Figure 3. — Marestier's sketch of the Savannah (from plate 8 in Withington's translation of the 

 Marestier report). Heights of lower masts are excessive by all known American masting 

 rules; and, according to Marestier's drawing of the engine (see figure 4), the deckhouse 

 is too short. 



royal poles, but with no royal yards crossed.' The 

 smokestack is described as pivoted. The mainstay 

 is double, setting up at deck, near rail, and forward of 

 the foremost shrouds of the foremast to clear the stack 

 and foremast. 



The boilers were in the hold, but Marestier gives no 

 dimensions. However, he comments that, in Amer- 

 ican steamers, the space for steam in the boilers varied 

 from 6 to 12 times the capacity of the cylinder. He 

 gives the Savannahs boiler pressure as 2 to 5 pounds 

 per square inch and the maximum revolution of the 

 wheels as 16 revolutions per minute. The boilers 

 could burn coal or wood. Judging by Marestier's 

 sketch of the ship, the stack was at the firebox end; 

 the boiler or boilers were underneath the engine. 



9 Ibid., pi. 3, fig. 10. 

 66 BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM 



The log of the Savannah gives little useful technical 

 information other than that the ship readily made 

 9 to 10 knots under sail in fresh winds, showing she 

 could sail well. Under steam alone the log credits 

 the ship with a speed of 6 knots; Marestier estimated 

 her speed at 5}^ knots in smooth water. The log shows 

 that she usually furled her sails when steaming, though 

 on a few occasions she used both steam and sail. In 

 her crossing from Savannah to Liverpool she appears 

 to have been under steam for a little less than 90 hours 

 in a period of about 18 days (out of the total of 29 days 

 and 1 1 hours required to cross). There is no evidence 

 of any intent to make the whole passage under steam 

 alone, for the vessel was intended to be an auxiliary, 

 with sails the chief propulsion. 



Captain Collins states in his notes that the ship was 

 built by Francis Fickett as a Havre packet, that she 



THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



