Savannah, The Pioneer Merchant Ship

Ship on fire! Ship on fire!” The alert operator of the telegraph (semaphore) station at Cape Clear on the southern coast of Ireland raised the alarm on a June morning in 1819. The King’s revenue cutter Kite was almost immediately dispatched to the rescue from Cork, for fire at sea is one of the most dreaded mishaps that can befall a vessel.

Kite was designed for overtaking vessels, but much to the surprise of her captain, he found it difficult to come up to the smoking ship which, with its sails .furled on bare poles, was obviously in distress. After signal shots were fired from the cutter, the other craft finally stopped and several members of the patrol vessel went aboard to satisfy their curiosity. She was a steamship, they learned, and not on fire at all. Furthermore, she was the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

Sailing Master Stevens Rogers was to record many other interesting events in the log of this Yankee “teakettle” that heralded the conquest of the Atlantic by steam. Her sensational voyage took on new significance with the launching, on 21 July 1959, of the experimental atomic-powered merchant ship bearing the same name as that earlier pioneer —Savannah.

In the log of the steamship Savannah, now at the Smithsonian Institution, Stevens recorded his first entry: “Sunday, March 28, 1819. These 24 hours begin with fresh breezes at N.W. At 10 A.M. got under way for Sea with the crew on board. At 1 P.M. the Pilot left the Ship off Sandy hook light.”

The recently-finished vessel had sailed on a shakedown cruise from New York, where she had been constructed, to Savannah, Georgia, the city for which she was named. Navigating the ocean in a steamship was nothing new to the 41-year-old captain, Moses Rogers, third cousin of the sailing master (who would later become his brother-in-law). He had been associated* with Fulton and later captain of Phenix on its historic voyage from New York to the Delaware River—the first ocean voyage by a steam vessel. In 1815 he commanded Eagle on the first voyage made by steamer from New York to Baltimore.

Savannah had been laid down as a Havre sailing packet in 1818. Moses had noted her while she was still on the stocks in Crockett and Fickett’s shipyard at Corlears Hook, New York. The vessel was launched on 22 August of the same year and then equipped with one “inclined, direct-acting, low-pressure engine of 90 horsepower, the diameter of the cylinder being forty inches and the stroke five feet.” Her engine was built by Stephen Vail (afterwards distinguished for his connection with Morse in the invention of the telegraph) at Speedwell Iron Works near Morristown, New Jersey. Her boilers were built at Elizabeth, New Jersey, by Daniel Dod.

Stevens Rogers was given charge of rigging and fitting out the steamship. She was a full- rigged sailing square rigger (110 feet over-all) except that she had no royal masts or royals on her three masts. There was more space than usual between her mainmast and foremast to permit her propulsion machinery to be installed there. In addition to being in charge of this part of her fitting-out, Stevens also supervised the finishing of her cabins.

Designed to command the attention of the leaders of governments and of society, the accommodations were as luxurious as those in any ship then afloat. The passenger space was divided into two-berth staterooms for its 32 passengers, with rosewood and mahogany paneling and imitation marble floors, full- length mirrors, and costly tapestries. Stevens loved to tell the story of a negro, suspected of being a run-away slave, who came aboard while the vessel was under construction. When he saw “another” negro in a mirror, he was terrified. When he saw a second reflection of himself in still another mirror, he fled, perhaps, as Stevens thought, believing that the ship was full of negroes being taken south to be re-enslaved.

The trip to Savannah took eight and a half days, 41J hours of which were under steam. Three sailing vessels left New York the same day for Savannah. It is interesting to note that the owners of Savannah shipped their goods on the other vessels while the experimental steamer carried no passengers or freight, even though she had advertised for them.

The ship apparently used steam only when she was becalmed or navigating in restricted waters. On the second day out of New York, they “got the steam up and it came on to blow fresh; we took the wheels in on deck in 30 minutes.” Then again on 3 April, the weather being calm and pleasant, the log states that at 3 P.M. they “stowed the wheels and started the wheels, furld all sail.”

