific Railroad Company and renamed Yaquina Bay . Valencia however, continued operations with the Red D Line. In later years, Valencia operated from New York City to Laguayra, via Puerto Cabello and

5750-556: The Caribbean and North America. The public transport in the city, as in Havana, is carried out by two divisions, Omnibus Metropolitanos (OM) and Metrobus. The Metrobus serves the inner-city urban area, with a maximum distance of 20 km (12 mi). Omnibus Metropolitanos (OM) connects the adjacent towns and municipalities in the metropolitan area with the city center, with a maximum distance of 40 km (25 mi). Ferrocarriles de Cuba railways and ASTRO inter-city buses connect

5875-589: The English raided again in 1662 under Christopher Myngs . The city had a huge influx of French and British immigrants in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. Some eighteen thousand Saint Dominican refugees, both ethnic French whites and free people of color, and African freedmen , came from Saint-Domingue in the summer of 1803 during the last days of the Haitian slave revolt, which had started in 1791 . Other refugees had emigrated from Saint-Domingue earlier in

6000-449: The Mississippi , river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels. By 1849 the shipping industry was in transition from sail-powered boats to steam-powered boats and from wood construction to an ever-increasing metal construction. There were basically three different types of ships being used: standard sailing ships of several different types , clippers , and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on

6125-480: The Newcomen engine required a structurally strong boat, and the reciprocating motion of the engine beam required a complicated mechanism to produce propulsion. James Watt 's design improvements increased the efficiency of the steam engine, improving the power-to-weight ratio, and created an engine capable of rotary motion by using a double-acting cylinder which injected steam at each end of the piston stroke to move

6250-695: The Panama Railroad was completed the Panama Route was by far the quickest and easiest way to get to or from California from the East Coast of the U.S. or Europe. Most California bound merchandise still used the slower but cheaper Cape Horn sailing ship route. The sinking of the paddle steamer SS  Central America (the Ship of Gold ) in a hurricane on 12 September 1857 and the loss of about $ 2 million in California gold indirectly led to

6375-426: The Panama Route much easier, faster and more reliable. Between 1849 and 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed across the United States about 800,000 travelers had used the Panama route. Most of the roughly $ 50,000,000 of gold found each year in California were shipped East via the Panama route on paddle steamers, mule trains and canoes and later the Panama Railroad across Panama. After 1855 when

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6500-828: The SS California. The SS  California picked up more passengers in Valparaiso , Chile and Panama City , Panama and showed up in San Francisco, loaded with about 400 passengers—twice the passengers it had been designed for—on 28 February 1849. She had left behind about another 400–600 potential passengers still looking for passage from Panama City. The SS California had made the trip from Panama and Mexico after steaming around Cape Horn from New York—see SS California (1848) . The trips by paddle wheel steamship to Panama and Nicaragua from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, via New Orleans and Havana were about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) long and took about two weeks. Trips across

6625-572: The Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries , Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along

6750-581: The United States, and thousands settled in New Orleans, with the freedmen increasing its African culture, as most had been born in Africa. The ethnic French whites and free people of color, generally with longer ties to French culture, added their flavor to the culture of the city as well. Near the end of the century, during the Spanish–American War , Santiago was the site of the major defeat of Spanish troops at San Juan Hill on 1 July 1898. After capturing

6875-769: The West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $ 199,999 to set up regular packet ship , mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City , Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon . Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from

7000-597: The West was fought to control major rivers, especially the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers using paddlewheelers. Only the Union had them (the Confederacy captured a few, but were unable to use them.) The Battle of Vicksburg involved monitors and ironclad riverboats. The USS Cairo is a survivor of the Vicksburg battle. Trade on the river was suspended for two years because of a Confederate's Mississippi blockade before

7125-638: The age of thirteen were held off shore, to be rapidly deported to the mainland, as they were considered a revolutionary threat. Some French soldiers joined other refugees in Charleston, South Carolina , or New York City; others went to New Orleans . The refugees who stayed added to the city's eclectic cultural mix, already rich with Spanish and African culture. Some of the women and children were impressed into slavery again, although they had been free. In 1809, after Napoleon Bonaparte 's forces invaded Spain, French citizens were ordered out of Cuba. Most went to

