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Loading... Steam coffin : captain moses rogers and the steamship savannah break the barrier (edition 2010)by John L. Busch
Work InformationSteam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers and The Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier by John Laurence Busch
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For millennia, humans well-knew that there was a force far more powerful than they upon the Earth, and that was Nature itself. They could only dream of overcoming its power, or try to believe in the myths and fables of others who supposedly had done so. Then, at the dawn of the 19th century, along came a brilliant, creative, controversial American by the name of Robert Fulton. In the late summer of 1807, he ran his experimental "steamboat" from New York City to Albany, not once, but repeatedly. With these continuing commercial trips, Fulton showed that it was possible to alter artificially both a person's location and the amount of time it took to change it. In so doing, he also broke through an enormous psychological barrier that had existed in people's minds; it was, in fact, possible to overcome Nature to practical effect. But running these steamboats on rivers, lakes and bays was one thing. Taking such a vessel on a voyage across the ocean was a different proposition altogether. Experienced mariners didn't think it could be done. These early steamboats were just too flimsy and unwieldy to withstand the dangers of the deep. Yet there was at least one man who believed otherwise. His name was Captain Moses Rogers. He set out to design a steam vessel that was capable of overcoming the vicissitudes of the sea. This craft would be not a steamboat, but a steamship, the first of its kind. Finding a crew for such a new-fangled contraption proved to be exceedingly difficult. Mariners--conditioned as they were to "knowing the ropes" of a sailing ship--looked upon this new vessel, and its unnatural means of propulsion, with the greatest suspicion. To them, it was not a "Steam Ship"--instead, it was a "Steam Coffin." No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)387.092Social sciences Commerce, Communications, Transportation Rivers, Oceans, and FlightLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4)
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Wikipedia in English
1
The steamship Savannah was the first steam powered vessel to cross the Atlantic ocean. However, this accomplishment is but only a small portion of a very compelling history of steam powered vessels, the people that developed and captained them and the intrigues that swirled around the events of this period of world history. For example, Busch explains in detail how the competition between steamship pioneers, European politics of England, Denmark and Russia, the Savannah, GA fire of January 1820 and the national economic depression in 1820 all conspire to drive the fate of the Savannah and its captain.
One of the most interesting aspects of Busch's narrative is his description of the impact that steam powered vessels had on intercity travel in the early 19th century. Travelers today routinely take for granted the relatively precise scheduling of long distance travel (air travel excepted). However, in the 19th century travel by ocean vessel was at the mercy of winds and weather. Departures could be delayed by hours or days. Steam power offered, at the time, the astonishing ability to depart and often arrive on a precise schedule.
Another interesting detail is what to call these new vessels? In the 19th century, terms such as sloop, schooner, brig and ship had specific meanings and were well known to many. Initially, steamboat was used because of their small size and limitation to quiet inland waters. But as the vessels grew in size and became ocean going the term ship (3 mast, square-rigged) was appended to steam.
The book is excellently indexed. Besides the standard list of illustrations and maps, source notes and selected bibliography, Busch provides indexes of people, vessels and subjects.
In summary, Busch has written a very comprehensive, readable history of the Savannah, Captain Moses and their places in history. (