m OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Qj/~\iD ^^ LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Qj/\iO LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOR QJ/AXQ THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ^>%W44p ^^^^65^^S V ,^L^LL^ _ Y V ^,y^^^ ^ ^ h^ == 3 : ^ 2S THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 9^ ^ I , / r /. THE LIFE OP EGBERT FULTON, ONE OF THE MOST DISTINGUISHED INVENTORS THE WORLD HAS EVER PRODUCED. WITH INTE- RESTING INCIDENTS INDICATING THE CHARACTER OF THE MAN IN HIS YOUTHFUL DATS. THE DAWNINGS OF GENIUS THEN DISPLAYED ; UNTIL HE EMBARKED IN THE VOYAGE OP LIFE, AND, BY UNTIRING INDUSTRY RAISED HIMSELF ABOVE THE BUFFETING STORMS, ERECTED HIS OWN ILLUSTRIOUS NAME, AND SECURED THE HIGHEST DIS- TINCTION THAT MORTAL MAN CAN ATTAIN THE ADMIRATION, HONOR, AND GRATITUDE OF NATIONS AND POSTERITY. THIS VOLUME CON- TAINS A SIMPLE RECORD OF FACTS, ACCOMPANIED WITH COPIES OF MR. FULTON'S ORIGINAL DRAWINGS EXHIBITING THE LEADING INCIDENTS AND ORNAMENTS OF HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER; ELEVATED PRINCIPLES OF ACTION; HIS UNCOMMON USEFULNESS AND CELEBRITY, AND HIS UNDYING FAME. BY J. FRANKLIN HEIGART, AUTHOR OF "UNITED STATES AUTOGRAPHY," "THE INVENTORS AND PATENTEES' GUIDE," &c. &c. to. PHILADELPHIA: C. G. HENDERSON & CO., ARCH AND FIFTH STREETS. 1856. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by J. FRANKLIN REIGART, Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. STEREOTYPED BT J. PAGAN. PRINTED BT DEACON & PETERSON. vnr+o THE SUBLIME MOTTO OF "THE LIBERTY OP THE SEAS WILL BE THE HAPPINESS OF THE EARTH.' (iii) M363669 CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Page Reply to the British Cyclopaedia of Arts 14 A remarkable witness, the Dean of Ripon, England 18 Extract from the Address of C. D. Holden, Esq., delivered before the Philosophical Society of New York 22 Extract from a Discourse delivered before the American Academy of the Arts by his Excellency De Witt Clinton, Governor of New York 23 Extract from a Discourse delivered before the New York Historical Society by the Hon. Gouverneur Morris 24 MONUMENTS to the memory of Robert Fulton 27 CHAPTER I. Robert Fulton's birthplace and parentage 29 His conduct at school 31 Making sky-rockets 33 Making ornaments for guns ; 34 Nicknamed "quicksilver Bob" 35 Manufacturing air-guns 35 Fishing-boat with paddle-wheels 37 Pencil sketch of Whigs and Rebels 37 CHAPTER II. THE HOMESTEAD. Robert Fulton's genius and talent as an artist, and his noble conduct on his birthday 39 Persuaded to make a voyage to England, for the benefit of his health 40 The GOLDEN DEED of the widow's son 41 His filial piety, that never can be too much commended 44 1* (T) VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER III. FINE ARTS, AND MECHANIC ARTS A SHORT HISTORY OP BENJAMIN WEST, AND THE INVENTIONS OP MR. FULTON. Page Mr. Fulton's reception by Benjamin West, and his success as % painter 40 His acquaintance with men celebrated for the love of science 47 Becomes a civic engineer and mechanist 47 His address to the citizens of Philadelphia, urging them to establish an Institute for the Fine Arts, and purchase the paintings of Benjamin West 48 At the sale of the pictures of the Royal Academy, in 1805, he pur- chases West's Ophelia and King Lear 48 A short history of Benjamin West 49 Mr. Fulton's devoted attachment to the Hon. Joel Barlow, American Minister 50 The first panorama that was exhibited in Paris was painted by Mr. Fulton 66 His numerous and extraordinary inventions 57 The Hon. John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson certify to Con- gress the invaluable services rendered to the country by Mr. Fulton at the great battle of New Orleans 63 He exposes the imposition in Redheffer's Perpetual Motion 65 CHAPTER IV. EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD," WITH THE ELE- GANT PLATES DESIGNED BY MR. FULTON. The friendship of the Hon. Joel Barlow '. 69 The vision of Columbus 70 The savage armies march down the mountains of Peru. The Peru- vians engage the savages. Exploits of Capac, and death of Zamor, the savage chief. 72 Vision confined to. North America. Congress endeavours to arrest the violence of England 73 -British cruelty to American prisoners 75 The murder of Lucinda (Miss Macrea) by the Indians 79 Capture of Cornwallis and his army. Their banners furled and mus- kets piled on the field of battle. The triumph of Washington and the brave Lincoln 79 The Rape of the Golden Fleece 81 Initiation to the mysteries of Isis. Progress of the Arts and Sciences 82 The final resignation of prejudices: a grand conception 83 CONTENTS. Vll CHAPTER V. INLAND NAVIGATION, CIVIL ENGINEERING, AND STATES- MANSHIP OP FULTON. Page In 1796, Mr. Fulton published in London his admirable "Treatise on Canal Navigation" 86 His models, machines, and drawings, were approved by the British Board of Agriculture 88 Receives a flattering acknowledgment from General Washington 89 He wrote a work addressed to the "friends of mankind," for the promotion of knowledge and industry 90 Another volume " Thoughts on Free Trade" 91 January, 1807, he was invited by General Dearborn, then Secretary of the War Department, to make the necessary surveys and drafts for a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Missis- sippi 92 His cast-iron aqueducts 93 Inclined-Planes , 98 Mr. Fulton appointed by the Legislature of New York one of the commissioners to explore the route of an inland navigation from Hudson river to Lakes Ontario and Erie 102 He communicates in writing with the ablest men then living, on the subjects of "education, and the arts and sciences" 105 CHAPTER VI. TORPEDOES. Mr. Fulton's proceedings in France excited the alarm of the British Cabinet. In 1804, he was written to proceed to London. The British Ministry appointed a commission to examine his pro- jects. In the night, torpedoes were thrown, by boats from a British squadron, across the bows of two of the French gun- brigs. The Frenchmen exclaimed, with horror, "that the infernal machines were coming" 109 Viii CONTENTS. Page He blew up a strong-built Danish brig in Walmar roads 112 October, 1806, he embarked for New York, and exhibited his torpe- does on Governor's Island 113 July, 1807, he blew up with a torpedo, in the harbor of New York, a large hulk brig, which had been provided for this purpose 116 Soon after this, he published his work entitled " Torpedo War ; or, Submarine Explosions," and prefaced it with his favourite sentiment " The freedom of the seas will be the happiness of the earth" He addressed it to the President of the United States, and to the members of both Houses of Congress 118 The sloop-of-war Argus, then commanded by the gallant Captain Lawrence, by the directions of the U. S. Government, was made ready at the New York Navy- Yard, under the orders of Commodore Rodgers, to be experimented on by Mr. Fulton's mode of torpedo warfare 125 Mr. Fulton succeeded in cutting off a fourteen-inch cable, which was attached to a vessel that had been anchored in the stream for the purpose 128 In 1813, were granted letters patent for improvements in the art of maritime warfare, to destroy ships and vessels-of-war by sub- marine cannons ,. 136 CHAPTER VII. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION, AND P L U N G I N G - B A T. In 1801, Mr. Fulton proposed to Bonaparte, "to deliver France and the whole world from British oppression" by submarine boats.. 139 His extraordinary and successful experiment with his plunging-boat "Nautilus," in the harbor of Brest 140 He blows a vessel to fragments, by a bomb from the "Nautilus." The fragments were thrown from 80 to 100 feet in the air 143 He rejects the overture from the British Government to suppress his inventions, and sacrifices all to the safety, independence, and interest of America M , , 146 CONTENTS. IX CHAPTER VIII. HISTORYOF ORIGINAL INVENTORS. Page Fulton's gigantic mind 148 Dr. Papin, Savery, Marquis of Worcester, Dr. John Allen, Oliver Evans, and Benjamin Franklin's inventions 150 Jonathan Hull, James Rumsey, and the Marquis de Jeffrey's inventions 151 The invention and remarkable wish of that ardent projector. JOHN FITCH, will never be forgotten so long as the song of the boatman and the music of the steam-engine enliven the shores of the Ohio 152 Patrick Miller and William Symington's inventions 153 CHAPTER IX. STEAM NAVIGATION, AND F U-L T N ' S SUCCESS. Mr. Fulton gave to Watt and Bolton, of England, instructions for constructing the first engine which was successfully used in a boat 157 He investigated on principle the difficulties of the subject, and triumphed 158 Scientific gentlemen reported their doubts of the utility and practi- cability of his invention .; 160 Robert Livingston, Esq., of New York, and Mr. Fulton, formed a friendship and connection with each other 164 The " Clermont," the first steam packet that ever moved upon the waters 169 Robert Fulton and H. Freeland's letters 173 Hostility to Mr. Fulton's boat 177 Mr. Fulton exhibits to a committee his model and plans of a vessel- of-war; which are approved of by the U. S. naval officers.... 