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Winans Ocean Steamer, 1858

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The Winans Ocean Steamer, 1858

The cigar ships were designed and built by the Winans family, successful railway engineers from Baltimore, Maryland who moved into marine engineering with enthusiasm and great expenditures of their family wealth, but less success. Their radical marine design concept included an ultra-streamlined spindle-shaped hull with minimum superstructure. The first cigar ship called the steamer Winans in an 1859 letter from Thomas Winans, 16 feet in diameter and initially 180 feet long, was launched in Baltimore in 1858. Rogers gives the steamer displacement as 350 tons including 200 tons of coal. The spindle hull was built in two sections with a unique radial propeller amidships, and joined by a shroud ring over the propeller. Power was provided on a single shaft by two railroad steam engines in each hull. The only superstructure was a narrow deck with railings, a lookout tower atop the propeller shroud, and narrow smokestacks on each hull. The helmsman sat in a compartment in the bow with a small, forward-looking view port.

Decemer 12, 1873, Sacramento Daily Union , Sacramento, California

THE WINANS CIGAR STEAMER.

C. C. Fulton contributes to the Baltimore American the following in regard to the Winans cigar ship:

While coming out of the harbor of Southampton a singular-looking steamer was descried in the distance approaching as, which attracted general attention from the peculiarity of its manner of construction. It was steaming toward Southampton from a trial cruise in the British Channel, and we soon discovered it to be the Winans cigar steamer, built upon the Clyde. She passed within a few hundred yards of us, and we bad a very good view of her. The whole plan of her construction has been changed from that of the first steamer built by Winans in Baltimore, which still lies at his wharf in South Baltimore.

The cigar shape of the hull has been retained, and seemed to be fully 400 leet long, but instead of a wheel in the center, it has two propellers at the extreme points ot the cigar, fore and aft, only half of which were submerged. The propellers seemed to have but three flanges, and were slowly flapping on the water, looking almost like the flukes ot a whale. Indeed, its whole appearance as it moved along was that of an ordinary ocean steamer perched on the back of a whale. The cigar portion of the hull was ot much greater width in the center than the deck, and was the only portion of the vessel that was submerged. The ends of the cigar on which the propellers are fixed protrude beyond the deck, tully forty feet fore and aft, and the hull is supplied with masts, rigging and sails. It was moving towards the docks slowly, and we had no opportunity of judging of its speed.

No one seemed to know anything about its speed, its operations being conducted under strict secrecy. Indeed, it not only slowed down, but actually stopped for a few minutes whilst we were passing, apparently tor the purpose of preventing us from forming any opinion as to its capacity. This is said to be its usual custom when passing any vessel.

We hope our townsman may be ultimately able to astonish the world by attaining a speed of twenty miles an hour by propulsion alone, which is said to be his hope and expectation. The other steamer, which was built at Cherbourg in France, is also at Southampton. It is called the Walter Winans, and both are fully officered, and make frequent trial trips in the English Channel. It will thus be seen that the application of Winans to Congress for the renewal of his patent is with the full expectation of yet accomplishing a great revolution in steam navigation.

The Winans constructed at least four ships between 1858 and 1866. Two of these attracted considerable public attention as well as skepticism and outright criticism from the technical establishment. Ross Winans and his sons were, first and foremost, engineers experimenting with innovative concepts.

Some of their innovations were adopted for surface ships in the twentieth century, and many of the pioneer submarines built in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century resembled them. Later in the twentieth century, aerodynamicists rediscovered the benefits of the spindle. The seven A-Boats built for the US Navy between 1900 and 1903 have a spindle-shaped hull.

November 7, 1887, Los Angeles Herald , Los Angeles, California

THE WINANS FAMILY.
The Brothers Went to Russia and Became Rich.
GREAT RAILROAD SCHEME.
It Resulted in Yielding Millions to the Contractors Outcome of a Plucky Venture.

Ross Winans, tbe Baltimore millionaire, has spent but little time iti bis grand mansion here since bis celebrated litigation with Mrs. O'Kecfe, the boarding-house keeper in New York, who claimed to have roamed him abroad when he was a student at Oxford, England. It has been reported lately that the case has not yet been finally settled. The parading of those gushing love-letters which had passed between Winans and the O'Keefe woman during their love escapade was a sad blow so Mrs. Winans, and since the notorious scandal she has not appeared in Baltimore society. The family has spent, most of the time at Bleak House," the Winans' Newport villa, a gloomy-looking place on the beach, the breakers in the winter storms rolling nearly up to the gateway. But little is known by the general world for the follies and eccentricities of this family, not only remarkable for tbeir enormous wealth, but for the uses to which they put it.

