America was a dynamic place in the middle-nineteenth century, where even a descendent of an indentured worker, born into poverty, might become one of the richest men in America. And that man might then inspire the world, by going on vacation.
In a time when the war news was almost universally disastrous for the US, the "Devil Boats" of John D Bulkeley's PT Squadron Three offered an important boost to American Morale.