The Morris roller boat, pictured below, is a tube-like boat invented in 1902. It was hoped that the shape of the boat would make it safer than the common steamship.
Morris Roller Boat
Here is an object that looks like a huge iron cylinder or funnel, but in reality it is a boat. It is known on the St. Lawrence River, where it has been tried, as the Morris roller boat, for the reason that it actually revolves in the water by means of a steam engine mounted within.
It contains but a single deck, which is planned in such a manner that when the hull revolves it is not affected. This curious craft was constructed at Prescott, Ontario, on the St. Lawrence River, and has made trips two and three miles in length.
The inventor claims that a vessel large enough to cross the Atlantic could be constructed from this model, and that it will be much safer than the present type of steamship.
Source: The Stark County Democrat. (Canton, Ohio), 08 July 1902.
