First Steamship To Cross the Atlantic, the Savannah, as drawn by the French naval constructor Marestier in 

 1820 and published in 1824 in his report on American steamers. {Smithsonian photo 4^434-a.) 



fashion and within a few years the forerunner of the 

 modern ore and Isiilk cargo carrier of the Lakes ap- 

 peared, with pilothouse right forward and the engine, 

 boiler, fuel, and a deckhouse for crew's quarters at 

 the extreme stern. 



The steamboats of the Ohio and Mississippi and 

 their tributaries have had a remarkaljle development. 

 Fulton and Livingston had built the Orleans at Pitts- 

 Ijurgh in 1811 in hopes of obtaining a monopoly in 

 steam navigation on the Ohio as they had on New 

 York waters. The Orleans was fitted with side paddle 

 wheels and was of aljout 200 tons, measured for regis- 

 ter. She was fitted with masts and sails. The hull 

 was probably like that of the Ranlan in form; the 

 cabins were in the hold and there were port holes in 

 the sides. According to a contemporary description, 

 the vessel had one stack and no superstructure. 



A stern-wheeler, the Comet was built at Pittsburgh 

 in 1813. Fulton built the Vesuvius there in that year, 



and steamboat construction soon spread along the 

 Monongahela and the Ohio, the boats gradually in- 

 creasing in power as they began to take the now well 

 known form of the Mississippi River steamboat. Rac- 

 ing of these steamers began in about 1830, the size of 

 vessels rapidly increased as it had on the Hudson, and 

 after about 1839 cabins on top of the deckhouse came 

 into fashion and high-pressure boilers were usually in- 

 stalled. On the lower Ohio and on the Mississippi 

 the side-wheeler was popular; on the upper Ohio and 

 on the tributaries the stern-wheeler was preferred. 



By 1852 steamers on the lower rivers had become 

 very large. The Eclipse, built that year, was 363 feet 

 long, 36 feet beam and 9 feet deep; she was capable 

 of making 16 miles per hour against the cvirrent, so 

 that her speed in still water must have been about 

 19-20 miles per hoiu\ In model such side-wheelers 

 were shallow hulls having a straight keel, a curved 

 and slightly raking stem, short \erlical post with 



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