7250-465: The attack unjustified. In 1898, Valencia was sold to the Pacific Steam Whaling Company , which brought her around Cape Horn to the United States West Coast . From here, she served between San Francisco, California and the Territory of Alaska . On 19 June of that year, Valencia was chartered by the United States Army for use as a troopship in the Spanish–American War . In this configuration, Valencia could carry 606 troops and 29 officers. She

7375-412: The banks, addition of silt to the water, making the river both shallower and hence wider and causing unpredictable, lateral movement of the river channel across the wide, ten-mile floodplain, endangering navigation. Boats designated as snagpullers to keep the channels free had crews that sometimes cut remaining large trees 100–200 feet (30–61 m) or more back from the banks, exacerbating the problems. In

7500-426: The boat into the cave's mouth. Lightkeeper Philip Daykin, who managed to get a good look inside the cave, speculated the survivors were alive when the lifeboat entered the cave, but starved to death before it could be found. Due to the dangerous seas outside the cave's mouth, the lifeboat along with its human remains could not be recovered. Local resident Clay Evans, a member of the local Search and Rescue who has studied

7625-452: The captain of City of Topeka called off the search. The second life raft eventually drifted ashore on an island in Barkley Sound , where the four survivors were found by the island's First Nations and taken to a village near Ucluelet . When the overland party arrived at the cliffs above the site of the wreck, they could see dozens of passengers clinging to the rigging and the few unsubmerged parts of Valencia 's hull. Not long afterwards,

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7750-441: The city preoccupied with the holiday, Castro chose 26 July to enter undetected into the city to assault the Moncada Barracks. During Carnival, traditional conga music is played in the streets on a traditional pentatonic trumpet, called the trompeta china . A relatively high number of residents of the city adhere to Afro-Cuban religions, most notably santería . The city hosts an important community of descendants of immigrants from

7875-461: The city with Havana's Central Railway Station and with most other main cities of Cuba. The main railway station , also known as "General Senén Casas", is an important hub of the national railways. Located in the city centre, near the harbour, it was completely rebuilt in 1997. The city of Santiago is also crossed by the Carretera Central highway and by the southern section of the A1 motorway , largely unbuilt, that will link it with Havana when it

8000-631: The city's dockyards, and in 1805 Evans convinced them to contract with him for a steam-powered dredge, which he called the Oruktor Amphibolos . It was built but was only marginally successful. Evans's high-pressure steam engine had a much higher power-to-weight ratio , making it practical to apply it in locomotives and steamboats. Evans became so depressed with the poor protection that the US patent law gave inventors that he eventually took all his engineering drawings and invention ideas and destroyed them to prevent his children wasting their time in court fighting patent infringements. Robert Fulton constructed

8125-428: The cruiser's flag, Valencia ' s captain was able to identify Reina Mercedes , as both ships were together in Santiago de Cuba only days before. A Spanish official claimed Reina Mercedes had every right to fire upon Valencia for not displaying her American flag, which violated maritime courtesy. In response an American official stated Reina Mercedes did not display her colors while attacking Valencia , making

8250-453: The design of boilers and engine components so that they could withstand internal pressure, although boiler explosions were common due to lack of instrumentation like pressure gauges. Attempts at making high-pressure engines had to wait until the expiration of the Boulton and Watt patent in 1800. Shortly thereafter high-pressure engines by Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans were introduced. The compound steam engine became widespread in

8375-402: The early 19th century from what is now Haiti. Some aspects of the religious " vodún " heritage of the city can be traced back to this community. The city features several historic architectural styles, from Baroque to neoclassical . Many colonial buildings have huge windows and balconies, where people can enjoy views of the steep streets and wooded hills. Preserved historical treasures include

