SS Columbia (1880)

This article is about the first use of electricity outside of Thomas Edison's laboratory. For other uses, see List of ships named SS Columbia.

Photograph of SS Columbia under way
History
United States
NameColumbia
Owner
Operator
  • Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company Oregon Railway Navigation Company
  • 1880–1904
  • San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company
  • 1904–1907
Port of registryUnited States Portland, Oregon, United States[2]
RouteSan Francisco, California to Portland, Oregon via Astoria, Oregon[3]
OrderedJuly 1879
BuilderDelaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works (Chester, PA)[4]
CostUS $450,000 in 1880[5]
Yard number193[6]
Laid downSeptember 1879
Launched24 February 1880[7]
CompletedMay 1880
Maiden voyageJune 1880[8]
In service1880–1907
Out of service21 July 1907[7]
FateSunk, 21 July 1907, Shelter Cove, California
NotesCollided with the lumber schooner San Pedro
General characteristics
Tonnage2,721 tons
Length332 ft (101 m) (309 ft (94 m) below the waterline)
Beam38.5 ft (12 m)
Draft18 ft (5.5 m)
Depth23 ft (7.0 m)
Decks4
Installed powerSix cylindrical 12 ft (3.7 m) diameter 12.5 ft (3.8 m) long boilers, powering two 42.5 in (1,080 mm) and 82 in (2,100 mm) by 54 in (1,400 mm) stroke compound condensing engines
PropulsionSingle four bladed 16 ft (4.9 m) diameter Hirsch propeller
Sail planBrigantine[9][10]
Speed16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Capacity382 to 850 first class and steerage passengers
NotesThe first ship to use electric light bulbs, and the first use besides Edison's lab of electric light.[7] Columbia was equipped with four watertight bulkheads. It also featured eight metal lifeboats, one wooden lifeboat, one wooden workboat, five life rafts and 537 life preservers.

SS Columbia (1880–1907) was a cargo and passenger steamship that was owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company and later the San Francisco and Portland Steamship Company. Columbia was constructed in 1880 by the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company.[7]

Columbia was the first ship to carry a dynamo powering electric lights instead of oil lamps and the first commercial use of electric light bulbs outside of Thomas Edison's Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory.[7][11][12] Due to this, a detailed article and composite illustration of Columbia was featured in the May 1880 issue of Scientific American magazine.[13]

Columbia was lost on 21 July 1907 after a collision with the lumber schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, with the loss of 88 lives.[14]

  1. ^ Deumling, Dietrich (1972). The roles of the railroad in the development of the Grande Ronde Valley (M.A.). Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University. OCLC 4383986.
  2. ^ Ringwalt, John Luther (1888). Development of Transportation Systems in the United States: Comprising a Comprehensive Description of the Leading Features of Advancement, from the Colonial Era to the Present Time, in Water Channels, Roads, Turnpikes, Canals, Railways, Vessels, Vehicles, Cars and Locomotives. author, Railway World Office. p. 290. Retrieved September 8, 2013. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "San Francisco Call, Volume 102, Number 30". Re-printed. San Francisco, California. California Digital Newspaper Collection. June 30, 1907. p. 49. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
  4. ^ Colton, Tim (August 4, 2010). "The Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding & Engine Works, Chester PA". Original. Shipbuilding History: Construction records of U.S. and Canadian shipbuilders and boatbuilders. Archived from the original on May 10, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
  5. ^ Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. to the Stockholders Volumes 1–8. Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. 1880. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  6. ^ "The Delaware River Iron Shipbuilding & Engine Works, Chester PA". Original. Shipbuilding History. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e Jehl, Francis (2002). Menlo Park reminiscences : written in Edison's restored Menlo Park laboratory. Whitefish, Mass: Kessinger Publishing. p. 564. ISBN 9780766126480.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference WRA1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Brigantine (noun)". Dictionary. Merriam Webster. Retrieved October 27, 2013.
  10. ^ Antonio Jacobsen (1880). "SS Columbia". Archive. Retrieved October 27, 2013 – via The Athenaeum.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Revolution was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference GE was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Scientific American was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Dalton, Anthony A long, dangerous coastline : shipwreck tales from Alaska to California, Heritage House Publishing Company, 2011, 128 pages