| History | |
|---|---|
| Name | Southerner |
| Owner | Spofford, Tileston & Co. |
| Route | New York, NY–Charleston, SC |
| Ordered | 1845 |
| Builder | William H. Brown (New York) |
| Completed | 6 Sep 1846 |
| Maiden voyage | 12 Sep 1846 |
| In service | 12 Sep 1846–12 Sep 1857 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1858 |
| Notes | First U.S. coastal steamship and only the second U.S. merchant steamship ever built; first U.S. merchant steamer fitted with side-lever engine |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Passenger-cargo sidewheel steamship |
| Tonnage | 785 |
| Length | 191 ft 3 in (58.29 m) |
| Beam | 30 ft 8 in (9.35 m) |
| Depth of hold | 14 ft 1 in (4.29 m) |
| Propulsion | 1 × 67-in bore, 8-foot stroke side-lever steam engine |
| Speed | 11 kn (13 mph) |
SS Southerner was a passenger-cargo sidewheel steamship built in New York in 1846 for service between New York and Charleston, South Carolina. Southerner was only the second American merchant steamship ever built, and the first to operate on a U.S. coastal route. She was also the first to be powered by a side-lever engine. For the first nine months of her career, she was the only U.S. merchant steamship in oceangoing service anywhere.
In spite of her pioneering role, Southerner proved such a success that she became the model for a new generation of American steamships. Within a few years of her maiden voyage, American-built merchant steamships had established transatlantic services, rounded Cape Horn to operate along the U.S. West Coast, and initiated services between the United States and the Far East.
Southerner spent her entire career on the same route. She was broken up after being battered by a hurricane in 1857.
Background
editFollowing the development of the world's first commercially successful steamboat, Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat in 1807, steamboat development and construction progressed rapidly in the United States. However, the emphasis remained firmly on the development of steamboats, lightly built vessels designed for service only on inland waterways or sheltered sounds, as opposed to that of oceangoing steamships. It was not until 1820 that an American entrepreneur commissioned the construction of a true steamship, the Robert Fulton, for service between New York and Havana, Cuba, but although this vessel apparently proved a commercial success, she spawned no imitators.
In 1833, a group of investors including Charles Morgan and engineer James P. Allaire formed a new company to operate the first steamer service between New York and Charleston—a route which included passage through the hazardous seas off Cape Hatteras. Instead of commissioning real steamships however, the company attempted to save money by adapting existing steamboats for the ocean route instead. While this venture was initially profitable, the loss of the company's finest steamer, Home, dashed to pieces on the shores of the Cape with the loss of some 100 lives, destroyed public confidence in the company and forced it out of business. No other U.S. company would attempt a service around Cape Hatteras again for almost a decade.
In 1845, a highly experienced transport company, Spofford, Tileston & Co., which had operated a line of sailing ships between New York, the Southern States and Havana for more than two decades, decided to enhance the attraction of its New York to Charleston service by commissioning a steamship for the route. The new vessel, Southerner, thus became the first real steamship to operate along the U.S. coast, as well as being only the second American merchant steamship ever built, after the Robert Fulton 25 years earlier.
Construction and design
editSoutherner was built in 1846 for Spofford, Tileston & Co. by one of New York's leading shipbuilders, William H. Brown.