Click here to view image
Titolo dell'opera:
Wheeled steamer “Le Sphinx”
Acquisizione:
Fiaschi-Agherini 15/02/2008 Genova - donazione
Object Type:
model
Epoca:
Inventario:
4553
Misure:
Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 50; Larghezza: 25; Lunghezza: 95
Tecnica:
legno
Descrizione:
‘Le Sphinx’ was the first French steamship built for military purposes and was armed with three long guns and eight 24-pound carronades.
It was built in Rochefort in 1829 to the design of engineer Hubert. It was 47 metres long and 8 metres wide, while on the outside the wheels were 11 metres wide and the paddle wheels were 5.98 metres in diameter. The vessel had a displacement of 777 tons and used a 160 HP steam engine, built by Fawcett of Liverpool, with which it reached a speed of 7 knots. Like all early steamships, however, she was also equipped with three masts for sailing equipment. In 1832 she towed the pontoon “Luxor” with the Egyptian obelisk of Ramses II from Alexandria to Le Havre. In 1845, when she was assigned to shuttle between Toulon and Algiers, she struck a reef east of Algiers and sank. Wooden model of a wheeled steamship.