8500-423: The entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca . Shortly before midnight on 22 January, she struck a reef 11 miles (18 km) off Cape Beale on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Immediately after the collision, a large wave lifted her off the reef, and crew members reported a large gash in the hull into which water was pouring rapidly. To prevent her from sinking, the captain ordered her run aground, and she

8625-567: The few surviving Mississippi sternwheelers from this period, Julius C. Wilkie , was operated as a museum ship at Winona, Minnesota , until its destruction in a fire in 1981. The replacement, built in situ , was not a steamboat. The replica was scrapped in 2008. Santiago de Cuba The municipality extends over 1,023.8 km (395.3 sq mi), and contains the communities of Antonio Maceo, Bravo, Castillo Duany, Daiquirí , El Caney , El Cobre , El Cristo, Guilera, Leyte Vidal, Moncada and Siboney . Historically Santiago de Cuba

8750-437: The film Buena Vista Social Club ) and trova composer Ñico Saquito (Benito Antonio Fernández Ortiz) were born in the city or in one of the villages surrounding it. They have contributed to the typical, country-like music of the city. Santiago de Cuba is well known for its traditional music, most notably son , from which salsa has been derived. The city celebrates Carnival in July, although it typically precedes Lent. With

8875-403: The final report was published on 14 April 1906. The reports agreed on the causes of the disaster — navigational mistakes and poor weather. Safety equipment was, for the most part, in working order, but lifeboat drills had not been carried out. According to the report, the crew of the rescuing vessels did as much to help Valencia as could be expected under the circumstances. The loss of life

9000-670: The first Spanish dwelling in the Americas , the first cathedral in Cuba, Cobre mine , the first copper mine opened in the Americas; and the first Cuban museum. The local citadel of San Pedro de la Roca is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "the most complete, best-preserved example of Spanish-American military architecture , based on Italian and Renaissance design principles". The Baconao Park

9125-698: The first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation as of 2007 ) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York , funded the construction of the first US steamboat, Ontario , to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic . In his book Life on

9250-456: The first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service. Oliver Evans (1755–1819) was a Philadelphian inventor born in Newport, Delaware , to a family of Welsh settlers. He designed an improved high-pressure steam engine in 1801 but did not build it (patented 1804). The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and cleaning

9375-700: The gold fields. Steam-powered tugboats and towboats started working in the San Francisco Bay soon after this to expedite shipping in and out of the bay. As the passenger, mail and high value freight business to and from California boomed more and more paddle steamers were brought into service—eleven by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company alone. The trip to and from California via Panama and paddle wheeled steamers could be done, if there were no waits for shipping, in about 40 days—over 100 days less than by wagon or 160 days less than

9500-525: The island of Curaçao . In 1897, the liner Niagara of the Ward Line was laid up to undergo repairs. The Valencia was subsequently chartered from the Red D Line to temporarily take Niagara ' s place. Despite the charter, Valencia was still manned by her Red D Line crew. On 29 May 1897, the Valencia was purposely attacked by the Spanish cruiser Reina Mercedes . The cruiser fired two shots at

9625-418: The late 19th century. Compounding uses exhaust steam from a high pressure cylinder to a lower pressure cylinder and greatly improves efficiency. With compound engines it was possible for trans ocean steamers to carry less coal than freight. Compound steam engine powered ships enabled a great increase in international trade. The most efficient steam engine used for marine propulsion is the steam turbine . It

9750-622: The leader of the new organization in Oriente province . Two years later he was betrayed to the police and was fatally shot after his capture. On 1 January 1959, Fidel Castro proclaimed the victory of the Cuban Revolution from a balcony on Santiago de Cuba's city hall. The ashes of País were interred in Santa Ifigenia Cemetery, where Marti had been buried. Santiago de Cuba was the hometown of poet José María Heredia . The Teatro Heredia, which hosts theater and cultural events,

9875-535: The loads and strains imposed by the paddle wheels when they encountered rough water. The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage was the 320-ton 98-foot-long (30 m) SS  Savannah , built in 1819 expressly for packet ship mail and passenger service to and from Liverpool , England. On 22 May 1819, the watch on the Savannah sighted Ireland after 23 days at sea. The Allaire Iron Works of New York supplied Savannah's 's engine cylinder , while

