AH-WR-0647

SS Savannah

Sailing Ship (Formerly Hybrid Steamship) · United States · Lost 1821 · Long Island & the New York Approaches

The first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean, stripped of her engine and later wrecked as a plain sailing packet on Fire Island in 1821.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Savannah made history in 1819 as the first vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean partly under steam power, though her owners judged the voyage a financial failure and had her engine removed soon after. Reduced to an ordinary coastal sailing packet, she ran aground on Fire Island in 1821 near a break then known as the old inlet. Wave action split her hull over following days, and she was gradually buried in the sand; a man guarding the wreck later drowned. Searches for her remains, including a 1982 expedition by the National Underwater and Marine Agency, have not conclusively located the wreck.

Vessel

Built: 1818
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail (steam engine removed after her 1819 Atlantic crossing)
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: November 5, 1821
Cause: Grounding
Location: Fire Island, near the former village of Fireplace
Water: Atlantic Ocean / Great South Bay approach
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Captain Holdridge

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Buried in sand; exact remains not conclusively located
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 40.65° N 73.15° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Fire Island, New York
Region: Long Island & the New York Approaches

General area only: coordinate of Fire Island (near the former village of Fireplace) from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (65/100)

The wreck's exact location has never been conclusively confirmed despite multiple search expeditions; the precise 1821 date is drawn from secondary historical accounts rather than a single primary record.