deckhouse roof, was omitted.

There is no record of how the _Savannah_ was painted, except that the
logbook refers to her "bright" strake. Packets appear to have followed
what once was a Philadelphia practice in having a varnished band along
the topsides. Marestier's sketch indicates that there may have been
four or five bands of color, beginning at or a little above deck and
wide enough for the top band to be up about two-fifths the height of
the bulwarks. The hull was commonly black. The bands were red, white,
and blue and there was a "bright" strake, or alternate black and
varnished bands. These bands were about 3 to 5 inches wide. Sometimes
the "bright" band, as mentioned in the _Savannah_ logbook, was along
the topside just above and adjacent to the top of the wale, or belt of
thick planking, or might be the uppermost strake of the wale. Perhaps
the _Savannah_ had a wide bright band above the wale and multicolored
bands just above the deck. The headrails were painted black, with
mouldings at top and bottom of rails and with knees picked out with
very narrow bands of yellow, or "beading." The figurehead was then
commonly painted in natural colors, to suit the form of head if a
figure or a bust. The bowsprit and davits probably were black. Deck
structures were probably white, the neck natural, with waterways and
inside of bulwarks white, the stack black, and rail caps varnished.

In this period it was unusual to copper a wooden ship before launch,
so it is doubtful that the _Savannah_ was copper sheathed. Since her
voyage occurred during a period of financial depression, it is
probable that her bottom was "white" (tallow and verdigris).

The reconstruction described herein produced a plan for a model that
complied to the fullest extent with all the known dimensions and
descriptions of the _Savannah_ that have yet been found. The result
showed that the United States National Museum's old model could not be
altered to agree with the known features of the _Savannah_ and that a
new model was therefore necessary. So that the new model would be
comparable to other models of early American steamers, existing or
intended, in the Watercraft Collection, it was constructed on the
scale of one-quarter inch to the foot. The new model (figs. 2, 8, and
9) is now on exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution.

[Illustration: Figure 8.--Stern-quarter view of the new model of the
_Savannah_, showing one wheel partially folded and t