Editing Yacht (section)

==== Steam ====
The history of steam yachts starts with large sailing yachts with a [[Steam engine|steam auxiliary engine]]. Early examples, driven with paddle wheels, had a railed platform from which the person conning the vessel could walk across the vessel above the main deck, the origin of the [[Bridge (nautical)|bridge]]. In the late 18th century, steam engines became more efficient, spars were removed and [[Propeller|screw propellers]] became standard.<ref name="steam">{{Cite book |last=Evers |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CTcDAAAAQAAJ&q=Sennett,+Richard+and+Oram,+Sir+Henry+J.+(1918):+The+Marine+Steam+Engine:+A+Treatise+for+Engineering+Students,+Young+Engineers,+and+Officers+of+the+Royal+Navy+and+Mercantile+Marine,+Longmans,+Green+ |title=Steam and the Steam Engine: Land and Marine |date=1873 |publisher=Putnam |language=en}}</ref> Steam yachts evolved with the [[History of the steam engine|development of the steam engine]]. Ultimately, engines employed pistons driven by steam within cylinders, connected to a crank shaft, which drove a propeller.<ref name="steam" />

Near the end of the 19th century, [[compound engine]]s came into widespread use.<ref name="steam" /> Compound engines exhausted steam into successively larger cylinders to accommodate the higher volumes at reduced pressures, giving improved efficiency. These stages were called expansions, with double- and triple-expansion engines being common, especially in shipping where efficiency was important to reduce the weight of coal carried.<ref name="Hunter">{{cite book|last1=Hunter|first1=Louis C.|title=A History of Industrial Power in the United States, 1730–1930|publisher=University Press of Virginia|year=1985|volume=2: Steam Power|location=Charlottesville}}</ref> Steam engines remained the dominant source of power until the early 20th century, when advances in the design of the [[steam turbine]], [[electric motor]]s and [[internal combustion engine]]s gradually resulted in the replacement of reciprocating (piston) steam engines.<ref name="Hunter" /><ref name="Wiser">{{cite book|last=Wiser|first=Wendell H.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UmMx9ixu90kC|title=Energy resources: occurrence, production, conversion, use|publisher=Birkhäuser|year=2000|isbn=978-0-387-98744-6|page=190}}</ref>

Large steam yachts were luxurious; their staff included a [[captain]], [[Engine officer|engineer]], and stewards, as well as deck hands.<ref name="golden" />