Creque Marine Railway
Encyclopedia
The Creque Marine Railway, formerly the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility", is an inclined-plane ship railway on Hassel Island in the US Virgin Islands.
A large ship-cradle, built out of "greenheart" wood, ran on four rails, down a shallow incline into the water; the cradle was ballasted. A ship could be floated into the cradle, then drawn up the railway by a winch so that work could be done on the hull - or propellers - of the ship on dry land. The winch was driven by a beam engine
.
The beam engine and winch mechanism were manufactured by Boulton of Hamburg
, around 1840.
The marine railway is overlooked by Fort Shipley.
The marine railway was originally called the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility". It fell into financial difficulties and was auctioned in 1910; it was bought by Henry Creque, who refurbished and renamed it. The Creque Marine Railway continued service into the 1960s.
History
The marine railway was constructed in the 1840s by Danish investors, at Little Careening Cove on Hassel Island; it entered commercial service in 1844. It is probably the world's oldest surviving marine railway.A large ship-cradle, built out of "greenheart" wood, ran on four rails, down a shallow incline into the water; the cradle was ballasted. A ship could be floated into the cradle, then drawn up the railway by a winch so that work could be done on the hull - or propellers - of the ship on dry land. The winch was driven by a beam engine
Beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used by Thomas Newcomen around 1705 to remove water from mines in Cornwall...
.
The beam engine and winch mechanism were manufactured by Boulton of Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, around 1840.
The marine railway is overlooked by Fort Shipley.
The marine railway was originally called the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility". It fell into financial difficulties and was auctioned in 1910; it was bought by Henry Creque, who refurbished and renamed it. The Creque Marine Railway continued service into the 1960s.
Restoration
By 2007, serious efforts had begun to restore Creque Marine Railway. There are further plans to repair, rehabilitate, and restore parts of the site, with support from the Virgin Islands National Park Service.External links
Archive material at the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...