After Dr. Cartwright, the inventor of the power-loom, had retired
penniless from his manufacturing enterprises, and had taken up his abode
in London, one of the constant visitors at his modest residence in
Marylebone Fields, was a thin, sharp-featured American, about
twenty-eight years of age, an artist by profession, and formerly student
of Benjamin West, who, however, was now much more interested in the art
of engineering than the art of painting. From an early age he had shown
a taste for mechanics, and was fond of spending his play-hours at school
loitering about workshops and factories, watching the men at their work,
and studying the machines and instruments they used. This sojourn in
England had brought him into contact with the Duke of Bridgewater, the
great canal projector, and Lord Stanhope, well known for his
improvements in the printing press and other contrivances, in whose
company his boyish bent towards mechanics was revived, and became quite
a passion with him. He threw aside his brushes and palette, and applied
himself to his favourite pursuit with heart and soul. Having formed the
acquaintance of Cartwright, he became a daily visitor at his house, and
the enthusiastic, good-natured doctor and he would sit debating for
hours the great problem: "Whether it were practicable to move vessels by
steam?" Fulton, eager, restless, vivacious, with pencil in hand, was
perpetually sketching plans of paddle-wheels; while the doctor, calm,
dignified, and earnest, equally engrossed in the subject, was contriving
various modes of bringing steam to act upon them. Neither of them had
any doubt that the thing could be done, but the "how" long baffled them;
and even though the doctor constructed "the model of a boat, which,
being wound up like a clock, moved on the water in a highly satisfactory
manner," nothing practical came of their cogitations till some years
after.
While on a visit to Paris, Fulton was struck with the injury which
standing navies of men-of-war inflicted on the mercantile marine, and
gave his whole attention, as he says, "to find out the means of
destroying such engines of oppression, by some method which would put it
out of the power of any nation to maintain such a system, and compel
every government to adopt the simple principles of education, industry,
and a free circulation of its produce." The means presented itself to
his mind in the shape of an explosive shell, called the torpedo, by
which any ship of war could be blown to pieces; and for six or seven
years he occupied himself in fruitless attempts to get first the
government of France, and then that of England, to take up his project.
He did not abandon his schemes with regard to steam-vessels, however;
but, under the auspices of Mr. Livingstone, the American ambassador,
made several experiments. One vessel of considerable size broke through
the middle when the engines were placed on board, but a second one was
rather more successful, though but a slow rate of movement was attained.
His project came under the notice of Napoleon, then First Consul, who
did not fail to appreciate its value. "It was," he said, "capable of
changing the face of the world;" and he directed a commission to inquire
into its merits. Nothing came of it, however.
Shortly after, Fulton visited Scotland, and got an introduction to
Symington, whom he pressed for a sight of his boat. Symington generously
consented, and gave him a short sail on board the steam-tug. Fulton made
no concealment of his intention of starting steamboats in his own
country, whither he was about to return, and asked Symington to allow
him to make a few notes of his observations on board. Symington had no
objections; and, therefore, he says, "Fulton pulled out a memorandum
book, and after putting several pointed questions respecting the general
construction and effect of the machine, which I answered in a most
explicit manner, he jotted down particularly everything then described,
with his own remarks upon the boat while moving with him on board along
the canal." Fulton was very liberal in his promises not to forget his
assistance, if he got steamboats established in America; but Symington
never heard anything more of him.
Fulton was at New York in 1806, and busy getting a steamboat put
together. It was a costly undertaking, and he had little spare cash of
his own; so he offered shares in the concern to his friends, but no one
would have anything to do with so ridiculous a scheme, as they thought.
"My friends," says Fulton, "were civil, but shy. They listened with
patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast of incredulity on
their countenances. I felt the full force of the lamentation of the
poet,--
'Truths would you teach, to save a sinking land,
All shun, none aid you, and few understand.'
As I had occasion to pass daily to and from the building-yard while my
boat was in progress, I have often loitered, unknown, near the idle
groups of strangers, gathering in little circles, and heard various
inquiries as to the object of this new vehicle. The language was
uniformly that of scorn, sneer, or ridicule. The loud laugh rose at my
expense, the dry jest, the wise calculation of losses and expenditure,
the dull, but endless repetition of 'the Fulton Folly.' Never did a
single encouraging remark, a bright hope, or a warm wish, cross my
path."
Let them laugh that win. The success which shortly attended Fulton's
scheme turned the tables upon those who had mocked at him. The
_Clermont_ was completed in August 1807, and the day arrived when the
trial was to be made on the Hudson river. "To me," wrote Fulton, "it was
a most trying and interesting occasion. I wanted some friends to go on
board to witness the first successful trip. Many of them did me the
favour to attend as a mark of personal respect; but it was manifest they
did it with reluctance, fearing to be partners of my mortification, and
not of my triumph. The moment arrived in which the word was to be given
for the vessel to move. My friends were in groups on the deck. There was
anxiety mixed with fear among them. They were silent, sad, and weary. I
read in their looks nothing but disaster, and almost repented of my
efforts. The signal was given, and the boat moved on a short distance,
and then stopped and became immovable. To the silence of the preceding
moment now succeeded murmurs of discontent and agitation, and whispers
and shrugs. I could hear distinctly repeated--'I told you so; it is a
foolish scheme; I wish we were well out of it.' I elevated myself on a
platform, and stated that I knew not what was the matter; but if they
would be quiet, and indulge me for half an hour, I would either go on or
abandon the voyage. I went below, and discovered that a slight
misadjustment was the cause. It was obviated. The boat went on; we left
New York; we passed through the Highlands; we reached Albany! Yet even
their imagination superseded the force of fact. It was doubted if it
could be done again, or if it could be made, in any case, of any great
value."
The simple-minded country folk on the banks of the Hudson were almost
frightened out of their wits at the awful apparition which they saw
gliding along the river, and which, especially when seen indistinctly
looming through the night, looked to their bewildered eyes, "a monster
moving on the water, defying the winds and tide, and breathing flames
and smoke." Pine-wood was used for fuel, and whenever the fire was
stirred, a great burst of sparks issued from the chimney. "This uncommon
light," says Colden, the biographer of Fulton, "first attracted the
attention of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and
tide were adverse to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it
was rapidly coming towards them; and when it came so near that the noise
of the machinery and paddles were heard, the crews in some instances
shrunk beneath their decks from the terrific sight, and others left
their vessels to go on shore; while others, again, 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."
With the novelty of the spectacle its terror died away, and people soon
got tired of rushing out to see the remarkable machine that had once
seemed so miraculous to them. The _Clermont_ soon began to travel
regularly as a passage-boat between Albany and New York, other
steam-vessels were constructed on its model, and by degrees the steam
marine of America grew into the host it is at present. Thirty years
after the first experiment on the Hudson, it was calculated 1300
steamboats had been built in the States.
Fulton did not live long to enjoy his triumphs. He died in 1815, having
been actively engaged in promoting steam navigation to his last hours.