Hi all,

This one came across my twitter feed earlier today and I thought I'd share it with you all as something a bit different. A giant battle raft designed for the French to invade Britain with. Wind turbine paddle power!

Fascinating!

The flettner rotating ventilator was the successful outcome of an unsuccessful attempt to build wind-powered boats using turbine blades on a vertical shaft.  The style is named after the designer.

I am finding plenty on the ventilator online, but not on the history which led to them.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

I am not sure I would call Flettner ships a failure, just unnecessary in a time of cheap fuel and an apparently backward step whilst the last commercial sailing ships were being phased out.

Looking at E-SHIP 1, the time may be ripe for a comeback http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pQga7jxAyc although Revelation II http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1881693 shows that it can take a couple of hundred years for an idea to take off.

All the best
Brian Gates
Gillingham

a few years ago in Plymouth Devon, There was an attempt with the walker wing sail as an alternative to cloth sails, but ended in financial disaster.