CURACAO paddle steamer 1825

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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

CURACAO paddle steamer 1825

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:03 pm

She was built on the yard of J.H. & J Duke at Dover, England for the American & Colonial Steam Navigation Co., London.
September 1825 launched under the name CALPE.
Tonnage 438 ton, dim. 130.5 x 26.9 (over paddle boxes 44.9ft.) x 16.5ft, draught 13.5 ft. Length between pp 127.3 ft.
Armament under Dutch flag, 5 – 36 pdrs. 2 – 6 pdrs. iron carronades.
Powered by two side-liver steamengines manufactured by Maudslay at London, each 50 hp., and 22 revolutions a minute. Speed under steam 8 knots.
The paddle-wheels with a diameter of 15ft., each with 14 paddle boards of 7 ft, length, and breadth of 2 ft.
Passenger accommodation for around 30 passengers in three classes.
Schooner rigged.

When King Willem I of the Netherlands ordered to investigate the possibility of a steam ship connection with Suriname and Curaçao, the Dutch yards were not capable yet to build a large seagoing steam vessel, and to got experience with a steam vessel, an almost complete steamship the CALPE was bought in England in 1826 for the Dutch Government.

01 March 1827 commissioned as Z.M. CURAÇAO at Hellevoetsluis, Netherlands, under command of Lieut. J.W.Moll and a crew of 42.
She sailed out from Hellevoetsluis on 26 April 1827 with on board the mail and 57 passengers, and for the steam engine 100.000 pond of coal, stored in two iron sheds near the boilerroom and in a coal bunker,
The voyage was not without any mishap most problems did arise with the engines, which many times got overheated by not have good greasing points. A call was made at Madeira for repairs.
After a passage of 27 days and replacing the paddle boards regular, and leaky boiler problems, she arrived on 24 May at the road of Paramaribo. She steamed under steam 11 days during this voyage. Sailed then to Curaçao where she stayed until 6 July, then via Bonaire and Puerto Rico, sailed in 29 days back to Hellevoetsluis where she arrived on 4 August. Of this voyage 13 days and 6 hours were under steam. An other source gives that the engines were used for 23 days on the return voyage.
She was the first steamship which crossed the Atlantic to South America. And she was using her steam engines for much longer time than the SAVANNAH when she crossed the North Atlantic in 1819, she used her engine only 85 hours of a passage of 27 days.


After this voyage she made two other voyages to the Caribbean and Paramaribo in 1828 and 1829, the second also under command of Moll, the third voyage under command of Le Jeune.

April 1831 used on the River Schelde during the uprising of Belgium against the Netherlands.
When King Willem I on 12 Dec. 1843 died after a stroke in Germany, his body was transported back on board the CURAÇAO from Hamburg to the Netherlands.

1846 Out of commission, her engines were taken out and placed in a newbuilding, also named CURAÇAO.
1850 Sold, fate unknown by my, but most probably scrapped.

Suriname issued a set of stamps in 1977 which showed on the 5c the vessel, on the 15c her departure port Hellevoetsluis, 30c the route outward and homeward bound, and the draught (diepgang) of the vessel on the voyage, 35c depict a page from her logbook and the 60c her arrival port Paramaribo.

Netherlands Antilles 1983 45c, sg809, and also in the margin of the MS by that country in 1980. 2001 350c sg?, scott?
Chad 1979 200F, sg580.
Surinam 1977 sg 884/888

Source: From notes I took at the library at Leeuwarden, from a Dutch book written on the voyage, but have lost the title. Geschiedenis van Nederland ter Zee by J.C Mollema.
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D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen
Posts: 871
Joined: Fri Sep 24, 2010 7:46 pm

Re: CURACAO paddle steamer 1825

Post by D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen » Sun May 21, 2017 1:54 pm

Argentina 1977, 60+30 p. StG.1562; Chad 1979, 200 fr. StG.580; Dhufar 1977 3 b. StG.?; Netherlands Antilles 2001, 350 c. StG.?;
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