Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamboati

For the non-technical side of living with Steamboats, videos and general pictures.
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cyberbadger
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Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamboati

Post by cyberbadger » Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:10 am

What's your favorite Novel or Movie that is Fiction that involves steamboating or inspired you about steamboating in someway?

For me it's definitely Trustee from the Toolroom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trustee_from_the_Toolroom

"The plot of the novel hinges on the actions of a modest technical journalist, Keith Stewart, whose life has been focused on the design and engineering of scale-model machinery. Stewart writes serial articles about how to create scale models in a magazine called the Miniature Mechanic, which are extremely well regarded in the modelling community — as is he."

John Winn or any of your guys building or finishing your engines reminds me of this main character...

The main character goes on an adventure that includes some serious boating on the Pacific Ocean.

-Andy
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by TahoeSteam » Mon Dec 26, 2016 7:19 am

"The Sand Pebbles"
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by DetroiTug » Tue Dec 27, 2016 3:47 pm

It's cliche' but African Queen. It's about as technically accurate as a $3 bill, but I like the story line. The book is better, the ending is different, no explosions etc. C.S. Forester apparently wanted to keep it more believable. The book is available on Ebay, Abebooks etc. Katherine Hepburn even wrote a book about the making of the movie and that was really interesting too. How the project was cancelled by the investors and they put up their own money to buy costumes and finish the film. How they showed up every morning and the boat had sank, Katherine getting really sick from the living conditions. Bogart and Huston surviving the poor drinking water conditions with continual ingestion of alcohol.

Sand Pebbles is great too, but man that is a long movie - like 3-1/2 hours? I have to lot out a whole evening to watch it :D .

-Ron
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by cyberbadger » Wed Dec 28, 2016 8:28 am

DetroiTug wrote: It's about as technically accurate as a $3 bill, but I like the story line.
The biggest issue for me was connecting steam hose that was open(live steam shooting out) with a rag or handkerchef after it had been shot at from the germans at the fortress on the river. I cannot see that being possible or plausible in any way.

I know they had some extra set to do some portion of the shots. Was there some aspect of the actual steam plant that seemed especially fake?
DetroiTug wrote: Sand Pebbles is great too, but man that is a long movie - like 3-1/2 hours? I have to lot out a whole evening to watch it :D .
Pretty good, but yes long. Just watched it for the first time. Main stim walwe. There were a few good quotes in it. The end was kind of sad, but that's war...

-CB
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by DetroiTug » Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:34 pm

I don't recall a lot of the book and Hepburn did not really go in to the technical aspects of the Queen(s). I seem to recall there were actually 2 or 3 boats in total and then a partial boat split down the keel on a barge that was used for most of the onboard river scenes. There was a stern section that was used for the rapids scenes and filmed in a studio in England. As I recall, One of the boats had an inboard gas engine for the high speed distance shots and one with an electric motor for close up maneuvering, that turned the steam engine as well. No mention of the boiler and the visible steam was ever made. The obvious model boat for the rapid scenes was never mentioned as well.

I think the steam plant was pretty accurate, their staged operation of it was not. In one scene, the engine is turning the valve links are moving the Stephenson link which is in the middle full cut off and the valve rod is not moving. :D

The bullet severing the hose: Yeah, that whole scene was wrong, there was very little steam leaking - would have been a lot more. steam would remove adhesives like that of which would be on the tape, the steam gauge immediately dropped and then suddenly came back - no way. Also, The home made detonators for the torpedoes would have most likely not worked. (Don't try this at home)Many moons ago we attached different cartridges to arrows with the steel point on the primer so they'd blow up when they hit something, even though the primers were dented successfully, none with press in primers ever worked. Only 22 rimfire cartridges had occasional success.

Anyways, the point of a movie is to entertain which it did and for all it's technical inaccuracies, it's a great story and the movie has done much to interest people in modern day steam, myself included.

Re Sand Pebbles I was disappointed that Jake Holman died at the end. I thought it was pointless to the story. The San Pablo was the largest movie prop that had ever been built. The engine room was actually in a studio. They got it right.

Another great steamboating related movie is Steamboat 'round the bend. Just watched that last night. That movie is a bit hard to find as special interest groups have pressured to subdue it due to it's racial overtones. Made in 1932, it has some very good footage of Sternwheel steamers of the day. Even a race between several of them.

