- For other uses, see Enterprise.
| SEAGOING CRAFT | |
| Enterprise | |
| |
| Class: | steamboat |
| Affiliation: | United States of America |
| Launched: | January 17 1816 |
| Status: | Retired (1826) or Sank (1818) |
The Enterprise was a 19th century freighter, the first steamboat in Georgia and one of the first in America.
History and specifics[]
Enterprise had a shallow draft and was 90 feet long, designed to negotiate river currents.
In 1816, Enterprise was built under authority of the Howard brothers in a shipyard in Savannah, Georgia. It was used to ferry freight and tow larger sailing ships to river ports on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Records were unclear whether it operated continually through 1826 or sank in 1818. (The Official Fan Club Magazine Issue 61: "Enterprise: A Timeless Legend")
- Samuel Howard commanded the vessel during her first voyage on 26 April 1816, towing a salt-loaded boat along the Savannah River to the city of Augusta. Her engine provided 32 horsepower to 16-foot-diameter paddle-wheels. Over ten years of service, nine other people commanded her. (PDF of "River Highway For Trade: The Savannah" by Ruby A. Rahn, June 1968.)
- This vessel succeeded an earlier American steamboat named Enterprise, a 60- to 70-foot-long vessel which operated along the Mississippi River from 1814 to 1816. (Enterprise (1814) article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.)
