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The Savannah
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
EN MAY 22 the American people will
celebrate National Maritime day.
Ita first observance took place last
year, so It fell to tbe lot of a sailor
President to add to our patriotic
calendar a day which not only
commemorates a great naval feat
I- , . . but also Is designed to make this
Dat'on more "martime-mlnded" and
OwK Zftri to spur It on to recapturing Its
rightful share of the world's sea
commerce.
For the voyage of the Savannah, which
began on May 22, 1819, was a revolutionary
event Not only did It thrill and startle the
world (Including that proud "Mistress of the
Seas," Great Britain) and doom the clipper ship
of romantic memory, but it also marked a new
era in water transportation and presaged the day
when ocean greyhounds would make the shores
of the Old and the New world only five days
apart Instead of five weeks.
More than that, it is altogether fitting that
this new red-letter day on the American calendar
should make the name of a real naval hero
more familiar to his fellow-countrymen than it
has hitherto been. He was Capt. Moses Rogers
of New London, Conn., the pioneer of a new
era in ocean travel as well as a worthy exem
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seafaring.
Even though Robert Fulton and others had
proved that the steamship was a practical and
reliable means of water transportation, the early
Nineteenth century regarded transatlantic voy
ages by this "new-fangled" kind of ship with a
great deal of skepticism. So that "foolhardy
Yankee," Captain Rogers, had considerable dif
ficulty in persuading a group of Southerners to
back his plan, for building a steamship to cross
the ocean. He had commanded a steamboat on
the Hudson river and had brought another ves
sel under steam from New York around to the
head of Chesapeake bay, a voyage considered
very dangerous in those days. But that was as
nothing compared to the dangers which awaited
such a ship out on the high seas.
Finally, however, Rogers convinced them that
he could make such a voyage safely and in 1818
the first transoceanic steamship company was
organized and incorporated at Savannah by the
Georgia legislature. It ordered the construction
of a wooden vessel 98.5 feet long, 25.8 feet wide
and 123 deep with a gross tonnage of 319.70, to
which was given the name of the Savannah.
Financed by Georgians, built by Feckett and
Crockett of New York city and provided with a
"steam engine" supplied by Stephen Vail of Mor
nstown, N. J., the ship was to be commanded by
a Connecticut Yankee. So this venture was an
ail-American affair with both the South and the
North represented in it
The builders did not have the same faith in
the steam engine part of it that Rogers did, so
the Savannah was provided with masts and sails.
But the captain seems to have regarded them
more as auxiliary power and as insurance against
discontent or even possible mutiny, by the crew.
He arranged for protection of his iron paddle
wheels by having them made in detachable sec
tions and invented machinery by which they
could be switched on to the deck in case of a
bad storm.
The log book of the Savannah, now preserved
in the United States National museum, shows
that the Savannah left New York at ten o'clock
on the morning of March 28, 1819, and headed
for the open sea, bound for Savannah, Ga. It is
evident that the ship left under sail, for no men
tion is made of steam In the log. But the next
morning they "got the steam up and it began to
blow fresh; we took the wheels in on deck In
20 minutes." During the remainder of the voy
age the steam engine was used only intermit
tently and on April 6, eight days and fifteen
hours from New York, the Savannah reached the
pert of its namesake.
"On her approach to the city hundreds of cit
izens flocked to the banks of the river and,
while she ascended, saluted with long and loud
huzzas!", says an Item in the Savannah Repub
lican for April 7, 1819, which continues; "The
utmost confidence is placed in her security. It
redounds much to the honor of Savannah, when
It is said that it was owing to the enterprise of
some of her spirited citizens that the first at
President Monroe
tempt was made to cross the Atlantic ocean In a
vessel propelled by steam. We sincerely hope
the owners may reap a rich reward for their
splendid and laudable undertaking."
On May 1 the Savannah made a short trip to
Charleston, S. C., and there on May 11 she was
honored by having as guests President James
Monroe and a party who spent the day on the
new ship cruising to Tybee Light. The Presi
dent was much pleased with her performance
and requested that she be brought to Wash
ington on her return from Europe.
On May 19 the Savannah Republican carried
this advertisement "For Liverpool?The steam
ship Savannah, Capt. Rogers, will, without fail, <
proceed for Liverpool direct, tomorrow, the 20th. I
instant Passengers, if any offer, can be well ac- I
commodated. Apply on board." However, It \
seems that the citizens of Savannah did not still
have "the utmost confidence in her security" for
none of them "offered" 4P become passengers on
this historic voyage. The truth was, they were
afraid that the ship might either be set afire
by her furnaces or that she might be blown up
by an explosion of her boilers.
Nor did she sail "without fail" on May 20.
An accident to one of the crew delayed the start
two days. So it was not until nine o'clock on the
morning of May 22 that Captain Rogers' ship
"hove up the anchor and started with the steam
from Savannah."
A week later, out In the middle of the Atlantic,
the captain of another American ship, seeing In
the distance a vessel which he believed to be on
fire, started to her aid. "But," he wrote In his
log, "we found she went faster with Are and
smoke than we could do with all sail set! We
then discovered that the vessel on fire was noth
ing less than a steamboat crossing the western
ocean, laying her course, as we Judge, for Eu
rope, a proud monument of Yankee skill!"
