The drawings alluded to included that here shown, which has been reduced
from the original, which is still safely preserved in Paris. As will be
seen later, the general character of the vessel is that subsequently made
so successful in America, and the form of the engine is precisely that of
the later "Clermont."
Fulton seems to have been considered, even at this early day, an authority
on the subject of steam navigation. Admiral Preble, in his History of Steam
Navigation, (p.35) quotes the following letter to a friend, written after
his work on his own scheme for that season was over: -
Paris, the 20th Sept., 1802
To Mr. Fulner Skipwith.
Sir, The expense of a patent in France is 300 lives for 1,500 ditto for
fifteen years. There can be no difficulty in obtaining a patent for the
mode of propelling a boat which you have shown me; but if the author of
the model wishes to be assured of the merits of his invention before he
goes to the expense of a patent, I advise him to make the model of a boat
in which he can place a clock-spring, which will give about eight revolutions.
He can then combine the movements so as to try oars, paddles, and the leaves
which he proposes. If he finds that the leaves drive the boat a greater
distance in the same time than either oars or paddles, they consequently
are a better application of power. About eight years ago, the Earl of Stanhope
tried an experiment on similar leaves, wheels, oars, and paddles, and flyers
similar to those of a smoke-jack, and found oars to be the best. The velocity
with which a boat moves is in proportion as the sum of the surfaces of the
oars, paddles, leaves, or other machine is to the bow of the boat presented
to the water, and in proportion to the power with which such machinery is
put in motion. Hence, if the use of the surfaces of the oars is equal to
the sum of the surfaces of the leaves, and they pass through similar curves
in the same time, the effect must be the same. But oars have their advantage;
they return through air to make a second stroke, and hence create very little
resistance; whereas the leaves return through water, and add considerably
to the resistance, which resistance is increased as the velocity of the
boat is augmented. No kind of machinery can create power. All that can be
done is to apply the manual or other power to the best advantage. If the
author of the model is fond of mechanics, he will be much amused, and not
lose his time, by trying the experiments in the manner I propose; and this
perhaps is the most prudent measure, before a patent is taken. I am, sir,
with much respect,
Yours, Robert Fulton.
At this time the inventors had taken up the problem, as we have seen, and
several had been, during the preceding twenty years, working with more or
less success to secure what every statesman of the period saw would he ultimately
a step toward the attainment of that great aim of Fulton, the commercial
freedom of the seas. As early as 1794, Lord Stanhope addressed a letter
to Wilberforce on the questioon of peace or war, likely, he thought to be
brought under discussion on the meeting of Parliament. In this letter he
speculates on the possible resources of France, and hints that England is
not invulnerable. He says -"This country [Great Britain] is vulnerable
in so many ways, the picture is horrid. By my letter I will say nothing
on that subject. One instance, l will, however, state, because it is information
you cannot, as yet, receive from any other quarter; though in two or three
months from the date of this letter the fact will be fully established,
and you may then hear it from others. The thing I allude to is of peculiar
importance. The fact is this: I know (and in a few weeks shall prove) that
ships of any size, and for certain reasons the larger the better, may be
navigated in any narrow or other sea, without sails (though occasion-ally
with), but so as to go without wind, and even directly against both wind
and waves. The consequences I draw are as follows: First, that all the principal
reasons against the-French having the ports of Ostend, etc., cease, inasmuch
as a French fleet composed of ships of the above-mentioned descripti on,
would come out at all times from Cherbourg, Dunkirk, etc., as well as from
Ostend, etc., and appear in the same seas. The water, even at Dunkirk, will
be amply deep enough for the purposes of having them there. The French having
Ostend, ought not, therefore, under this new revolution in naval affairs,
- for it would be a complete revolution, - to be a bar to peace.
Under the old nautical system, naval men might have reasoned differently
on that subject. But the most important consequence which I draw from this
stupendous fact mentioned at the top of this page is this; namely, that
it will shortly render all the existing navies of the world (I mean military
navies) no better than lumber. For what can ships do that are dependent
upon wind and weather against fleets wholly independent of either? Therefore
the boasted superiority of the English navy is no more! We must have a new
one. The French and other nations will, for the same reasons, have their
new ones."
The apprehension of Stanhope was the hope of Fulton; but neither the
hope nor the apprehension has as yet been verified. The introduction of
steam-navigation became a success; but that success came so slowly as to
permit all nations to avail themselves of it, and none sooner or more completely
than the two most active in the production pf this revolution, - Great Britain
and the United States. The British navy became a steam-navy, and the other
nations of the world followed her lead; so that the strife of the century,
at sea, has been a struggle between, and for, steam-fleets. In this direction,
the introduction of steam has resulted in the increased expenditure of money
on fleets in such enormous amounts as to tax the people to the very limit
of their endurance; while the relative order in naval power of the greater
nations has been comparatively little altered.
With the encouragement of Chancellor Livingston, who urged upon Fulton the
importance of the introduction of steam-navigation into their native country,
the latter continued his experimental work. Their boat was finished and
set afloat on the Seine in 1803, in the early spring. Its proportions had
been determined by careful computation from the results of no less careful
experiment on the resistance of fluids and the power required for propelling
vessels; and its speed was, therefore, more nearly in accord with the expectations
and promises of the inventor than was the usual experience in those days.