181 The English were informed as to the preparations for building this steam frigate, and became alarmed 188 The submarine boat the "Mute"... ,. 189 X CONTENTS. CHAPTER X. Page Livingston and Fulton's difficulties in maintaining the protection of their exclusive grants, and the able speech of their counsel, Mr. Emmet, at the bar of the House 192 Mr. Fulton's illness and death, and the great respect paid to his memory 197 His family 200 His grave, in Trinity churchyard, New York 201 CHAPTER XI. The last will and testament of Robert Fulton 206 CHAPTER XII The American steamship "Savannah," the first ocean steamer 212 The "Atlantic" steamship, in 1854 221 CHAPTER XIII. EXTRACTS FROM THE PUBLIC RECORDS. Report of the Secretary of the Navy 224 Report of the Secretary of War (Governor Cass) to Congress : ap- proved by the message of General Jackson 241 Fulton's letter to Governor Mifflin 261 His letter to Hon. Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury 272 His letter to Gouverneur Morris, President of the Board of Commis- sioners of the Western Canal, New York 289 list 0f lUnstratintts. Page 1. J. F. Reigart's Portrait 2. Steamships 3. Fulton's likeness, or frontispiece 4. The Fulton Farm 29 5. Robert Fulton's first experiment with paddle-wheels, in the summer of 1779, on the Conestoga 36 6. The Homestead 39 7. The Golden Deed 41 8. The Vision " Hesper appearing to Columbus in prison" 70 9. CjBsar passing the Rubicon 73 10. Cruelty presiding over the prison-ship 75 11. Murder of Miss Macrea by the Indians 77 12. Cornwallis resigning his sword to Washington 79 13. Initiation to the mysteries of Isis 82 14. The final resignation of prejudices. The old idols, and the agents of the woes of man, lie trampled in the dust, at the footstool of the GENIUS of America 83 15. Cast-iron aqueducts ! 93 16. Double Inclined-Planes, for which the British Government granted letters patent, May, 1794 98 17. Brig blown up: her annihilation complete 113 18. Torpedoes, harpoon, etc 120 19. The submarine vessels the "Nautilus" and "Mute" 140 (xi) Xii LIST OP ILLUSTRATIONS. Page 20. John Fitch's steamboat on the Delaware river, opposite Phila- delphia 152 21. Jonathan Hull and Patrick Miller's steamboats 154 22. The "Clermont," the first steam packet that ever moved upon the waters 171 23. The vessel-of-war called "Fulton the First," or "Demologos"... 186^, 24. Fulton's grave, in Trinity churchyard, New York city 201 25. The "Savannah" 212 26. The "Atlantic" 221 INTRODUCTION. As a citizen of Lancaster, intimately familiar with its history and with its oldest inhabitants, we know that they are best acquainted with the true history of ROBERT FULTON; whilst "the garden of Pennsylvania" the brightest spot on earth, still retains his Birthplace as a brilliant memorial of her most meritorious son. We have endeavoured to exhibit an impartial history of his life ; and to accomplish this has been the labour of several years. In collecting the facts, many of our oldest citizens were consulted; and from them the most correct accounts and incidents of his youthful history were obtained. From his cradle to his grave, there can- not be discovered one single spot or blemish that casts a shadow on his honorable career. To pursue the chain of his life, and develop every link, was a task requiring much research ; and we thankfully acknowledge our indebtedness for aid in our effort to many individuals who cheerfully furnished us 2 (nii) XIV INTRODUCTION. with the essential data : especially are we grateful for copies of extracts from the minutes and records of several Historical Societies and public offices of New York city, to the " Scientific American" and " People's Journal," and to our obliging friend Dr- j Theodore F. Engelbrecht. The kindness of the Hon. Actuary, Mr. Hamilton, and the officers of the Franklin Institute Library of Philadelphia, is also properly appreciated, as well as the important service rendered by Messrs. Cyrus Underwood and Daniel K. Albright, of Washington county, Penna., in furnishing the drawing of Fulton's homestead and the copies of records. The British "Cyclopaedia of Arts," lately pub- lished, has endeavoured to place Mr. Fulton's unpa- ralleled inventive genius on the same level with their canal-boat builders. It alleges that Mr. Ful- ton saw Mr. Symington's canal-boat, and that it was Mr. Symington's invention that deserved all the credit of steam navigation. If so, why did not Mr. Symington start his canal-boat on the river Clyde, or across the ocean? Mr. Symington was mechanic enough to know that his double boat, with a solitary wheel in the stern, might glide along the smooth current of a canal, but could not resist the ocean waves. His knowledge of steam navigation was very limited, and did not become INTRODUCTION. XV of any practical use, even to canals. He deserves, however, credit for his invention, so far as he was capable of maturing it, but not one tittle more. We are not a little surprised that an historian, an author of a standard impartial work, as the British Cyclopaedia of Arts ought to be, should give Mr. Symington all the credit of steam navigation be- cause his canal-boat was seen floating one day on a smooth current, and heard of no more, excepting that it was left to decay and rot on the canal ; and we feel free to say that such an one not only does not understand the nature of an invention, but dis- plays gross partiality, an illiberal spirit, and total ignorance of what is due the worthiest of inventors. We, moreover, boldly declare that no man ever lived before or since Robert Fulton who did so fully and perfectly understand steam navigation, submarine navigation, and inland navigation ; and whose experiments and successful improvements created the same interest and astonishment through- out the world. Nor will we admit that his genius has ever been equalled, until reliable records dis- prove his claims to being the man who built a floating castle, in the shape of an immense steam vessel of war, to divide asunder the rolling billows of the stormy ocean, and alarm the navies of the world ; and who erected a terrible engine of war XVI INTRODUCTION. like the Nautilus, that, with its sails, could be guided above the waves when and where its inven- tor and commander willed then in a moment lower and hide its masts and sails, and, like a sea- bird, plunge into the watery element, and glide unseen at the bottom of the waters, avoid the pursuit of an enemy, and rise again several miles from the place where it descended ; and who pro- jected Double Inclined-Planes for canals, to connect the great lakes of America, to spread the Commerce of the world; and whose days and nights were devoted to improvements in the arts and sciences ; and whose every act was, first, "his country and Ills country's good;" and who, as a universal bene- factor, on each and every occasion that presented itself, proclaimed that most sublime motto : " The liberty of the seas will ~be tlie happiness 'of the earth;" and whose mind and inventions attracted and en- gaged the attention of the greatest powers of Eu- rope, whilst his life was the wonder and amazement of his countrymen; and his death was marked with the highest honours that ever were manifested to any civilian in this or any other country not till then, we say, can we admit that Fulton's genius was ever equalled; and, we are persuaded, not until Lancaster county, "the garden of Pennsyl- vania," becomes INTRODUCTION. XVU "A barren waste, Without one spot of green, of feeling, or of taste," shall the name of this great man be used with disparagement or reproach by any historian in this or any other country. The British "Cyclopaedia of Arts" says "this Fulton" paid a visit to Scotland, and saw Mr. Symington's canal-boat, and got all his information from Mr. Symington. We would not have noticed Mr. Symington's failure in steam navigation, or Mr. "Watt's credit as an engine-builder, but for the injustice done to Mr. Fulton by "this unjust British Cyclopaedia of Arts." In 1765, Mr. James Watt, of England, improved the steam-engine, (first in- vented by the