Agrippina was a steamboat designed for the Middle Rhine. On delivery she was found to be too heavy, and was returned to her builder NSM, which tried to use her as a freighter on the Lower Rhine. When this failed too, Agrippinas engines were used to create the compound steam engine of the tugboat , creating the first effective compound steam engines. In 1829 Agrippina was the first towed dumb barge on the Rhine. After a rebuilt, she became the first steamboat to tow an iron barge on the Rhine in 1841.
Context
Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft (PRDG) In October 1825 the Preußisch-Rheinische Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft (PRDG) ordered two steamboats at the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij (Dutch Steamboat Comp.) A later overview suggests that Agrippina was part of this initial order by the PRDG. It also showed that she was comparatively large for a steamboat. Already in 1828, PRDG's plan was to use Agrippina as the third boat between Cologne and Mainz. This would allow the company to make 240 trips a year instead of only 160.
Construction
Agrippina was built in Alblasserdam, so the hull was probably built by one of the Smit shipyards. The hull measured 142 by 25 feet. Including the paddle wheels, beam was 42 feet. Other measurements are 146 by 38 feet. It is not sure which feet were meant. The hull was launched in March 1827.
The engines for Agrippina were ordered at Taylor & Martineau in London. These were to be more powerful than those of her predecessors, so Agrippina would more easily get upstream. This would be achieved by using high steam pressure, which renders much more effective horse-power than the low pressure steam engines of the ships that PRDG already had. Taylor & Martineau was known for high pressure steam engines, as well as for horizontal steam engines.
The innovative engines of Agrippina proved much heavier than expected, and so her draft increased from 2.5 feet to 3.5 feet. After loading coal her draft was even 4'2". Meanwhile, the partnership Taylor & Martineau was dissolved in 1827.
First service
PRDG refuses delivery of Agrippina
In late May 1828 Agrippina first arrived in Cologne. The PRDG was quick to point out defects, and so Agrippina returned to Rotterdam in order to be made more suitable for the Rhine. On 27 June 1828 Agrippina arrived in Mainz, where she was tested again. When PRDG observed that Agrippina had more draft than expected, the company refused to accept her, and a commission of experts was formed to investigate. In late August she was still in the harbor, because PRDG did not dare to use her in the service between Cologne and Mainz after a second test had led to negative results.
As built, Agrippina showed more problems than only high draft. The machinery took up so much place, that the boat could not carry carriages. It also used an extraordinary amount of coal, about 300 hundredweight a day. Furthermore, Agrippina was 13 hours slower than Concordia on the stretch from Cologne to Mainz. It would mean that on the two steaming days of this stretch, Agrippina would have to leave six hours earlier on each day.
The problem for PRDG was that the contract had been made without proper technical specifications. In the end a deal was made whereby PRDG would trade in Agrippina for NSM's De Rijn and pay the high price of 165,000 guilders. By 31 October, Agrippina had been accepted back by the NSM, and had left Cologne for Rotterdam. The details of the deal, including the delivery of her replacement on 1 April, were published on 21 February 1829.
Service with NSM
After being returned to NSM, Agrippina was used to tow barges between Rotterdam and Wesel or Ruhrort. Now the defects were confirmed. Her very heavy engines did not function well under average pressure. The boat was very slow, and she consumed an extraordinary amount of coal. NSM then decided to radically change Agrippina.
The dumb barge Agrippina and the invention of the compound steam engine
The failure of Agrippina financially affected NSM. In the deal with PRDG it had lost a steamboat. NSM then discovered that she had no commercially viable use for Agrippina. Meanwhile, Roentgen undoubtedly knew of the ban on the use of high-pressure steam engines on passenger ships, which the Dutch government would issue in 1829.