10000-547: The major rivers. Their success led to penetration deep into the continent, where Anson Northup in 1859 became first steamer to cross the Canada–US border on the Red River . They would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized International at Fort Garry , or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by Northcote at Batoche . Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they could become state symbols;

10125-452: The next year. Miller then abandoned the project. The failed project of Patrick Miller caught the attention of Lord Dundas , Governor of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, and at a meeting with the canal company's directors on 5 June 1800, they approved his proposals for the use of "a model of a boat by Captain Schank to be worked by a steam engine by Mr Symington" on the canal. The boat

10250-472: The number of fatalities was as high as 181. According to the federal report, the official death toll was 136 persons. Only 37 men survived, and every woman and child on Valencia died in the disaster. In 1933, 27 years after the disaster, Valencia' s lifeboat No. 5 was found floating in Barkley Sound. Remarkably, it was in good condition, with much of the original paint remaining. The boat's nameplate

10375-462: The piston back and forth. The rotary steam engine simplified the mechanism required to turn a paddle wheel to propel a boat. Despite the improved efficiency and rotary motion, the power-to-weight ratio of Boulton and Watt steam engine was still low. The high-pressure steam engine was the development that made the steamboat practical. It had a high power-to-weight ratio and was fuel efficient. High pressure engines were made possible by improvements in

10500-540: The rest of the engine components and running gear were manufactured by the Speedwell Ironworks of New Jersey . The 90-horsepower (67 kW) low-pressure engine was of the inclined direct-acting type, with a single 40-inch-diameter (100 cm) cylinder and a 5-foot (1.5 m) stroke. Savannah 's engine and machinery were unusually large for their time. The ship's wrought-iron paddlewheels were 16 feet in diameter with eight buckets per wheel. For fuel,

10625-487: The revolution. Haiti declared its independence as a republic in 1804. The French were withdrawing surviving troops after suffering heavy losses from warfare and yellow fever . The immigrants, who included freedmen as France had abolished slavery on Saint-Domingue, struggled to maintain their freedom in Cuba, which was still a slave society. Cuba initially allowed only white refugees, women of color, children, and loyal "domestics" to land; French troops and all men of color over

10750-546: The rocks, or clung to wreckage as they were swept to sea, dying of hypothermia . Within days of the disaster, the US Marine Inspection Service launched an investigation into the incident. A second investigation was launched by President Theodore Roosevelt . Its purpose was twofold: one, to determine the causes of the disaster, and two, to recommend how to avoid such loss of life in the future. The investigation ran from 14 February to 1 March 1906, and

10875-584: The rocks. The Valencia signaled the City of Topeka , which added to the terror of the people on board the Topeka . After the chilling experience, the Topeka continued on with no other incidents. In 1910, the Seattle Times reported that sailors claimed to have seen a phantom ship resembling Valencia near Pachena Point. The sailors observed waves washing over the phantom steamer as human figures held on to

11000-598: The same event, the Valencia was discovered to have been carrying more passengers than her permits allowed, causing her owners to be fined $ 9,000 (equivalent to $ 330,000 in 2023). Following these scandals, Valencia was sold to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company . While returning from Valdez, Alaska in 1902, Valencia collided with the steamer Georgia in Elliott Bay off Seattle, Washington . One of Valencia ' s hull plates

11125-578: The same quantity of fuel and longer distances could be traveled. A steamship built in 1855 required about 40% of its available cargo space to store enough coal to cross the Atlantic, but by the 1860s, transatlantic steamship services became cost-effective and steamships began to dominate these routes. By the 1870s, particularly in conjunction with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, South Asia became economically accessible for steamships from Europe. By

11250-467: The screw propeller had been invented and was slowly being introduced as iron increasingly was used in ship construction and the stress introduced by propellers could be compensated for. As the 1800s progressed the timber and lumber needed to make wooden ships got ever more expensive, and the iron plate needed for iron ship construction got much cheaper as the massive iron works at Merthyr Tydfil , Wales, for example, got ever more efficient. The propeller put

