| Description | Steam Boat Engines (7 items).
1128. Dover Packets Nos. 3, Spitfire (VV & VW) and No. 4, Fury (VX & VY). Jul., Sep., Nov. 1823, May 1828, Sep. 1829, Jun. 1830. 7 items.
Two sets of two 20 horse power side lever boat engines, with 26¾ inch cylinders, 2½ foot strokes. Boats re-named Pike and Asp 1837.
Midship section, side view of engine and boiler, plan of the engines and boiler; section and plan of the boiler - coloured reverse drawing (this drawing bears a letter code); sketch - "A scheme for paddle wheels, Dover 3 & 4", by James Brown.
Also the following later items: section and plan of boiler - reverse drawing, Sep. 1829 (this drawing was used for the Fury's new boiler); section and plan of boiler and section of grate - partially coloured reverse drawing, May 1828 (used for Spitfire's new boiler in Jun. 1830).
Original Portfolio or 'Book' No. 767. Catalogue of Old Engines p. 314.
For H. M. Post Office, Dover station. The engines for these boats were made from one set of drawings. Spitfire and Fury were built by Graham of Harwich for the Dover-Ostend service. They were stationed at Dover in 1825, replacing Arrow and Dasher, which moved to Port Patrick. Spitfire and Fury worked from the Margate station between 1828 and 1830, before returning to Dover. They then moved to the Port Patrick station - Fury was sent in 1831 as a replacement for the Dasher, which had been wrecked, while Spitfire was sent in 1833 as a replacement for the Arrow, which returned to Dover. Spitfire was re-named Pike and Fury was re-named Asp in 1837 when the Navy took over the Post Office packet fleet. A transcript from The New York Herald, 15 Oct. 1842, copied into Engine Order Book No. 10 notes the wrecking of a British boat called Spitfire on Half Moon Reef in the Caribbean on 10 Oct. 1842; this presumably was a warship called Spitfire.
The drawings for the first four Dover packets were kept in the same book, No. 767. Henry Hazleton allocated a separate portfolio number to each boat, despite the fact that their engines were made from one set of drawings; Spitfire was Pf. 1128 and Fury was Pf. 1129.
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