Age of Steam
Steam was first applied to boats in the 1770s. With the advent of economical steam engines, efficient external combustion heat engines that makes use of the heat energy that exists in steam and converting it to mechanical work, the prime mover was steam for ships. The technology only became relevant to trans-oceanic travel after 1815, the year Pierre Andriel crossed the English Channel aboard the steam ship Élise.
Read more about this topic: Maritime History
Famous quotes containing the words age and/or steam:
“If youth but knew; if age but could.”
—Henri Estienne (1531–1598)
“Clean the spittoons.
The steam in hotel kitchens,
And the smoke in hotel lobbies,
And the slime in hotel spittoons:
Part of my life.”
—Langston Hughes (1902–1967)