The Author has examined a collection of Fulton's sketches of these plans,
including chaplet, side-wheel and stern-wheel boats, driven by various forms
of steam-engine, some working direct, and some geared to the paddle-wheel
shaft. Figure 8 is engraved from these sheets. It represents the method
adopted by Fulton to determine the resistance of various forms and proportions
of bodies towed through water. Figure 9 is "A Table of the resistance
of bodies moved through water, taken from experiments made in England by
a society for improving Naval architecture, between the years 1793 and 1798."
This is from a certified copy of "The Original Drawing on file in the
Office of the Clerk of the New York District, making a part of the Demonstra
tion of the patent granted to Robert Fulton, Esqr., on the 11th day of February;
1809. Dated this 3rd March, 1814."
Guided by these experiments and calculations, therefore, Fulton directed
the construction of his vessel. The hull was sixty-six feet long, of eight
feet beam, and of light draught. But unfortunately the hull was too weak
for its machinery, and it broke in two and sank to the bottom of the Seine.
Fulton at once set about repairing damages. He was compelled to direct the
rebuilding of the hull, but the machinery was but slightly injured. In June,
1803, the reconstruction was complete, and the vessel was set afloat in
July.
August 9, 1803, this boat was cast loose in presence of an immense concourse
of spectators, induding a committee of the National Academy, consisting
of Bougainville, Bossuet, Carnot, and Perier. The boat moved but slowly,
making only between three and four miles an hour against the current, the
speed through the water being about 4.5 miles; but this was, all things
considered, a great success.
The experiment attracted little attention, notwithstanding the fact that
its success had been witnessed by the committee of the Academy and by officers
on Napoleon's staff. The boat remained a long time on the Seine, near the
palace. The water-tube boiler of this vessel (Figure 10) is still preserved
at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers at Paris, where it is known as
Barlow's boiler. Barlow patented it in France as early as 1793, as a steamboat-boiler,
and states that the object of his construction was to obtain the greatest
possible extent of heating-surface.
Fulton endeavoured to secure the pecuniary aid and the countenance of the
First Consul, but in vain.
Livingston wrote home, describing the trial and its results, and procured
the passage of an Act by the legislature of the State of New York, exiending,
nominally to Fulton, a monopoly granted the former in 1798 for the term
of twenty years from April 5, 1803, - the date of the new law, - and extending
the time allowed for proving the practicability of driving a boat four miles
an hour by steam to- two years from the same date. A later act further extended
the time to April, 1807.
In May, 1804, Fulton went to England, giving up all hope of success in
France with either his steamboats or his torpedoes, and the chapter of his
work in Europe practically ends here. He had already written to Boulton
& Watt, ordering an engine to be built from plans which he furnished
them; but he had not informed them of the purpose to which it was to be
applied. This engine 1 was to have a steam-cylinder two feet in diameter
and of four feet stroke. Its form and proportions were substantially those
of the boat-engine of 1803.
Meantime, the opening of the century had been distinguished by the beginning
of work in the same direction by the most active and energetic among Fulton's
later rivals. This was Col. John Stevens of Hoboken, who, assisted by his
son, Robert L. Stevens, was earnestly engaged in the attempt to seize the
prize now so evidently almost within the grasp. This younger Stevens was
he of whom the great naval architect and engineer, John Scott Russell, afterward
remarked: "He is probably the man to whom, of all others, America owes
the greatest share of its present highly improved steam-navigation."
The father and son worked together for years after Fulton had demonstrated
the possibility of reaching the desired end, in the improvement of the hulls
and machinery of the river steamboat, until in their hands, and especially
in those of the son, the now familiar system of construction in all its
essentials was developed. The elder Stevens, as early as 1789, evidently
had seen what was in prospect, and had petitioned the legislature of the
State of New York for a grant similar to that actually accorded Livingston,
later; and he had certainly, at that time, formed plans for the application
of steam-power to navigation. The records show that he was at work on construction
as early, at least, as 1791. The following is a brief statement of his work,
mainly as elsewhere given by the Author.
In 1804 Stevens completed a steamboat sixty-eight feet long and of fourteen
feet beam. Its boiler (Figure 11) was of the water-tubular variety. It contamed
one hundred tubes, two inches in diameter and eighteen inches long, fastened
at one end to a central water-leg and steam-drum. The flames from the furnace
passed among the tubes, the water being inside.
The engine (Figure 12) was direct-actng high-pressure condensing, having
a 10-inch cylinder, two feet stroke of piston, and driving a well-shaped
screw, with four-blades.
This machinery, - the high-pressure condensing engine, with rotating valves,
and twin screw-propellers, - as rebuilt in 1805, is still preserved. The
hub and blade of a single screw, also used with the same machinery in 1804,
is likewise extant.
Stevens's eldest son, John Cox Stevens, was in Great Britain in the year
1805, and while there patented a modification of this sectional boiler.
In his specification he says that he describes this invention as it was
made known to him by his father, and adds:
"From a series of experiments made in France, in 1790, by M. Belamour,
under the auspices of the Royal Academy of Sciences, it has been found that,
within a certain range, the elasticity of steam is nearly doubled by every
addition of temperature equal to 300 of Fahrenheit's thermometer. These
experiments were carried no higher than 2800) at which temperature the elasticity
of steam was found equal to about four times the pressure of the atmosphere.
