Alexandria Gazette & Daily Advertiser

AGE OF EXPERIMENT.

By an advertisement in this day's paper
it will be seen that the new and elegant
Steam Ship Savannah, is to leave our harbor
to morrow. Who would have had courage,
20 years ago, to hazard a prediction,
that in the year 1819, a ship of three hundred
tons burden, would be built in the
port of New-York, to navigate the Atlantic
propelled by steam? Such, however, is the
fact. With admiring hundreds have we
repeatedly viewed this prodigy; and can
also bear witness to the wonderful celerity
with which she is moved through the water.

On Monday last a trial was made of her
speed, although there was at no time more
than an inch of steam upon her, and for the
greatest part not half an inch, with a strong
wind and tide ahead, she went within a
mile of the anchoring ground at Staten Island
and returned to Fly-market wharf in
one hour and fifty minutes. When it is considered
that she is calculated to bear twenty
inches of steam, and that her machinery
is entirely new, it must be evident that she
will, with ease, pass any of the steam boats
upon our rivers. Her cabin is finished in
an elegant style and fitted up in the most
tasty manner. There are thirty two berths,
all of which are state rooms. The cabin
for ladies is entirely distinct from that intended
for gentlemen, and it is admirably
calculated to afford that perfect retirement
which is so rarely found on board passenger
ships. For beauty of model, the Savannah
has seldom been exceeded. She is commanded
by captain Moses Rodgers, an experienced
engineer, and belongs to a company
of enterprising gentlemen in Savannah, who
have spared no expense in rendering her an
object worthy of public admiration and patronage.
She is so constructed as to be navigable
in the usual way, with sails, whenever the
weather shall be such as to render the use
of her wheels in the least degree dangerous.

This vessel is intended as a "Savannah
and Liverpool Packet," and we sincerely
hope the liberal-minded proprietors may
be abundantly rewarded for their efforts to
facilitate the communication between Great
Britain and America.

[Com. Adv.