But the run under steam was of short duration. The fore and aft sails were unfurled the next morning and the crew “folded up the wheels and stowed the wheels.” The vessel anchored at 4 A.M. on 6 April, 207 hours from Sandy Hook Light. The Savannah newspaper, Georgian, next day recorded her arrival by stating that:

The elegant steamship Savannah arrived here about 5 o’clock yesterday evening. The bank of the river was lined by a large concourse of citizens, who saluted her with shouts during her progress before the city. She was also saluted by a discharge from the revenue-cutter Dallas. Her appearance inspires instant confidence in her security. It is evident that her wheels can be unshipped in a few minutes, so as to place her precisely in the condition of any other vessel in case of a storm and rough sea. Our city will be indebted to the enterprise of her owners for the honor of first crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a vessel propelled by steam.

Scarborough & Isaacs, a shipping firm in Savannah, was instrumental in getting Savannah in operation. Moses had sold William Scarborough on the idea of a transoceanic steamship and the vessel was therefore named by him. Scarborough had a difficult time persuading people to sail in Savannah—his wife never boarded the vessel and even he himself never made a voyage in Savannah.

Toward the end of 1818 the Georgia legislature had chartered the Savannah Steam Ship Company:

to attach, either as auxiliary or principal, the propulsion of steam to sea vessels, for the purpose of navigating the Atlantic and other oceans, and that they have provided a ship for that purpose, which is now in a sufficient state of forwardness to afford sanguine expectations of the experiment being tested in the course of a short period . . .

From 6 April, when she tied up at a Savannah wharf, to 14 April the crew was “being employed in ship’s duty.” Then on the latter date, they “got the steam up and started from Savannah for Charleston; at 1 P.M., blowing fresh, came to anchor off Tybee Light.” What the terse log did not record was that the pilot and eight passengers refused to go to sea in the rough water. The next morning the pilot overslept and they missed the tide. When they did get to Charleston, they missed the tide again and came to anchor at 8 P.M., four leagues from Charleston Light, and “let the steam off.” At six the next morning, after the Charleston pilot came aboard, they “got steam on,” and “at 11 A.M. hold to the wharf at Charleston and made fast.” New York papers took great pleasure in reporting the extremely slow passage of the newfangled vessel.

The purpose of this trip to Charleston was to interest President Monroe in Savannah and her projected voyage. Monroe was making a “good will” tour of the Atlantic states inspecting arsenals, fortifications, and public works. He begged off returning to Savannah on the steam vessel, saying that the South Carolinians would not like to see him leave in a Georgia vessel, but that he would meet her at Savannah. The experimental vessel remained at Charleston until 10 A.M., 30 April, when she got under way with steam, arriving at the Savannah wharf 27 hours later.

“Taking in cole” on 7 and 8 May was the only outstanding event entered in the log until Tuesday, 11 May, when the “President of the United States, James Munroe and suit, came on board of the ship at 8 A.M. got the steam up and started with the steam; at half past 10 A.M. anchored at Tybee; at 11 A.M. got under way with steam for town again, at 8 P.M., held to the wharf and made fast.”

President Monroe had spent the previous night at the large mansion of William Scarborough, the principal stockholder, and together with 25 Federal and local officials, including Secretary of War Calhoun, went on this excursion down the Savannah River to where it met the open sea. The group dined aboard Savannah and the President declared himself well pleased with the vessel, suggesting that she be brought to Washington to display her values to government officials and congressmen. Cuban pirates were operating off the coast of Florida and the President thought that her ability to navigate with utter disregard to the amount of favorable wind might make her of great value in capturing them.

On Saturday, 15 May, “a heavy thunder squall rose from the N.W. and broke the Savannah and two other ships adrift; Broke the paddles adrift and beat the arms.” This port mishap was not to be the last: on the following Thursday “about 2 A.M., John Weston, coming on board from the shore, fell off the plank was drowned; at 10 A.M. caught John Weston with a boat hook and jury was held over him; braught in axcerdental deth; took him on board and put him in a coffin.” Thus the first seaman to be lost from a transatlantic steamer was lost in port.

The original sailing date was postponed; the newspaper Georgian of Wednesday, 19 May, 1819, stated that “the steamship Savannah, Captain Rogers, will, without fail, proceed direct to Liverpool to-morrow, 20th inst. Passengers, if any offer, can be well accommodated.” But the next day was Friday and unlucky to seamen, and the vessel did not sail.

During these preliminaries to the transoceanic attempt, three of the crew had “jumped ship” including “Joseph the Cook.” All along they had had difficulties in recruiting a full crew. The New York sailors expected the “Yankee teakettle” or “steam coffin” would meet disaster off the coast of Georgia; so Stevens Rogers had to go back to Connecticut, to recruit sailors from Waterford, New London, and Groton because the sailors who knew him trusted him. The ship finally sailed with a crew of 19, a serious shortage for the ocean voyage.

