Are foils the final answer to the energy-hungry problem of water resistance in boat design? Results from Candela, a pioneer in constructing electric foiling motorboats, suggest they might be. Foiling can reduce energy use by more than 30%, as proven by the Candela C-8, which recently became the first electric boat to cross the Strait of Gibraltar on a single battery charge. But today’s electric foilers weren’t the first attempts to outsmart water resistance; many early efforts have been forgotten. Is that unfair?
More than a century ago, engineers and inventors were already trying to reduce drag through radical new hull concepts. One of them was the Frenchman Ernest Bazin (1826–1898). He went to sea at 15 as a cabin boy and is said to have worked his way up to commander. Whether he ever formally studied engineering is unknown, but biographers refer to him as an engineer and a prolific inventor.
Bazin developed all sorts of machines: a plow, an electric razor, a vegetable slicer, and even an electrically powered rifle, decades ahead of his time in an age still dominated by steam power. Many of his inventions were successfully marketed and even honored. He received the French Legion of Honor for an especially clever spinning machine.
float is free
... and openly readable for everyone. Support us now as a 💙 float friend to keep it that way. Your contribution makes float strong. I'm in!Like a giant car on the water
But Bazin’s true passion was the sea. His most ambitious (and bizarre) creation was a ship, at a time when many late 19th-century engineers were asking how ocean-going vessels could go faster. Bazin had an answer. As the German illustrated magazine Die Gartenlaube reported in 1895: “He proposed that ships moving on wheels could be faster than traditional hull-and-keel ships.” In 1893, he founded the “Navire Express Rouleur Bazin”—roughly, “Bazin’s Express Roller Ship Company.”
The wheel ship in a historical picture © public
It was really built ... © gemeinfrei
... and was even running, at least a little bit © public
His invention looked like a giant car on the water: a 38.5-meter-long platform riding on three axles, each fitted with two massive 10-meter-high wheels, powered by steam engines. The rollers were hollow, UFO-shaped floats that provided enough buoyancy to stay afloat. Was Bazin trying to imitate a catamaran? Perhaps. He believed his wheels’ reduced water resistance would enable lower energy use and much higher speeds.
The prototype was projected to reach 20 knots—blazing fast for the time. By comparison, HAPAG’s Pennsylvania, the world’s largest passenger steamer in 1897, topped out at 13 knots. Bazin even claimed that by increasing wheel diameter to 22 meters, he could achieve 32 knots. The physics behind that belief remains unclear.
An idea taken to the grave
Die Gartenlaube closed its 1895 article with great anticipation: “Within months, it will become clear whether the inventor’s calculations are correct and whether his model is destined to replace all current express steamers.”
Ernest Bazin (1826-98) © gemeinfrei
At least Bazin’s ship could move. He didn’t rely solely on the giant wheels but added a steam-driven propeller. But even that wasn’t enough. During trials on the Seine, the strange craft managed only about 10 knots. Bazin hadn’t accounted for the extra drag caused by the rotating wheels. And coal consumption was enormous.