A similar Incident occurred on June 17 when
the boat was seen off the southern coast of
Ireland and reported as a ship on fire to the
admiral of the British fleet In the cove of Cork.
Thereupon he "dispatched one of the king's cut
ters to her relief; but great was their wonder
at their Inability with all sail set, In a fast ves
sel, to come up with a ship under bare poles.
After several shots were fired from the cutter
the engine was stopped and the surprise of her
crew at the mistake they bad made, as well as
their curiosity to see the singular Yankee craft
can easily be imagined. They asked permission
to come aboard, and were much gratified by the
Inspection of this novelty."
On June 20 later the "Yankee skill" of Captain
Rogers brought the Savannah safely Into port
at Liverpool. She had made the run in 29 days
and 11 hours but during that time the engine
had worked the paddle wheels only 40 hours.
According to a letter which the American min
ister at London wrote to John Qulncy Adams,
then secretary of state, "She excited admiration
and astonishment as she entered port under the
Capt Mosqs
?>o yens
power of her steam. She is a fine ship, and
exhibits In her navigation across the Atlantic a
signal triumph of American enterprise and skill
upon the ocean."
The coming of the Savannah excited other
emotions besides admiration and astonishment,
however. Soon after her arrival it was learned
that Jerome Bonaparte had offered a large re
ward to anyone who would carry off his famous
brother, Napoleon, then an exile on St. Helena,
and the British suspected the Savannah of be
ing concerned in some such plot. So she was ;
closely watched by the authorities all the time
she was in port.
On July 21 she steamed away from Liverpool
for a visit to Sweden and Russia and her visits
to those two countries were triumphal proces
sions during which she was visited by members
of the royal families who Joined in the praises
of the daring Yankee skipper and his crew.
On October 10 the Savannah sailed for her
home port The voyage was a stormy one and
the engines were not used on any single occasion
during the trip until November 30 when, so the
log records, "Capt. Rogers took a pilot inside the
President Qoosevelt
bar and at 10 a. m. anchored in the Savannfch
river and Arid Rails on the flude tide, got tmfler
way with steam and went up and anchored off
the town." Thus ended her historic trip. Again
the people of Savannah made a holiday in honor
of the ship which had carried the name of their
city to fame across the Atlantic.
The next year the city of Savannah was swept
by a great fire and, because of the losses suf
fered by the owners of the ship in this disaster,
she was sold, her engines taken out and she
was used as a sailing packet between Savannah
and New York. loiter the Savannah was driven
ashore on Long Island by a gale and pounded to
pieces, Just 21 days after the death of her gal
lant captain whose enterprise had brought her
Into existence and who had shared in all the
glory of her great achievements of 110 years ago.
? by Western Newipaper Upton.
MEMORY OF WAR
NEVER LASTING
Horror Has Small Effect on
New Generations.
It Is not so long since war was
"outlawed" and the outlaw was os
tracized. Even that mild and gentle
child named Neutrality was not
mentioned in polite or academic so
ciety. The slogan was not neutrality
In thought, but peace in thought.
Now the outlaw is found not to be
dead, but lurking In the woods, and
It Is discovered that all nations bor
der on the same forest. The youth
and some of their elders contemplate
the future possibility of war by for
swearing any participation In it?
when it comes. Veterans' organiza
tions advocate legislation now to
take the profit out of war?when It
comes. Scholars and students of
peace begin to re-examine the utility
of our traditional neutrality policy
as a device for keeping us out of
war?when It comes.
Through It all drones the refrain
of those who picture the horrors of
the next war?the wiping oift of
cities from the air; newer and more
frightful gases; death rays. The
same song was sung before 1911
and long, long before. It has never
deterred nations from war, because
it acts, if at all, on the individual
and not on the mass, not on the na
tion, not on the government.
Even for the individual It is too
overwhelming and too remote to be
grasped except by those in whom it
touches and torments the chords of
personal memory. Soon a new crop
has ripened. Those impersonal things
known as governments respond more
readily to the stern high calls of na
tional honor and prestige. They
seek, often sincerely, the welfare of
their country. It is both a material
and a spiritual welfare. Would
either be served by war today or on
a near tomorrow??Philip C. Jessup,
in Current History.
To keep clean and healthy take Dr.
Pierce's Pleasant Pellets. Thev regulate
liver, bowels and stomach.?Adv.
Powerful Locomotive
In a recent test of a new locomo
tive In France It hauled three huge
locomotives, with their pressure
turned on as brake, and a heavy ob
servation car, over the 70 miles
between Orleans and Tours In an
hour.
June Has Lost Rank as
Popular Marriage Month
June, long considered the brides'
month, isn't in the running with
July, August and September, the
registrar general's statistical review
of England and Wales Indicates,
writes a correspondent in the Wash
ington Post. More people get mar
ried in the third quarter of the year
than at any other time, the review
shows. This has been the case ever
since the beginning of the Twentieth
century.
Even before the turn of the cen
tury June was not as great a favor
ite of brides as had been supposed.
In the years preceding the dawn of
KMX) the most popular months for
weddings were October, November
and December. At least, this was
true in England and Wales.
Although the number of marriages
is gradually mounting, the birth rate
is steadily dropping, according to the
statistical review. In 1933 the birth
rate was only 14.4 per thousand pop
ulation, the lowest recorded for Eng
land and Wales.
MIGHT TRY IT
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?Old Belief.
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