11375-449: The ship's lone funnel collapsed. With the funnel being the last full means of protection to anyone on board, the waves were now able to completely wash over Valencia 's deck, leaving all at the mercy of the waves. Without any remaining lifelines, however, they could do nothing to help the survivors, and within hours a large wave washed the wreckage off the rocks and into the ocean. The remaining passengers drowned, were beaten to death against

11500-505: The ship's rigging for dear life. Similar apparitions were reported for years following the disaster. 48°42′20″N 125°00′21″W  /  48.70556°N 125.00583°W  / 48.70556; -125.00583 Steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power , typically driving propellers or paddlewheels . The term steamboat is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping . The development of

11625-461: The ship's two remaining life rafts, but the majority of the passengers decided to remain on the ship, presumably believing that a rescue party would soon arrive. Approximately one hour later, City of Topeka arrived and, like Queen , was unable to approach the wreck. Topeka cruised the waters off the coast for several hours searching for survivors, and eventually came upon one of the life rafts carrying 18 men. No other survivors were found and at dark

11750-451: The side or rear. River steamboats typically used rear-mounted paddles and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls designed to carry large loads on generally smooth and occasionally shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheeled paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed to travel in the often stormy weather encountered at sea. The ship hull design was often based on the clipper ship design with extra bracing to support

11875-427: The sinking, a local Nuu-chah-nulth fisherman, Clanewah Tom, and his wife reported seeing a lifeboat with eight skeletons in a nearby sea cave at the shoreline of Pachena Bay . The mouth of the cave was obstructed by a large boulder and the cave was reported to be around 200 ft (61 m) deep. There was no definite explanation for the lifeboat's presence in the cave, but it was believed that high tide had lifted

12000-449: The sister ship of Caracas was completed. The new steamer, Valencia , was shorter in length than her older sister by 5 ft (2 m) and began her maiden voyage in May 1882. An extension service for Valencia and Caracas was provided by the small wooden steamship Maracaibo to the port of the wooden steamer's namesake . Unlike Valencia and Caracas , Maracaibo was registered under

12125-487: The steamboat led to the larger steamship , which is a seaworthy and often ocean-going ship . Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS , S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, these designations are most often used for steamships. The first steamboat designs used Newcomen steam engines . These engines were large, heavy, and produced little power, which resulted in an unfavorable power-to-weight ratio. The heavy weight of

12250-803: The summer of 1818 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast. By 1826, steamboats were employed on a large number of inland and coastal shipping lines in the United Kingdom. Some of the latter crossed the Irish Sea , others crossed the English Channel to Calais or Boulogne-sur-Mer , or crossed the North Sea to Rotterdam. At the time, the General Steam Navigation Company

12375-525: The surrounding hills, United States General William Rufus Shafter laid siege to the city. Spain later surrendered to the United States after Admiral William T. Sampson destroyed the Spanish Atlantic fleet just outside Santiago's harbor on 3 July 1898. Cuba had declared independence from Spain but was occupied by US troops for several years. Historians suggest they were there to ensure the sugar economy continued to be productive. José Martí ,

12500-551: The union victory at Vicksburg reopened the river on 4 July 1863. The triumph of Eads ironclads, and Farragut's seizure of New Orleans, secured the river for the Union North. Although Union forces gained control of Mississippi River tributaries, travel there was still subject to interdiction by the Confederates. The Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams , which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson along

12625-414: The vessel carried 75 short tons (68 t) of coal and 25 cords (91  m ) of wood. The SS Savannah was too small to carry much fuel, and the engine was intended only for use in calm weather and to get in and out of harbors. Under favorable winds the sails alone were able to provide a speed of at least four knots. The Savannah was judged not a commercial success, and its engine was removed and it

12750-427: The waves crashing along her bow often interfered with communication between her crew members. The Valencia was not equipped with a double bottom and, like other early iron steamers, her hull compartmentalization was primitive. In 1901, Valencia ' s purser was arrested for overpricing tickets and embezzling the additional money. The purser claimed the rest of Valencia ' s crew was involved in this scam. In

