the.com/steamship
a floating boiler that shrank oceans and outran the wind that once ruled them
means A ship propelled by a steam engine, typically driving paddle wheels or a propeller, rather than relying on sails.
from A transparent compound of "steam" + "ship," coined in the early 19th century as steam power conquered the water. "Steam" descends from Old English "steam" (vapor, smoke), while "ship" comes from Old English "scip," with Germanic cousins across the North Sea. The word arrived hand-in-hand with the technology itself, as early steam-driven vessels began churning across rivers and then oceans, making the name a plain label for a startling new thing.
- speed flex
- crossed the Atlantic in days, not weeks
- coal hunger
- firemen shoveled tons by hand in furnace heat
- Brunel's giant
- Great Eastern laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable
- blue riband
- ships raced for the fastest crossing prize
- killed sail
- made wind-powered shipping obsolete within decades
rms titanic — british passenger steamship that sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg in the north atlantic
ss great eastern — british steamship launched in 1858, longest ship in the world for 40 years, laid transatlantic telegraph cable
ps paddle steamer waratah — australian passenger steamship that mysteriously disappeared in 1909 off the south african coast