{{Short description|British paddle steamer}} {{for|the 20th century Victory ship|SS Bessemer Victory}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}} {{Use British English|date=December 2016}} {{Infobox ship |section1={{Infobox ship/image |image= The Bessemer Saloon-Ship for crossing the Channel.ILN 1875.jpg |image_size= |image_caption= The Bessemer Saloon-Steamer, Illustrated London News, 1875 }}
|section2={{Infobox ship/career | hide_header = | name = ''Bessemer'' | owner = Bessemer Steamship Co Ltd | operator = | registry = {{flagicon|UK|civil}} | route = | ordered = | builder = Earle's Shipbuilding, Hull | original_cost = | yard_number = 197 | way_number = | laid_down = | launched = 24 September 1874 | completed = April 1875 | christened = | acquired = | maiden_voyage = April 1875 | in_service = | out_of_service = May 1875 | identification = United Kingdom Official Number 70698<ref name=Miramar/> | fate = Scrapped 1879 | notes = }}
|section3={{Infobox ship/characteristics | hide_header = | header_caption = | type = Passenger ferry | tonnage = {{GRT|1,974}} | displacement = | length = {{convert|350|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} | beam =*{{convert|40|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} (deck) *{{convert|65|ft|m|2|abbr=on}} (overall) | height = | draught = {{convert|7|ft|5|in|m|2|abbr=on}} | draft = | depth = | decks = | deck_clearance = | ramps = | ice_class = | sail_plan = | power = | propulsion = 4 paddle wheels | speed = | capacity = | crew = | notes = }} }} The '''SS ''Bessemer''''' (also called the '''''Bessemer Saloon''''') was an experimental Victorian cross-channel passenger paddle steamer with a swinging cabin, a concept devised by the engineer and inventor Sir Henry Bessemer, intended to combat seasickness.
==Background== [[File:The New Bessemer Saloon Steamer, Transverse Section, taken through the Saloon - The Graphic 1874.jpg|thumb|The New Bessemer Saloon Steamer, transverse section, taken through the Saloon - The Graphic, 1874]] Bessemer, a severe seasickness sufferer, devised in 1868 the idea of a ship whose passenger cabin - the Saloon - would be suspended on gimbals and kept horizontal mechanically to isolate the occupants from the ship's motion: an idea he patented in December 1869. After successful trials with a model, the levelling achieved by hydraulics controlled by a steersman watching a spirit level, Bessemer set up a limited joint stock company, the Bessemer Saloon Steamboat Company Limited, to run steamships between England and France. This gained £250,000 capital, financing the construction of a ship, the SS ''Bessemer'', with the naval constructor Edward James Reed as chief designer.<ref name=bessemer>The Bessemer Saloon Steam-Ship, Chapter XX, ''Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S., An Autobiography''</ref>
==Construction== thumb|interior view of the swinging saloon, longitudinal section, showing interior of saloon, ladies' private cabin, and stairs leading to promenade deck. thumb|Interior of saloon and oscillating machinery. The Graphic, 1875 ''Bessemer'' was a 4-paddle steamer (2 paddles each on port and starboard, one fore, one aft), length {{convert|350|ft|m|2}}, breadth at deck beam {{convert|40|ft|m|2}}, outside breadth across paddle-boxes, {{convert|65|ft|m|2}}, draught {{convert|7|ft|5|in|m|2}}, gross register tonnage 1974 tons. The internal Saloon was a room {{convert|70|ft|m|abbr=on}} long by {{convert|30|ft|m|abbr=on}} wide, with a ceiling {{convert|20|ft}} from the floor, Morocco-covered seats, divisions and spiral columns of carved oak, and gilt moulded panels with hand-painted murals.<ref name=bessemer/> ''Bessemer'' was built by Earle's Shipbuilding of Hull. She was yard number 197 and was launched on 24 September 1874.<ref name=Miramar>{{csr|register=MSI|id=1070698|accessdate=5 January 2010}}</ref>
