The Dangerous History of Transatlantic Steamship Travel - IT'S HISTORY

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If you wanted to take a trip from New York City to Liverpool, all you would need to do is pack your bags, pay for an airplane ticket and board the plane and in less than 24 hours you are on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean on a completely different continent. But it wasn’t always this easy and this fast. In fact, traveling across the Atlantic was often a dangerous task that took months or years if you even survived. As a result, man has always been trying to find new ways to make this journey, faster, safer and more efficient. One example of this was the invention of steamships. These revolutionary vessels ruled the waves just a few centuries ago before becoming obsolete as man found even faster, safer and more efficient ways to travel, trade and fight wars. This, however, begs the question what happened to these transatlantic steamships which used to be the primary form of travel across this vast ocean?

Chapters:
3:00 - The History of Transatlantic Steamships
4:45 - The First Transatlantic Steamship - SS Savannah
7:24 - Advancements in steamship technology - The SS Great Western
9:42 - The disappearance of the USS President
12:36 - A ship too big for its own good - The SS Great Eastern
15:02 - Why a crew purposely set fire to its own ship - The SS Baltic
16:51 - The boat that constantly crashed - RMS Adriatic
18:44 - Why a Grand ship became a coal dumpster - SS Frisia
21:24 - Why The sinking of the RMS Titanic changed ship travel forever
26:10 - A shipping disaster worse than the Titanic, The RMS Lusitania
30:38 - Why the RMS Queen Elizabeth was lost to fire

IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Brandon Evans,
Editor - Sebastian Ripoll,
Host - Ryan Socash

» SOURCES
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Coleman, Kali. “13 Surprising Artifacts Found in the Titanic Wreckage.” Best Life, April 7, 2020. https://bestlifeonline.com/titanic-artifacts/.
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History.com Editors. “Lusitania.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, December 2, 2009. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/lusitania.
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“Launched 1869: SS Silesia.” SS silesia built by Caird & Company Greenock Clydebuilt Ships Database, 2002. https://web.archive.org/web/20120728225116/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=15206.
“Logbook for First Transatlantic Steamship Savannah, 1819.” National Museum of American History. Accessed April 6, 2022. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_842432#:~:text=The%201818%20steamboat%20Savannah%20was,the%20ship's%20captain%2C%20Moses%20Rogers.
“Lusitania.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Accessed April 6, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lusitania-British-ship.
“May 24 - SS Savannah.” TODAY in GEORGIA HISTORY, 2022. https://www.todayingeorgiahistory.org/tih-georgia-day/ss-savannah/.
Mayle, Mary. “S.S. Savannah – The Rest of the Story.” Savannah Morning News. Savannah Morning News, May 30, 2019. https://www.savannahnow.com/story/business/columns/2019/05/30/portside-ss-savannah-rest-of-story/5024758007/.
Morrison, John H. History of American Steam Navigation. New York, NY: W. F. Sametz & Co. Inc., 1903.

» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.