Fulton's Steamboat Sails
Fulton's Steamboat Sails refers to the notable achievements of Robert Fulton in developing a commercially viable steamboat, which marked a significant advancement in maritime transportation. Though often credited with inventing the steamship, Fulton was not the original inventor of steam power; rather, he successfully applied existing steam engine technology to create a functional vessel. His interest in mechanics and engineering began at an early age and evolved during his time in Europe, where he experimented with various inventions, including submarines.
In partnership with Robert R. Livingston, Fulton launched his first steamboat on the Seine River in 1802. His most famous vessel, the Clermont, made its inaugural journey up the Hudson River in 1807, demonstrating the practicality of steam-powered travel. This journey not only proved the concept but also led to the establishment of regular commercial steamboat services. Over the following years, Fulton continued to innovate, designing additional steamboats for various waterways and contributing to naval defense with the construction of a steam-powered warship during the War of 1812. Fulton's work laid the foundation for the expansion of steamboat transportation in the United States, fundamentally transforming commerce and travel in the early 19th century.
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Fulton's Steamboat Sails
Fulton's Steamboat Sails
Robert Fulton did many remarkable things during his 50 years of life, but he did not invent the steamship as Americans often credit him with doing. He did, however, successfully develop the first steamboat that was commercially practical.
Harnessing steam power had been considered since the time of the ancient Greeks. It was certainly contemplated by Hero of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and inventor (circa third century A.D.). Again contrary to public opinion, the first steam engine was not invented by James Watt. Watt, a Scottish instrument maker working at the University of Glasgow, discovered some interesting things when he was repairing a steam engine that had been patented in 1705 by Thomas Newcomen and Thomas Savery. In 1769, when Watt patented his improvements on the steam engine, he gave the world the most practical source of steam power that had been seen up to that time.
Many engineers began to experiment with powering ships by steam. Among these were the Americans John Fitch and James Rumsey, whose steam-powered ships successfully sailed less than two decades after Watt patented his piston steam engine. However, it remained for Fulton to make the application of steam power to ships practical enough to be used commercially.
Born on November 14, 1765, on a farm in Little Britain, Pennsylvania, about 22 miles south of Lancaster, Fulton showed great mechanical talent and inventiveness early in his life. When he was 14 he enjoyed fishing with a group of boys, but he balked at the exertion required to pole the boat out to the fishing spot, so he designed a paddle-wheel vessel. While still in his teens he built a skyrocket to celebrate Independence Day. He liked talking with craftsmen and watching them work, and he learned much this way, becoming an expert gunsmith while the American Revolution was being fought.
After the war Fulton was apprenticed to a jeweler in Philadelphia. Two or three years later, still in Philadelphia, he became self-employed as a painter of landscapes and portraits. He also did miniatures, which were very much in vogue. His success enabled him to buy a small farm for his mother. In 1786 he went to London, England, and studied under another Pennsylvania-born painter, Benjamin West. Fulton's paintings had a fairly good reception in England and France, but his interests turned more and more to canal engineering and mechanical invention. Abandoning art in 1793, he wrote his Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Investigation, which appeared in 1796 but failed to interest anyone in his canal proposals.
In the spring of 1797 Fulton moved to France, where he drew plans for a submarine. Despite rejection from the French government, in 1800 Fulton successfully launched his submersible, the Nautilus. He stayed in the submerged vessel for six hours, receiving air from an above-water tube. He later improved the Nautilus by devising an on-board supply of compressed air, a horizontal rudder, and other refinements. Nevertheless, the French still rejected the Nautilus and Fulton turned to experimenting with steamboats.
Fulton then went into partnership with Robert R. Livingston, who was appointed as American minister to France in 1801 by President Thomas Jefferson and helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Livingston had been experimenting with steamboats and held a monopoly on steamboating in New York waters. He financed Fulton's experiments, and together they launched Fulton's first steamboat on France's Seine River in 1802.
Having spent 20 years abroad, Fulton returned to the United States in 1806, still working on improvements for what he called The Steamboat. On August 17, 1807, a few days after a trial run, Fulton's vessel made its historic trip up the Hudson (or North) River from New York City to Albany. The trip of 150 miles took 32 hours, and the return trip an additional 30 hours. Fulton thus proved that it could be done, and regular commercial schedules, beginning in the fall, were advertised for his “North River Steamboat.”
Substantially rebuilt, and lengthened from 140 to 149 feet, the ship was registered in 1808 as The North River Steamboat of Clermont, which the press shortened to Clermont. Clermont was the name of the house in which Fulton married Harriet Livingston, the cousin of his partner. Over the next few years more steamboats were built to ply the Hudson River route. Fulton set up an engine works in New Jersey and continued to design steamboats of all sorts, including ferries used on the Hudson and East Rivers, which border Manhattan. He designed the New Orleans, which sailed on the Mississippi River in 1811. During the War of 1812 Fulton built the ship Demologos, which he conceived of as a floating fort to defend New York harbor. It was launched shortly before the war ended in December 1814.
Having spent his comparatively short life making great practical contributions by improving upon the inventions of others, Fulton died in New York City on February 24, 1815.