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."