1819 - A Steamer Crosses the Atlantic ocean

It has been three years only that the steamship Elise crossed the English Channel. Thus it was very daring that somebody considered crossing the Atlantic ocean under steam within two years of that relatively short trip.

Last year, Savannah, a 320-ton merchant packet sailing ship, was under construction at Fricket & Crockett Shipyards, in New York, on behalf of Mssrs Scarborough & Isaac of Savannah, Georgia. Moses Rogers, 39 years old then, a respected seaman, picked out and purchased the ship to become a steamship, and, above all, the first one to cross the Atlantic ocean. He has been backed in his bold project by wealthy brokers in cotton trade.

¤ Rogers has been a pioneer of steam navigation, sailing on steamboats since 1809 - a very unusual if not unique life path.

Savannah is fitted with a 90-hp one-cylinder engine made by Allaire Iron Works. It displays a 40-inch bore and a 5-foot stroke, which reaches out the recorded largest steam engines fitted in coal mines so far. Steam is supplied by a rectangular simple-hearth low-pressure boiler made in copper, as it is usual in the United States, by Daniel Dod's workshop. It can burn either coal or wood. The hold stored 75 tons of coal and 25 tons of wood for the crossing, which cannot allow to steam more than four days at half power, and two days at full power. The paddle wheels were made by Speedwell Ironworks.

¤ In Great-Britain, the boilers are made of iron and are most often cylindrical. They are less expensive and much more robust, but a bit less efficient. Efficiency is a critical issue. Despite all efforts, efficiency remains very low, which is acceptable in a land installation but proves to be prohibitive at sea.

Savannah cost $50,000, which is almost thrice as much as a 350-ton sailing packet ship. She can sail at six knots under steam, which is not a performance as every connoisseur of ships knows.

Before her departure, she was already the topic of conversation and an object of public curiosity. She was visited by President James Monroe who had the privilege of a round trip. Finally, to meet her fate, she travelled during 29 days, out of which three and a half under steam power. Her arrival at Liverpool was a triumph. Moses Rogers was the hero of the day.

Afterwards, Savannah successively sailed to Elsinore, Stockholm - where Sweden proposed to purchase the ship, which Rogers declined -, Kronstadt, St. Petersburg with much public success, before returning to Liverpool, then to Savannah in 40 days. Rogers was presented gifts from the sovereigns and authorities as the man of the day.

Success has hidden reality. Savannah is purely and solely a sailing ship assisted by auxiliary steam power. It could make sense if dead calm would be a frequent situation over the Atlantic ocean, which is not the case. Even so, the extra cost of machinery, the extravagant weight and volume of fuel and of machinery for no more than an auxiliary service, would sentence the ship to be uneconomic. The real Rogers' plan is uneasy to apprehend. Savannah seems to be no more than a first step.

Rogers has made us dream of future steamships who will be able to cross oceans under steam. There is much to do in terms of boilers and engines to reach out this goal.

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LINKS WITH PREVIOUS CHRONICLES

1816 - The Elise Crosses the Channel

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IN RETROSPECT FROM TODAY

Note A - Fate of Savannah

After her return, her owners decide to sell the ship. They resell the engine to Allaire, and the ship to a company that transports passengers between New York and Savannah. She will run aground in 1821 near Long Island.

Note B - Rogers' career after Savannah

Rogers opens a line of steamboats on the Pee Dee river in South Carolina. He dies in 1821 from typhoid fever. He is already forgotten when he dies.