“I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.”
Double-decker steamboatIn 1815, the keel was laid for the first double decker steamboat, the Washington, in Wheeling, Virginia, built for Capt. Henry Miller Shreve. It was a 148-ft stern-wheeler with a flat, shallow hull and a high-pressure engines with 24-in diam. cylinders and 6-foot strokes. Its upper deck carried passengers, and the lower deck was for the engines, located horizontally. Each side wheel was powered independently, so the boat could be turned within its own length. It was ready to launch on 4 Jun 1816. On its first long trip down-river, it arrived on 7 Oct 1816 at New Orleans, Louisiana. It was the fastest yet built, able to make the 1,500 mile New Orleans to Louisville run in only 24 days.« |