On 22 May 1819, the log states that at “7 A.M. got steam up, winded ship, and hove up the anchor, and at 9 a.m. started with the steam from Savannah.” This is the basis for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1933 proclamation of 22 May as National Maritime Day, but the voyage at sea did not actually get underway until the 24th. Stevens Rogers records that date, “These 24 hours begins with light breezes and clear at 5 A.M. got under way off Tybee light and put to sea with steam and sails at 6 a.m. left the Pilot at 8 A.M. took off the wheels in 20 minutes middle part pleasant.”

Captain Moses’ invention of the de-mountable paddle wheels is perhaps a direct result of an experience that he had aboard the Phenix in 1818 when, on its historic voyage around Cape May, he “was compelled to run that steamboat through Barnegat Inlet into the bay and up on the beach, in order that the wheels, which had been damaged by a storm, could be repaired.” For the slight advantage of being able to repair them aboard ship, the paddle wheels were to prove to be very clumsy and inefficient. The canvas screening around them also probably failed to keep the deck dry.

The 16-foot paddle wheels, according to a French naval officer, Marestier, were “designed so that they may be easily housed and occupy little space on the deck. There is consequently no paddle wheel box or outboard support which would hinder the dismantling, and the shaft is very short. Two spokes are fastened on the hub, the others are bolted and held between two projecting rings which are part of the hub. Chains hold the spokes at a proper distance from each other.”

The next that the world heard of Savannah after her sailing was printed in the Georgian for Thursday, 24 June, 1819, which reported that:

Captain Livingston, of the schooner Contract, who arrived at Newburyport on the 5th instant, sighted on the 29th of May, latitude 27.30, longitude 70, a vessel ahead to eastward, from which he saw volumes of smoke issuing. Judging it to be a vessel on fire, stood for her in order to afford relief; “but” (observes Captain Livingston) “found she went faster with fire and smoke than we possibly could with all sail set.” It was then discovered that what we supposed a vessel on fire was nothing less than a steamboat crossing the western ocean, laying her course, as we judge, for Europe; a proud monument of Yankee skill and enterprise. Success to her.

Savannah was sighted a few days later by Pluto:

June 2, 1819. Clear weather, smooth sea, latitude 42 degrees, longitude 50 degrees. Spoke and passed the elegant steamship 8 days out from Savannah to Petersburg, by way of Liverpool. She passed us at the rate of 9 or 10 knots, and the captain informed us she worked remarkably well, and the greatest compliment we could bestow was to give her three cheers, as the happiest effort of mechanical genius that ever appeared on the western ocean.

While the ship worked remarkably well, all the crew did not. Three orphaned brothers, aged 10,12, and 14, made the trip, apparently as members of the crew. The three constantly quarreled among themselves. Sailing Master Stevens Rogers acted as their guardian. He became so exasperated one day that he gave each of the three a whip, and placing one behind the other in triangular form, ordered them to apply the whip to the one before them. They began with light blows, but the tempo and effort constantly increased until they were using both hands to wield the whips. Finally Rogers stopped them and gave them some sound advice, which was apparently followed for the remainder of the trip.

First landfall was made on 16 June when the coast of Ireland was sighted and it was the following day that Savannah was “boarded by the King’s Cutter ‘Kite’, Lieutenant John Bowie,” as the log book tersely states it. The London Times of 30 June, 1819, stated that “The Savannah, a steam vessel recently arrived at Liverpool from America—the first vessel of the kind which ever crossed the Atlantic—was chased the whole day off the coast of Ireland by the Kite, revenue cruiser, on the Cork station, which mistook her for a ship on fire.”

The log for 18 June, records that at “4 P.M. Cork bore west b[y] S[outh] 5 leagues distant,” and the melancholy announcement: “calm; no cole to git up steam.” It is at this point that journalists and historians have compounded a hoax. A correspondent of the Charlotte City Gazette wrote from Norfolk, on 10 August 1819:

I have received no shipping list by this arrival, but an article of great importance in the steam world (if I may use the expression) is contained in the Cork paper of the 19th of June. It is no less than the arrival at Kinsale, in 21 days, of the steamship Savannah, from Savannah, laden with cotton and passengers. She put in for supplies, would remain a day or two, and then proceed for Liverpool. Previous to her putting in she was chased by a cutter under the impression that she was a ship on fire. No further particulars are stated.

