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Modern Steam Yachts
Vital Spark (Photo from MacFarlane collection.)
Some yachtsmen have managed to capture the experience of marine steam power by installing small modern engines or even ancient antiques. Most use propane for fuel but a few burn wood or other fuels. The Vital Spark was owned by Don Thompson of Victoria BC (he was the Master of the Thermopylae Club). The best place to see these magnificent yachts is at summer boat festivals and shows - where the owners are often pleased to put them on display.
Small steam yacht gathers a crowd at Cowichan Bay BC. (Photo from MacFarlane collection.)
A beautiful small steam engine. (Photo from MacFarlane collection.)
Admiring fans. (Photo from MacFarlane collection.)
Site News: April 25, 2024
The vessel database has been updated and is now holding 92,359 vessel histories (with 15,634 images and 13,293 records of ship wrecks and marine disasters). The mariner and naval biography database has also been updated and now contains 58,616 entries (with 4,013 images).
In 2023 the Nauticapedia celebrated the 50th Anniversary of it’s original inception in 1973 (initially it was on 3" x 5" file cards). It has developed, expanded, digitized and enlarged in those ensuing years to what it is now online. If it was printed out it would fill more than 300,000 pages!
My special thanks to our volunteer IT adviser, John Eyre, who (since 2021) has modernized, simplified and improved the update process for the databases into a semi–automated processes. His participation has been vital to keeping the Nauticapedia available to our netizens.
Also my special thanks to my volunteer content accuracy checker, John Spivey of Irvine CA USA, who has proofread thousands of Nauticapedia vessel histories and provided input to improve more than 11,000 entries. His attention to detail has been a huge unexpected bonus in improving and updating the vessel detail content.