An article about Turbinia in the Nov/Dec '08 issue of Classic Boating tweaked my interest, so after some Internet exploring, I made this web page about the boat -- and a bridge nearby its current location. Turbinia was the first steam turbine powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, Turbinia was demonstrated dramatically (!) at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set the standard for the next generation of turbine powered steamships. The vessel resides at The Discovery Museum in Newcastle* upon Tyne, England (see below), while its original powerplant can be found at the London Science Museum. Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine in 1884, and having foreseen its potential to power ships, he and five associates set up the Marine Steam Turbine Company in 1893. To further develop the concept, he had the experimental vessel Turbinia built of very light steel by the firm of Brown and Hood, at Wallsend on Tyne. Visit wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinia for more about Parsons and his ship.

MANY MORE PHOTOS OF TURBINIA HERE Gateshead Millenium Bridge at Newcastle* upon Tyne Well, while exploring google maps for Turbinia's resting place, I ran across descriptions and photos of a wonderful bridge nearby. * "Selling or carrying coal(s) to Newcastle" is an idiom of British origin describing a foolhardy or pointless action. It refers to the fact that historically, the economy of Newcastle upon Tyne in north-eastern England was heavily dependent on the distribution and sale of coal -- by the time the phrase was first recorded in 1538, 15,000 tonnes of coal were being exported annually from the area, and therefore any attempt to sell coal to Newcastle would be doomed to failure because of the economic principle of supply and demand. Visit wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_upon_Tyne for more, and visit youtube to see how the bridge was delivered. BACK TO GRANT'S HOME PAGE