USS ALASKA
Captain
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2016
Alamay (photo site) claims this is from 1860, but I suspect that it is Europe:Would love to see it.
How could you use this to lift something off a dock? Doesn't it pull sideways (or lifting up, if it pulls an anchor chain)? I was under the impression that Capstans were for lifting anchors (or hauling a vessel off a sand bank).
Thanks. A great thread. I had a look at it.
Easy-peasy for you,
And this clearly is from the time, but not relevant to city docks...
About ten years ago I found an old commercial article (1860) that stated the average pressed cotton bale in the west ran about 265 lbs. The large bale in the foreground does not appear to have been sent through one of the steam cotton presses as its size is much larger than a pressed bale. I'm guessing that the ratio between the pressed and unpressed bales was by a factor of 2, so this big bale probably weighed about the same, but was not as handy for shipment to a final user in New England or Europe.I was researching how cotton was loaded onto blockade running vessels for transport and came across this photo. It appears that cotton was loaded BY HAND (or rather by back, bicep, and thigh), each bale weighing 450 or more lbs. GEES! Is this right, or were winches etc. used as well? Anyone know? (This is clearly NOT a blockade runner -- could not have run away very fast...)
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Per the website where I found this, "This image shows the steamboat "City St. Joseph" docked on the waterfront in Memphis, Tennessee for the unloading of cotton." No date attached.
Of course!! Vicksburg, poor beleaguered city....unless your city is...Vicksburg...
Cheers,
USS ALASKA
WOW!! How did this not sink? I'd be scared to set foot on it.
Looks like they have some kind of sheet or board they are rolling it over to smooth the way.From Harper's weekly, early in the war.
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