The correspondent had quoted the Cork paper correctly. The historians have quoted the Gazette correctly. But what both apparently failed to note was that the next issue of the Cork paper apologized for an over- zealous reporter, who had expected the vessel to put in and, not wanting to disappoint his readers, wrote the account in advance. But the ship did not stop; she did not carry cotton and passengers, and she did not take on coal or other supplies.

With no coal, there was nothing to do but to proceed “with all sails set to the best advantage,” and. two days later (Sunday, 20 June, 1819), she “shipped the wheels, furled the sails, and ran into the River Mersey, and at 6 P.M. come to anchor off Liverpool with the small bower anchor.” Either Stevens had not known about this last bit of coal, enough for about an hour’s steaming, or he had been mistaken when he earlier reported “no cole to git up steam.” She had used up completely her 1,500 bushels (75 tons) of Liverpool coal and 25 cords of wood in slightly less than 100 hours* that she used her engine in crossing the Atlantic. Most of the time, obviously, was under sail alone.

While Savannah anchored off the bar at Liverpool waiting for the tide, hundreds of people came out in boats to see her. Rumor was that she had been sent to secure the reward offered by Jerome Bonaparte to anyone who should succeed in taking his brother Napoleon from St. Helena, and a British sloop-of-war came to investigate her.

A small boat put out from the sloop with a British Lieutenant aboard, who demanded of Stevens Rogers, “Where is your master?”

“I have no master,” answered the sailing master who had unpleasant memories of the British Navy from his boyhood. When he first went to sea out of New London, his ship was stopped by a British man-of-war and a lieutenant tried to impress the boy for service on the British warship, but the captain told the officer that if lie took the boy he would have to take the ship, too. That very evening the young cabin boy had an American flag and an eagle tattooed on his arm. When a second British vessel stopped them soon after this and demanded papers from each sailor in turn, Stevens pulled up his sleeve and declared, “Here are my credentials!”

During the War of 1812, Stevens had been seized on the high seas and carried to Dartmoor Prison in England where he was confined a short time. Returning to the sea, he was shortly afterwards taken prisoner again and carried to Halifax, but soon exchanged. No wonder he disliked the British lieutenant.

And now, after crossing the Atlantic in Savannah, there was no reason for any sudden change in his estimate of them. The persistent lieutenant again demanded, “Where is your captain, then?”

When the Captain appeared, the lieutenant continued the interrogation, pointing to the coach-whip pennant at the masthead, asking, “Why do you wear that pennant, sir?”

“By authority of my government, which is Republican and permits me to do so,” replied Captain Rogers.

“My commander thinks it was done to insult him, and if you don’t take it down he will send a force to do it.”

Captain Rogers had the offending pennant hauled down and replaced by the broad blue pennant of the squadron commander of the American Navy which ranked with the highest grade in the British Navy and ordered the engineer to “get the hot-water pipes ready!” Although no such device existed, the threat was sufficient to induce the sloop’s rowers to lean on their oars in their retreat.

Steamboats were no novelty to the people of Liverpool. A steamboat had been noted on the Mersey at least four years prior to the arrival of Savannah and the first towing done by a steamer occurred on the same river as early as 1816.

Although the British labeled the Savannah voyage as an American myth, Lloyd’s List reports the arrival of the vessel on 20 June 1819, while in Gore's Annals of Liverpool its arrival is classified among “remarkable events.”

“All hands employed in sundry jobs of ship’s duty” was the usual entry for each of the 25 days that the pioneer vessel remained at Liverpool. Other accounts tell how English people of all stations of life curiously examined the craft, but Moses Rogers became embittered against the British, “for they sneer at us on all occasions, and in many instances were uncivil and insolent to me.”

The ship coaled on 16 July and on Sunday, 18 July, the engineer “got steam up and started the wheels.” The following day, two members of the crew, perhaps as a result of the treatment of their captain, refused to return aboard and even struck an officer. Captain Moses sent an officer ashore after “James Bruce and John Smith to get them on board; they would not come; the watchman put them in the boat; John Smith tried to knock Mr. Blackman overboard.” They were finally placed in irons.

