the New Orleans, launched from New York on January 12, 1847. He paid $120,000 for the 869-ton steamship new, but it produced only $33,000 in revenue for moving troops. He sold it five months after its launch for $125,000. The other 1847 steamer purchases were for steamships already in use. Palmetto was built in 1846, and most of its interest sold to Morgan in March 1847. Captain Jeremiah Smith commanded the 533-ton steamer and spent about three months on charters for the United States Army. Afterward, Palmetto entered packet service for New Orleans and Galveston. Captain Smith maintained a small interest in Palmetto and became an investment partner with Morgan in the 249-ton steamship Yacht, a much smaller vessel better suited for navigating the sandbars of the Texas coast. Portland was a steamer built in 1835 which originally served the coast of Maine; she was brought into the Morgan fleet late in 1847 and assigned to move military troops and equipment out of New Orleans. The fifth and last acquisition in 1847 was Globe, which was placed immediately into packet service. After the war, Morgan obtained the charter business for taking troops home. Later, he deployed his steamers to expanded packet service. Service in Texas expanded to Indianola, Port Lavaca, and Brazos St. Iago. The last of these ports facilitated outbound shipments of precious metals, hides, and wool. Starting in 1850, the Morgan earned $15,000 annually for carrying mail in and out of Brazos St. Iago, and $12,000 for the mail route from New Orleans to Galveston and Indianola. Gold rush Panama After the discovery of gold in California in January 1848, news emanated to the eastern United States in the last quarter of that year. With financial capital and the means of production still concentrated near the Eastern seaboard, there was demand for transportation to carry people and supplies to the Pacific coast. In January 1849, no fewer than 90 marine vessels departed eastern ports bound for California. Through mid-April 1849, the port of New York dispatched 226 California-bound vessels carrying a total of about 20,000 people. The shortest wholly oceanic route from New York was over 14,000 nautical miles, and even a few hundred miles longer from New Orleans. Yet this distance from New York could be reduced to less than 5,000 miles with a multi-modal short-cut across the Isthmus of Panama. The Royal Steam Packet Company, one