The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-05-17


49, rightfuI share of the worlds sea
Last year that hearty helmsman," Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, issued the following procla-
nation:
Whereas on May 30, 1919. the steamship, the
Savannah, sailed from Savannah, Ga, on the
first successful transOceanic voyage under steam
propulsion, thus making material contribution
10 the advancement of ocean transportation; and
Whereas the congress by joint resolution of
May 90 1888. designated May % of each year
National Maritime day and requested the
President to issue annually proclamation calling
upon the people of the United States to observe
such National Maritime day;
"Now, therefore, I Franklin D. Roosevelt
President of the United States Of America, do
call upon and urge the people of the United
States TO observe May %, 1884 as National Mari
time day by displaying the flag at their homes
and other suitable places and hereby direct
that government officials display the flag on all
government buildings on that day.
IN witness whereof, have hereunto set my
hand and caused the seal Of the United States TO
be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington this fourth
day of May in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and thirty-four, and of the independence
of the United States of America the one hundred
and ffty-eighth.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
by the President: Cordel Hull, Secretary OF
State"
As the Presidents proclamation suggests, the
date for National Maritime day was happily
chosen. For the voyage of the Savannah, which
began on May 90. 1919, was a revolutionary
event. Not only did it thrill and startle the
world (including that proud Mistress Of the
Seas" Great Brittany and doom the clipper ship
of romantic memory, but it also marked a new
era in water transportation and presaged the day
when ocean greyhounds would make the shores
of the Old and the New world only five days
apart instead Of FIVE weeks.
More than that it is altogether fitting that
this new red-letter day the American calendar
should make the name Of real naval hero
more familiar TO his fellow-countrymen than il
has hitherto been. He was Capt Moses Rogers
of New London Conn, the pioneer Of a new
era in ocean travel as well as a worthy exem-
plar of the best traditions of the old days of
seafaring.
Even though Robert Fulton and others had
proved that the steamship was a practical and
reliable means of water transportation, the early
Nineteenth century regarded transatlantic voy-
ages by this ''new-fangled' kind Of ship with
great deal OF skepdcism So that '.foolhardy
Yankee" Captain Rogers, had considerable diff
hcuIty in persuading group of Southerners TO
back his plan for building a steamship to cross
the ocean. He had commanded steamboat on
the Hudson river and had brought another YES
sci under steam from New York around to the
head OF Chesapeake bay, a voyage considered
very dangerous in those days But that
nothing compared TO the dangers which awaited
such a ship out the high seas.
Finally, however. Rogers convinced them that
he could make such voyage safely and in 1913
the first transoceanic steamship company was
organized and incorporated at Savannah by the
Georgia legislature. II ordered the construction
Of a wooden vessel 9S.5 feet long, 25.S feet wide
and 12.9 deep with a gross tonnage Of 1870. TO
which given the name of the Savannah
Financed by Georgians, built by Feckett and
Crockett OF New York city and provided with
''steam engine supplied by Stephen Vail of Nor
ristown y. J.. the ship was TO be commanded by
a Connecticut Yankee So this venture
aIl-American affair with both the South and the
North represented in il.
The builders did not have the same faith in
the steam engine part Of it that Rogers did so
the Savannah was provided with masts and sails
But the capta:zs seems 10 have regarded them
more as auxiliary power and as insurance against
discomfort or even possible mutiny, by the crew.
He arranged for protection of his iron paddle
wheels by having them made in detachable sec
tons and invented machinery by which they
could be switched on 10 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 Is, 1919. and headed