Experimental Rotary Steam Engine - LaBelle, Florida, USA - Preserved Machines on Public Display on Waymarking.com

Wording on bronze plaque:

Experimental Rotary Steam Engine

Designed and built in 1938 by inventor Edward Christopher Warren, former associate of famed inventor Nicola Tesla, to install in a 114 foot shuttle yacht “Navette,” originally commissioned by financier J. Pierpont “Jack” Morgan and built by Herreshoff Yard, Bristol, Rhode Island in 1917. “Navette” was built for “Jack” Morgan’s daily commute from Long Island to Wall Street.

Following Morgan’s death, it was stored for years before being sold to Warren who planned to use it to test his rotary steam engines. Warren moved the yacht down the east coast from New York’s World’s Fair Marina after installing this engine. During World War II licensed engineers, required to move steam vessels, were in short supply; so, Warren’s daughter Marjorie was licensed as engineer of certain sized steam yachts, reputedly the first female to receive such a license.

By the early 1950s, it reached its final mooring on a dead-end oxbow created by the 1930s dredging of the Caloosahatchee, the Warrens became “fixtures” in LaBelle, for many following Warren’s death his daughters Marjorie and Dorothy with their nephew David Lived aboard the “Navette”. Eventually, Marjorie lived in a mobile home near the yacht’s sinking remains.

The “Navette” is now submerged in the oxbow that was its final home. Its salvaged engine was displayed at LaBelle Heritage Museum until the museum relocated to a permanent location in the downtown LaBelle. LaBelle gives it better exposure than what is available on the museum grounds.

Visit LaBelle Heritage Museum, one block east and one block south, at 360 North Bridge Street to learn more about the “Navette”, Warren Engine Company and the Warren family.

City of LaBelle
LaBelle Heritage Museum

Type of Machine: Experimental Rotary Steam Engine Year the machine was built: 1938 Year the machine was put on display: 2014 Is there online documentation for this machine: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   08/24/2018 BoomersOTR visited it