==Career== On 21 October 1874, she was driven ashore at Hull in a gale. She was refloated and found to be undamaged.<ref name=Times231074>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Gale |date=23 October 1874 |issue=28140 |page=8 |column=E }}</ref> thumb|The ''Bessemer Saloon-Ship'' running foul of Calais Pier. Illustrated London News, 1875The ship sailed from Dover to Calais on a private trial in April 1875. On arrival, it sustained damage to a paddle-wheel when it hit the pier at Calais, due to its failure to answer to the helm at slow speed. The first and only public voyage took place on 8 May 1875, the ship sailing with the swinging cabin locked (some observers suggested due to its serious instability,<ref name=fitzgerald>Short Works of Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald, Percy Hethrington Fitzgerald, BiblioBazaar, 2008, {{ISBN|1-4375-2495-8}}</ref> although Bessemer ascribed it to insufficient time to fix the previous damage).<ref name=bessemer/> The ship was operated by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.<ref name=LCDR>{{cite web |url=http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/feederswest.html#chatham |title=London, Chatham & Dover Railway Company |publisher=The Ships List |accessdate=5 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616103216/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/feederswest.html#chatham |archivedate=16 June 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> After two attempts to enter the harbour, she crashed into the Calais pier again, this time demolishing part of it.<ref name=fitzgerald/>
The poor performance lost the confidence of investors, leading to the winding-up of the Company in 1876.<ref name="CAS54"/> On 29 December 1876, following the removal of the swinging saloon and other extensive alterations, ''Bessemer'' ran aground on the Burcom Sand, in the Humber upstream of Grimsby, Lincolnshire. She was refloated and taken in to Hull.<ref name=Times040177>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest Shipping Intelligence |date=4 January 1877 |issue=28830 |page=12 |column=A }}</ref><ref name=Times050277>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Latest Shipping Intelligence |date=5 February 1877 |issue=28857 |page=6 |column=B }}</ref> The Board of Trade enquiry into the grounding found her captain at fault. His certificate was suspended for three months.<ref name=Times160277>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Disasters at Sea |date=16 February 1877 |issue=28867 |page=8 |column=B }}</ref> The ship was subsequently docked at Dover until being sold for scrap in 1879.<ref name=CAS54/>
Following its removal, designer Reed had the Saloon cabin moved to his home, Hextable House, Swanley,<ref name=CAS54>County Agricultural Surveys, Royal Agricultural Society of England, 1954</ref> where it was used as a billiard room.<ref>''Boat Trains and Channel Packets: The English Short Sea Routes'', Rixon Bucknall, V. Stuart, 1957</ref> When the house later became a women's college, Swanley Horticultural College, the Saloon was used as a lecture hall, but was destroyed by a direct hit when the college was bombed in World War II.<ref>''The Story of the Paddle Steamer'', Bernard Dumpleton, Intellect Books, 2002, {{ISBN|1-84150-801-2}}</ref>
The sole remaining parts of the ship are three carved wooden decorative panels from the saloon that were rescued from the wreckage after the bombing. One panel was valued on the ''Antiques Roadshow'' at between £300 - 400 in 2012.
==References== Primary reference: [https://web.archive.org/web/20071227134724/http://www.history.rochester.edu/ehp-book/shb/hb20.htm The Bessemer Saloon Steam-Ship], Chapter XX, ''Sir Henry Bessemer, F.R.S. An Autobiography'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20051003224130/http://www.history.rochester.edu/ehp-book/shb/ online at University of Rochester]. {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Commonscat-inline|Bessemer (ship, 1874)}}
{{LCDR Ships}} {{1874 shipwrecks}} {{1876 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bessemer}} Category:1874 ships Category:Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom Category:Paddle steamers Category:Ferries of England Category:Experimental ships Category:Maritime incidents in October 1874 Category:Maritime incidents in December 1876