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Steamboat Aubrey (1785)

NOTES:
Fictional BUT based off the French side-wheeler Pyroscaphe - AKA 'Fire Boat'
Will die in waves
Yes, she is tiny and bare like Pyroscaphe is depicted by her own builder
Has a scuttle feature and is diesel powered

STORY:
The Aubrey was a side-wheel experimental steamboat built in 1785 as a response to the Pyroscaphe built two years prior. She was a tiny steamer and was difficult to manage due to her size. Even the smallest waves could swing her in the wrong direction, and she was only used in the Mersey mainly as a 'showboat' to demonstrate the power of steam, as well as sometimes carrying a tiny quantity of cargo in her bow. Her first demonstration went well though she shook a lot from her engine. She continued roughly once a few months, spending most of her short life laid up. On her final demonstration, she was in rather rough shape with her worn boiler, weakened oak hull and her paint flaking from her funnel. She started to steam down the Mersey despite it being choppy, though this was a fatal mistake. She pitched and rolled with each wave, and water started to leak through her rotting oak hull. She slowly sat lower with each wave before water started pooling before the cold Mersey water slammed into her scorching boiler. Her boiler instantly exploded, and her hull caught on fire but was soon put out by the river she was in. A boat near by rescued her crew of two from the dreadful river as the Aubrey broke apart and her machinery sank. Mr Aubrey, her designer and builder, was scolded by the public for endangering the life of the other man on board, and he gave up on the idea of steamships. He passed away aged 68, around 8 years after the paddle steamship Savannah crossed the Atlantic.