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[tonyH]

I'm going through the fittings for the next build (French Cruiser) and one of the (9) ships boats is what appears to be a whaler with what looks like an engine box amidships. The elevation is hidden by the davits etc. and any prop is masked so I can only go by the plan view. It's marked as a Canot White de 7.6m. There are no thwarts.
There is also a 10m steam launch and the other 7 are all obviously oared.
The drawing is dated 1894.

Did i/c marine engines exist as a practical force at that time?

Tony

[Colin Bishop]

It seems unlikely. Brian King's model of the French battleship Bouvet of 1896 is festooned with ships boats. A couple have steam plants but the others all appear to be pulling boats only. On the other habd the French were always experimenting.

Colin

[Netleyned]

Lanchester put a petrol engine in a launch in 1894 to make the first British motorboat
Peugeot had single cylinder engines in the late 1800's so it would appear feasible

Ned

[John W E]

Hi there

According to the book 'Guinness Book of Motorboating - facts and feats'

'The first boat to be powered by the internal combustion of a mixture of air and petrol inside the cylinder was built by the French inventor, Jean Joseph Etienne Lenoir (1822-1900) for M. Dalloz who was the Manager of Le Monde Illustre' newspaper in 1865.  The 40-footer (12m) boat was equipped with a 6hp Lenoir engine, and despite its low speed and high petrolem consumption Dalloz used it on the Seine for two years to commute from Paris to Charenton.

In 1880 the American inventor, Brayton is reported to have installed his version of the internal combustion engine in a boat.'

food for thought though......

'Electric propulsion in boats has been around since approx the 1840s' - I wonder if there could be an electric motor in your boat?    In 1891 there was an electric launch built for the Royal Navy and she was called Electric, built by Messrs Woodhouse and Rawson of Kew for harbour use.

food for thought eh....

aye
john

[tonyH]

The French were certainly the masters of experimenting at that time but the boat is indicated on the plans as 'Canot White de 7.60m' so is there a possibility that it was an import (if it was indeed petrol engined).  Was J Samuel White into such things as well as destroyers etc?

The plans from Service Historique are a goldmine of odds 'n sods like this.

[gondolier88]

The French were certainly the masters of experimenting at that time but the boat is indicated on the plans as 'Canot White de 7.60m' so is there a possibility that it was an import (if it was indeed petrol engined).  Was J Samuel White into such things as well as destroyers etc?

The plans from Service Historique are a goldmine of odds 'n sods like this.

Yes, JS White's yard started building navy boats, pinnaces, gigs, cutters etc. At 7.6m (23ft) the hull would be a modified cutter/pulling boat.

At the steamboat museum we have the first motor boat on Windermere, shown at the Paris Show in the 1890's, where it was bought and brought straight to Windermere.

Greg

[tonyH]

Brilliant Greg

It does seem to be highly possible, therefore, that Whites (J Samuel or one of the other White yards) may have sold the design or boats to the French at or around that time.

Any chance of a pic of the launch?

Tony