The Coolidge examiner., 1935-05-17

1 90 - / celebrate National Maritime N&E
- - It's first observance took place last
year. 50 IL fcll 20 the lot of a sailor
President 20 add % patriotic
~ - calendar a day which DOT only
~ commemoraies a great naval feat
-- bat also is designed 90 make this
n ~: 4: &: !: !: !: :::: :::5: T: T: s
commerce.
For the voyage ~ The savannah. which
began on May - islo was a revolutionary
event Not only dld u thrill and siarile the
World unclndinS that proud Mistress ~ the
Seas" Great BRITAIN and doom the CLIPPER ship
of romantic memory. bur 81 also marked
era IN water transportation and pncsaeed the day
when ocean Ereyhonnds would make the shores
q the old and the New world only I've day.
apart instead Of aye weeks
More than that. u Is altogether dtilng that
this new nedletter day on the American calendar
should make the name of a real naval hero
more familiar 10 his feilow-countrymen than ii
has hitherto been. lie was Capt Moses Rogers
of New London. Conn the pioneer of a
era In ocean travel as well as a worthy exem-
Piar q the best traditions OF the old days OF
Eeafarlng
Eyen though Robert Fulton aud others had
proved that the steamship vas a practical and
reliable means ~ water transportation. the early
Nineteenth century regarded Transatlantic voy.
ages by this "new-fangled7 kind OF ship with Il
great deal of skepuclsm. So that "foolhardy
Yankee Captain Rogers had considerable dlf.
nculiy In persuading group Of Southerners 70
back his plan Tor building steamship 20 cross
the ocean lie had commanded steamboat on
the Hudson river and had brought another YES.
So under steam from New York around TO the
head Of Chesapeake bay. n voyage considered
very dangerous In those days. But that was as
nothing compared 10 the dangers which awaited
such ship out the high seas
Finally. however. Rogers convinced them that
be- could make such a voyage safely and in 1915
the first transoceanic steamship company was
organized and Incorporated at Savannah by the
Georgia legislature. IL ordered the construction
OF a wooden vessel as-5 feet long 25s feet wide
and l2a deep with a gross tonnage OF 3l970 TO
which was given the name OF the Savannah.
Financed by Georgians. built by Feckeit and
Crockett OF New York city and provided with
steam engine" supplied by stephen Vail OF Nor
ristown y. J.. the ship was 10 be commanded By
a Connecticut Yankee. So this venture yas an
all-Amerlcan affair with both the South and the
North represented In H.
The builders did not have the same faith in
the steam engine part OF Il that Rogers did SO
the Savannah was provided with masts and sails
But the captain seems 10 have regarded them
none as auxiliary power and as insurance against
discomfort. or even possible mutlny. by the crew.
He arranged for protection OF his iron paddle
wheels by having them made In detachable sec
tlons and Invented machinery by which they
could be switched on to the deck IN case OF
bad storm.
The log book OF the Savannah. now preserved
In the United States National museum shows
that the Savannah left New York at ten O'Clock
on the morning OF March 2s. lsl9. and headed
for the open sea, bound for Savannah Ga. II Is
evident that the ship left under SAIL for no men
ton is made OF steam in the log. But the next
morning they got the steam up and il began to
blow fresh; TOOK the wheels In on deck In
- minutes" During the remainder OF the voy-
age the steam engine was used only lntermit-
tently and on April Q. eight days and fifteen
hours from New York, the Savannah reached the
port OF its namesake.
ION her approach TO the city hundreds OF cit
liens fl0Cked 10 the banks OF the river aud
while she assembled saluted with long and loud
huzzas -, says an item in the Savannah Repub-
Hcan for April :. 1919, which continues: The
utmost confidence Is placed in her security II
rebounds much 10 the honor OF Savannah when
it is said that II was owing to the enterprise OF
some OF her spirited citizens that the first at