2-889-435 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Mr. Peter Borrie's Patent Safety Iron Twin Steamer, 1850. The 'Gemini....adapted for carrying goods, passengers, cattle, and all sorts of vehicles, and either for river or ocean navigation...chiefly constructed of iron, having two separate hulls placed side by side, with a space between them in which the paddle-wheel works...as both ends are exactly similar, the vessel will sail with equal facility either way without turning...On each end of the paddle-box are a number of deck-houses - a cook-house, with apparatus in it for cooking by steam; a state-room, a dining-room, engineer's room, &c. On the top of the deck-houses...is a platform, or hurricane deck, upon which the steering-wheels are placed, and this being properly railed in, may be used as a promenade for passengers...there is ample accommodation in the vessel to carry from 800 to 1000 passengers with ease and safety'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.