The decision to use four bilge pumps is based upon the lack of drag in
the keel of the hulls, which would prevent accumulation of bilge water
at one end of the hull. The use of four single-barrel pumps instead of
four double-barrel pumps may be questioned, for chain pumps requiring
two barrels would have been practical.
Allowance for stores was made by use of platforms in the hold. It is
known from statements made to the Court of Inquiry, that the magazines
were amidships and that a part of these was close to the boilers. Fuel
and water would be in the lower hold under the platforms; hatches and
ladderways are arranged to permit fueling the ship.
A few prints or drawings of the ship, aside from the patent drawing,
have been found. There are two prints that show the launch of the
vessel. One, a print of 1815, is in possession of the Mariners' Museum,
Newport News, Va., and is reproduced in Alexander Crosby Brown's _Twin
Ships, Notes on the Chronological History of the Use of Multiple Hulled
Vessels_.[20] A poor copy of this print appears on page 13 of Bennett's
_Steam Navy of the United States_, and another and inaccurate sketch is
shown on page 8. These pictures were of no use in the reconstruction as
they show no details that are not in the Copenhagen plans. The patent
drawing does not show deck details and in fact does not represent the
vessel as built in any respect other than in being a catamaran with
paddle wheel amidships between the hulls.
The _Steam Battery_ did not have any particular influence on the design
of men-of-war that followed her. In the first place, steampower was not
viewed with favor by naval officers generally. This was without doubt
due to prejudice, but engines in 1820-30 were still unreliable when
required to run for long periods, as experienced by the early
ocean-going steamers. The great weight of the early steam engines and
their size in relation to power were important, and also important were
practical objections that prevented the design of efficient naval ocean
steamers until about 1840; even then, the paddle wheels made them very
vulnerable in action. Until the introduction of the screw propellor it
was not possible to design a really effective ocean-going naval steamer;
hence until about 1840-45, sail remained predominant in naval vessels
for ocean service, and steamers were accepted only in coast defense and
towing services, or as dispatch vessels.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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