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494 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
motive-power to navigation. Our state has never been given due credit
for these experiments; but to the merchants of Savannah belongs an
undisputed honor: that of having built the first steamboat to cross the
Atlantic Ocean. On December 19, 1818, an act of the Legislature was
approved by Governor Rabun, incorporating' "The Savannah Steam
ship Company," composed of the following charter members: William
Scarborough, A. B. Fannin, J. P. McKinnie, Samuel Howard, Charles
Howard, John Haslett, Moses Rodgers, A. S. Bulloch, John Bogue, An
drew Low & Co., Robert Isaacs, J. Minis, S. C. Dunning, J. P. Henry,
John Speakman, Robert Mitchell, R. and J. Habersham, James S. Bulloch,
Gideon Pott, "W. S. Gillett and Samuel Yates.* At a subsequent meeting
of the stockholders, on February 25, 1819, the following persons were
elected directors: William Scarborough, Robert Isaacs, S. C. Dunning,
James S. Bulloch and Joseph Habersham. There was a ready sale for the
shares of the company, due to the well-known character and high stand
ing of the incorporators. Potts and McKinnie, of New York, were
selected- by the company as agents to superintend the work of construc
tion. It was strictly an American product. The hull of the vessel was
built in New York, while the machinery was cast at Elizabeth, New Jer
sey. Early in the spring of 1819, the City of Savannah, with streamers
afloat, slipped from her moorings.
Says a well-known writer: f On March 28, she. made her trial trip
from New York to Savannah, receiving a most enthusiastic reception
from hundreds of citizens, assembled upon the wharves to welcome her. t
The vessel was commanded by Capt. Moses Rodgers, an experienced
engineer. On May 20th, she sailed for Liverpool, according to the adver
tisements, in ballast, without, however, any passengers. Just one month
later she came to anchor in the harbor of Liverpool. The paddles were
so made that they could be removed from the shaft, without difficulty,
in twenty minutes. Approaching Liverpool, they were used with spec
tacular effect to awe the British onlookers. With her sails set and her
wheels plying, she steamed into the Mersey, "proud as any princess
going to her coronation."
Remaining in Liverpool for a month, visited by thousands, she then
continued her way to St. Petersburg, where Captain Rodgers, with his
novel craft, was received with every mark of respect and admiration.
The 20th of November of the same year found her steaming into the port
whose name she bore, with neither a screw, bolt, or rope-yard parted,
according to her proud commander, notwithstanding much rough weather
experienced. Later sold to a company of New York merchants, and
divested of her steam apparatus, she was converted into a sailing packet
between Savannah and New York, and was finally lost off the coast of
Long Island. Unfortunately, as a financial venture, she was fifteen
* "Lamar's Digest," page 523.
t In the spring of 1819, President James Monroe visited Savannah, where he was
en^tained by William Scarborough, at his palatial home on West Broad Street.
For more than fifty years the handsome residence bore the marks of its former
grandeur, but it was finally converted into a school for colored children. Mr. Monroe
was present at the dedicatory exercises of the Independent Presbyterian Church. He
also made a trip to Tybee, on fhe new steamship, the "City of Savannah."