owed in 1821, and soon after the Swallowtail line. The packets were
ships of from six hundred to fifteen hundred tons burden, and made the
eastward trip in about twenty-three days and the return trip in about
forty days. The record was held by the "Canada," of the Black Ball line,
which had made the outward run in fifteen days and eighteen hours. That
time was reduced later by the "Amazon." The first steamer to cross the
Atlantic was the American ship "Savannah." She made the trial trip from
New York to Savannah in April, 1819, and in the following month her
owners decided to send her overseas. The time of her passage was
twenty-six days, eight under steam and eighteen under sail. Stephen
Rogers, her navigator, in a letter to the New London "Gazette," wrote
that the "Savannah" was first sighted from the telegraph station at Cape
Clear, on the southern coast of Ireland, which reported her as being on
fire, and a king's cutter was sent to her relief. "But great was their
wonder at their inability to come up with a ship under bare poles. After
several shots had been fired from the cutter the engine was stopped, and
the surprise of the cutter's crew at the mistake they had made, as well
as their curiosity to see the strange Yankee craft, can be easily
imagined." From Liverpool the "Savannah" proceeded to St. Petersburg,
stopping at Stockholm, and on her return she left St. Petersburg on
October 10th, arriving at Savannah November 30th. But the prestige that
the journey had won did not compensate for the heavy expense. Her
boilers, engines, and paddles were removed, and she was placed on the
Savannah route as a packet ship, being finally wrecked on the Long
Island coast. The successful establishment of steam as a means of
conveying a vessel across the Atlantic did not come until the spring of
1838, when, on the same day, April 23rd, two ships from England reached
New York. They were the "Sirius," which had sailed from Cork, Ireland,
April 4th, and the "Great Western," which had left Bristol April 8th.
The following year marked the founding of the Cunard Line.

About the same time began the famous Clippers, which carried
triumphantly the American flag to every corner of the Seven Seas. They
were at first small, swift vessels of from six hundred to nine hundred
tons, and designed for the China tea trade. Later came the "Challenge,"
of two thousand tons, and the "Invincible," of two thousand one hundred
and fifty tons. "That cli