"Man has profited whenever he found new sources of energy to speed the movement of passengers and goods upon the seas. His efforts reached one culmination in the nineteenth century when swift and wonderfully graceful American clipper ships sailed the long reaches of the oceans. Yet the heyday of these ships lasted less than the lifespan of a man. Long before the superb Flying Cloud made her record 374 miles in 24 hours under sail on her famous passage from New York to San Francisco in 1851, a noisy, dirty, dangerous machine — the steam engine—was taking to the seas and soon was to relieve mariners from their age-old dependence on the favor of the winds. Early in 1819 a small sailing ship, the Savannah, made the first crossing of the Atlantic with the assistance of a steam engine. Hers was a daring pioneering accomplishment sponsored by American merchants. But the shipping industries of the world were not ready for her, and the SS “Savannah” (the letters SS stand for "steamship") was a commercial failure, ending her days as a simple sailing ship. Change came slowly, and not until 20 years later did the first vessel, the British ship “Sirius”, cross the ocean propelled entirely by steam. This venture pointed the way for the development of the great British steam merchant ship fleet."