perpendiculars above the upper deck, from "foreside 

 of the main stem" to the "after side of the sternpost." 

 The beam was measured outside of plank at the 

 widest point in the hull, above the main wales. If a 

 vessel were single-decked, the depth was measured 

 alongside the keelson at main hatch from ceiling to 

 underside of deck plank; if double-decked, one-half 

 the measured beam was the register depth/ However, 

 inspection of the register of a number of ships of 

 1815-1840 showed that, in practice, double-decked 

 ships commonly were measured as single-decked ships; 

 this obviously was the case in the Savannah. Also, due 

 to the lack of precise measuring devices, the register 

 dimensions were not always accurate, particularly 

 those of the length, which often were in error as much 

 as one foot in a hundred, as was found by investigation 

 of various classes of vessels. Because of inherent 

 difficulties in measuring to the required points, this 

 condition lasted even after steel tapes were introduced 

 late in the 19th century. 



The Museum's researchers next turned their atten- 

 tion to examination of the Marestier work, a French 

 report on early American steam vessels that had 

 become known to some American marine historians 

 in the 1920's. The author was a French naval con- 

 structor who, on orders from his government, had 

 spent two years in the United States between 1819 

 and 1822 studying American steam vessels, schooners, 

 and naval vessels. The published report contained 

 only material on steam vessels and schooners. The 

 portion dealing with naval vessels was not published, 

 and the manuscript has not been found to the present 

 time (1960). The publication, a rare book, was 

 available in only a few collectors' libraries or public 

 institutions in the United States. In 1930 the writer 

 translated the chapter on schooners,^ and in 1957 

 Sidney Withington translated most of the remainder.' 

 As a result of these publications and earlier published 

 references, the Marestier material became widely 

 known to persons interested in ships. 



Withington's translation states that the Savannah 

 measured 30.48 meters (100 feet) in length and 7.92 

 meters (26 feet) in beam and that she drew 3.66 meters 

 (12 feet) in port and 4.27 meters (14 feet) loaded. 

 Marestier's sketch (see fig. 3) of the outboard of the 



5 L. M'Kay, The Practical Shipbuilder, New York, 1839. 



* Howard I. Chapelle, The Baltimore Clipper, Salem, Massa- 

 chusetts, 1930, pp. 112-134. 



' Sidney Withington, translator, Memoir on Steamboats of the 

 United States of America by Jean Baptiste Marestier, Mystic, Con- 

 necticut, 1957. 



Savannah shows a ship-rigged, flush-decked vessel with 

 a small deckhouse forward of the mainmast and nearly 

 abreast of the side paddle wheels. The stack is a 

 little forward of the deckhouse and has an elbow at 

 its top. Netting quarter-deck rail is shown and a 

 bust figurehead is indicated. The position of the 

 hawse pipe shown at the bow indicates the wheel shaft 

 to have been at or about deck level. For structural 

 reasons, and in compliance with the sketch, the wheel 

 shaft would have been just above the deck. 



Marestier's drawings of the engine and paddle 

 wheels * are reproduced in figure 4. The nonoscil- 

 lating engine is inclined toward the paddle-wheel 

 shaft. The connecting rod operates a crosshead to 

 which is pivoted a pitman, or oscillating rod, that 

 operates the paddle-wheel crankshaft. Alongside the 

 steam cylinder is an air pump cylinder, also connected 

 to the crosshead. The steam inlet and outlet pipes 

 enter a valve chest on top of the steam cylinder, which 

 is described as being 1.035 meters (3.4 feet) in 

 diameter, and of 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in stroke. 



The paddle wheels are shown as being of iron, with 

 two fixed arms opposite one another on the hub. The 

 other arms (four above and four below the fixed arms) 

 are pivoted to the hub and held spread by chain stays. 

 These eight blades fold, in pairs, to each of the 

 fixed arms. The wheels are shown in elevation, 

 with the upper pivoted arms folded on top of the 

 fixed arms, and in cross section; the latter shows 

 the shape of the buckets, hub, and outboard bearing 

 of the shaft. The wheels are described as being 4.9 

 meters (16 feet) in diameter, while the buckets are 

 1.42 meters (4.65 feet) wide and 0.83 meters (2.72 

 feet) deep. The two outer corners of each bucket are 

 snyed off at nearly 45°. The wheels are shown 

 folded in the sketch; according to the description, 

 they could be unshipped from the shaft and stowed on 

 deck when desired. The method of removing the 

 wheels from the shaft is not described, but from the 

 drawings it seems probable that they were detached 

 from the shaft by removing a lock bolt outboard and 

 sliding the wheels off the square shaft. The hub 

 seeins adequate for this. Marestier states that this 

 removal could be accomplished in 15 to 20 minutes; 

 the logbook shows that it took 20 to 30 minutes to 

 perform this operation at sea. 



Marestier states that the ship had spencer masts and 

 trysails on fore and main, and a spencer mast on the 

 mizzen for a spanker; he illustrates these as having 



8 Ibid., pi. 7, figs. 32, 33, 35. 



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



65 