-Ron
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by johngriffiths » Wed Dec 28, 2016 9:39 pm

Arthur Conan Doyle "The Sign of Four" pub 1890, a Sherlock Holmes story in which the fugitive, Jonathan Small, hires (rents) a steam launch called 'Aurora' in which to escape but Holmes discovers the fact and there is a chase down stream on the Thames with Holmes on a police launch during which Small's accomplice is shot after trying to kill Holmes with a blowpipe and dart. Made a great atmospheric scene in at least one TV adaptation, they even got the right mark of Webley. Both boats are still in the SBA.
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by Kelly Anderson » Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:41 pm

johngriffiths wrote:Arthur Conan Doyle "The Sign of Four" pub 1890, a Sherlock Holmes story in which the fugitive, Jonathan Small, hires (rents) a steam launch called 'Aurora' in which to escape but Holmes discovers the fact and there is a chase down stream on the Thames with Holmes on a police launch during which Small's accomplice is shot after trying to kill Holmes with a blowpipe and dart. Made a great atmospheric scene in at least one TV adaptation, they even got the right mark of Webley. Both boats are still in the SBA.
Yes, here it is:
The Sign of Four Part 8

The Sign of Four Part 9
I only wish that they had chosen a faster launch to play the Aurora. Those of us in the know can see right off that it wouldn't be much of a chase.

Both of the books, The African Queen, and The Sand Pebbles are masterpieces, and their respective movie adaptations aren't a patch on the written versions. The Sand Pebbles author was a US Navy machinist's mate in Asia, and his writing is almost a technical manual on coal burning and reciprocating steam. I learned a lot about refitting crank bearings from reading this novel.

The African Queen's ending does differ considerably from the movie's, but is a way that follows historical events that actually happened in Africa during the time in question. The segments about running the rapids, "mending" the propeller, and fighting through the delta are very powerful.
Last edited by Kelly Anderson on Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by cyberbadger » Fri Dec 30, 2016 6:43 pm

DetroiTug wrote:Another great steamboating related movie is Steamboat 'round the bend. Just watched that last night. That movie is a bit hard to find as special interest groups have pressured to subdue it due to it's racial overtones. Made in 1932, it has some very good footage of Sternwheel steamers of the day. Even a race between several of them.
This was pretty good, I just watched this. A lot of slapstick. I was really waiting for some engine scenes but didn't see any.

Gosh with regard to the racing, oh boy - I would have felt very nervous doing that myself. Such large boats (ships!) right next to each other at full tilt! The way I was taught to drive a motorboat was to give any other boat as wide a berth as practical. Usually if I'm not comfortable with a situation I just switch to dead slow or a full stop and let others pass.

I didn't find the racial overtones as bad as you indicated. There are some old cartoons by Disney or Warner bros and they have I think a very reasonable short message in the beginning that says something like, "These are a product of their times, we don't condone any of this now - but it would wrong to change them."

-CB
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by DetroiTug » Fri Dec 30, 2016 8:15 pm

In regards to "Steamboat 'round the bend", was watching a John Ford interview and when asked about how difficult it was to get the steamboats together in the movie, although the story was based on the Mississippi near Louisiana bayou country, the film was actually shot in California on the Sacramento river. He said <par> He put the word out he needed sternwheelers and they just showed up to be in the movie. Wasn't difficult at all.

"I only wish that they had chosen a faster launch to play the Aurora. Those of us in the know can see right off that it wouldn't be much of a chase."

I thought the same thing when I read police chase with steam launches. The human body is only capable of producing so much adrenaline, at some point the chase must have become boring :) Sounds like a great read anyway though as steam launches were the high speed water craft of the day.

"I didn't find the racial overtones as bad as you indicated."

Was relating the sentiment of some prolific minority leaders here in the US, without going in to any detail, they want it banned i.e. removed from circulation.

-Ron
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Re: Fiction that involve steamboating or inspire your steamb

Post by TahoeSteam » Sat Dec 31, 2016 2:08 am

Some still shots from "Steamboat Round the Bend" http://steamboats.com/museum/davet-roundbend-boats.html

I really was born in the wrong era
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