12875-404: The women and children were lashed to the rigging above the reach of the sea. It was a pitiful sight to see frail women, wearing only night dresses, with bare feet on the freezing ratlines, trying to shield children in their arms from the icy wind and rain. Only 12 men made it to shore, and of those, three were washed away by the waves after landing. The remaining nine men scaled the cliffs and found

13000-479: The worst maritime disaster in the " Graveyard of the Pacific ", a famously treacherous area off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. The Red D Line had been operating a well-established sailing ship service to Venezuela since 1839. This service continued uninterrupted for almost 40 years. By the summer of 1879 however, the company decided to modernize its service with steamships. Three German vessels were leased to begin this service, but it soon became clear that

13125-409: The wreck was horrific, as one of the few survivors, Chief Freight Clerk Frank Lehn recounted: Screams of women and children mingled in an awful chorus with the shrieking of the wind, the dash of rain, and the roar of the breakers. As the passengers rushed on deck they were carried away in bunches by the huge waves that seemed as high as the ship's mastheads. The ship began to break up almost at once and

13250-434: Was attributed to a series of unfortunate coincidences, aggravated by a lack of lifesaving infrastructure along Vancouver Island's coast. The federal report called for the construction of a lighthouse between Cape Beale and Carmanah Point , and the creation of a coastal lifesaving trail with regularly spaced shelters for shipwrecked sailors. It also recommended that surfboats be stationed at Tofino and Ucluelet and that

13375-577: Was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symington's design with a vertical cylinder engine and crosshead transmitting power to a crank driving the paddlewheels. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth and Clyde Canal . In 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to

13500-465: Was built in 1807, North River Steamboat (later known as Clermont ), which carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York . Clermont was able to make the 150-mile (240 km) trip in 32 hours. The steamboat was powered by a Boulton and Watt engine and was capable of long-distance travel. It was the first commercially successful steamboat, transporting passengers along the Hudson River . In 1807 Robert L. Stevens began operation of

13625-529: Was clear, and Valencia set off on 20 January at 11:20 a.m. with nine officers, 56 crew members and at least 108 passengers aboard. As she passed by Cape Mendocino in the early morning hours of 21 January, the weather took a turn for the worse. Visibility was low and a strong wind started to blow from the southeast. Unable to make celestial observations , the ship's crew was forced to rely on dead reckoning to determine their position. Out of sight of land, and with strong winds and currents, Valencia missed

13750-550: Was converted back to a regular sailing ship. By 1848 steamboats built by both United States and British shipbuilders were already in use for mail and passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean—a 3,000 miles (4,800 km) journey. Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 short tons (4.5 to 14.5 t) of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run. Initially, nearly all seagoing steamboats were equipped with mast and sails to supplement

13875-464: Was developed near the end of the 19th century and was used throughout the 20th century. An apocryphal story from 1851 attributes the earliest steamboat to Denis Papin for a boat he built in 1705. Papin was an early innovator in steam power and the inventor of the steam digester , the first pressure cooker , which played an important role in James Watt 's steam experiments. However, Papin's boat

14000-461: Was driven into the rocks again. She was left stranded in sight of the shore, separated from it by less than 100 yards (91 m). In the ensuing confusion, all but one of the ship's seven lifeboats were lowered into the water against the captain's orders, all of them improperly manned. Three flipped while being lowered, spilling their occupants into the ocean; of the three that were successfully launched, two capsized and one disappeared. The scene at

14125-484: Was engineered as a twin-screw-driven steamboat in juxtaposition to Clermont ' s Boulton and Watt engine. The design was a modification of Stevens' prior paddle steamer Phoenix , the first steamship to successfully navigate the open ocean in its route from Hoboken to Philadelphia. In 1812, Henry Bell's PS Comet was inaugurated. The steamboat was the first commercial passenger service in Europe and sailed along

