She was a 2-deck wooden sidewheel steamship. In 1840, Commander Isaac Mayo was assigned command of the sidewheel steam gunboat . Porter served as first lieutenant of the sidewheel gunboat under Commander Josiah Tattnall. The first , a sidewheel gunboat, began charting the Yangtze River in 1871. The first steamship to make regular transatlantic crossings was the sidewheel steamer in 1838. "Granada" was a 1,058 91/95-ton sidewheel steamship. The sidewheel steamer was launched in 1857. SS "Savannah" was an American hybrid sailing ship/sidewheel steamer built in 1818. CSS Sea Bird was a sidewheel steamer in the Confederate States Navy. Union and Confederate forces quickly converted existing passenger-carrying boats into armed sidewheel steamers. His flagship, "Sea Bird", carrying two guns, was a converted sidewheel steamer. Sidewheel paddlers were the first to enter the scene. Two other sidewheel vessels, and , had been ferries.