Robert Fulton and the Steamboat
[1765-1815]
[Illustration: Robert Fulton.]
After the purchase of Louisiana thousands of settlers joined the
ever-swelling tide of westward migration which had been set in motion by
the early pioneers. These frontiersmen had made their way across the
mountains either by the forest trail, leading with them their
pack-horses or, a little later, by the rough road cut through the
forest, their household goods packed in a strong wagon drawn by oxen or
horses.
Already this difficult method had given place to the flat boat, which,
though safer and more convenient, was still unsatisfactory except when
it floated down stream. In the early years of this century, therefore,
the increasing demands of migration and traffic turned many inventive
minds to the problem of applying steam-power to river navigation, in the
hope of accomplishing a speedier means of travel and transportation.
The first to achieve success in inventing and bringing into practical
use a steam-driven boat was Robert Fulton.
Robert Fulton was born of poor parents in 1765, in Little Britain, Pa.
His father having died when the boy was only three years old, his mother
took charge of his education. She taught him herself until he was eight
and then sent him to school. But he had no liking for books, and made
slow progress. Drawing and mechanical devices absorbed his interest, and
nothing gave him greater delight than to visit the shops of mechanics
and there with his own hands to work out his new ideas.
It is said that Robert came into school late one morning, and upon being
reproved by his teacher explained that he had been at a shop beating a
piece of lead into a pencil. At the same time he exhibited the pencil
and remarked: "It is the best that I have ever used." Upon examining it
the school-master was so well pleased that he praised Robert's effort,
and in a short time nearly all the pupils were using the same sort of
pencil.
[Illustration: A Pack Horse.]
His ingenious ideas found expression in other ways. For example, it was
the custom of his town to celebrate the Fourth of July by an
illumination with candles; but one year candles being scarce, the
citizens were requested to omit the usual display. Robert was at this
time only thirteen years old, and like other boys of his age, full of
Fourth of July patriotism which had to be expressed in some
extraordinary way. So he set his busy brain to work, and having bought
gunpowder and pasteboard, produced some home-made sky-rockets which
greatly astonished the community by their mid-air explosions. Such
fireworks were at that time entirely new to the people of the town.
[Illustration: A Flat Boat.]
Another illustration of his inventive gift belongs to his boyhood days.
He and one of his playmates used to go out fishing in a flat boat which
they propelled by the use of long poles. Getting tired of this method of
navigation, Robert made two crude paddle-wheels, one for each side of
the boat, connecting them by a sort of double crank, which the boys
united in turning. They could then easily propel the boat in their
fishing trips to various parts of the lake, and keenly enjoyed this
novel and easy way of going a-fishing.
While still young Robert won the warm regard of a great painter,
Benjamin West, whose father was an intimate friend of Robert's father.
Very likely this friendship turned Robert's mind strongly toward
painting. At all events, the desire to become an artist took so strong
a hold upon him that at the age of seventeen he went to Philadelphia and
devoted his time to drawing and painting. Here he remained three years
and painted with such skill that he not only supported himself, but sent
money to his old home, and saved $400, with which he bought a little
home for his mother.
In time his interest in art led him to go to London, where he studied
under Benjamin West. But very soon he became interested in trying to
improve canal navigation and in working out various mechanical
appliances.
This love for invention finally diverted his attention very largely from
painting, and led him to the work which made him famous. When about
thirty years old he went to Paris to experiment with a diving-boat, an
invention of his own, intended to carry cases of gunpowder under water.
This machine was not successful, but by the spring of 1801, a little
more than three years after his first effort, he had constructed another
diving-boat, and went with it to Brest where he gave it a successful
trial. With three companions he descended twenty-five feet below the
surface of the water and remained for one hour. In 1805 he tested it
again in England where, with a torpedo of 170 pounds, he blew up a
vessel of 200 tons.
For the invention of the torpedo-boat, the world is indebted to Fulton,
but for the first successful steamboat it owes him a debt of deeper
gratitude. Before leaving Paris, Fulton became acquainted with Robert
R. Livingston, who was at that time the American minister to France. Mr.
Livingston had long felt an interest in steamboat navigation, and was
willing to supply Fulton the necessary money. A steamboat, constructed
at Paris, was finished by the spring of 1803, and the day for its trial
trip was at hand, when, early one morning the boat broke in two parts
and sunk to the bottom of the river. The frame had been too weak to
support the weight of the heavy machinery. On receiving the news, Fulton
hastened to the scene of his misfortune and began at once the work of
raising the boat. For twenty-four hours, without food or rest, and
standing up to his waist in the cold water, he labored with his men
until he succeeded in raising the machinery and in placing it in another
boat. But the exposure to which he submitted himself brought on a lung
trouble from which he never fully recovered.
Having discovered the defects of the machinery Fulton returned in 1806
to America, where, with money furnished by his friend Livingston, he
began to construct another steamboat which he called the Clermont, after
the name of Livingston's home on the Hudson. This boat was 130 feet long
and 18 feet wide, with a mast and a sail, and on each side a wheel 15
feet in diameter, fully exposed to view.
One morning in August, 1807, a throng of expectant people gathered on
the banks of the North River at New York, to see the trial of the
Clermont. Everybody was looking for failure. People had all along
spoken of Fulton as a crack-brained dreamer, and had called the Clermont
"Fulton's Folly." "Of course the thing would not move." "That any man
with common-sense might know," they said. So while Fulton was waiting to
give the signal to start, these wiseacres were getting ready to jest at
his failure.
[Illustration: The Clermont.]
Finally, at the signal, the Clermont moved slowly, and then stood
perfectly still. "Just what I have been saying," said one onlooker with
emphasis. "I knew the boat would not go," said another. "Such a thing is
impossible," said a third. But they spoke too soon, for after a little
adjustment of the machinery, the Clermont steamed proudly up the Hudson.
As she continued her journey, all along the river, people who had come
from far and near stood watching the strange sight. When the boatmen and
sailors on the Hudson, heard the clanking machinery and saw the great
sparks of fire and the volumes of dense, black smoke rising out of the
funnel, they thought the Clermont was a sea-monster. In their
superstitious dread, some of them went ashore, some jumped into the
river, and some fell on their knees in fear, believing the day of
judgment to be at hand. One old Dutchman told his wife that he had seen
the devil coming up the river on a raft.
The trip of 150 miles from New York to Albany was made in thirty-two
hours. Success had at last rewarded this man of strong common-sense,
quiet modesty, and iron will. The Clermont was the first steamboat of
practical use ever invented. From that time men saw the immeasurable
advantage to trade of steam navigation on lakes and rivers.
This was Fulton's last work of great public interest. He died in 1815,
having rendered an untold service to the industrial welfare of his
country and the world.
REVIEW OUTLINE
THE PACK-HORSE, THE FLAT BOAT, AND THE NEW PROBLEM.
ROBERT FULTON AT HOME AND AT SCHOOL.
HIS FOURTH OF JULY SKY ROCKETS.
A NEW METHOD OF NAVIGATION.
FULTON'S FONDNESS FOR DRAWING AND PAINTING.
HE INVENTS THE DIVING-BOAT.
FULTON AND LIVINGSTON.
A SERIOUS ACCIDENT.
"FULTON'S FOLLY" AND HER TRIP UP THE HUDSON.
TO THE PUPIL
1. Give an account of Fulton's life at school, and his youthful
inventions.
2. Tell about his experience with the diving-boat.
3. What serious accident happened to his boat?
4. Imagine yourself on the Clermont at the time of its trial
trip, and give an account of the journey from New York to
Albany.
5. What do you admire in the character of Robert Fulton?