Paddle steamer
steamship or riverboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels
A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine driving paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. Earlier ships that are driven by a paddle wheel under manual power are known as paddle wheelers.
In the early 19th century, paddle wheels were the predominant way of propulsion for steam-powered boats. In the late 19th century, paddle propulsion was largely superseded by the screw propeller and other marine propulsion systems that have a higher efficiency, especially in rough or open water.
Paddle wheels continue to be used by some ships that operate as excursion boats, floating restaurants, and casinos; these include replica vessels, and are often diesel powered.
Small pedal-powered paddle boats are also found, typically as novelty attractions.
Paddle wheels
The paddle wheel is a large steel framework wheel. The outer edge of the wheel is fitted with numerous, regularly spaced paddle blades (called floats or buckets). The bottom quarter or so of the wheel travels under water. An engine rotates the paddle wheel in the water to produce thrust, forward or backward as required.
The public source identifies “Paddle steamer” as steamship or riverboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Paddle, steamer and steamship.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1121471. The Library of Congress control number is sh85096547. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Paddle steamer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.