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engaged in the tea trade, but many ordinary merchant sailing vessels also sailed to China. The passage from London to China is about 14,000 nautical miles. The problem for a steamer was to have space for enough coal for this distance, but still carry a commercial amount of cargo. Holt achieved a big
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was launched in 1865. Holt designed a compact double expansion engine that left the maximum amount of room in the hull for cargo. He also developed an easily driven hull, which was strong yet both economical to build and light in weight. The complete design package, including the higher boiler
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Holt served an apprenticeship under the chief engineer of the
Liverpool & Manchester Railway, learning the basics of both mechanical and civil engineering. On finishing his apprenticeship, he established himself as an engineering consultant, and soon became involved in ship management. The
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were ordered before she had completed her maiden voyage. Holt's new technology was soon copied by others, and by 1870, tea clippers were finding strong competition from steamships. In 1871, the success of steamship routes to China was clear, with 45 steamers being built in
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limited the steam pressures of marine boilers to about 20 psi (140 kPa). Not only did Holt understand the well-known benefits of higher steam pressures running compound engines, but he also had the negotiating skills to gain the approval of the
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had a steamship route to China from
Britain that went along the Mediterranean, with an overland section to the north end of the Red Sea and then to China by sea. A few auxiliary steamships sailed to China round the
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pressures, gave a ship that could steam from London to China with one coaling stop in
Mauritius on the way out, and another on the return trip. This was commercially successful before the opening of the
51:, England. Holt is credited with establishing the long distance steamship by developing a type that replaced sailing clippers on the route from Britain to China.
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Smith, Crosbie; Higginson, Ian; Wolstenholme, Phillip (2003). ""Imitations of God's Own Works": Making
Trustworthy the Ocean Steamship".
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Jarvis, Adrian (1993). "Chapter 9: Alfred Holt and the
Compound Engine". In Gardiner, Robert; Greenhill, Dr. Basil (eds.).
43:(13 June 1829 – 28 November 1911) was a British engineer, ship owner and merchant. He lived at Crofton, Sudley Road,
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Holt then set about designing a steamship for the China trade. This was a route worked almost entirely by sail. The
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Holt was married twice. He married his first wife, Catherine Long in 1865. They had a daughter,
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Engineering
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and his wife, Emma. In 1866, he and his brother, Philip Holt founded the
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collection. Oil on canvas, ca. 1880–1903, by Robert Edward
Morrison
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Jones, E. Gabriel (1931). "Obituary notices: Alfred Holt".
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The Tea
Clippers, Their History and Development 1833–1875
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The Advent of Steam – The
Merchant Steamship before 1900
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388:10.1039/JR9310001024
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19:For other uses, see
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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