Illustration of M. Bazin's Roller Steamer, SS 'Ernest Bazin', leaving Le Havre on a sea trial, July 1897. This vessel, launched in 1896, was built with a flat rectangular deck supported on twelve disc-shaped wheels. With power applied via a screw propeller and each of the wheels, a speed of 6 knots was achieved and she was reported as behaving well in a 'fresh breeze and rough sea'.