The first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean was the Savannah, which made the voyage in 1819 taking twenty-eight days, about the same amount of time as the same journey aboard a sailing ship. Because a steamship required coal to fuel its boilers, it was more expensive to operate than a sailing ship, and thus there was little incentive to abandon sail for steam. In 1837, however, British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunei (1806-1859) designed Great Western, which was not only the largest ship in the world but also the fastest. It was capable of transporting 148 passengers at an average speed of 9 knots. On its maiden voyage in 1838, the Great Western took fifteen days to sail from Bristol to New York and fourteen days for its return voyage, half the time of the same journey under sail. It became the first steamship with regular transatlantic...