With a full head of steam the vessel got under way on 23 July for an eventless voyage to Elsinore (Helsingor), Denmark, and thence to Stockholm where, on 22 August, His Royal Highness the Prince of Sweden and Norway visited the ship. Our ambassador, Christopher Hughes, arranged for an excursion on 1 September for the Crown Prince, various Swedish nobles, and important people. The Swedish King was so enamored that he offered to purchase the vessel for $100,000. This was to be paid in hemp and iron delivered in America, for the King was at the moment arranging to pay Denmark 3,000,000 specie dollars for Norway and consequently was short of cash. This would have made the vessel profitable, because its original cost was only $68,000.

Captain Moses refused the offer, believing that he could get cash at St. Petersburg, Russia. But selling the vessel was not his chief purpose, for he stated that although he was spending and losing money on the expedition, “I have satisfied the world that the thing is practicable; as I am in Europe, I wish to circulate the fame of my ship and of my country as far and as widely as possible and nothing gives me more pleasure than to show my ship to all people.”

The visits of nobility and celebrities gave the captain much pleasure; but all was not smooth sailing for him. Seaman John Smith apparently had not profited by his experience in spending the last two days in Liverpool in irons; the logbook for 3 September records that “John Smith and Henry Wanripe took the ship’s boat and went ashore without liberty and got drunk.”

At Stockholm, Savannah received two English passengers, Lord Lynedock and his grand nephew, Robert Graham. Lord Lynedock was extremely interested in the experimental vessel. With his watch, on one occasion, he found the crew could switch from steam to canvas in 15 minutes. His enthusiasm overwhelmed him and he was forced to exclaim that he blamed “no man born in the United States for being proud of his country, and were [he] a young man, [he would] go there [himself].”

During the trip to St. Petersburg, Lord Lynedock spent much time in talking to the sailing master and the captain. Upon arrival at St. Petersburg, he presented an engraved gold snuffbox to Stevens and a silver teakettle to Moses. The Emperor of Russia gave Moses two iron chairs and a gold watch, “three times as big as a common watch and which kept excellent time.” The King of Sweden gave him a “stone and muller.”

After Savannah reached St. Petersburg, she spent three days maneuvering about the harbor with many of the royal family, Russian nobles, officers, and foreign ministers on board. “Russian Lord High Admiral, Marcus de Travys, and other distinguished military and naval officers, who also tested her superior qualities by a trip to Cronstadt,” gave favorable reports. There is good indication that Czar Alexander came aboard. Anyway, he offered Moses what Pulton requested and failed to obtain: a monopoly on steam navigation in Russia and tended a generous cash offer for Savannah herself. But Moses turned down the offer because he and his crew would have had to remain in Russia as part of the agreement.

The 320-ton ship had been under steam for 239 hours since leaving Liverpool, and so far for the thousands of miles covered, “neither screw, bolt, nor ropeyard parted, although he experienced very rough weather.” Her mission having been accomplished, she coaled for the homeward voyage, and sailed on the 29th for Cronstadt. She experienced rough weather on the Baltic on this return voyage, losing a hawser and an anchor. The ship touched at Copenhagen and Arendal, Norway, before heading into the Atlantic.

The homeward voyage was a stormy one. Most sailing vessels tried to avoid winter crossings of the Atlantic. Savannah sailed through heavy winds, rough seas, gales and storms for 40 days. The engines were used for the first time on 30 November when Captain Rogers “took on a pilot inside the bar,” and at 10 A.M. anchored in the Savannah River and “furld sails on the flude tide, got under way with steam and went up and anchored off the town.” One of her firemen said, years later, that she had returned entirely under sail because of the high price of coal abroad.

The ship sailed from Savannah, bound for Washington, on 3 December, and reached the mouth of the Potomac at 8 P.M., 14 December. She spent two days coming up the river under steam and “at 6 P.M. hald to the wharf at Washington and made fast.” Perhaps because of the 12 days she required coming up from Savannah, there was no interest shown in purchasing her for chasing pirates. One local newspaper could find nothing good to say about her other than that the engine did not detract from her sailing qualities.

The voyage and the log of Savannah ended at Washington. The trip had been a financial failure. As a steamship, the vessel had no future. The morale of the crew was so low that Frank Smith (possibly a relative of John’s) “damd and swore at the captain and struck him two or three times, and then Smith was put in irons.” The log ends abruptly the next day with the entry, “Remarks on board Friday Dec 17th 1819. These 24 hours begins with light breezes and cloudy. Sundry jobs on hand.”

