What is the name of the wrecked steamboat that Huck and jim board, and why is the name important?

The steamboat is called the "Walter Scott," named after the famous Scottish writer whose novels in the 18th and early 19th century epitomized the ideals of old-world chivalry. Twain oft ridiculed Walter Scott, believing those old world ideas were stilted, and he shows this by naming a sinking ship after the writer.