By experiments which have lately been made by myself the elasticity of steam
at the temperature of boiling oil, which has been estimated at about 6000,
was found to equal forty times the pressure of the atmosphere.
"To the discovery of this principle or law, which obtains when water
assumes a state of vapour, I certainly can lay no claim; but to the application
of it, upon certain principles, to the improvement of the steam-engine,
I do claim exclusive right.
"It is obvious that, to derive advantage from an application of this
principle, it is absolutely necessary that the vessel or vessels for generating
steam should have strength sufficient to withstand the great pressure from
an increase of elasticity in the steam; but this pressure is increased or
diminished in proportion to the capacity of the containing vessel. The principle,
then, of this invention consists in forming a boiler by means of a system,
or combination, of a number of small vessels, instead of using, as in the
usual mode, one large one, the relative strength of the materials of which
these vessels are composed increasing in proportion to the diminution of
capacity. It will readily occur that there are an infinite variety of possible
modes of effecting such combinations; but, from the nature of the case,
there are certain limits beyond which it becomes impracticable to carry
on improvement. In the boiler I am about to describe, I apprehend that the
improvement is carried to the utmost extent of which the principle is capable.
Suppose a plate of brass of one foot square, in which a number of holes
are perforated, into each of which holes is fixed one end of a copper tube,
of about an inch in diameter and two feet long, and t'he other ends of these
tubes inserted in like manner into a similar piece of brass; the tubes,
to insure their tightness, to be cast in the plates; these plates are to
be inclosed at each end of the pipes by a strong cap of cast-iron or brass,
so as to leave a space of an inch or two between the plates or ends of the
pipes and the cast-iron cap at each end; the caps at each end are to be
fastened by screw-bolts passing through them into the plates; the necessary
supply of water is to be injected by means of a forcing-pump into the cap
at one end, and through a tube j~serted into the cap at the other end the
steam is to be conveyed to the cylinder of the steam- engine; the whole
is then to be encircled in brick-work or masonry in the usual manner, placed
either horizontally or perpendicularly, at option.
"I conceive that the boiler above described embraces the most eligible
mode of applying the princi~e before mentioned, and that it is unnecessary
to give descriptions of the variations in form and construction that may
be adopted, especially as these forms may be diversified in many different
modes."
Boilers of the character of those described in this specification were used
on a locomotive built by John Stevens, in 1824 - 1825. The use of a high-pressure
sectional boiler seventy years ago is more remarkable than the adoption
of the screw-propeller thirty years before the screw came into general use.
Colonel Stevens designed a form of iron-clad in the year 1812, since reproduced
by the late John Elder, of Glasgow, Scotland. It consisted of a saucer-shaped
hull, plated with iron of ample thickness to resist the shot fired from
the heaviest ordnance then known. This vessel was to be secured to a swivel,
and anchored in the channel to be defended.
A set of screw-propellers, driven by steam-engines, and situated beneath
the vessel, were arranged to permit the vessel to be rapidly revolved about
its centre, working thus on the principle of the "turret" of Timby
and Ericsson. As each gun came into line it was discharged, and then reloaded
before coming around again. This, the first iron-clad ever designed, has
recently been again brought out and introduced into the Russian navy, and
called the "Popoffska."
Stevens next built a boat which he named the "Phoenix," and made
the first trial in 1807, just too late to anticipate Fulton. This boat was
driven by paddle- wheels.
Stevens, being shut out of the rivers of the State of New York by the monopoly
held by Fulton and Livingston, ran the "Phoenix" for a time between
New York Bay and New Brunswick, and on the Delaware.
At that time no canal existed, and in June, 1808, Robert L. Stevens started
to make the passage by sea. Although meeting a gale of wind, he arrived
at Philadelphia safely, having been the first to make a sea voyage by steam-power.
From this time forward the Stevenses continued to construct steam-vessels,
and, later, built the most successful steamboats on the IIudson River.
Before recurring to the work of Fulton, a few more paragraphs may be devoted
to Stevens.1 Col. John Stevens, of Hoboken, was the greatest professional
engineer and naval architect living at the beginning of the present century.
Without having made any improvement in the steam-engine, like that which
gave Watt his fame; without being the first to propose navigation by steam,
or steam-transportation on land, he exhibited a better knowledge of engineering
than any man of his time, and entertained and urged more advanced opinions,
and more statesman-like views, in relation to the economical importance
of the improvement of the steam-engine, both on land and water, than seem
to have been attributable to any other leading engineer of that time, not
excepting Robert Fulton.
Dr. Charles King, then the distinguished President of the Columbia College,
thus refers to the work of this great man.
"Mr. Stevens's attention was first turned, or rather the bent of his
genius was developed and directed toward mechanics and mechanical philosophy,
by the accident of seeing in 1787 the early and, as now may be said, imperfect
steamboat of John Fitch navigating the Delaware River. He was driving in
his phaeton on the banks of the river when the mysterious craft, without
sails or oars, passed by. Mr. Stevens's interest was excited; he followed
the boat to its landing, familiarized himself with the design and the details
of this new and curious combination, and from that hour became a thoroughly
excited and unwearied experimenter in the application of steam to locomotion
on the water, and subsequently on the land.
"Having been brought by close family connection into intimacy with
Robert R. Livingston (the Chancellor of this State, who married the sister
of Colonel Stevens), he induced Mr. L. to join him in these investigations;
and they were persevered in at great cost, and with little immediate success,
till Chancellor Livingston, in 1801-1802, was sent as minister to France.
