E-text prepared by Colin Bell, Joseph Cooper, Chris Logan, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 25544-h.htm or 25544-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/5/4/25544/25544-h/25544-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/5/4/25544/25544-h.zip) Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology: Paper 21 THE PIONEER STEAMSHIP SAVANNAH: A Study for a Scale Model by HOWARD I. CHAPELLE _Howard I. Chapelle_ The Pioneer Steamship SAVANNAH: _A Study for a Scale Model_ _The original plans of the pioneer transatlantic steamer_ Savannah _no longer exist, and many popular representations of the famous vessel have been based on a 70-year-old model in the United States National Museum. This model, however, differs in several important respects from contemporary illustrations._ _To correct these apparent inaccuracies in a new, authentic model, a reconstruction of the original plans was undertaken, using as sources the ship's logbook and customhouse description, a French report on American steam vessels published in 1823, and Russian newspaper accounts contemporary with the_ Savannah's _visit to St. Petersburg on her historic voyage of 1819. The development of this research and the resulting information in terms of her measurements and general description are related here._ THE AUTHOR: _Howard I. Chapelle is curator of transportation in the United States National Museum, Smithsonian Institution._ The United States National Museum has in its watercraft collection a rigged scale model purported to be of the pioneer transatlantic steamer _Savannah_. For many years this model was generally accepted as being a reasonably accurate representation and was the basis for countless illustrations. Curiously enough, the model (USNM 160364) does not agree with the published catalog description[1] as to the side paddle wheels. Neither does it agree with the material in the Marestier report,[2] which is accepted as the only source for a contemporary picture of the _Savannah_. The recent naming of an atomic-powered ship in honor of the famous steamer greatly increased popular interest in the pioneer ship and its supposed model. Consequently, the National Museum undertook the research necessary to correct or replace the existing model. This research has been carried out by the staff of the Museum's transportation division with the aid of Frank O. Braynard of the American Merchant Marine Institute, Eugene S. Ferguson, curator of mechanical and civil engineering at the Museum, and others.