Steam Coffin: Captain Moses Rogers & the Steamship Savannah Break the Barrier (History of the Americas) - Hardcover

John Laurence Busch

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1893616002 ISBN 13: 9781893616004

Publisher: Hodos Historia, 2010

Synopsis

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.""

About this title

Product Description:

Painstakingly researched, this book contains much never-before-published archival material, presented in traditional storytelling style while still adhering to the strict rules for historical revelation. The saga told chronicles the dawn of steam-powered vessels in the early 19th century, and the resistance to this first technology that allowed humans to artificially overcome Nature to practical effect. While the brilliant Robert Fulton's first 'steamboats' proved their worth on rivers, lakes and bays, there was deep skepticism that such vessels were capable of overcoming the unpredictable powers of the sea. To prove that it was possible for such a craft to cross the Atlantic Ocean, Captain Moses Rogers designed not a 'steamboat,' but a 'steamship,' the first of its kind. To most mariners, however, this vessel named Savannah seemed so dangerous that they considered it nothing more than a 'steam coffin.'

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About this edition

• Publisher: Hodos Historia
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1893616002
• ISBN 13: 9781893616004
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 736