"So much, however, was the Chancellor encouraged by the experiments
then made, that as early as 1798 he obtained from the legislature of New
York an exclusive grant for the use of steam on the waters of New York.
This, however, became forfeit by the failure to avail within the limited
time of its privileges.
"But previously to the Act of '98, the legislature of New York had,
as early as 1787, granted to James Rumsey and to John Fitch the exclusive
right to navigate the waters of the State with steam-propelled vessels;
and on the 9th of January, 1789, John Stevens petitioned the legislature
for a like grant, - nothing having resulted from the preceding ones. Mr.
Stevens in his petition says that 'to the best of his knowledge and belief
his scheme is altogether new, and does not interfere with the inventions
of either of the other gentlemen who have applied to your honourable body
for an exclusive right of navigating by means of steam.' The petitioner
adds that he 'had made an exact draught of the different parts of his machine,
which, with an explanation thereof, he is ready to exhibit.' The prayer
of the petition was unsuccessful; but these draughts should be among the
papers of the late Colonel Stevens, and at this day would be curious.
"Mr. Stevens, meanwhile, never renounced his experiments, nor despaired
of success; and in 1804 he actually constructed a propeller (a small open
boat, worked by steam), with such decided success that he was encouraged
to go on and build the 'Phoenix' steamboat, on his own plan and model, and
had her ready almost contemporaneously with, but a little after, the first
steamboat of Fulton, the 'Clermont.' The success of the 'Clermont' entitled
Mr. Fulton and Chancellor Livingston, who was co-operating with Fulton,
to the benefit of the law, which had been revived by the State of New York,
granted a monopoly of the waters of the State, and thus Mr. Stevens's steamboat
was excluded from those waters. On the Delaware, however, and on the Connecticut,
he placed boats; and his eminent son, Robert L. Stevens, having embraced
his father's views, was now at work with him to improve the known, and invent
new resources for accelerated steam conveyance."
While Fulton was still abroad, John Fitch and Oliver Evans were pursuing
a similar course of experiment, as were his contemporaries on the other
side the Atlantic, and with more success. Fitch had made a number of fairly
successful ventures, and had shown beyond question that the project of applying
steam to ship-propulsion was a promising one; and he had only failed through
lack of financial backing, and inability to appreciate the amount of power
that must be employed to give his boats any considerable speed. Evans had
made his "Oruktor Amphibolis," - a flat-bottomed vessel which
he built at his works in Philadelphia, and impelled by its own engines,
on wheels, to the bank of the Schuylkill, and then afloat, down the stream
to its berth, by paddle-wheels driven by the same engines. Other inventors
were working on both sides the ocean with apparently good reason to hope
for success, and the times evidently were ripe for the man who should best
combine all the requirements in a single experiment. The man to do this
was Fulton.
Immediately on his arrival, in the winter of 1806-7, Fulton started on his
boat, selecting Charles Brown as the builder, a well-known ship-builder
of that time, and the builder of many of Fulton's later steam-vessels. The
hull of this steamer, which was the first to establish a regular route and
regular transportation of passengers and merchandise in America, - Fulton's
first boat in his native country, - was 133 feet long, 18 feet beam, and
7 feet depth of hold. The engine was of 24 inches diameter of cylinder,
4 feet stroke of piston; and its boiler was 20 feet long, 7 feet high, and
8 feet wide. The tonnage was computed at 160. After its first season, its
operation having satisfied all concerned of the promise of the venture,
its hull was lengthened to 140 feet, and widened to 16.5 feet, thus being
completely rebuilt; while its engines were altered in a number of details,
Fulton furnishing the drawings for the alterations. Two more boats, the
"Raritan" and the "Car of Neptune" were added to form
the fleet of 1807, and steam-navigation was at last fairly begun in America,
some years in advance of its establishment in Europe. The Legislature were
so much impressed with this result that they promptly extended the monopoly
previously given Fulton and Livingston, adding five years for every boat
to be built and set in operation, up to a maximum not to exceed a total
of thirty years.
The "Clermont," as Fulton called this first boat, was begun in
the winter of 1806-7, and launched in the spring; the machinery was at once
put on board, and in August, 1807, the craft was ready for the trial-trip.
The boat was promptly started on her proposed trip to Albany and made the
run with perfect success. Fulton's own account is as follows: -
TO THE EDITOR OF THE "AMERICAN CITIZEN."
SIR, - I arrived this afternoon at four o'clock, in the steamboat from Albany.
As the success of my experiment gives me great hopes that such boats may
be rendered of great importance to my country, to prevent erroneous opinions
and give some satisfaction to my friends of useful improvements you will
have the goodness to publish the following statement of facts: -
I left New York on Monday at one o'clock, and arrived at Clermont, the seat
of Chancellor Livingston, at one o'clock on Tuesday time, twenty-four hours;
distance, one hundred and ten miles. On Wednesday I departed from the Chancellor's
at nine in the morning, and arrived at Albany at five in the afternoon:
distance, forty miles; time, eight hours. The sum is one hundred and fifty
miles in thirty-two hours, - equal to near five miles an hour.
