In this, as in so many other innovations, Americans led the way. The
first steamer to cross the Atlantic was an American-built and
American-manned craft. This pioneer was the _Savannah_, built in New
York and bought for service between Savannah and Liverpool. She was a
full-rigged sailing-vessel, of 300 tons, with auxiliary steam power
furnished by an engine built in New Jersey. Her paddles were removable,
so fashioned that they could be folded fan-like when the ship was under
sail only.[S] She made the initial voyage, from Savannah to Liverpool,
in the Summer of 1819, and accomplished it in twenty-seven days,[T]
eighty hours of the time under steam. Afterwards she made a trip to St.
Petersburg, partly steaming and partly sailing, with calls at ports
along the way. Her gallant performance attracted wide attention, but
upon her return to America she finally brought up at New York, where her
machinery was removed and sold.
An English-built full-fledged steamer made the next venture, but not
until a decade after the _Savannah's_ feat. This was the _Curacoa_, 350
tons, and one hundred horsepower, built for Hollanders, and sent out
from England in 1829. The third was by a Canada-built ship--the _Royal
William_, 500 or more tons, and eighty horsepower, with English-built
engines, launched at Three Rivers.
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