The Rattler-Alecto comparison tested screw propulsion against paddle wheels and also tested the engine-room crews. Steam machinery required sailors who could read pressure gauges, regulate boilers, maintain propeller-shaft seals, and turn a design into dependable output. Color bands on early gauges helped workers who were not yet fully literate, while the Navy increasingly trained technical ratings to read and write. Those skills improved sailors' bargaining power ashore and helped drive better accommodation and professional status aboard ship. During the trial, Rattler's boiler-room chief used sailing shanties to organize coal handling and improve the team's efficiency. Officers regarded this as a contributing factor, although they did not consider it decisive and still favored the propeller's greater efficiency under the trial conditions.
Notable Point · 40:13-47:31
Rattler's propeller trial was also a crew test
Rattler's trial against Alecto depended partly on trained engine-room work, although officers still considered the screw propeller's efficiency the decisive advantage.