Found this reference in an old Seaways.com archive submitted by John H
Harland Kelowna B C,
jharland@smartt.com
A source that has something useful to say on this is: Peter Allington
& Basil Greenhill: "The First Atlantic Liners: Seamanship in the Age
of Paddle Wheel, Sail, and Scew". It is similar in format to David K
Brown's "Paddle Warships: The Earliest Steam Powered Fighting Ships,
1815-1850" Besides the vulerablity of paddleboxes to enemy fire, these
authors describe some other technical problems. The paddles worked
best with the shaft an optimum distance above the water level. As fuel
was burned, the ship lay higher in the water, so the conditions at
beginning and end of the voyage were different. A paddler running
before the wind tended to roll heavily, dipping the paddles blades
first on one side then the other, resulting in a tendency to yaw
viciously. On other points of sail, the canvas steadied the vessel,
but since it tended to hold the masts to leeward, the lee paddle was
more deeply immersed than the weather one, resulting in a marked
inclination of the vessel to come up into the wind. To some extent
this could be compensated for by an excess of forward sail.
Different considerations applied to warships and merchantmen. Merchant
captains were preoccupied with cost, and reliability in meeting a
schedule. They tended to be under steam the whole voyage. These
constraints did not apply to warships, which were fully square rigged,
had large crews, and were often under canvas alone for protracted
periods.
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