Marquis of Worcester, in 1663,) and was the great and successful inventor of stationary steam-engines. It is a well-known fact, however, that Mr. Fulton called on him and ordered an engine to be built, of a size, make, and power which he described, gave Mr. Watt the proper dimensions and proportions, the mode of connexion between the pistons and cranks, the exact form and construction, as Mr. Fulton's own mechanical knowledge and calculations dictated and directed, according to his (Fulton's) own improved plan, spe- cifications and sectional drawings, suitable only for steam navigation, and which have been universally Xviii INTRODUCTION. adopted in every successful steamboat since the "CLERMONT" sailed; and, but for this fact, we should, at this late day, be no farther advanced in steani navigation than we were when Symington left off on the canal. Dr. Bees' Cyclopaedia and_ Dr. Brewster's Cyclopaedia both show that, until Fulton's movement, steam navigation had no real existence; and they are too sound authorities to be doubted, especially when it is recollected that they published the facts so soon after Mr. Fulton's suc- cessful experiments were universally acknowledged by every honourable contemporaneous writer and publisher. There are still living numerous witnesses who bear testimony of the original invention of Bobert Fulton, Esq.; and one, as late as October, 1855, in Mr. Symington's own neighbourhood, has honour- ably shown himself to be "A BEMARKABLE WITNESS. Those who have only casually observed and reflected on the mighty revolution accomplished by steam in nearly all de- partments of human industry and enterprise, and especially in the navigation of the world's waters, and the operations of travel and commerce, can have scarcely an adequate conception of the gigan- tic triumph of this subtle element, in less than half a century. But there was a man among the festival party gathered in honour of the splendid new Cunard steamer Persia, (390 feet in length, INTRODUCTION. XIX and of 3,600 tons burden), at Glasgow, who could feel all the greatness of this triumph. That man was the Dean of Kipon, England, who, being toasted, stated that forty-eight years ago he accom- panied Robert Fulton on his first steamer trial trip on the Hudson river that being the. first successful trial ever made. He thanked God that he had been spared to witness this perfected steamer, the Persia, the most magnificent vessel afloat; and that, coupled with the long succession of triumphs of steam, which he had carefully observed, whether on the sea or on the land, the triumphs of peace, intelligence, and a broader brotherhood, had gone hand in hand. He trusted and prayed that this would continue to be the history of steam the most potent of all the agencies of enterprise and civilization." N. Y. Mirror. In preparing this work for publication, it seems proper to state, what the reader perhaps will readily conceive, the difficulties that we had to encounter. As an ardent admirer of the genius of Fulton, we imagined that a history of his life would be con- sidered interesting and instructive. We commenced the task, and soon found that it was possible to write and compile a volume of this character. But to succeed in the enterprise of writing a history of all Fulton's acts, and the events of his life, and all his discoveries and inventions, we felt was far beyond our capacity. We searched for months through the portraits of biographies, carefully read XX INTRODUCTION. the pages of cyclopaedias, the histories of statesmen, of warriors, of inventors, and though we would not exalt the character of one inventor at the expense of another, yet we must say, that the more we searched were we forced to conclude that Eobert Fulton was the most distinguished inventor the world has ever produced. All the written laudations that mortal man can bestow, cannot convey a more correct and complete idea of Fulton's life than the plain nar- ration of facts, showing his acts as they are already inscribed upon the scroll of fame. "Worlds beyond worlds shall bring to light their stores, Time, nature, science, blend their utmost powers, To show, concentred in one blaze of fame, The ungather'd glories that await his name." Kobert Fulton was a man at fifteen years of age, and his whole life exhibited the boldest statesman- ship evincing a mature knowledge of the arts of government. In his minority he was the most industrious and skilful miniature painter, numeri- cal calculator, mechanical draughtsman, original and practical artist, and remarkable caricaturist, exhibiting a perfect knowledge of human nature. He was the most obedient and noblest son a virtuous mother ever bore, the most affectionate brother that sisters ever owned; and the records INTRODUCTION. XXI of history do not describe a youth of such unble- mished character, or of equal talents. During his later years, his acts and inventions were of such an extraordinary character, that the eminent philosopher, Benjamin Franklin, who had tamed the thunders of the cloud-capped skies, the world-renowned Emperor Napoleon, who had crossed the Alpine rocks and blown up the magazines of nations, and the wise directors of scientific and philosophical societies, who had collected the arts and sciences of the world, could not comprehend them, and publicly rejected and repudiated them as visionary and impracticable. To some this may appear exaggeration ; but the generous inventor, who has ever recognized Fulton as the HERO of inventors, will cheerfully acknow- ledge that, though others may have been conducted in the paths of science by superior learning, and may have had a more dazzling career, the labours of no individual have manifested the same origi- nality, have been more honourable, meritorious, or practically useful. He put the first machine into practice, and became the real inventor. He was a director of the American Academy of Fine Arts, a member of the New York Histo- rical and Philosophical Society, of the United States Military and Philosophical Society, and of XXli INTRODUCTION. the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York. To confirm our ideas of the greatness of Fulton, great in all his inventions, and to show that none knew him but to admire and love him, we refer our readers to the following generous sentiments, expressed by learned and prominent Americans shortly after his decease : Extract from the Address a Memoir of Robert Fulton, Esq. delivered before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, March 12, 1817, by C. D. Golden, Esq. " GENTLEMEN : " In compliance with the practice of institu- tions similar to our own, this Society has resolved to preserve on its records memorials of the lives of those who have been its distinguished associates who have contributed to its reputation and ho- nour by their virtues, their genius, and by the employment of their talents. " It is greatly to be lamented that the first sub- ject for a record of this kind should be an associate taken from us in the prime of his life, and in the midst of his usefulness ; whose virtues and manners endeared him to all who knew him, and whose loss has been lamented as a public calamity. " We cannot think that it will be imputed to an undue partiality for our regretted associate, if we say tliat there cannot be found, on the records of departed worth, the name of a person to whose indi~ INTRODUCTION. XX111 victual exertions mankind are more indebted than they are to the late Robert Fulton. The combined efforts of philosophers and statesmen have improved the condition of man, but no individual has con- ferred more important benefits on his species than he whose memory now engages our attention." Extract from a Discourse delivered before the Ame- rican Academy of the Arts, by his Excellency DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York. " Fortunately for the interests of mankind, Mr. Livingston became acquainted with ROBERT FULTON, a self-created man, who has risen into distinguished usefulness, and into exalted eminence, by the ener- gies of his own genius, unsupported by extrinsic advantages. " Mr. Fulton had directed the whole force of his mind to mathematical learning and mechanical philosophy. Plans of defence against maritime invasion, and of subaquatic navigation, had occu- pied his reflections. During the late war, he was the ARCHIMEDES of his country. " The poet was considered under the influence of a disordered imagination when he exclaimed : " ' Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd steam, afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car ; Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear The flying chariot through the fields of air !' " The connexion between Livingston and Fulton realized, to a great degree, the vision of the poet. All former experiments had failed, and the genius of Fulton, aided and fostered by the public spirit INTRODUCTION. and discernment of Livingston, created one of the greatest accommodations for the benefit of mankind. These illustrious men will be considered, through all time, as the benefactors of the world ; they will be emphatically hailed as the Castor and Pollux of antiquity lucida sidera stars of excellent light and of most benign influence. " Mr. Fulton was personally well known to most who hear me. To those who were favoured with the high communion of his superior mind, I need not expatiate on the wonderful vivacity, activity, comprehension, and clearness of his intellectual faculties; and while he was meditating plans of mighty import for his future fame and his country's good, he was cut down in the prime of his life, and in the midst of his usefulness. Like the self-burn- ing tree of Gambia, he was destroyed by the fire of his own genius, and the never-ceasing activity of a vigorous mind." Extract from a Discourse delivered before the New York Historical Society, in September, 1816, by the Hon. Gouverneur Morris. " If the learned leisure of European wealth can gain applause or emolument for meting out, by syl- lables reluctantly drawn together, unharmonious hexameters, far be it from us to rival the manu- facture. Be it ours to boast that the first vessel successfully propelled by steam was launched on the bosom of Hudson's river. It was here that American genius, seizing the arm of European science, bent to the purpose of our favourite parent art the wildest and most devouring element. INTRODUCTION. XXV The patron, the inventor, are no more. But the names of Livingston and of Fulton, dear to fame, shall be engraven ON A MONUMENT SACRED TO THE BENEFACTORS OF MANKIND. There generations yet unborn shall read : " l Godfrey taught seamen to interrogate With steady gaze, though tempest-tossed, the sun, And from his beam true oracle obtain. Franklin dread thunderbolts, with daring hand. Seized, and averted their destructive stroke From the protected dwellings of mankind. FULTON by flame compelled the angry sea, To vapour rarefied, his bark to drive, IN TRIUMPH proud, thro' the loud-sounding surge/ " This invention is spreading fast in the civilized world; and though excluded as yet from Russia, will, ere long, be extended to that vast empire. A bird hatched on the Hudson will soon people the floods of the Wolga, and cygnets descended from an American swan glide along the surface of the Caspian sea. Then the hoary genius of Asia, high-throned on the peaks of Caucasus, his moist eye glistening while it glances over the ruins of Babylon, Persepolis, Jerusalem, and Palmyra, shall bow with grateful reverence to the inventive spirit of this Western World. "Hail, Columbia! child of science, parent of useful arts dear country, hail! Be it thine to meliorate the condition of man. Too many thrones have been reared by arms, cemented by blood, and reduced again to dust by the sanguinary conflict of arms. Let mankind enjoy at last the consolatory spectacle of thy throne, built by industry on the basis 3 XXVI INTRODUCTION. of peace, and sheltered under the wings of justice. May it be secured by a pious obedience to that Divine will which prescribes the moral orbit of empire with the same precision that his wisdom and power have displayed in whirling millions of planets round millions of suns through the vastness of infinite space." In presenting this work to a generous public, we not only desire to attract the attention of AMERICAN INVENTORS to the unparalleled perseverance of Ful- ton, but we call upon the youth of this country, "Young America," to honour the name of Fulton by imitating his exemplary acts, his industrious habits, and adopting his youthful motto : " There is nothing impossible to do." No student possessed a mind more tremblingly .alive upon the peculiar subjects of his pursuit than Mr. Fulton. His whole mind and heart were actively engaged in calculating how he could best promote the happiness of his fellow-man. No college lore, no academic shade in the forests of Lancaster county, had he to improve his intellect ; but on the quiet banks of the winding Conestoga stream he gathered natural strength and originality to express the conceptions of his own mind with force; and there did this youthful genius, under the impulse of a new thought, pursue the chain with which it was connected. INTRODUCTION. XXV11 Another object of the author in publishing this book, is to collect money sufficient, from the pro- ceeds of the sales, to erect, in the city of Lancaster and other places, MONUMENTS TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT FULTON; and he has full confidence in his fellow-citizens, that they will cheerfully aid his humble efforts in this worthy project. The monument will be of cast iron, a colossal statue of Robert Fulton, supported by a richly ornamented pedestal, composed of heavy cast plates, containing twelve correct representations of Mr. Fulton's inventions and drawings, in alto relievo. From the original patterns and moulds, a large number of these statues and ornamented plates can be cast; and every city in the United States can be supplied, and enabled to perpetuate the fame of Fulton. THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON, CHAPTEK I. EARLY YEARS OF FULTON. "The warrior's name, Tho' peal'd on all the tongues of fame, Sounds less harmonious to the grateful mind, Than his who fashions and improves mankind/' EGBERT FULTON was born in the township of Little Britain, (now called Fulton), in the county of Lancaster, and State of Pennsylvania, in the year seventeen hundred and sixty-five. He was of a respectable though not opulent family. His father, Robert Fulton, emigrated from Ireland when young: he had followed the tailoring busi- ness, but afterwards turned his attention to farm- ing. His mother was of a respectable family by the name of Smith, established in Pennsylvania. Robert Fulton, Sr., and Mary Smith, his wife, had five children three daughters and two sons. Robert was their third child and eldest son. Mr. Fulton bought, August 23, 1759, and resided 3 * (29) 30 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. in, the present brick dwelling-house situate on the north-east corner of Centre Square, in the city of Lancaster; and afterwards, Feb. 8, 1765, sold and conveyed the same to Edward Shippen, Esq. He then, Feb. 8, 1765, purchased at sheriff's sale the farm in Little Britain township, and removed to it. It was there that Robert was born. It contained 364 acres of land, and the consideration was 965. The father of the celebrated Benjamin West resided in the adjoining county, and was an inti- mate acquaintance of Mr. Fulton. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence that Benjamin West and Robert Fulton, the two immortal artists, were born in the immediate neighbourhood, in the then wild and dense forests of Pennsylvania, enlivened only by the Indian camp-fires along the Octorara and Conawanga hills ; and that both commenced their career and spread their unparalleled fame together from the city of London, the capital of the world. Mr. Fulton mortgaged his farm to William West, Samuel Purviance, and Joseph Swift; and, Nov. 29, 1766, he and his wife Mary conveyed the pro- perty to the mortgagees, and again removed to Lancaster city, where he died in 1768, and was buried in the cemetery of the first Presbyterian church erected in Lancaster, of which he was one of the founders. It is also a singular fact, and EARLY YEARS OF FULTON. 