The first steamship crossed the Atlantic
On this day · 20 June 1819
On June 20, 1819, the SS Savannah reached Liverpool — the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic, even if it mostly sailed.
On June 20, 1819, the American hybrid steamer SS Savannah sailed into Liverpool, becoming the first steamship to cross the Atlantic. It had left Savannah, Georgia, in late May and reached England in about 29 days.
The “steamship” label deserves an asterisk. Savannah was a 320-ton sailing ship fitted with a steam engine, a paddlewheel, and — uniquely — retractable paddle wheels that could be folded onto the deck. Its engine ran for fewer than 90 hours of the entire crossing; sails did the rest.
A revolutionary engine spent most of the voyage idle while the wind did the work.
The public was wary. No paying passengers or cargo dared board the novel vessel, and no American steamship would attempt the crossing again for nearly thirty years. Yet the voyage proved steam could survive the open ocean. Today the United States marks Savannah’s May departure as National Maritime Day.
Sources & references
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