Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company was a British engineering company based in Wallsend, North East England, on the River Tyne. The company was founded by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1897 with £500,000 of capital, and specialised in building the steam turbine engines that he had invented for naval use. The first ship to use a Parsons propulsion system was "Turbinia", launched in 1894; the successful demonstration of this vessel led to the creation of the company and the subsequent construction of the engines for the first two turbine-powered destroyers for the Navy, and , launched
Metropolitan Steamship Company Judith. Simple expansion steam engines gave a speed of 13 knots. The line's first iron-hulled propeller, the "General Whitney", was built in 1873 by Harlan & Hollingsworth at Wilmington, Delaware. A vessel of 1,848 tons, she measured 227 feet in length with a beam of 40 feet, and was propelled by two-cylinder compound engines. All of the company's iron steamers were designed by Herman Winter, the line's chief engineer from 1872 to 1891. Upon the death of James Whitney on October 24, 1878, Henry Whitney was elected his successor as president of the steamship line. In addition, he retained the