31 creditable to the family of Mr. Joseph Swift, Sr., that they are still in possession of the Fulton farm; and by the industry of three brothers, Joseph, John, and Daniel Swift, grandsons of Joseph Swift, Sr., who reside there and own the property, it is now one of the handsomest farms in Lancaster county. In 1773, Robert Fulton was sent to school by his mother to acquire the rudiments of a common English education. At that early period he had already a slight knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic, which he had learned at home. Many persons may think that a history of his infancy would be of no importance ; but his peculiar genius manifested itself at so early an age, that even his childhood acts and schoolboy pranks are not unin- teresting. All his hours of recreation were spent usefully, although he was considered as a dull boy in school. He preferred the employment of his pencil : his books were a secondary consideration with him. He frequented the shops of mechanics, and exhibited his talent for mechanism and taste for drawing to such a degree, as to become a helper to the apprentices, and a welcome visitor to their employers. His teacher, a Quaker gentleman by the name of Caleb Johnson, one day called him to account for neglecting his studies, and took occa- 32 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. sion to strike Robert over the knuckles with a rule, at the sarne time remarking that he would make him do something. Robert quickly placed his arms a-kimbo, and looking his tutor sternly in the face, replied : " Sir, I came here to have something beat into my brains, and not into my knuckles." At another time, when about nine years of age, he came to school one afternoon rather late. Mr. Johnson inquired the cause of his detention : Robert candidly told him that he had been at Mr. Nicho- las Miller's shop pounding out lead, and had mg^u- factured a very neatly shaped lead-pencil "the best I ever had in my life, sir." He exhibited the pencil to his teacher, and it was pronounced excel- lent ; and in a few days afterwards nearly all his schoolmates supplied themselves with pencils simi- lar to that young Robert had made. Some time after this, Mr. Johnson being in conversation with Robert's mother, who expressed her earnestness in his improvement, yet doubted his proper attention to his books, the tutor frankly remarked that he had used his best endeavours, and that Robert had pertinaciously declared to him "that his head was so full of original notions that there was no vacant chamber to store away the contents of any dusty books." This was a remarkable explanation to be made by a youth of ten years of age, and positive EARLY YEARS OF FULTON. 33 proof that the particular bent and direction of Fulton's genius was the work of nature, and not the result of habit or early associations. On the 1st of July, 1778, the following notice was pub- lished in the city of Lancaster : " The excessive heat of the weather, the present scarcity of candles, and other considerations, induce the Council to recommend to the inhabitants to forbear illuminating the city on Saturday evening next, July 4th. "By order (Signed) " TIMOTHY MATLACK, Sec" Kobert had candles prepared, and went to Mr. John Fisher, brushmaker, living near the jail, who kept powder and shot for sale. Mr. Fisher was somewhat astonished at Kobert's desire to part with the candles, which at that time were scarce articles ; and he asked him why he wished to part with them? Eobert replied that "our rulers have requested the citizens to forbear illuminating their windows and streets : as good citizens, we should respect their request ; and / prefer illuminating the heavens with sky-rockets." Having procured the powder, he left Mr. Fisher's, and entered a small variety store kept by Mr. Theophilus Cos- sart, where he inquired the price of his largest size pasteboard; and having purchased several sheets, which Mr. Cossart was in the act of rolling up for c 34 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. him he requested him not to roll them, he wished to carry them open. Mr. Cossart, well knowing that Robert was an inventive genius, inquired what he was about to invent. "Why," said Robert, "we are prohibited from illuminating our windows with candles, and I'm going to shoot my candles through the air." "Tut, tut, tut!'' said Mr. Cossart, laughingly; " that 's an impossibility." "No, sir," said Robert; "there is nothing impos- sible." It cannot be doubted that this idea was his success in after life. Robert was known to purchase small quantities of quicksilver from Dr. Adam Simon Kuhn, drug- gist, residing opposite the market-house. He was trying some experiments that he did not wish to make public; and which the workmen in Mr. Fenno's and Mr. Christian Isch's shops were anxious to find out, but could not. He was in the almost daily habit of visiting those shops Mr. Isch's smithshop was then located on the north-east corner of West King and Prince streets and was a favourite among the workmen, who took advan- tage of his talent for drawing by getting him to make ornamental designs for guns, and sketches of the size and shapes of guns, and then giving the EARLY YEARS OF FULTON. 35 calculations of the force, size of the bore and balls, and the distances they would fire ; and he would accompany them to the open commons near by Potter's field, to prove his calculations by shooting at a mark. On account of his expertness in his calculations, and of their ineffectual efforts to dis- cover the use he was making of quicksilver, the shop-hands nicknamed him "quicksilver Bob." Mr. Messersmith and Mr. Christian Isch were employed by the Government to make and repair the arms for the troops ; and on several occasions guards were stationed at their shops to watch and see that the workmen were constantly employed during whole nights and on Sunday, to prevent any delay. The workmen had so much reliance and confidence in "quicksilver Bob's" judgment and mechanical skill, that every suggestion he would make as to the alteration of a gun, or any additional ornament that he would design, were invariably adopted by common consent. In the summer of 1779, Eobert Fulton evinced an extraordinary fondness for inventions. He was a frequent visitor at Mr. Messersmith's and Fenno's gunsmith shops, almost daily ; and endeavoured to manufacture a small air-gun. One of Mr. Jacob Messersmith's apprentices, Mr. Christopher Gumpf, who was at the time eighteen years of age, used 36 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. frequently to accompany his father, Deter Gumpf, to the Conestoga on fishing excursions, Mr. Deter Gumpf being an experienced angler, and very fond of fishing, and he was pleased to have the company of Christopher and Eobert. The old gentleman^ had a small flat-boat, which he had kept secured to the trunk of a tree by a chain and padlock, for his own accommodation. He generally required the boys to pole the boat to different parts of the creek in the neighbourhood of Eockford, the coun- try-seat of General Hand, which at that time was the most secluded, deeply shaded, and quiet neigh- bourhood along the Conestoga. Returning home- ward one evening, Fulton observed to Christopher that he was very tired using that pole, and Chris- topher coincided with him that the labour was too severe. Kobert absented himself a week, having gone to Little Britain township to spend a few days at his aunt's ; and while there he planned and completed a small working model of a fishing-boat with pad- dle-wheels. On leaving his aunt's, he placed the model in the garret, with a request that it should not be destroyed. Many years afterwards, that simple model was the attraction of friends, and became, instead of lumber in the garret, an orna- ment in the aunt's parlour, who prized it highly. EARLY YEARS OF FULTON. 37 That model was the result of Robert's fishing excursions with Christopher Gumpf ; and when he returned from his aunt's he told Christopher that he must make a set of paddles to work at the sides of the boat, to be operated by a double crank, and then they could propel the old gentleman's fishing- boat with greater ease. Two arms or pieces of timber were then fastened together at right angles, with a paddle at each end, and the crank was attached to the boat across it near the stern, with a paddle operating on a pivot as a rudder; and Fulton's first invention was tried on the Conestoga river opposite Rockford, in the presence of Deter and Christopher Gumpf. The boys were so pleased with the experiment, that they hid the paddles in the bushes on shore, lest others might use and break them, and attached them to the boat whenever they chose; and thus did they enjoy very many fishing excursions. Robert was a violent revolutionary Whig, a regular rebel, and made numerous pencil sketches ridiculing the tories of the Revolution. He made a drawing representing the barracks at that time containing the British prisoners of war, and located in Duke above Walnut street. Along Duke, be- tween Walnut, numerous square huts of mud and sod were erected, in which the Hessians were sta- 4 CHAPTER II. THE HOMESTEAD " Behold the maternal homestead ! Arch'd by filial acts, its portal gleams "With various gems of intermingling beams. J THE WIDOW S HOME, AND THE GOLDEN DEED OF THE WIDOW'S SON. EGBERT FULTON, at the age of seventeen years, left Lancaster city for Philadelphia, to pursue his enterprising genius