Front:
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Phoenix 1809
ORLEANS
1989
Z0113
LA
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STEAMBOAT PHOENIX – 1809
First Day of Issue: March 3, 1989
First Issue Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
In the beginning of the steamboat era, two gentlemen by
the names of Fulton and Livingston had a monopoly on
steamboat operation in the New York area. John Stevens,
Jr., a wealthy New Jersey inventor who had also been
involved in steamboat development for many years,
launched his own steamboat, the Phoenix, in defiance of
the Fulton-Livingston monopoly of the area. Stevens
worked his steamboat on the Hudson and in New Jersey
waters for close to a year, and then decided to move her
to the Delaware, far from Fulton-Livingston territory. It
was a weighty decision, for it meant that the craft would
have to steam through over 150 miles of open water. Nev-
ertheless, the Phoenix put to sea, with Captain Moses
Rogers as her master. Thirteen days later, after several
delays due to bad weather and engine trouble, the
Phoenix reached Philadelphia. The successful comple-
tion of her treacherous journey earned the little side-
wheeler her place in American history. She was the first
ocean-going steamboat in the world!
No. 89-7
©1989 The Maximum Card Collection
A Division of Unicover Corporation Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
Original painting by John Swatsley