Fifty years ago Thomas and William Winans, brothers, were unpretentious civil engineers in this city, making a fair living for young men in their profession. But the narrow confines of this town could not contain their budding scientific genius. They rapidly obtained celebrity as railroad engineers. Russia had just begun to agitate the railroad question. The Winans saw there were millions in it. Off they started for Russia, with their maps and drawings for lines of railroad across that great cold country. The story of how they secured tlie contract and by a single stroke led the way to millions upon millions in wealth, will bear repeating.

After all the engineers whom Czar Nicholas had gathered about him in consultation had given their respective opinions as to the best practicable routes for the proposed railroad, the Czar, confused by the many ideas and plans took up a ruler, and drawing a straight line across the map of Kussia from St. Petersburg to Moscow, handed it to them as the final route of the line. It was an imperial mandate. The Russian engineers were frightened out of their senses. Not one of them could grasp so great an engineering feat. The obstacles in the way seemed insurmountable. Other foreign engineers would have nothing to do with it. Then the Winans stepped in and offered to take the contract.

"Give it to the audacious Americans," said the Czar, stipulating a heavy forfeit should they fail to keep the contract. To work they went, and successfully constructed the road, which was then considered a great engineering feat. The Winans brothers are said to have cleared $30,000,000 on their famous Russian railroad contracts, for they constructed several other lines connecting with the great National line to the Russian capital. It was not until 1861, however, that a complete, successful locomotive was built in Russia. In those days the Russian locomotives burned wood altogether. So pleased was the Czar at the great work successfully carried through by the "audacious" Americans that he decorated tliem with royal favors. Thomas Winans, while railroad building in Kussia, found time for love-making with the daughter of a shopkeeper in Moscow. She died, leaving him two children, Ross Winans and Celeste, the later now married to an Englishman in the diplomatic service.

After constructing the Russian railroads the Winan brothers quit business. William married an Englishwoman of the middle class and took up his home in England. Thomas returned to this country and bought a whole block of property on West Baltimore street, the principal thoroughfare in the city, and spent over a million on a magnificent mansion, surrounded by beautiful gardens. Both the brothers had hobbies. William had a nervous dread oi crossing the ocean . . . the ship the brothers sailed in when they first went to Russia was nearly wrecked, and William ever remembered that terrible experience. He still continues to work on models of queer machinery, having a hobby in that line. His income, according to his own returns, is about, $2,000,000 a year. Next to the Rothschilds and the Duke of Westminster he is the richest man in England.

. . . The old man particularly wanted his sons to marry titles. They had several opportunities for wedding the ugly daughters of lords, but declined, preferring the fun of bachelorhood . . .

Thomas Winans, like his brother William, had many eccentricities. He constructed many models of steam vessels. He conceived an idea of building a steamer in the shape of a cigar which would be remarkable for speed. He spent several ordinary fortunes in trying to develop this scheme, but cigar-shaped boats prove a failure, and until within a few years ago one of his models, which cost him $50,000, was lying rotting at his private wharf on tlie Upper Patapsco.


1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States 3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway 2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany 1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden 1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy1,150 vessels
France 1,182 vessels
   

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

  Country # of Vessels

Gross

Tonnage

(m)

Total

Value

(USDbn)

1 Greece 4,453 206.47 $88.0
2 Japan 4,317 150.26 $79.8
3 China 4,938 159.71 $71.7
4 USA 2,399 55.92 $46.5
5 Singapore 2,662 64.03 $41.7
6 Norway 1,668 39.68 $41.1
7 Germany 2,923 81.17 $30.3
8 UK 883 28.78 $24.3
9 Denmark 1,040 36.17 $23.4
10 South Korea 1,484 49.88 $20.1
Total 26,767 87.21 $466.9

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Sources: As noted on entries and through research centers including National Archives, San Bruno, California; CDNC: California Digital Newspaper Collection; San Francisco Main Library History Collection; and Maritime Museums and Collections in Australia, China, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Wales, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, etc.

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