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As William Henry and John Fitch had foreseen, steamboats on the major American rivers soon followed Fulton's success. For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River would be dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats, very few of which survive to the present day, most destroyed by boiler explosions or fires. One of the few surviving Mississippi sternwheelers from this period, Julius C. Wilkie , is preserved as a museum ship at Winona, Minnesota. For modern craft operated on rivers, see the riverboat article.
Incidentally, the cartoon Steamboat Willie introduced steamboat pilot Mickey Mouse to the public.
Paddle steamer PS Waverley steaming down the Firth of Clyde. Turbine steamer TS Queen Mary. Henry Bell's Comet started a rapid expansion of steam services on the Firth of Clyde, and within four years a steamer service was in operation on the inland Loch Lomond, a forerunner of the lake steamers that still grace the Swiss lakes. Today the 1900 steamer SS Sir Walter Scott still sails on Loch Katrine, while on Loch Lomond the PS Maid of the Loch is being restored.
On the Clyde itself, within ten years of the Comet's start there were nearly fifty steamers, and services had started across the Irish Sea to Belfast. By 1900 there were over 300 Clyde Steamers . The paddle steamer Waverley, built in 1947, is the last survivor of these fleets, and the last sea-going paddle steamer in the world. This ship sails a full season of cruises every year from places around Britain, and has sailed across the English Channel for a visit to commemorate the sinking of her predecessor of 1899 at the Battle of Dunkirk.
People have had a particular affection for the Clyde puffers, small steam freighters on a traditional design developed to use the Scottish canals and to serve the Highlands and Islands. They were immortalised by the tales of Para Handy's boat The Vital Spark by Neil Munro and by the film The Maggie, and a small number are being conserved to continue in steam around the west highland sea lochs.
The Clyde sludge boats had a tradition of occasionally taking passengers on their trips from Glasgow to past Arran down the Firth of Clyde, and one has emerged from retirement as SS Shieldhall, Steam powered General Cargo-Passenger Steamer available for Trips in the Solent offering outings from Southampton, England with views of the two triple expansion engines.
The side-wheel paddle steamer SS Great Western was the first purpose-built steamship to initiate regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings, starting in 1838. The first regular steamship service from the west to the east coast of the United States began on February 28, 1849 with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay. The California left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California after the 4-month, 21-day journey.
By 1870, a number of inventions, such as the screw propeller and the steam turbine made trans-oceanic shipping economically viable. This began the earliest era of globalization where trade around the world became cheap and safe.
The RMS Titanic was the largest steamship in the world when it sank in 1912. Launched in 1938, the RMS Queen Elizabeth was the largest passenger steamship ever built. Launched in 1969, the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was the last passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean before it was converted to diesel engines in 1986.
The SS Explorer is the last remaining steam trawler in Britain. She was built in Aberdeen, including the last steam engine built there, and was launched in 1955 as a fishery research vessel. Accommodation was provided for researchers, including a computer cabin. Currently she is berthed at Edinburgh Dock, Leith, by Edinburgh, and the subject of a restoration project.
The turbine steamship Royal Yacht Britannia, now retired from service, is berthed nearby at Ocean Terminal, Leith.
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