A steamship is a large boat powered by a steam engine rather than sails or oars. Inside the ship, burning coal heats water in enormous boilers until it turns into steam. That steam builds up tremendous pressure, which drives pistons or turns paddle wheels that push the ship through the water. The first practical steamships appeared in the early 1800s, and they revolutionized ocean travel because they could move against the wind, maintain steady speeds, and follow predictable schedules.

Before steamships, sailing ships had to wait for favorable winds and could take months to cross an ocean. A steamship could make the same journey in weeks, transforming global trade and immigration. By the mid-1800s, steamships were carrying mail, passengers, and cargo across the Atlantic on regular timetables. The RMS Titanic was a famous ocean liner that used steam engines, though by 1912 many large ships were beginning to transition to more efficient engines.

You can often recognize old steamships in pictures by their tall smokestacks, which released black smoke from burning coal. While modern cargo ships and cruise ships use different technology, the steamship era laid the foundation for our connected world by making ocean travel reliable and relatively fast.