|
''Commonwealth'' was a large sidewheel steamboat built in 1854–55 for passenger service on Long Island Sound. The most celebrated Sound steamer of her day, ''Commonwealth'' was especially noted for the elegance and comfort of her passenger accommodations, which included gas lighting, steam heating, and an "enchantingly beautiful" domed roof in her upper saloon. Her stability of motion led her captain to describe ''Commonwealth'' as the finest rough weather steamboat ever built in the United States. ''Commonwealth'' would spend her entire career on Long Island Sound routes, first from New York to Allyn's Point, Connecticut under the management of the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company, and later to Stonington and Groton with the New Jersey Steam Navigation and the Merchants' Steamship companies. During the American Civil War, she was part of the transport network that moved northern state Union regiments to the battlefront. ''Commonwealth''s end came prematurely when she was destroyed by a dockyard fire at Groton in December 1865. ==Construction and design== ''Commonwealth'' was built by Lawrence & Foulks at Williamsburg, New York for the Norwich and New London Steamboat Company, which ran a steamboat line between New York City and Connecticut.〔Heyl, Vol. 3, pp. 97-98.〕 About 18 months in construction,〔 she was completed in March 1855.〔("New Steamer" ), ''The New York Times'', 1855-03-21.〕 ===Dimensions and hull design=== ''Commonwealth'' had an overall length of 330 feet (100 metres),〔〔 with a length on deck of 316 feet and 300 feet along the load line,〔 making her one of the largest steamboats on the sound. She had a beam of 42 feet—77 feet over the guards—a hold depth of 13 feet 6 inches and a gross register tonnage of 1,732 tons. For a vessel of her size and tonnage, she drew a surprisingly light draft of scarcely more than 8 feet in running trim.〔〔Frazer, p. 275.〕 ''Commonwealth''s hull design was considered to be exceptional—"worthy of examination by all professional architects."〔''Monthly Nautical Magazine'', p. 222.〕 The hull was flat-bottomed with an external keel, and the bow sharply angled. The midship section was duplicated for 56 feet fore and aft—an original feature in steamboat design—and the broad beam was considered an aid to stability. Like all large American wooden-hulled steamboats of the era, the hull was supported by heavy hog frames and iron tie-rods suspended from king posts to prevent excessive hogging,〔Baker and Tryckare, p. 48.〕 but in ''Commonwealth''s case it was also strengthened with diagonal iron braces "after the manner of fastening the first-class sea-going steamships", and constructed throughout "with great reference to strength and safety."〔 Overall, the hull was deemed to provide "adequate stability, ease of motion, and every other good sea quality."〔 This assessment would be borne out in practice: ''Commonwealth''s longstanding captain, Jerome W. Williams, would later describe the vessel as "the finest boat for rough water ever built" in the United States.〔Johnson and Lightfoot, p. 23.〕 ===Machinery=== ''Commonwealth'' was powered by a 1,200 horsepower,〔〔 19 rpm single cylinder vertical beam steam engine, with 76-inch bore, 12-foot stroke and Stevens cut-off set at 7 feet, built by the Morgan Iron Works of New York.〔〔〔''Monthly Nautical Magazine'', p. 224.〕 The engine was fitted with a safety device, designed by Erastus W. Smith, which uncoupled the eccentric in the event of the piston moving further than its prescribed limit, to prevent further damage in the event of a component failure.〔 Steam, at an average pressure of 30 psi (max. 40) was supplied by a pair of 38-foot by 13-foot-6-inch cylindrical iron return-flue boilers, placed on the guards forward of the paddlewheels. The boiler furnaces, six in total, were fitted with blower engines and used anthracite coal for fuel, about 30 tons of which could be stored in the ship's coal bunkers. The paddlewheels were 38 feet in diameter and each fitted with 28 10-foot 6-inch paddles, with a dip of 32 inches—40 inches when the vessel was fully loaded.〔〔''Monthly Nautical Magazine'', pp. 224-225.〕 While ''Commonwealth''s speed is not recorded, it is said to have been unexceptional.〔〔Morrison, p. 330.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「PS Commonwealth (1854)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|