Evolution of Steamships

Steam propulsion came to ships in the Nineteenth Century. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic, the SS Savannah, left Savannah, Georgia under steam in 1818, and arrived in Liverpool, England under steam, but used sails to actually cross the ocean. It was another twenty years before steam passenger ships entered transatlantic service.

1807

Robert Fulton's Clermont, the first Passenger Steamboat in the world. begins passenger service on the Hudson River.

1818

SS Savannah is the first steamship to cross the Atlantic.

1838

SS Sirus starts transatlantic passenger service.

1839

SS Archimedes is the world's first screw propeller steam ship

1845

SS Great Britain is the world's first screw propelled, iron steam ship in transatlantic passenger service.

1860s

Propellers start replacing paddles for transatlantic passenger ships.

1870

RMS Oceanic starts the modern practice of placing the ships bridge and superstructure in the middle of the ship.

1880s

Sails start to disappear and masts become cranes for loading cargo.

1939

Pan American Airlines' Yankee Clipper starts scheduled transatlantic airline passenger service.

1945

With the end of World War 11, multiple airlines initiate transatlantic passenger service. Immigration by ship diminishes rapidly.