SS Savannah

The SS Savannah is an American sailing ship fitted with an auxiliary steam engine, built in the early nineteenth century and famous for making, in 1819, the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a vessel equipped with steam power, sailing from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England. Built primarily as a sailing ship with masts and a full set of sails, the Savannah used its steam engine and paddle wheels for only a small portion of the crossing, relying mainly on wind power for most of the voyage, since the ship carried only a limited supply of coal and the engine was still viewed as an experimental supplement to sail rather than a primary means of propulsion. Despite the modest role steam actually played in its historic crossing, the Savannah's voyage is widely commemorated as a symbolic milestone in the transition from sail to steam power in transatlantic shipping, and the ship is honored today in the name of the later American nuclear-powered merchant ship NS Savannah.