and talent as an artist with his pencil. He there derived emolument from painting portraits and landscapes, and making drawings of machinery; and he remained there until he was about twenty-one years of age, and enjoyed the acquaintance and company of Benjamin Franklin, by whom he was much noticed. He returned to Lancaster on his twenty-first birthday ; and, with his heart bounding with joy, he gave the means he had acquired in Philadelphia to the relief and comfort of his mother and sisters. He took them imme- diately to Washington county, Penna., and pur- (39) 40 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. chased a small farm, on which he settled them; and after seeing his parent comfortably established in the home which he had provided for her, he sat out with the intention of returning to Philadelphia. On his way, he visited the Warm Springs of Penn- sylvania for the benefit of his health. A short time previous he had been attacked with an in- flammation of the lungs this was succeeded by a spitting of blood, and other symptoms indicating a disposition to pulmonary complaints : under these circumstances, at the same time that he was in- fluenced by other views, he was induced, by the advice of his friends, to make a voyage to Europe. He was assured that he would meet with the patronage of his countryman Mr. West, who had already attained great celebrity as an artist unri- valled. Full of expectations, he left his native country for England, whilst his manly brow bore the imprint of his mother's caress and blessing, and he became the maker of his own fortune. Poets have sung their loud paeans of the GOLDEN AGE, Chronologists of the GOLDEN NUMBER, Arith- meticians of the GOLDEN KULE we would strike the strings of a new golden harp, whose vibrations shall excite every filial heart, and touch the par- ticular passions of the YOUTH OF AMERICA. THE GOLDEN DEED. Let us with hurried hands grasp hold of the brightest plume of the American eagle ; and with its piercing point o'ertipped with gold, write cf the GOLDEN DEED, that man hath ne'er foretold. The Golden Deed. " KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS, that I, Thomas Pollock, and Margaret, his wife, of the township of Hope- well, county of Washington, and State of Pennsylvania, for and in consideration of the sum of eighty pounds, law- ful money of the State aforesaid, to me in hand paid by Robert Fulton, miniature painter, of the city of Philadel- phia, and State aforesaid, yeoman, before the sealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt whereof we do hereby acknowledge, and ourselves therewith fully satis- fied, contented, and paid, have granted, bargained, sold, and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, make over, and confirm unto the aforesaid Robert Fulton, to his heirs and assigns "A certain parcel of land on the waters of Cross creek, it being part of a tract of land granted by the Common- wealth of Pennsylvania, the 12th day of December, A.D. 1785, to the Rev. Joseph Smith, his heirs and assigns, called Wiliome, situated on the waters aforesaid, in the county aforesaid, BEGINNING at a corner white-oak, thence by other lands of the said Joseph Smith south eighty-five degrees, west forty-six perches to a white-oak on the Wheeling path, thence north thirty-two degrees, west eighteen perches to a post, thence south sixty-eight de- grees, west one hundred and thirty-seven perches to a dogwood tree, thence north thirty degrees, west one hun- dred and fifty perches to a stump and hickory tree, thence south thirty degrees, west two hundred perches to the place of Beginning CONTAINING eighty-four (84) acres and three-fourths of an acre THE GOLDEN DEED. "With the appurtenances, (which said land was formerly surveyed and platted by a certain John Hale for a certain Thomas Gardner, afterwards surveyed with a tract of land in pursuance of a warrant granted to the said Joseph Smith, dated the 30th of September, 1785, and conveyed by said Joseph Smith and Esther his wife to Thomas Pol- lock) To have and to hold the tract or parcel of land, with the appurtenances, unto the said Robert Fulton and his heirs, to the use of him, the said Robert Fulton, his heirs and assigns, for ever, free and clear of all restric- tions and reservations as to mines, royalties, quit-rents, or' otherwise, excepting and reserving only the fifth part of all gold and silver ore for the use of this Common- wealth, to be delivered at the pit's mouth, clear of all charges. "In witness whereof we have here set our hands and caused our seals to be affixed, the 6th day of May, A.D. 1786. " THOMAS POLLOCK, [L. s.] "MARGARET POLLOCK, [L. s.] "Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of " J. MARSHAL, "MARY MARSHAL, "THOMAS MARQUES." All of which was duly acknowledged before J. Marshal, Esq., and afterwards recorded in the Recorder's office in and for the county of Wash- ington, in Record Book C, vol. i., page 56, May the 8th, 1786. THE HOMESTEAD. 41 This earthly heritage gave peace and comfort to the widow's heart, dispersed all sore distress ; and each day fresh beams of gladness brightened round the maternal mansion, until the deep trumpet's solemn voice called her from the cares of the world to that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. She died in seventeen hundred and ninety-nine. Afterwards Mrs. Elizabeth Scott, her daughter, continued to reside there, having inherited the farm, stock of horses and cattle, implements of husbandry, furniture, and everything belonging thereto, through the noble generosity of her bro- ther, the author, the original inventor, of the GOLDEN DEED. Eobert Fulton's whole life was wonderfully novel. There was some unknown influence that was his guardian GENIUS. The maternal lessons he had received formed his conduct through life ; and there was a secret which we cannot fathom, which was useful to his success of affairs, and which at his death produced the greatest respect ever offered to a private citizen. He started through life with his mother's blessing ; and that may have been the secret which buoyed up all his hopes and anticipations to surmount and get the better of all difficulties and impediments. 4* 42 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. These testimonials of respect were drawn forth chiefly by admiration of the transcendent genius of Fulton, and for the benefits he had rendered to mankind. But there was that in his character which the world did not so readily see, and which was hardly thought of amid all the imposing de- monstrations at his funeral. If he was great by the superiority of his genius, he was no less so by the goodness of his heart ; and it will be difficult to find, in the whole range of remarkable biogra- phies, anything more touching and beautiful than the filial piety which prompted him, with the very first earnings that he could call his own, to pur- chase a homestead for his widowed mother. He felt within himself, no doubt, the irrepressible impulses of a great intellect. Humble, unknown, unpatronized as he was, he was yet conscious to himself what great things he was capable of; and the most ardent wish of his soul, we may presume, was to go abroad, to mingle with men, to come in contact with that mighty world on whose destinies he already felt that he was to exert a lasting in- fluence. But, repressing all selfish and personal considerations, all the aspirations of a noble ambi- tion, with a filial piety that never can be too much commended, he devotes his first hard earnings to the comfort of his widowed and dependent mother. THE HOMESTEAD. 