Traveller in poem, American, saving Yankee steamship (8)
I believe the answer is:
odysseus
'traveller' is the definition.
(I know that Odysseus is a traveller)
'poem american saving yankee steamship' is the wordplay.
'poem' becomes 'ode' (ode is a type of poem).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'saving' indicates putting letters inside.
'yankee' becomes 'Y' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'steamship' becomes 'ss' (nautical abbreviation).
'ode'+'us'='odeus'
'y'+'ss'='yss'
'odeus' going around 'yss' is 'ODYSSEUS'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for odysseus that I've seen before include "Legendary hero" , "Ancient king" , "Hero of an epic poem attributed to Homer" , "character on an epic journey" , "Greek name for Ulysses" .)