When was the steam ship inevnted?

Answer 1

As with all great inventions, no one person can claim to have 'invented' the steam ship, nor can it's origin be pinned to one specific date- it evolved gradually over many years as a result of constant development and experimentation by engineering teams all over the world. However, the first KNOWN successful steamship was developed by the English engineer William Symington in 1800 with financial backing from his Patron Lord Thomas Dundas, who was Chairman of the Forth & Clyde Canal Company of Scotland. The little vessel was driven by a vertical cylinder engine with crosshead transmission and crank-driven paddle-wheels. She first sailed on Scotland's River Carron in June 1801, going on to complete other successful trials on the River Forth; Symington went on to build a second vessel with a more powerful horizontal steam-engine driving a single paddle-wheel, which was named the 'Charlotte Dundas' after Lord Dundas's daughter. This first sailed on the Glasgow Canal on 4th January 1803, and proved outstandingly successful. Sadly, the 'Charolotte Dundas' was later abandoned in a river backwater and was finally broken up in 1861- however, steamship technology and design went on to be developed as a mainstay of 19th Century water transport, with the USA's Robert Fulton and Scotland's Henry Bell amongst it's main developers.