14250-837: Was fought over two days with steam-powered ironclad warships , 8–9 March 1862. The battle occurred in Hampton Roads , a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk . The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederate States of America to break the Union Naval blockade, which had cut off Virginia from all international trade. The Civil War in

14375-449: Was immediately rebuilt. This was the starting point of the expeditions led by Juan de Grijalba and Hernán Cortés to the coasts of Mexico in 1518, and in 1538 by Hernando de Soto 's expedition to Florida. The first cathedral was built in the city in 1528. From 1522 until 1589, Santiago was the capital of the Spanish colony of Cuba. The city was plundered by French forces in 1553, and by English forces in 1603 . More than 50 years later

14500-628: Was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Biosphere Reserve List in 1987. Santiago de Cuba is located in the southeast of the island at coordinates 20° 01' 17.42" N 75° 49' 45.75" W, some 870 km (540 mi) of the capital, Havana . Historically Santiago de Cuba has been the second-largest city in Cuba, behind Havana. It features a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and is a major port . The municipality of Santiago de Cuba, its capital city,

14625-493: Was later sent from Seattle with a doctor, nurses, medical supplies, members of the press, and a group of experienced seamen. On the morning of 24 January, Queen arrived at the site of the wreck , but was unable to approach due to the severity of the weather and lack of depth charts . Seeing that it would not be possible to approach the wreck from the sea, Salvor and Czar set off to Bamfield to arrange for an overland rescue party. Upon seeing Queen , Valencia' s crew launched

14750-409: Was not a well-liked ship among Pacific Coast passengers. She was regarded as being too small and too open to the elements, causing her to be classified as a second class vessel. Furthermore, her average speed was only 11 knots. Her design made her difficult to handle during winter months. Valencia ' s lengthy 100 ft (30 m) bow reduced visibility from her bridge. The very audible noise of

14875-631: Was not before 1850 that enough paddle wheel steamers were available in the Atlantic and Pacific routes to establish regularly scheduled journeys. Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle wheel steamships like the SS McKim (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies the 125 miles (201 km) trip from San Francisco up the extensive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to Stockton, California , Marysville, California , Sacramento , etc. to get about 125 miles (201 km) closer to

15000-556: Was not steam-powered but powered by hand-cranked paddles. A steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , having learned of Watt's engine on

15125-488: Was one of the biggest companies that operated steamboats in short-sea shipping . The Talbot operated by GSNC on the London - Calais line had a tonnage of 156 and 60 hp. Steamships required carrying fuel (coal) at the expense of the regular payload. For this reason for some time sailships remained more economically viable for long voyages. However, as the steam engine technology improved, more power could be generated by

15250-578: Was present at the trials of the Charlotte Dundas and was intrigued by the potential of the steamboat. While working in France, he corresponded with and was helped by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell , who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. Fulton designed his own steamboat, which sailed along the River Seine in 1803. Fulton later obtained a Boulton and Watt steam engine, shipped to America, where his first proper steamship

15375-506: Was punctured above the water line. It was later discovered that had Valencia been damaged underwater by the collision, she would have foundered. Carrying a crew of 62, three passengers, and 500 tons of general cargo on a voyage from Nome in the Territory of Alaska, Valencia ran aground without loss of life while entering the harbor at Saint Michael , Alaska, on 16 October 1905. After Valencia jettisoned an estimated 75 tons of cargo,

15500-428: Was the second-most important city on the island after Havana, and remains the second-largest. It is on a bay connected to the Caribbean Sea and an important sea port . In the 2022, the city of Santiago de Cuba recorded a population of 507,167 people. Santiago de Cuba was the seventh village founded by Spanish conquistador Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar on 25 July 1515. The settlement was destroyed by fire in 1516, and

15625-511: Was used to transport the 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry , 1st Washington Volunteer Infantry (Companies F, G, I and L), and the California Heavy Artillery (Batteries A and D) between San Francisco and the Philippines . The Army paid Valencia ' s owners $ 650 (equivalent to $ 23,800 in 2023) a day for her lease. After returning to civil service, Valencia did not adapt well to her new surroundings. Valencia

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