Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Hudson River steamboat the 'Hendrick Hudson'


"The Hendrick Hudson was built at Newburgh by the Marvel Company, under contract with the W. & A. Fletcher Company of New York, who built her engines, and under designs from Frank E. Kirby. Her principal dimensions are: length, 400 feet (122 metres); breadth over all, 82 feet (25 metres); depth of hold, 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 metres), and a draft of 7 feet 6 inches (2.3 metres). Her propelling machinery is what is known as the 3-cylinder compound direct acting engine, and her power (6,500-hp) is applied through side wheels with feathering buckets, and steam is supplied from eight boilers.

Steel has been used in her construction to such an extent that her hull, her bulk-heads (7 in all), her engine and boiler enclosures, her kitchen and ventilators, her stanchions, girders, and deck beams, and in fact the whole essential frame work of the boat is like a great steel building. Where wood is used it is hard wood, and in finish probably has no equal in marine work.

Her scheme of decoration, ventilation and sanitation is as artistic and scientific as modern methods can produce, and at the same time her general lay out for practical and comfortable operation is the evolution of the long number of years in which the Day Line has been conducting the passenger business.

A detailed account of this steamer would be a long story, but some of the salient features are as follows: She carries the largest passenger license ever issued, namely: for 5,000 people; on her trial trip she made the fastest record through the water of any inland passenger ship in this country, namely: 23.1 miles per hour. Her shafts are under the main deck. Her mural paintings represent prominent features of the Hudson, which may not be well seen from the steamer. Her equipment far exceeds the requirements of the Government Inspection Laws."

Info from this website

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