43 Nor was it until he saw her provided for that he went forth to see the world, and to bring to light the great thoughts and discoveries that were already struggling in his bosom. In the splendor of his discoveries, we are apt to forget that Fulton was anything but a great me- chanical genius; but in his own secret conscious- ness, we doubt not, and especially as his last hours drew nigh, the honours paid to his genius gave him less satisfaction than the remembrance of those modest, unseen virtues, which were known only to God and his own heart. And whilst we pay the willing tribute of admiration to his splendid me- chanical achievements, let us remember, as at least equally worthy of our respect and imitation, his beautiful devotion to the wants and comfort of his widowed mother. If the mother of Washington felt her heart throb with joy when she replied that "George was always a good boy" the county of "Washington will for ever bear evidence of the fact that "Robert Fulton was a noble son !" CHAPTER III. FINE ARTS, AND MECHANIC ARTS, A SHORT HISTORY OF BENJAMIN WEST, AND THE INVENTIONS OF MR. FULTON. When the American poets shall in future times celebrate the golden age of their country, they will draw their descriptions from the authentic history of Pennsylvania the age of Penn, of Fulton, and of West. MR. FULTON'S reception by Mr. West was such as he had been led to expect. That distinguished American was so pleased with his promising and enterprising genius, and his many amiable qualities, that he took him into his house, where he con- tinued an inmate for several years. When Mr. Fulton returned to this country, he brought with him a family piece representing that great artist and his lady, done by Mr. West him- self, who also painted a portrait of Mr. Fulton, which his family now possesses, a correct copy of which embellishes the front of this work. These pieces were offerings of friendship, and were made and received as tokens of the attachment formed between the family of that great painter and his (44) ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 45 young friend, at an early day, and which lasted until his death. After leaving that family, he appears for some time to have made the art in which he had had the benefit of the instructions of that great master, his chief employment. He spent two years in Devonshire, near^ Exeter, where he made many respectable acquaintances, and among others he became known to the Duke of Bridgewater, so famous for his canals, and Lord Stanhope, a noble- man celebrated for his love of science, and particu- larly for his attachment to the mechanic arts. Mr. Fulton was for a long time in correspondence with Lord Stanhope; and they communicated to each other ideas on subjects to which their minds were mutually directed. Mr. Fulton, throughout his course as a civil engineer and mechanist, derived great advantage from his talent for drawing and painting. He was an elegant and accurate draughtsman. Of his abili- ties in this important branch of his profession, the plates annexed to the "Columbiad," the work we have mentioned, and the copies of which we have here inserted, afford strong proof. This gave him great facility in causing his designs to be executed, and a great advantage over most who have engaged \ in similar pursuits. 46 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. There is dignity of character, fine expression, delicate design, correct drawing, and beautiful con- ception, in all Mr. Fulton's paintings. All which qualities can only spring from an elevated mind such a mind that could only be benefited by the works of the great Benjamin West, who was one of the most celebrated classical painters the world ever produced, second only to the immortal Ra- phael, and who exceeded all other historical pain- ters (except Rubens) in the number and variety of his productions. Mr. Fulton's attachment to the fine arts led him to conceive the design of inducing his countrymen to purchase the works of Mr. "West, the principal part of which that great artist was then willing to part with. For this purpose he wrote an ad- dress to the citizens of Philadelphia, urging them to establish an Institute for the Fine Arts, similar to the one which now exists in that city. After exhibiting with great force and animation the advantages to be derived from the cultivation of a taste for painting and sculpture, and portraying the character and merits of Mr. West with all the warmth of friendship and admiration, Mr. Fulton says : " I now have the pleasure to offer you a catalogue of the select works of Mr. West, and with it to present the most extraordinary oppor- ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 47 tunity that ever was offered to the lovers of science. The catalogue referred to is a list of all Mr. "West's productions, portraits excepted. No city ever had such a collection of admired works from the pencil of one man, and that man is your fellow-citizen. The price set on the collection is fifteen thousand pounds sterling a sum inconsiderable when com- pared with the objects in view, and the advantages to be derived from it." Mr. Fulton then proceeds to propose means for raising the necessary funds, and to suggest arrange- ments for the establishment, which he wishes might be called the Westinian Gallery. This proposition could not have been made with- out the assent of Mr. West. If it were so, it is curious to remark that he was then willing to part with his whole collection, which must have con- tained the works of the prime of his life, for little more than he has since received for a few of his celebrated paintings. Every man to whom this proposition was ad- dressed, must now deeply regret that it was not accepted ; and the more so because we learn, from this same address of Mr. Fulton, that had the offer been accepted, and the plan proposed by Mr. Ful- ton carried into execution, Mr. "West would proba- 48 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. bly have returned to and have spent the evening of his life in his native country. At the sale of the pictures of the Royal Aca- demy, in 1805, Mr. Fulton purchased West's Ophe- lia and his King Lear: for the first of these he gave one hundred and twenty-five, and for the other two hundred and five guineas. In such esti- mation were the works of West, that the English seemed to have been unwilling to spare us even these specimens of his talents. A periodical work published in London at this time, thus notices the purchase of Mr. Fulton : "We have to regret that the two last-mentioned pictures, which are the most happy productions of the truly classic mind of Mr. West, are going out of the country. They have been purchased by an American gentleman, (Mr. Fulton, of Philadelphia,) and are to be the first ornaments of a gallery which is to be established in that city. We cannot part with them without feeling interested in the fate of the beautiful Ophelia, whose charming elegance, mingled with delirious wildness, fills the soul with the most lively sentiments ; nor with the majestic Lear, whose heart seems torn with ingratitude and the sense of complicated evils. There is a grandeur of conception and spirit of execution in this picture, which has been seldom surpassed, and which can only be enjoyed by men of cultivated taste and ele- vated minds. In such paintings we are not to look for delicate complexions, smooth and polished surfaces, or fine colours nor do x we look for such qualities in the works of Raphael ; but for correct drawing, fineness of touch, fine flow of drapery, dignity of character, and movement of soul, all of which are treated in these pictures with the ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 49 highest order of intellect, and will rank them among the most distinguished works of art when Mr. West will be no more. Feeling as we do, it is with reason we regret that those pictures are to leave this country ; but it must be highly gratifying to the Pennsylvanians to possess such works of their celebrated and much-esteemed countryman." This eulogy on one of the earliest, best, and most respected friends of Mr. Fulton, will not be considered, it is hoped, as a too long, or as a mis- placed digression. The genius of West and Ful- ton have secured them an immortal fame. It is possible that the humblest efforts to preserve memorials of either of them, may rescue from oblivion a performance of the slightest merit ; and when succeeding generations shall view, with in- creased admiration, these productions of the first and greatest American masters improved by the hand of time, their histories will be most interest- ing, and will be thought to have been worth pre- serving. In honor of the great preceptor of Fulton, we insert a short history of his life and works.