William C Daldy.

[Leftred 45]

4 hours ago, LBD said:

That is certainly a problem with the WC Daldy... constant exposure to the corrosive marine environment. The Earnslaw has the benefit of living in freshwater with minimal corrosion. That said, the Earnslaw was suffering from corrosion from the inside out, in the area of the boilers where the sulfur from the coal formed acids. There was also a lot of corrosion from the stock carrying days when the bilges were contaminated with stock urine. Back around 2003, we replaced a good measure of the hull plating, welding in new sections. Interesting that the original steel for plating and rivets was the same vintage as the Titanic but was made in Australia. When I some etched and analysed it we found the Australian product was good and ductile, and not suffering from the same brittleness as the steel used for the Titanic. 

Another interesting trivia from those days...  removed plating had clear un-corroded numbers written on them. These were identifying plate numbers from the yard in Dunedin where see was built (Disassembled and reassembled in Kingston)... the numbers had been painted on using white lead paint.

Shoveling coal?... the Earnslaw is one ton per hour if you are up to it... good exercise. There was talk back then of changing away from coal however there were concerns around the effect that a higher temp lean burning fuel would have on the old riveted locomotive  boilers. I know the old paddle steamer on Lake Geneva has converted away from coal, but I do not know if the original boilers were replaced.

 

 

Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing that. I'd thought about applying to work on Earnslaw 15+ years ago. I'd learnt a lot from former engineering staff, examiners etc who'd worked on her. Most I ever shovelled on a railway locomotive was just short of 2 tons in a day... so would have been a step up hahah.

[harrytom 679]