In 1819, the American steamship SS Savannah completed the first transatlantic voyage partly under steam power, traveling from Savannah, Georgia, to Liverpool in just 29 days. This landmark journey demonstrated the potential of steam technology for ocean travel, paving the way for future advancements in maritime transportation. The SS Savannah's successful crossing marked the beginning of a new era in international shipping and travel.

The steamer's conquest of the Atlantic began to shrink the imaginative distance between the Old and New Worlds; American Romantic poets such as Bryant and later Whitman engaged with the ocean as a democratized space now crossable by more than just the wealthy or adventurous.