Circassian Clipper sailing ship 1866 Keychain

Circassian Clipper sailing ship 1866 The Circassian left Portland at 4 PM in 1857, it was an iron screw steamer for the Continental Mail Steamship Company Continental Mail Steamship Company vessel, sailing for Antwerp, Thomas S. Ellis, commander. This is an important transitional card between sail and steam. Steamships were water vessels propelled by steam. They started to appear on western rivers in 1807. Robert Fulton built a steamboat using John Fitch's patented version of the steam engine and became known as the “Father of Steam Navigation”. The first steamboat on the Mississippi was called the New Orleans, built in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1811. Steamships could travel at speeds of up to five miles per hour. They revolutionized river travel and trade