SS Savannah - Newport News, VA - Exact Replicas on Waymarking.com

This scale model (¼” = 1’) of the SS Savannah was made by master model builder Frederick Craven in 1931. It can be found in the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, VA.

In 1819, less than 15 years after Robert Fulton’s steam-powered ‘Clermont’ first operated on the Hudson River in New York, the SS Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Well, some of the time that is. The Savannah was a fully rigged sailing vessel with the steam engine providing only supplemental power. During that initial crossing, the steam engine was only used on and off for a little over three days. This was mainly due to the fact that the ship wasn’t big enough to carry all the fuel required to run the steam engine continuously.

The Savannah sailed from its namesake city in Georgia to Liverpool in England. It then made visits to Demark, Sweden and Russia before returning home to Savannah. The ship was such an unusual sight that twice other vessels thought she was on fire only to find that the smoke was from the steam engine’s boiler. Though the trip was considered a success, the amount of potential cargo space taken up by fuel made the Savannah impractical and eventually the steam engine was removed. After operating a couple of years between New York and Savannah as a pure sailing vessel, the SS Savannah ran aground along the south shore of Long Island and was lost. It would be thirty years before another American-made steamship attempted to cross the Atlantic.

An interesting fact about this particular model is that it appeared (indirectly) on a U.S. postage stamp. In 1944 the U.S. Post Office Dept. commemorated the 125th anniversary of the SS Savannah’s historic trans-Atlantic crossing with a special stamp. Unable to find a suitable image of the ship, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing used this model for the stamp’s design.

Where is original located?: Destroyed Where is this replica located?: Mariner's Museum, Newport News, VA Who created the original?: Moses Rogers Internet Link about Original: https://www.officialsavannahguide.com/steamship-savannah Year Original was Created (approx. ok): 1818

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