Scarborough’s creditors were hounding him and late in August of 1820, Savannah left Washington. Her engine was sold to the Allaire Iron Works of New York for $1,600 and was later displayed at the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1956. It was apparently there when the exhibition hall burned and perhaps it is still buried somewhere underneath the New York Public Library today.

After losing her engine, Savannah ran between New York and Savannah as a sailing packet under the command of Captain Nathan Holdredge. At this she was a commercial success—the passengers who refused to board her as a steamship apparently were more easily reassured of her safety as a sailing vessel. On her fifth voyage, however, she missed the passage at Sandy Hook and went aground on Fire Island, on 3 November 1821. Today divers are striving to raise a part of the ancient wreck. The timber will be made into a model of the original Savannah, which will go aboard the new NS Savannah.

The new Savannah—the world’s first atomic- powered merchant vessel is 595 feet long, as compared to the 98-foot 6-inch long original. In many respects other than length, contrast between the two ships emphasizes the 140-year advancement in marine development. The crude 90-horsepower steam engine has been replaced with an atomic-reactor that will provide steam turbines a peak of 22,000 horsepower. Diesels have replaced sails as auxiliary power. The old Savannah could steam 100 hours on 75 tons of Liverpool coal and 25 cords of wood. NS Savannah can steam an estimated 300,000 nautical miles during a period of 3j years without refueling—far enough to circumnavigate the globe a dozen times.

In external appearance, the new Savannah again shows the progress of almost a century and a half. The old Savannah appeared to be a typical ship of her era with three square- rigged masts, except for the belching stack with its adjustable elbow near the top and the clumsy paddlewheels on her sides.

One’s first impression of the white NS Savannah is that she is ultra-streamlined superyacht despite her cargo holds. All her lines are curved and graceful and her cargo-handling accouterments have been minimized. The teardrop-shaped superstructure is set sufficiently aft to enhance the vessel’s foresection which tapers to its well raked bow. Just as the first Savannah was unusual because of her smoke-belching stack, the current model is unusual because it has no stack.

Stevens Rogers spent much time and money furnishing the pioneer steamship because he realized her importance as a show vessel. And a show vessel she became, “lying at anchor like a public vessel, with no business to accomplish, no port charges to defray, no cargo to take on board, her stay was a continued reception of visitors.” A president, a king, an emperor, nobles, and others viewed and sailed on this experimental craft.

The atomic-powered vessel has been planned for similar use. She has been built as an experiment and is to be experimented with. Her builders, perhaps unlike the other Savannah’s builders, know that she will never be a commercial success, let alone repay her $30,780,774 original cost. No passenger-cargo ship today can afford a swimming pool, enclosed “terrace,” art gallery, and elevators for 60 passengers. Visitors realize the ship’s true function when they reach her viewing gallery where they may observe the engine room from three sides, or view the reactor spaces on closed circuit television. This Savannah, too, will probably lie at anchor in many of the world’s ports, her stay a “continued reception of visitors.”

The first steamship to cross the Atlantic found no one willing to risk his goods or life on its first passage. Even a crew was difficult to recruit and apparently the best many people could say of her was that she could take her wheels on board and thus have the security of a sailing vessel. Yet she proved to be one of the safest ships of her time.

The first atomic merchant ship carries more safety devices than any other ship afloat. She has a strengthened hull, 24-inch collision mats of alternate layers of steel and redwood, and 18 inches of reinforced concrete shielding, among other things, to protect against the off- chance of being rammed amidship. She has auxiliary propulsion engines and generators. Each member of the 110-man crew completes a special training course of up to 15 months’ duration to insure familiarity with the vessel and her reactor. There is no shortage of volunteers this time. Five hand-picked experienced captains are being trained to command her. But just as baseless fear hampered the full utilization of the first Atlantic steamship, perhaps the fear of certain European countries may close certain ports to her modern counterpart. Perhaps a fitting answer to this would be a round-the-world, non-stop voyage to display to all the world the peacetime use of atomic energy as pioneered in Savannah.

A graduate of the University of Illinois in the Class of 1951, Mr. Bachman subsequently received his Master’s degree from Western Michigan University. He has done graduate study at the University of Connecticut, and in 1959 attended the Munson Institute of Maritime History at Mystic. At present, he is a teacher of history and director of publications at Waterford High School, Waterford, Conn. Currently he is working on a manuscript for a book on Connecticut maritime history.