Steamship Historical Society Publishes History of Savannah Line

The Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc. is proud to announce the publication of The Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah: The Savannah Line by Edward A. Mueller. When it was chartered in 1872 to carry passengers and freight between Savannah, Georgia and New York, the Ocean Steamship Company of Savannah was the only coastwise steamship company with headquarters in the South. Better known simply as The Savannah Line, it flourished for over seventy years and proved to be a major trade and travel link between the agricultural areas of Georgia and the markets and distribution centers of New York and Boston.

In the years immediately following the Civil War, the Central of Georgia Railroad played an integral role in helping the war-ravaged South regain its stature by improving the region’s transportation system. The Savannah Line, a subsidiary of the railroad, was a major component of this rebuilding process. Over the years, it created some of the finest coastwise passenger and cargo steamers ever seen on the East Coast. They were familiar sights on both the Savannah River and the Hudson River as they departed on their two-day voyages along the coast. Beginning with an overview of water transportation in Georgia from the earliest days, this book takes readers through the glory days of coastwise steamship service, the company’s role in World War II and its ultimate demise in a postwar world which no longer had time for coastwise steamships.

Edward A. Mueller is a professional engineer whose specialty has been the field of transportation. He was Florida’s first secretary of transportation and has spent a lifetime researching and writing about steamships and steamboats. A former editor of Steamboat Bill, he has written a number of books, mostly recently Queen of Sea Routes: The Merchants and Miners Transportation Company, for the Steamship Historical Society of America. Mueller was chosen to receive the society’s Samuel Ward Stanton Award For Lifetime Achievement for the year 2000. The book is 239 pages, with dozens of illustrations and plans, many of which have never before been published, as well as a comprehensive fleet list. It is available in a hardback, numbered, limited-edition version ($60.00) and a softback version ($29.50).