Seine River Steamers The Élise was the first steam ship to cross the English Channel. She was bought in England 1814 by Pierre Andriel as" Margery", and renamed "Élise". Andriel intended to accomplish a spectacular crossing of the Channel to convince public opinion that steam ships could be ocean-worthy. She sailed up the Seine and arrived in Paris on 28 March, becoming a popular sensation. Two small saluting guns were mounted at the bow and fired in honour of Louis XVIII Early tugs used chains in the river to tow trains of barges up river. The low steam pressure and low power of
Seine River Steamers was then transferred to la Dorade 3 at Val-de-la-Haye, near Rouen, to be carried up the Seine, on whose banks people had gathered to pay homage to Napoleon. On 14 December la Dorade moored at the Courbevoie quay. He was then ceremonially re-interred at Les Invalides. With Baron Haussmann's levelling of the centre of Paris and building the sewers and Boulevards, the river bank was also reconstructed the famous Quais on the Seine banks were erected. The river provided the key to moving in building materials: timber, sand, bricks, stone, gravel and ironware were moved; wine, fruit, and hay; while