Ocean have been a few attempts made to dispute the claim of the Sa vannah as the pioneer steamship of the Atlantic Ocean, but when these attempts have been closely examined it still leaves the American vessel at the head of the list. She was con structed at New York in 1818 by Francis Fick ett as a sailing packet originally, but an auxil iary engine and boiler with paddle-wheels were fitted before she was placed in service. She was owned by parties at Savannah, Ga. On 24 May 1819 she left Savannah for Liver pool, England, which port was reached in 27 days, 80 hours of which time she was operated by steam power. On 29 September she started on her return to the United States, stopping at Saint Petersburg, Stockholm and other Baltic ports, and arrived at Savannah 30 November. Subsequently her machinery was removed and the hull converted to a sailing vessel, and run between New York and Savannah, Ga., until driven ashore on Great South Beach on Long Island, 5 Nov. 1821, during a gale, where she became a total loss. The Rising Star, built for the government of Chile, made the next west ward crossing of the Atlantic in 1822, arriving in Valparaiso in April. She was a full-rigged ship with an auxiliary steam-engine. There was a long interval of time before another American steamship crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but during that period much knowledge had been gained of steam navigation that was of use in constructing ocean steamers. The Ocean Steamship Company in 1847 had the Washing ton and the Herman built for a line from New York to Bremen, they having obtained a con tract to carry the United States mail for 10 years. In 1849 the New York and Havre Steam Navigation Company obtained a contract to carry the United States mail to Havre, and during the same year had the Franklin and the Humboldt constructed for the line. The latter vessel having been lost in 1853, and the former in 1854, the company ran the line with chartered vessels until the Arago and the Ful ton were built and placed on the line in 1855. This line was well managed and received more American patronage than any other running to the same ports. These vessels ran until the opening of the Civil War in 1861. The next line of American ocean steamships was the Collins line, organized about 1847 as the New York and Liverpool United States Mail Steam ship Company. The Atlantic and the Pacific were built in 1849, and the next year the Baltic and the Arctic and Antarctic were constructed for them at New York. The general dimen sions of these vessels were each 277 feet long, 45 feet beam and 31 feet depth of hold. Their motive power was a pair of aside lever' engines, the first two vessels built having cylinders 95 inches by 9 feet stroke, while the others were larger. These engines were of 1,000 horse power and the vessels were of 2,860 tons. The line started under a contract to carry the mail for $385,000 per annum, which was subsequently increased to $858,000: yet with this large mail pay or subsidy,just as it is viewed, and a large share of the passenger travel and freight, it failed to be a paying line. The rivalry existing with the Cunard line at this time was very great and the expenses of operation in making record time voyages made a heavy drain upon the finances of the com pany. There were also commercial and politi cal interests that were antagonistic to the com pany, so that by 1857 Congress had cut down the appropriation for mail pay to less than the original amount; and as the line could not be operated successfully under these conditions the last vessel was withdrawn from the route in January 1858. Congress virtually outs the company. The Adriatic, a vessel of 4,150 tons, was added to the fleet in 1857, and made but one voyage in the line. The remain ing vessels afterward passed into other hands. The Arctic was lost by collision off Cape Race on 27 Sept. 1854; and the Pacific sailed from Liverpool on 23 Sept. 1856 and was never heard from afterward. The Atlantic was broken up in September 1871; and the Baltic was broken up about 1880, having for some time been run as a sailing vessel, her machinery having been removed. Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1855 began the operation of a line of steam ships to Southampton and Havre with the North Star and the Ariel, and during the next year ran to Bremen. At this time he had built the Vanderbilt, his largest ocean steam ship, that ran with some one of his large fleet of ocean steamships, to either Bremen or Havre until the opening of the Civil War. There were a few attempts made after 1865 to build up an American transatlantic line from New York, but they all ended in failures. It was
also tried from Boston by the American Steam ship Company, who had in 1866-67 the Erie and the Ontario built. The latter vessel made one voyage and returned, when laid up; while the former never made a voyage in the line.
The names of the great steamships which have ploughed the waters of the seven seas are legion and but a few may be mentioned here. For the five years following the outbreak of the Great War no notable steamships were placed in commission. The Leviathan of 1914 (formerly the German Vaderland) is still (1919) the world's largest merchant steamship; 950 feet in length, 100 feet beam and a dis placement of 58,000 tons. Its four turbines of 90,000 horse power drive four propellers, attain ing a speed of 25.8 knots. The Imperator, also a German vessel seized by the United States in the war, is the second largest of the world's vessels. It was placed in commission in 1913. It is 909 feet long, 98 feet beam and of 52,000 tons displacement. Its turbines drive four pro pellers with 60,000 horse power, developing a speed of 22.5 knots. The Aquitania, a Clyde built steamer of 1914, has a length of 901 feet; beam of 97 feet; displacement of 53,000 tons; engines of 60,000 horse power and a speed of 23.5 knots. The Olympic, of 1911, has a length of 883 feet; beam of 921A feet; displacement of 52,000 tons; engines of 60,000 horse power; and a speed of 22.5 knots. The Mauretania (1906) is 790 feet long; 87% feet beam; 41,550 tons displacement; with engines of 74,000 horse power, developing a speed of 26.06 knots. These are the five largest vessels now in ocean The American Liners.— In 1871 the Ameri can Line, controlled by the Pennsylvania Rail road Company, was organized to run a line of steamships from Philadelphia, Pa., to Liver pool. It will be noted that this was at the beginning of the period when iron shipbuilding in the United States began to increase, and the compound marine engine was coming into favor. The company had built in 1873-74 the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. These proved to be good, staunch and serviceable ves sels for the line, though only of average speed under good conditions. They subsequently passed into the hands of the International Navigation Company, which absorbed the In man line in 1886. The present American line is the result of an act of Congress of 1892, providing with other conditions that certain foreign-built steamships should receive Ameri can register on condition that steamships of corresponding tonnage were built in the United States. This led to the City of Paris and the City of New York receiving American register in 1893, and their names being then abbreviated Paris and New York. Contracts were then made with the William Cramp Ship and Engine Building Company for the Saint Paul and the Saint Louis, they having the first quadruple expansion engines built in the United States for the Atlantic service. These vessels ran to Southampton and Cherbourg. They are ele gantly fitted and furnished in their passenger accommodations, are well patronized by the American traveling public and have shown on more than one occasion that they are possessed of more than average high speed. In January 1903, the American and Red Star lines were consolidated with four British lines as the International Mercantile Marine Company.
Coastwise Steamships.— The Robert Ful ton, built in 1819, was the pioneer in the coast wise trade with steam vessels and ran between New York'and the island of Cuba from 1820 to 1825, when it was sold to the Brazilian gov ernment. There were no steam vessels running coastwise from the latter date till 1832, when a small steamboat named the David Brown was refitted and run from New York to Charleston, S. C. In the next six years there were five larger vessels built for the same route, but of the same general type of vessel. After the loss of one of these vessels in 1837, public confidence in their safety became so shaken that they no longer found profitable employ ment on the route, and in a short time were withdrawn. The first steamships to be em ployed along our coast were those built in 1846-47 to run between New York and Charles ton, S. C., the Southerner and the Northerner. These vessels were the pioneers of the many steam vessels that were built in a few years to run on lines between the Atlantic ports. The largest development of our early ocean steam marine began with the discovery of gold in California. During the Civil War these coast wise lines of side wheel steamers were dis continued. Then they were opened again and gradually fell into financially strong hands.