Screw steamer

Ships under two hundred meters in length usually only had two or one propellers.

[2] Following a number of smaller experimental boats and ships in the mid and late 1830s, the first screw powered ocean-going ship was the British SS Archimedes of 1839, using a propeller designed by Francis Smith based on his 1835 patent.

In 1844, Thomas Clyde partnered with British-based Swedish inventor John Ericsson to apply his screw-propeller to steam vessels.

After several experimental versions, Clyde launched the twin-screw propeller steamer John S. McKim making it the first screw steamer built in the United States for commercial use.

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