Alright, James Rumsey was essentially the creator of the water jet propeller, inventing it in 1792 and promptly dying from stress. However, he had done a large amount of tests in America, the main one on the Potomac River.
He had ran out of money, though, and moved to England with John Fitch, a major steam engine inventor.
Well, what if the US funded him? Would we not see the RMS Titanic, but the USS Titanic or something along those lines?