On Thursday, at nine o'clock in the morning, I left Albany, and arrived
at the Chancellor's at six in the evening. I started from thence at seven,
and arrived at New York at four in the afternoon: time, thirty hours; space
run through, one hundred and fifty miles, equal to five miles an hour. Throughout
my whole way, both going and returning, the wind was ahead. No advantage
could be derived from my sails. The whole has therefore been performed by
the power of the steam-engine.
I am, Sir your obedient servant, ROBERT FULTON.
Fulton gives the following account of the same voyage in a letter to his
friend, Mr. Barlow : -"My steamboat voyage to Albany and back has turned
out rather more favourably than I had calculated. The distance from New
York to Albany is one hundred and fifty miles. I ran it up in thirty-two
hours, and down in thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way,
both going and coming, and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power
of the steam-engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward,
and parted with them as if they had been at anchor.
"The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The morning
I left New York, there were not perhaps thirty persons in the city who believed
that the boat would ever move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility;
and while we were putting off from the wharf; which was crowded with spectators,
I heard a number of sarcastic remarks. This is the way in which ignorant
men compliment what they call philosophers and projectors. "Having
employed much time, money, and zeal in accomplishing this work, it gives
me, as it will you, great pleasure to see it answer my expectations. It
will give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchandise on the Mississippi,
Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now laying open their treasures
to the enterprise of our countrymen; and, although the prospect of personal
emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure
in reflecting on the immense advantage my country will derive from the invention,"
etc.
Professor Renwick, describing the "Clermont" of 1807 as she appeared
on her first trip, says: "She was very unlike any of her successors,
and very dissimilar from the shape in which she appeared a few months afterward.
With a model resembling a Long Island skiff, she was decked for a short
distance at stem and stern. The engine was open to view, and from the engine
aft a house like that of a canalboat was raised to cover the hoiler and
the apartment for the officers. There were no wheel-guards. The rudder was
of the shape used in sailing-vessels, and moved by a tiller. The boiler
was of the form then used in Watt's engines, and was set in masonry. The
condenser was of the size used habitually in land engines, and stood, as
was the practice in them, in a large cold-water cistern. The weight of the
masonry and the great capacity of the cold-water cistern diminished very
materially the buoyancy of the vessel. The rudder had so little power that
she could hardly be managed. The skippers of the river craft, who at once
saw that their business was doomed, took advantage of the unwieldiness of
the vessel to run foul of her as soon as they thought they had the law on
their side. Thus, in several instances, the steamer reached one or the other
termini of the route with but a single wheel."
The "American Citizen" of August 17, 1807, says: - "Mr. Fulton's
ingenious steamboat, invented with a view to the navigation of the Mississippi,
from New Orleans upward, sails today from the North River, near State's
Prison, to Albany. The velocity of the steamboat is calculated at four miles
an hour. It is said it will make a progress of two against the current of
the Mississippi, and if so it will certainly be a very valuable acquisition
to the commerce of Western States."
What would this sanguine editor have thought, had he been assured that
the "Clermont " was the pioneer of a fleet that should include
steamships of ten thousand tons, or even as the "Great Eastern,"
of thirty thousand tons displacement; ships that should make a speed of
twenty miles an hour at sea; small torpedo boats carrying out the idea of
Fulton, and pursuing their enemy with their destructive little weapons at
speeds approaching thirty miles an hour; and river boats passing over the
very route chosen for Fulton's first trial-trip at the speed of twenty-seven
miles an hour, and at their "slow speeds," running from New York
to Albany in ten hours or less? What would he have thought, had he dreamed
of steaming from New York to Newport, to Fall River, or to Providence in
ten to twelve hours? Of going from St. Louis to New Orleans in four days?
Of crossing the Atlantic in six?
The engine of the "Clermont" (Figure16), as already seen, was
similar to that of Fulton's French boat, and of rather peculiar construction,
the piston, E, being coupled to the crank-shaft, 0, by a bell-crank, I H
P, and a connecting-rod, P Q, the paddle-wheel shaft, M N; being separate
from the crank-shaft, and connected with the latter by gearing, O O. The
paddle-wheels had buckets four feet long, with a dip of two feet.
The voyage of the "Clermont" to Albany was attended by some ludicrous
incidents. Mr. Colden says that she was described "as a monster, moving
on the waters, defying wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke."
This boat used dry pine wood for fuel, and the flames rose to a considerable
distance above the smoke-pipe; and mingled smoke and sparks rose high in
the air. "This uncommon light first attracted the attention of the
crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were averse to
its approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly coming toward
them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and paddles
was heard, the crews (if what was said in the newspapers of the time be
true) in some instances shrank beneath their decks from the terrific sight,
and left their vessels to go on shore; while others prostrated themselves,
and besought Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible
monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires
which it vomited."
Fulton used several of the now familiar features of the American river boat,
and subsequently introduced others.
The success of the "Clermont" on the trial-trip was such that
Fulton soon after advertised the vessel as a regular passenger boat between
New York and Albany. A newspaper-slip in the scrap-book of the Author has
the following: -
"The traveller of to-day, as he goes on board the great steamboats
'St. John' or 'Drew,' can scarcely imagine the difference between such floating
palaces and the wee-bit punts on which our fathers were wafted sixty years
ago. We may, however, get some idea of the sort of thing then in use by
a perusal of the steamboat announcements of that time two of which are as
follows : -
"'September 2, 1807. "'The North River Steamboat will leave Pauler's
Hook Ferry [now Jersey City] on Friday, the 4th of September, at 9 in the
morning, and arrive at Albany on Saturday, at 9 in the afternoon. Provisions,
good berths, and accommodations are provided.
