c. 1900 Naphtha Launches

[CDR_Ret]

Evidently this particular "boat" topic has never been brought up in this forum.

 

Late in the 1800s when builders were toying around with more compact and energetic sources of energy for propulsion, they developed the naphtha engine, which used volatile fuels produced by the distillation of petroleum to either heat water to steam or, eventually, to produce propulsion by internal combustion. It was the precursor to gasoline engines.

 

Between the 1890s and around 1905, small- to medium-sized vessels called naphtha launches were very popular with the boating public, and thousands were built by companies such as the Gas Engine and Power Company for recreational and commercial use.

 

Now to my question:

 

The brigantine Galilee, in which my grandfather sailed, was conducting magnetic surveys of the Pacific Ocean between 1905 and 1908. Because the vessel was not entirely nonmagnetic due to the hundreds of iron fasteners in her hull and some steel and iron rigging components that couldn't be removed, she produced a small by measurable magnetic characteristic that had to be accounted for in the sensitive measurements and calculations of the earth's magnetic field. This was accomplished by measuring the earth's field elements on various courses at sea, and turning the ship in harbors at the ports she visited. The former was done using wind, sails, and rudder. But the latter was very difficult without outside assistance, and very time consuming.

 

To deal with this problem, on her second and third cruises, she was equipped with her very own—naphtha (or more probably, gasoline) launch—carried in beefed up davits off her stern. Sadly, I don't have very many photos of the launch to finalize my reconstruction of the plans for the ship.

 

Courtesy Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution, Washington, DC

 

This is an approximation of what I can see:

 

 

According to various sources, the boat is described as a plumb-bow fantail launch. My best approximation of its length is about 20–22 feet long. Its depth is about 4 to 5 feet. I have no idea of the beam, since there are no views of this detail. I don't even know if there is a transom or if the stern is elliptical or canoe-shaped, like many of the available plans of this type of vessel show.

 

If anyone knows of sources that show either this particular type of launch or one similar to it, I'd appreciate direction to them. I've already checked out most of the diagrams available on the web, but if there is one that looks close to this boat, and in particular shows the plan and body views, those would be of great help.

 

Terry

[steamschooner]

Terry, Have you tried looking on www.hathitrust.org/ {online books) search international marine engineering for the years you are interested in. I have a set that spans 1896-1906 and have seen many naphtha launches some with drawings.

[wefalck]

In my literature list I found the following:

 

Anonym (1914): Nautical Terms - Motor Boats - Marine Gasoline Engines - Management of Marine Gasoline Engines - Motor-Boat Navigation - Motor-Boat Rules and Signals.-  p., Scranton (International Textbook Company).

 

The term 'naphta' seem to refer actually to different things and different distillation products in Russian today it means Diesel fuel. Over here in Europe marine engines running on heavier oils were preferred, as the low flame-point and the fact the vapours are heavier than air and can therefore collect in the bilge made the operation of 'naphta' motors quite hazardous in comparison.

 

Correcting compass declination was a normal procedure before the gyro-compass was introduced. An area on most roadsteads was set aside for the purpose. The ship would turn a full circle and readings of the compass were taken together with readings of certain landmarks indicated for the purpose. On this basis the deviation of the compass from the actual magnetic North could be determined. Depending on the cargo of the ship, this procedure had to be repeated before any voyage.

 

In the above case, corrections not only for declination, but also for inclination (the angle by which the field dips into the earth) deviations would be required, perhaps in function of the pitching and the rolling of the ship ...

 

 

[CDR_Ret]

Wefalck,

 

Thanks for the information. In the case of Galilee, she was actually conducting geomagnetic research using very sensitive declination, dip, and, intensity instruments, as well as several standard ship's compasses in general use at the time. The ship swings were essential for cancelling the local influences to determine the absolute elements of the earth's magnetic field.

 

As an aside, the Carnegie Institution eventually built a completely non-magnetic research vessel (the Carnegie) and continued Galilee's work into the late 20s. Sadly, the ship was destroyed by a fire caused by, you guessed it, gasoline fumes igniting explosively. The ship's captain, a former coworker and a good friend of my grandfather, was killed in the explosion.

 

An update to this post: I've posted my reconstruction work for Galilee's launch in my research thread here.

 

Terry