Bizarre paddlers

[torbjorn]

Greetings,

Probably old news, but _Bizarre Ships of the Nineteenth Century_ by
John Guthrie contains chapters on american river steamers, twin hull
paddlers (Castalia and Calais Douvres), the Great Eastern, and the
Bessemer.

Are there any other good books on unusual, weird or freakish paddlers
(and other ships)?

Regards
Torbjörn

[jamesgardiner]

Hi folks! " The Book of Fantastic Boats" by Roy Coombs& Christine
Bernard Golden Press ISBN 0-307-12677-3
Rhone Tug 1870 Country france-Size of wheel 20'dia-It was a river tug
with huge spiked wheel. The great Rhone River which rises in
Switzerland & runs from Lake Geneva & across France to
Mediterranean,is renowned for its verystrong currents.In the days
before steam & motor power, the boatmen who lived along the riverbank
had a hard time controlling the boats & barges that were then in use.
This brilliantlly sucessfulboat was based on an ordinary tug with
steam driven paddles. Put into the hull,however, was this
extraorinary spiked wheel, some 20'in dia. As the spikes engaged with
the river bottom, the chain-driven wheel propelled the tug forward
against the strong current, up the river. However,when travelling
with the current, two small engines lifted the wheel off the bottom &
the craft once again became an ordinary paddle-driven tug.
I would like to show interesting drawing but forgotten how to post
it. Help? Jim G