" 'The charge to each passenger is as follows:
| To: | Dols. | Time in hours |
| Newburg | 3 | 14 |
| Poughkeepsie | 4 | 17 |
| Esopus | 5 | 20 |
| Hudson | 5.5 | 30 |
| Albany | 7 | 36 |
Mr. Fulton's new-invented Steamboat, which is fitted up in a neat style
for passengers, and is intended to run from New York to Albany as a Packet,
left here this morning with 90 passengers, against a strong head-wind. Notwithstanding
which, it was judged she moved through the waters at the rate of six miles
an hour.' "
During the next winter the "Clermont" was repaired and enlarged,
and in the summer of 1808 was again on the route to Albany; and, meantime,
the two new steamboats, the "Raritan" and the "Car of Neptune,"
had been built. In the year 1811 Fulton built the "Paragon."
Fulton patented novel details in steam-engines and steam-vessels in 1811,
and thus secured some valuable property, though by no means sufficient to
insure control of his routes. This he retained for a few years; but up to
1812, at least, there were continual attempts to establish rival lines,
and vessels of all kinds, driven by engines of all sorts, practicable and
impracticable, were built or proposed by ambitious inventors and "grasping
capitalists." In the winter of 1812 an injunction was obtained from
the courts in such terms that a perpetual injunction could be served on
all the opposition lines, and Fulton was for a brief period allowed to pursue
his own course in peace. A number of boats were now built for the rapidly
increasing traffic of the rivers of the United States, and he placed some
even on the "Father of Waters," where he fulfilled the prediction
of his unfortunate predecessor, Fitch, whose remains now lie quietly beside
one of its tributaries.
The table presented below, given by his first biographer, shows the number
and the principal dimensions of the boats built by Fulton, or from his plans,
including the last three, which, though built after his death, are the most
satisfactory of all.
| Names | By whom built | Dimensions | Boilers | Engine | Water wheel | Tonnage | When built | Where employed | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Length | Depth | Breadth | Length | Depth | Breadth | Cylinder | Stroke | Diameter | Length of Bucket | Dip | |||||
| North River, or Clermont | Charles Brown | 133 | 7 | 18 | 20 | 7 | 8 | 24 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 160 | 1806 | Hudson River |
| Raritan | Charles Brown | 120 | 1807 | Raritan River | |||||||||||
| Car of Neptune | Charles Brown | 175 | 8 | 24 | 18 | 8 | 9 | 33 | 4.4 | 14 | 4 | 2.4 | 295 | 1807 | Hudson River |
| Pargon | Charles Brown | 173 | 9 | 27 | 21 | 10 | 9 | 32 | 4 | 16 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 331 | 1811 | Hudson River |
| Fire Fly | Charles Brown | 100 | 7 | 19 | 14 | 9 | 8 | 20 | 3.9 | 12.6 | 3.6 | 2 | 118 | 1812 | From New York to Newburgh |
| Jersey Ferry boat | Charles Brown | 78 | 7 | 32 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1812 | Ferry Company | |
| Richmond | Charles Brown | 153 | 10 | 29 | 21 | 10 | 9 | 33 | 4.4 | 15 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 370 | 1813 | Hudson River |
| Washington | Charles Brown | 155 | 9 | 25 | 20 | 9 | 8 | 26 | 4 | 14 | 4 | 2.3 | 275 | 1813 | Potomac River |
| York Ferry boat | Charles Brown | 78 | 7 | 32 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 20 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1813 | Ferry Company | |
| Nassau Ferry boat | Charles Brown | 78.6 | 7 | 33 | 20 | 8 | 10 | 20 | 4.6 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1813 | Brooklyn Company | |
| Fulton | A. & N. Brown | 134 | 9 | 30 | 20.4 | 8 | 9 | 36 | 4 | 15 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 327 | 1813 | Long Island Sound |
| Fulton the First | A. & N. Brown | 156 | 20 | 56 | 22 | 8 | 12 | 48 | 5 | 16 | 14 | 4 | 2475 | 1814 | Navy Yard |
| Olive Branch | Noah Brown | 124 | 8 | 30 | 1816 | Between NY and New Brunswick | |||||||||
| Emperor of Russia | Adam Brown | 134 | 9.6 | 30.6 | has three | 36 | 5 | 16 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 330 | 1816 | Undetermined | ||
| Chancellor Livingston | Henry Eckford | 156 | 10.6 | 34 | 26 | 10 | 12 | 40 | 5 | 18 | 5.1 | 3 | 526 | 1816 | Hudson River |
"Steam," says the "Gentleman's Magazine" for December,
1809, "has been applied in America to the purpose of inland navigation
with the greatest success. The passage boat between New York and Albany
is one hundred and sixty feet long, and wide in proportion for accommodations,
consisting of fifty-two berths, besides sofas, etc., for one hundred passengers;
and the machine which moves her wheels is equal to the power of twenty-four
horses, and is kept in motion by steam from a copper boiler eight or ten
feet in length. Her route is a distance of one hundred and fifty miles,
which she performs regularly twice a week, and sometimes in the short space
of thirty-two hours." An amazing tale!
