THE BRITISH MOTOR COASTER

For coastal vessels in particular, the internal combustion engine offered significant advantages over its steam counterpart. It was potentially more fuel-efficient and more compact, allowing more space for cargo. It not only eliminated the need for firemen, but also for boilers and coal bunkers, as fuel could be stored in otherwise unused spaces. With these economies it is surprising that British owners took so long to embrace the motor coaster.

Viable small oil engines were available soon after 1900, but it was not until the late 1930s that they became the machinery of choice in coasters, and then only for smaller ships. Indeed, for bigger vessels, especially coastal colliers, steam power ruled for another two decades. This article traces the slow rise of the British-built motor coaster, and discusses why its advantages were not grasped more eagerly.

THE OIL ENGINE

In the 1890s Britain was as dominant in world shipbuilding as China is today. This was in part thanks to a very successful marine engineering sector, which had developed the steam engine to a high degree of sophistication. Yet this engine’s overall efficiency was still poor; heat losses meant that most of the energy produced by burning coal in a furnace could not be translated into motive power.

Towards the end of the