S S Savannah The Elegant Steam Ship

This is the story of a ship and her pioneer master, Moses Rogers, who had the idea of making the first transatlantic voyage in a steam-propelled vessel. His "laudable and meritorious experiment" marked one of the world's maritime epochs. The conception and building of the S. S. Savannah was guided by the engineering genius of Captain Rogers who, with Robert Fulton, was a leading exponent of steam in his day. The momentous voyage began in Savannah, Georgia, in 1819, and took the courageous crew to England, Sweden, and Russia. These were the elegant steam ship's times of triumph. Yet she also had moments of pathos, from the first doubts and fears of a public that dubbed her a "steam coffin" to that sad day when a Washington newspaper said her engine could be removed for only $200, leaving her "just as good" as any other ship. The previously untold story of the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic is written in a scholarly, well-documented fashion, yet with the color, imagination, and humor of the men who lived it.

Savannah’s Midnight Hour argues that Savannah’s development is best understood within the larger history of municipal finance, public policy, and judicial readjustment in an urbanizing nation. In providing such context, Lisa Denmark adds constructive complexity to the conventional Old South/New South dichotomous narrative, in which the politics of slavery, secession, Civil War, and Reconstruction dominate the analysis of economic development. Denmark shows us that Savannah’s fiscal experience in the antebellum and postbellum years, while exhibiting some distinctively southern characteristics, also echoes a larger national experience. Her broad account of municipal decision making about improvement investment throughout the nineteenth century offers a more nuanced look at the continuity and change of policies in this pivotal urban setting. Beginning in the 1820s and continuing into the 1870s, Savannah’s resourceful government leaders acted enthusiastically and aggressively to establish transportation links and to construct a modern infrastructure. Taking the long view of financial risk, the city/municipal government invested in an ever-widening array of projects—canals, railroads, harbor improvement, drainage— because of their potential to stimulate the city’s economy. Denmark examines how this ideology of over-optimistic risk-taking, rooted firmly in the antebellum period, persisted after the Civil War and eventually brought the city to the brink of bankruptcy. The struggle to strike the right balance between using public policy and public money to promote economic development while, at the same time, trying to maintain a sound fiscal footing is a question governments still struggle with today.

Claimed by the Sea - Long Island Shipwrecks - provides an intimate look at eleven shipwrecks and maritime disasters that occurred in the waters of New York and Long Island. Diver, researcher and author Adam Grohman dives into the archives to explore the histories of various wrecks including the Savannah, Lexington, U.S.S. Ohio, Circassian, Seawanhaka, Oregon, Louis V. Place, General Slocum, U.S.S. San Diego, Andrea Doria, and the Gwendoline Steers. The chapters provide an in depth history of the vessel, the circumstances surrounding their eventual demise, and subsequent exploration by divers and explorers. Claimed by the Sea is heavily illustrated and contains extensive footnotes, source listings and several appendices including a glossary of nautical and diving terminology. Claimed by the Sea is an excellent opportunity for armchair historians and seasoned underwater explorers to dip beneath the waves of history to explore the tragedy and triumph of man versus the sea.

This book tells the story of the steamship Robert J. Walker, an early coastal survey ship for the agency that would later become the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), that sank with loss of 21 crew off the coast of New Jersey in 1860. The wreck was a frequent stop for divers and anglers before it was identified by a team of researchers in 2013. Here, leaders in the documentation efforts describe the history of the ship and the archaeology of the shipwreck, emphasizing the collaborative community participation that made the project successful. James Delgado and Stephen Nagiewicz highlight the contributions of government archaeologists from NOAA as well as local divers from varying backgrounds. Although such groups are not typically known for working together, they united to achieve the shared goal of mapping and interpreting this historically significant shipwreck. Delgado and Nagiewicz show how incorporating local knowledge both improves archaeological work and empowers community members as stakeholders, inspiring residents to promote their maritime heritage. With Contributions from Vincent J. Capone, Matthew S. Lawrence, Dan Lieb, Deborah E. Marx, Lisa J. Stansbury, Peter F. Straub, and Albert E. Theberge

Account of labour disputes arising from unsatisfactory labour relations on the n.s. Savannah, the first nuclear powered merchant ship in the USA - covers government policy, attitudes of the shipbuilding industry and the seafarers' trade union organisations to grievances in respect of working conditions and manning scales on the ship, arbitration procedures, relevant maritime questions, legal aspects of collective bargaining negotiations and of the collective agreement, etc. References.