Steam Engine & Machinery of SS Ozama, ex-Craigallion
The Ozama had a compound inverted, two-cylinder engine; one 25” high pressure cylinder; one 50” low pressure cylinder; with 33” stroke of piston; 75 psi boiler pressure; 99 horsepower.[1]
Compound Surface Condensing Marine Engine: This is a similar but much smaller engine than the one in the Ozama. This one had a high-pressure cylinder of 12½ inches, and a low-pressure cylinder of 22 inches, while those of the Ozama were 26 inches and 50 inches diameter respectively with a 33 inch piston stroke. The cylinders were inverted, standing upon condenser frames at the back, and turned wrought iron polished columns in front. The slot links are of double bar pattern with brass slide in valve spindle, the air pumps, circulating pump, bilge pump, and feed pump being attached between the crosshead, and worked by a pair of wrought iron beams. A small starting valve, double-posted, is fitted to the low-pressure cylinder. All pins and joints are case-hardened, and all brasses wide, so as to give a large wearing surface. See illustrations below.[2]
Compound Surface Condensing Marine Engine showing levers.
Compound Surface Condensing Marine Engine
The Ozama had a Emerson Walker & Co.’s patent windless similar to the one pictured below.[3]
The SS Craigallion (later SS Ozama) was fitted with an Emerson Walker Steam Windless
[1] Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping From 1st July, 1883, to 30th June, 1884, (London, Middlesex, UK), 1883, entry CRA-2 (Craigallion)
[2] The Marine Engineer, (London, Middlesex, UK), May 1, 1882, p. 51, illustrations pp. 36, 37
[3] The Marine Engineer, (London, Middlesex, UK), June 1, 1882, p. 77, 79 (illustration)
Information on: Discovery of the Ozama
Information on: Construction & physical details
Information on: Steam engine and machinery
Information on: Towing history
Information on: Smuggling guns
Information on: Seizure & release
Information on: Miscellaneous Voyages
Information on: Wrecked in the Bahamas
Information on: Re-flagging as American steamship
Information on: Wrecked off Cape Romain, SC
Information on: The shipwreck as it is today
(private not currently available to general public)
Information on: Shipping money
(private not currently available to general public)
Images: Sidescan images of Ozama wreck site
Images: Photos of artifacts found on the Ozama
(private not currently available to general public)
Images: Photos of people and work in progress
(private not currently available to general public)
Images: Maps & charts relating to Ozama’s history
(private not currently available to general public)
Images: Archaeological and technical drawings
(private not currently available to general public)
The above posts all deal with the steamer Ozama, which was shipwrecked off Cape Romain, South Carolina in 1894 and discovered and identified by underwater archaeologist Dr. E. Lee Spence in 1979 and 2013 respectively. He also discovered other abandoned wreckage in the same general vicinity. In 2012, the Federal District Court ruled that Spence was the “true and exclusive owner of the abandoned wreckage” (which includes the Ozama and all of the other shipwrecks that he had found in the specific area designated in his court filing), which means he is already the legal owner of any and all shipwreck gold, silver, cannons, hulls, engines, rigging, and other artifacts on those wrecks. To learn more about shipwrecks in general, check out Spence’s page on Facebook.