According to Colden, the last boat which was constructed under Mr. Fulton's
directions, and according to drawings and plans furnished by him, is that
which, in 1816, navigated the sound from New York to New Haven. She was
of nearly four hundred tons burden, built of uncommon strength, and fitted
up with all conveniences and great elegance. She was the first steamboat
with a round bottom like a sea-going ship. This form was adopted, because,
for a great part of the route, she would be as much exposed as on the ocean.
It was therefore, necessary, to make her a good sea-boat. She passed daily,
and at all times of the tide, the then dangerous strait of Hell-Gate where,
for a mile, she frequently encountered a current running at the rate of
five or six miles an hour. For some distance she had within a few yards,
on each side, rocks and whirlpools which rivalled Scylla and Charybdis,
even as they are poetically described. This passage, previously to its being
navigated by this steamer, was supposed to be impassable except at the change
of the tide; and many shipwrecks had been occasioned by a mistake in time.
"The boat passing through these whirlpools with rapidity, while the
angry waters foamed against her bows, and appeared to raise themselves in
obstinate resistance to her passage, is a proud triumph of human ingenuity.
The owners, as the highest tribute they had in their power to offer to his
genius, and as an evidence of the gratitude they owed him, called her the
"Fulton."
A steam ferry-boat was built to ply between New York and Jersey City in
1812, and the next year two others, to connect with Brooklyn. These were
"twin-boats" the two hulls being connected by a "bridge"
or deck common to both. The Jersey ferry was crossed in fifteen minutes,
the distance being a mile and a half. Fulton's boat carried, at one load,
eight carriages, and about thirty horses, and still had room for three hundred
or four hundred foot-passengers.
Fulton's description of one of these boats is as follows : -
"She is built of two boats, each ten feet beam, eighty feet long, and
five feet deep in the hold; which boats are distant from each ofner ten
feet, confined by strong transverse beam-knees and diagonal traces, forming
a deck thirty feet wide and eighty feet long. The propelling water-wheel
is placed between the boats to prevent it from injury from ice and shocks
on entering or approaching the dock. The whole of the machinery being placed
between the two boats, leaves ten feet on the deck of each boat for carriages,
horses and cattle, etc.; the other, having neat benches and covered with
an awning, is for passengers, and there is also a passage and stairway to
a neat cabin, which is fifty feet long and five feet clear from the floor
to the beams, furnished with benches, and provided with a stove in winter.
Although the two boats and space between them gives thirty feet beam, yet
they present sharp bows to the water, and have only the resistance in the
water of one boat of twenty beam. Both ends being alike, and each having
a rudder, she never puts about."
Meantime, the War of 1812 was in progress, and Fulton designed a steam vessel-of-war,
which was then considered a wonderfully formidable craft. Fulton proposed
to build a vessel capable of carrying a heavy battery, and of steaming four
miles an hour. The ship was fitted with furnaces for red-hot shot, and some
of her guns were to be discharged below the water-line. The estimated cost
was $320,000. The construction of the vessel was authorized by Congress
in March, 1814; the keel was laid June 20, 1814, and the vessel was launched
October 29 of the same year.
The "Fulton the First," as she was called, was then considered
an enormous vessel. The hull was double, 156 feet long, 56 feet wide, and
20 feet deep, measuring 2,475 tons. In May the ship was ready for her engine,
and in July was so far completed as to steam, on a trial-trip, to the ocean
at Sandy Hook and back, 53 miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes. In
September, with armament and stores on board, the ship made for sea and
for battle; the same route was traversed, the vessel making 5.5 miles an
hour. Her engine, having a steam-cylinder 48 inches in diameter and of 5
feet stroke of piston, was furnished with steam by a copper boiler 22 feet
long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet high, and turned a wheel, between the two
halls, 16 feet in diameter, with "buckets" 14 feet long, and a
dip of 4 feet. The sides were 4 feet 10 inches thick, and her spar-deck
was surrounded by musket-proof bulwarks. The armament consisted of 30 32-pounders,
intended to discharge red-hot shot. There was one mast for each hull, fitted
with lateen sails. Large pumps were carried, intended to throw streams of
water on the decks of the enemy, with a view to disabling him by wetting
his ordnance and ammunition. A submarine gun was to have been carried at
each bow, to discharge shot weighing one hundred pounds, at a depth of ten
feet below water.
This, for the time, tremendous engine-of-war was constructed in response
to a demand from the citizens of New York for a means of harbour defence.
They appointed what was called a Coast and Harbour Defence Committee; and
this committee examined Fulton's plans, and called the attention of the
General Government to them. The Government appointed a Board of Experts
from among its most famous naval officers, induding Commodore Decatur, Captains
Paul Jones, Evans, and Biddle, Commodore Perry; and Captains Warrington
and Lewis. They reported unanimously in favour of the proposed construction,
and set forth her advantages over all previously known forms of war-vessel.
The citizens' committee offered to guarantee the expense of building the
ship; and the construction was undertaken under the supervision of a committee
appointed for the purpose, consisting of several then distinguished men,
both military and naval. Congress authorized the building of coast-defence
vessels by the President, in March, 1814, and Fulton at once started the
work of construction, Messrs. Adam and Noah Brown building the hull, and
the engines being placed on board and in working order within a year.
