Your website incorrectly attributes the City of Ragusa as having made a windmill powered crossing of the Atlantic in 1870. The boat was sailed across under normal sails alone. The underwater propeller that had been connected to the windmill could be turned by hand from within the cabin of the boat, but it wasn't. I base this on having read the logbook of the voyage.
Yours,
William Longyard
Winston-Salem, NC USA
Date: 07 September 2002
The whole story of the City of Ragusa is clouded in mystery. It is not clear who actually sailed her across the Atlantic on the first trip (east-west). It is known for a fact that the skipper was John Buckley, an Irishman, not an American as some sources claim. The other man- likely the owner of the boat- was either Pietro di Costa (as the Illus. London News claims) or Nicholas Primoraz (really Nikola Primorac) as other sources, including the Croatian Maritime Museum claim. I believe that N.P. and Pietro di Costa may have been the same person using different names for political reasons (the Dalmatian coast being under the sway of competing regimes at the time. "Ragusa" is the old name for Dubrovnik).
The windmill gear was fitted in Liverpool where the boat was displayed as a publicity stunt to help with di Costa's tobacconist business on Duke Street. How well it worked I have not determined, though it would have been completely unsuitable for ocean travel as a large ocean swell could have swept the deck, struck a windmill blade, created an unbalanced flywheel effect, and ripped open the whole boat. Therefore on the transatlantic sail the boat used normal sails. The underwater propeller could be turned by hand for propulsion- theoretically- but it never was. The stuffing box of the prop shaft leaked badly and shortly after departing Liverpool the boat had to put into Queensland, Ireland for repairs. Even after that it continued to leak during the crossing.
There is no doubt that the City of Ragusa DID NOT use, or even carry, the windmill gear across the Atlantic. This was left behind in Liverpool.
More info, and illustrations, will be in my forthcoming book EPIC SMALL BOAT VOYAGES published by McGraw-Hill in the summer of 2003.
Date: 08 September 2002
Here is a windship you may like to know about. Please be aware that the info on the Ragusa is lifted from the June 1870 Illus. London News and is misleading. Dr. Adamthwaite of the Archives and Collections Society of Canada brought this boat to my attention.
e-mail to:fnsnclr@gmail.com