Figure l. — Old model of the Savannah, built under the supervision of Captain Collins. This 

 model has been removed from exhibition in the United States National Museum because 

 of inaccuracies. {USNM 160364; Smithsonian photo 14355.) 



sailed for Washington, D.C., arriving on December 16. 

 Her original logbook now on e.xhibition in the 

 Museum,^ covers the period between March 28, 1819, 

 when she first left New York for Savannah, to Decem- 

 ber 1819 when she was at Washington. 



The old model (fig. 1) was built about 1890-1892 

 by Lawrence Jenson, a master shipwright and model 



' A memorandum dated April 20, 1899, in the manuscript 

 file on the watercraft collection shows that the Museum had 

 both the rigged model and the original logbook at that time. 

 Also in the collection were a coffee urn and miniature portrait 

 of the Savannah's captain, Moses Rogers, that had been pre- 

 sented to him abroad; later, these items were returned to the 

 donor. A cup and saucer belonging to Captain Rogers also 

 had been given to the Museum, and they are now in its his- 

 torical collection. 



PAPER 21: THE PIONEER STEAMSHIP SAVANNAH: A STUDY FOR A SCALE MODEL 



builder of Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts, 

 under the supervision of Capt. Joseph Collins of the 

 U.S. Fish Commission. Notes in the records of the 

 Museum's transportation division show that the 

 research for this model was done by Captain Collins 

 through use of an unidentified lithograph, printed 

 after the transatlantic voyage, and what then could 

 be learned about American sailing ships contemporary 

 with the Savannah. In these notes the complaint is 

 made that no contemporary representation of the 

 steamship had then been found. 



The old, inaccurate model, built to the scale of one- 

 half inch to the foot, represents an auxiliary, side- 

 wheel, ship-rigged steamer. The model scale meas- 

 urements are about 120 feet in over-all length, 29 feet 

 in beam, and 13 feet 6 inches depth in hold. The 



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