By the 1820's the Savannah Steam Ship Company was in dire financial trouble. The recent city-wide fire in Savannah, Georgia had hit the company as hard as anyone, and in order to put a little money back in their coffers they chose to sell their most famous vessel, the S.S. Savannah, the 1st steam-ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean and return safely. The engine, paddles and smoke stacks, and all other parts of engineers Daniel Dodd and Stephen Vail's revolutionary design, were removed and sold for scrap. It was only 2 years later that the ship ran aground off Long Island and was destroyed. But for a brief yet glorious time, this innovative ship was the pride of not only the city of Savannah and the state of Georgia, but of a young nation taking its 1st, tentative steps on the word stage.

The S.S. Savannah was the dream of Captain Moses Rogers of New London Connecticut. Rogers sought financial backing from wealthy shipping companies in Savannah, Georgia, which at the time was on of the most important ports in the United State. Rogers most likely appealed to their vanity; after all, what could be more prestigious than a nautical 1st launching from Georgia's shores?

With the financial backing secured Rogers engaged talented engineer Stephen Vail to build and install the Savannah's engine based on the patented design of New Jersey born Daniel Dodd. The steam-works were to be added to a ship already under construction in New York, some 100 feet long by 25 wide and weighing 320 tons. When completed the Savannah would be tough enough for an Atlantic spanning voyage, yet no larger than a modern tug-boat.

The key to the ships eventual success lay in her design. She was a fully functional sailing vessel, but with a complete steam-powered locomotion system that could be used when the ship was becalmed. A pair of collapsible, removable wheels made from paddles linked by iron chains would be affixed, one on each side, when the ship was under steam. An exterior, bent smokestack, 17 feet in length, could be swiveled in any direction, ensuring that the wind never blew smoke in an undesirable direction. Innovations in the engine included horizontal copper boiler plates for even weight distribution that were specially design to prevent salt from the boiled water from caking on their sides.

The Savannah's engine was constructed at the Speedwell Ironworks. Vail worked closely with noted draftsman Samuel Carson on the engine, benefiting greatly from the complete collection of steam engine specifications that Carson acquired during his London apprenticeship to the sons of Matthew Boulton and James Watt, the original inventors of the steam ship.

After the many mishaps, mistakes and near disasters that plague any project of this nature (including badly made boring cylinders, inaccurately designed air pumps and hull-wrecking December ice-storms) the Savannah was finally completed. Unfortunately the next problem presented itself almost immediately; no crew or passengers would go near it, and no one would trust their cargo on it. The fear lay in the engine itself, a big metal box full of steam, smoke and fire, traditional enemies of wooden ships at see. Local sailors dubbed it the Steam Coffin, and it took substantial effort on Captain Roger's part to finally find a crew for his historic voyage.

The great irony of the S.S. Savannah, in a way, is the unqualified success of its trip. No one was hurt. No piece of equipment was damaged or lost. The ship arrived in a Liverpool, England in a respectable 29 days and 4 hours. England was, to the delight of an America in which the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 were still fresh memories, both impressed and humiliated by the United State's success. Sweden, Russia and Norway were equally impressed. No less a person the American President James Monroe wrote to the Captain to congratulate him.

But upon the ship's return the troubles began to pile up. While the world loved the Savanna's accomplishment as a kind of stunt, the fact is the voyage was a financial disaster. The meager shipping contracts the Savannah acquired overseas did very little to offset the enormous cost of building the steam ship. What's more, no even one wanted to buy it. Steam engines were simply impractical for ocean travel at that level of technology, and people simply didn't trust them with their cargo. It would take nearly 20 years for steam engines to get up to snuff, when the British actually raced to America aboard the ships the Sirius and the Great Western. And so the S.S. Savannah came into the world with a might bang, and went out with a pitiful whimper. Captain Rogers died of Yellow Fever in 1821. Stephen Vail never received his full payment for the work he did on Georgia's Steam Coffin.