The death of Fulton took place in the year 1815, while in the height of
his fame and of his usefulness. He had been called to Trenton, New Jersey,
in January of that year, to give testimony before the State legislature
in reference to the proposed repeal of laws which had interfered with the
operation of the ferry-boats and other steam-vessels plying between the
city of New York and the New Jersey shore. It happened that the weather
was cold, he was exposed to its severity both at Trenton and, especially,
crossing the Hudson River on his return, and took a cold from which he never
recovered. He became apparently convalescent after a few days; but insisted
on visiting the new steam-frigate too soon, to inspect work in progress
there, and on his return home experienced a relapse, - his illness finally
resulting in his death, February 24, 1815. He left a wife (nee Harriet Livingston)
and four children, three of whom were daughters.
Robert Fulton died in the service of the United States government; and although
engaged for years in devoting time and talents to the best interests of
our country, still the public records show that the Government was indebted
to his estate upwards of $100,000 for moneys actually expended and services
rendered by him, agreeably to contract.
When the legislature, then in session at Albany, heard of the death of Mr.
Fulton, they expressed their sentiments of regret by resolving that the
members of both houses should wear mourning for six weeks. This is the only
instance, According to Colden, up to that time, of such pubhc testimonials
of regret, esteem, and respect being offered on the death of a private citizen,
who was only distinguished by his virtues, his genius, and his talents.
He was buried February 25, 1815. His funeral was attended by all the oflicers
of the National and State governments then in the city, by the magistracy,
the common council, a number of societies, and a greater number of citizens
than had ever been collected on any similar occasion. When the procession
began to move, and until it arrived at Trinity Church, minute-guns were
fired from the steam-frigate and the Battery. His body is deposited in a
vault belonging to the Livingston family.
Mr. Fulton is described as a tall man, about six feet in height, slender,
but well proportioned. "Nature had made him a gentleman, and bestowed
upon him ease and gracefulness." He had too much good sense to exhibit
affectation, and confidence in his own worth and talents gave him a pleasing
deportment in all companies. His features were strong and handsome; he had
large dark eyes, a projecting brow, and features expressive of intelligence
and thought; his disposition was mild yet lively, and he was fond of society.
He conversed with energy, fluency, and correctness; and, owing more to experience
and reflection than to books, he was often interesting in his originality.
In all his social relations he was kind, generous, and affectionate. His
only use for money was to make it an aid to charity, hospitality, and the
promohon of science. He was especially distinguished by constancy, industry,
and that union of patience and persistence which overcame every difficulty.
Robert Fulton has never, even yet, received either in kind or degree the
credit that is justly his due. Those members of the engineering profession
who have become familiar with his work through the ordinary channels of
information generally look upon him as a talented artist and fortunate amateur
engineer, whose fancies led him into many strange vagaries, and whose enthusiastic
advocacy of a new method of transportation - the success of which was already
assured by the ingenuity and skill of James Watt, Oliver Evans, and John
Fitch, and by the really intelligent methods of those early professional
engineers, the Messrs. Stevens - gave him the opportunity of grasping the
prize of which Chancellor Livingston had secured the legal control. By such
engineers as know only of his work on the Seine and the Hudson in the introduction
of the steamboat, he is not considered as an inventor, but simply as one
who profited by the inventions of others, and who, taking advantage of circumstances,
and gaining credit which was not of right wholly his own, acquired a reputation
vastly out of proportion to his real merits.
The layman, judging only from the popular traditions, and the incomplete
historical accounts that have come to him, supposes Robert Fulton to have
been the inventor of the steamboat, and on that ground regards him as one
of the greatest mechanics and engineers that the world has seen.
The truth undoubtedly is, as we have now seen, that Fulton was not "the
inventor of the steamboat," and that the reputation acquired by his
successful introduction of steam-navigation is largely accidental, and is
principally due to the possession, in company with Livingston, of a monopoly
which drove from this most promising field those original and skilful engineers,
Evans and the Stevenses. No one of the essential devices successfully used
by Fulton in the "Clermont," his first North River steamboat,
was new; and no one of them differed, to any great extent, from devices
successfully adopted by earlier experimenters. Fulton's success was a commercial
success purely. John Stevens had, in 1804, built a successful screw steam-vessel;
and his paddle-steamer of 1807, the "Phoenix," was very possibly
a better piece of engineering than the "Clermont." John Fitch
had, still earlier, used both screw and paddle. In England, Miller and Symmington
and Lord Dundas had antedated even Fulton's earliest experiments on the
Seine. Indeed, it seems not at all unlikely that Papin, a century earlier
(in 1707), had he been given a monopoly of steam-navigation on the Weser
or the Fulda, and had he been joyfully hailed by the Hanoverians as a public
benefactor, as was Fulton in the United States, instead of being proscribed
and assaulted by the mob who destroyed his earlier "Clermont,"
might have been equally successful; or it may be that the French inventor,
Jouffroy, who experimented on the rivers of France twenty-five years before
Fulton, might, with similar encouragement, have gained an equal success.
Yet although Fulton was not in any true sense "the inventor of the
steamboat," his services in the work of introducing that miracle of
our modern time cannot be overestimated; and, aside from his claim as the
first to grasp success among the many who were then bravely struggling to
place steam-navigation on a permanent and safe basis, he is undeniably entitled
to all the praise that has ever been accorded him on such different ground.