The Pioneer Steamship Savannah

The Pioneer Steamship Savannah: A Study for a Scale Model is by Howard Irving Chapelle. The text says the original plans of the pioneer transatlantic steamer Savannah no longer exist, and that a reconstruction of the original plans was undertaken. The text says many popular representations of the famous vessel have been based on a 70-year-old model in the United States National Museum.

The text says the Savannah crossed from Savannah, Georgia, to Liverpool, England, in the period May 22 to June 20, 1819. The text calls the old model inaccurate and built to the scale of one-half inch to the foot. Notes in the records of the Museum's transportation division, the text says, show the research for the old model was done by Captain Collins. The text says the result showed that the United States National Museum's old model could not be altered to agree with the known features of the Savannah and that a new model was therefore necessary.