When once the ability of steam-ships to make open-sea passages such as those between Liverpool, Belfast, and Glasgow had been demonstrated, shipowners began to turn their attention to the possibility of steamers crossing the Atlantic. The first steam vessel which is known to have made the crossing is the Conde de Patmella. Unfortunately very little is known about this boat. She sailed from Liverpool on October 20, 1820, for Lisbon, and arrived there in the remarkably short time of four days. Thence she sailed for the Brazils, being the first steam vessel to cross the Atlantic from east to west. In the year 1819 the Savannah, a sailing vessel using an auxiliary steam-engine, crossed the Atlantic, but as this vessel sailed nearly the whole of the way and scarcely used her engines except when leaving or entering port, she cannot be described as having made the first steam crossing, although this claim is often put forward by American writers. But this voyage of the Savannah is of great historical interest, as it proved what many had doubted, viz., the possibility of a sailing vessel with steam auxiliary crossing the Atlantic, and carrying enough coals for her purpose. This boat when built was not intended for a steamer. Messrs. Scarborough and Isaacs of Savannah thought that a sail-plus-steam crossing could be made, and they accordingly instructed Moses Rogers (who, it has already been mentioned, had made the first sea trip by steamboat from New York to the Delaware in 1807 with Stevens’ Phœnix) to look out for a hull in which an engine could be placed for the experiment. He found the Savannah then being built by Francis Ficket, of the firm of Ficket and Crocker, at New York, and she was accordingly purchased for Scarborough and Isaacs. Her engine is stated to have been built at Morristown, New Jersey, by Stephen Vail, though Daniel Dod[45] of Elizabeth, New Jersey—one of the foremost marine engineers of America at that time—who built the boilers and paddle-wheels, is sometimes said to have been responsible for the engines also. The paddle-wheels were constructed with eight radii, which were hinged at the axle, so that they could be folded and removed from the paddle-shaft, and stowed on deck in dirty weather. She was a full-rigged ship of 350 tons burden, 130 feet in length by 26 feet beam, and 16¹⁄₂ feet depth. Her trial trip in New York Bay in March 1819 was considered satisfactory, although the steam pressure employed was only 2 lb., while the estimated pressure was 10 lb. On March 28, 1819, she sailed for Savannah. Her engines were not used until April 2, when her wheels were placed on the paddle-shafts. They were shipped and unshipped at intervals, until the conclusion of the voyage on April 6. At Charleston, South Carolina, President Monroe, of “Doctrine” fame, visited her. She then returned to Savannah, and sailed thence for Liverpool on May 24 carrying neither passengers nor cargo.
[45] Dod was killed in 1823 by the explosion of a boiler on a steamer whose engines he was testing after having made some experimental alterations.
On this first voyage to Savannah, which occupied 207 hours, the engines were running for only 4¹⁄₂ hours. On June 17 she arrived off the coast of Ireland, where the revenue cruiser Kite pursued her, under the impression that she was a ship on fire, and three days later she was off Liverpool. The voyage occupied 29 days 11 hours, and according to the record kept by Rogers, which is now preserved in the United States National Museum, steam was raised six times on the voyage and the engines were run for a total of 80 hours. The reason the engines were used so little was that she had a very insufficient supply of fuel. She steamed up the Mersey, her arrival—the arrival of the first vessel under steam from America—being witnessed by thousands of persons, some of whom could hardly believe their eyes, so often had the voyage been described as impossible of accomplishment.
Extracts from the Savannah’s log read:
“Saturday, May 22, 1819.—These twenty-four hours begins with fresh breezes at N.E. at 7 A.M. got steam up, winded ship, and hove up the anchor, at 9 A.M. started with the steam from Savannah, at 12 A.M. anchored at Tybee stowed the boat and spars and lashed them. Latter part light breezes at S.E. and flying clouds.
“Sunday, May 23, 1819.—These twenty-four hours begins with fresh breezes at east and clear, latter part light breezes and clear.
“Monday, May 24, 1819.—These twenty-four hours begins with light breezes and clear at 5 A.M. got under way off Tybee Light and put to sea with steam and sails, at 6 A.M. left the pilot, at 8 A.M. took off the wheels in twenty minutes, middle part pleasant. Course E.N.E., wind S.S.E., the ship going 6.7.8. to 9 knots, and without her wheels.
“Tuesday, May 25, 1819.—These twenty-four hours begins with light breezes and pleasant, all sail set to the best advantage at 12 A.M. Tybee Light bore W. 6 S. 8 leagues distant from which I take my departure.”