* * Benjamin West, President of the Royal Academy in London, who cast a splendour upon the age in which he lived, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, on the 10th of October, A.D. 1738. The old mansion house where he was born is still standing, and is now called " Westdale," about ten miles south-west of Phila- delphia city. The farm was originally settled by his maternal 5 D 50 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. In 1797, Mr. Fulton took his lodgings in Paris, at an hotel in which Joel Barlow, our American grandfather, and called " Springfield." The West family emi- grated from England with William Perm, on his second visit to Pennsylvania, in 1699, and belonged to the Society of Friends. John West, the father of Benjamin, married Sarah, the daughter of Thomas Pearson, about the year 1714, by whom he had ten children : Benjamin was the youngest son. As early as June, 1745, he sketched with red and black ink a correct likeness of his sister's child, whilst it was asleep in the cradle. The young artist was not provided with better materials than pen and ink until the following summer, when a party of Indians came to pay their annual visit to Springfield, and being amused with the sketches of birds and flowers which Benjamin showed them, they presented him with the colours with which they painted their ornaments, and they taught him to prepare the primary colours. The mythologies of antiquity furnish no allegory more beautiful. Here is the immortal artist instructed by nature j AND WE CAN- NOT IMAGINE ANYTHING MORE PICTURESQUE THAN THE REAL INCIDENT OP INDIANS INSTRUCTING WEST TO PREPARE THE PRISMATIC COLOURS. His first pencils he made of the fur of a cat, drawn tightly through a goose-quill. His first picture was painted for his mother, and was a composition from two engravings ; and sixty- seven years afterwards, the artist had the picture in the same room with the sublime painting of "Christ rejected;" and he then declared that he had never been able to surpass some of the touches of art in his first and juvenile essay. His second pic- ture was a landscape, which comprehended a picturesque view of a river, with vessels on the water, and cattle pasturing on the banks : he afterwards presented it to his friend William Henry, ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 51 Minister and celebrated clergyman, and his lady, had their residence. "Here/' to use the warm Esq., of Lancaster, whose family still retain it in possession. The little artist was sent for to go to Lancaster, for the purpose of taking the likenesses of Mrs. Ross and her family. Mrs. Ross was greatly admired for her beauty. Such was the success with which he executed this first portrait, that his celebrity was greatly enlarged. In 1750, whilst Benjamin West was painting these numerous portraits in this city, Mr. William Henry closely watched and examined the young artist's performances, and he observed to him that if he (Henry) could paint as well, he would not waste his time on portraits, but would devote himself to historical subjects; and he mentioned the "Death of Socrates/' as afford- ing one of the best topics for illustrating the moral effect of the art of painting. The painter knew nothing of the history of the philosopher; and, upon confessing his ignorance, Mr. Henry went to his library, and taking down a volume of the English translation of Plutarch, read to him the account given by that writer of this affecting story. West said that he would be happy to undertake the task, but, having hitherto painted only faces and men clothed, he should be unable to do justice to the figure of the slave who presented the poison, and which he thought ought to be naked. Henry had among his workmen a very handsome young man, and, without waiting to answer the objec- tion, he sent for him. On his entrance into the room, he pointed him out to West, and said : " There is your model !" And this instruction instantaneously convinced the artist that he had only to look into nature for his models. The " Death of Socrates" was finished, and the career of the artist was from that time facilitated. And thus did the taste, intelligence, and generosity 52 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. language of one who participated in the sentiments expressed, " commenced that strong affection, that of the citizens of Lancaster secure the first portrait, the first landscape, and the first grand historical production of the immortal West. In this favorable state of things he attained his sixteenth year, when a meeting of the Society of Friends was called at Spring- field, to consider publicly what ought to be the destiny of Benja- min West. After sitting some time in silence, John Williamson addressed the meeting. At the conclusion of his address, the women rose and kissed the young artist, and the men one by one laid their hands on his head, and prayed that the Lord might verify in his life the value of the gift which had induced them, despite of their religious tenets, to allow him to cultivate the faculties of his genius. One of his early productions was the treaty of William Penn with the Indians, under the great elm tree in Kensington, illustrating the first public contract which connected the inhabitants of the Old and New World together: a treaty, though not ratified by oath, that has never been broken. In 1759, Benjamin West visited Europe to study the masterly performances of Rome and the other cities of Italy, where he received the applause of the best judges, and honorable mem- bership conferred on him by the Academies of Parma, Florence, and Bologna. Among the distinguished persons whom Mr. West found in Home, was the celebrated Cardinal Albani, at an evening-party. The Cardinal became curious to witness the effect which the works of art in the Belvidere and Vatican would produce on the young artist. The whole company, which consisted of the prin- cipal Roman nobility and strangers of distinction then in Rome, were interested in the event ; and it was arranged, in the course \ ARTS AND INTENTIONS OF FULTON. 53 devoted attachment, that real affection, which subsisted in a most extraordinary degree be- of the evening, that, on the following morning, they should accompany West to the palaces. At the hour appointed, the company assembled ; and a procession consisting of upwards of thirty of the most magnificent equipages in the capital of Chris- tendom, and filled with some of the most erudite characters in Europe, conducted the young Quaker to view the master-pieces of art. It was agreed that the APOLLO should be first submitted to his view, because it was the most perfect work among all the ornaments of Rome; and, consequently, the best calculated to produce that effect which the company were anxious to witness. The statue then stood in a case, enclosed with doors, which could be so opened as to disclose it at once to full view. West was placed in the situation where it was seen to the most advantage, and the spectators arranged themselves on each side. When the keeper threw open the doors, the artist felt himself surprised with a sudden recollection altogether different from the gratifica- tion which he had expected; and without being aware of the force of what he said, exclaimed : " My God ! how like it is to a young Mohawk warrior !" The Italians, observing his sur- prise and hearing the exclamation, were excessively mortified to find that the god of their idolatry was compared to a savage. They mentioned their chagrin, and asked West to give some more distinct explanation, by informing them what sort of people the Mohawk Indians were. He described to them their educa- tion, their dexterity with the bow and arrow, the admirable elas- ticity of their limbs, and how much their active life expands the chest, while the quick breathing of their speed in the chase dilates the nostrils with that apparent consciousness of vigour which is so nobly depicted in the APOLLO. " I have seen them 5* 54 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. tween Mr. Barlow and Mr. Fulton, during their lives." often," added he, " standing in that very attitude, and pursuing with an intense eye the arrow which they had just discharged from the bow." The Italians were delighted with this descrip- tive explanation, and allowed that a better criticism had never been pronounced on the merits of the statue. In the meantime a number of Italians had gathered round them to look at Mr. West, who, they had heard, was an American, and whom, like Cardinal Albani, they had imagined to be an Indian, come to study the fine arts in Rome ; and that such an event furnished a new and magnificent theme, and they beheld in him an instrument chosen by Heaven to raise in America the taste for those arts which elevate the nature of man an assurance that his country will afford a refuge to knowledge and science when, in the old age of Europe, they shall have forsaken her shores. He spent four years in Italy : from thence he went to France, visited the works of the French artists, and reached London in August, 1763, where he became the companion of courtiers, and obtained the patronage and friendship of princes. In 1765, his father accompanied Miss Sewel, of Philadelphia, across the Atlantic, to whom West was married. She was a lady of great merit, and in London she was called the Philadelphia beauty. On the death of Sir Joshua Reynolds, in 1791, West was elected President of the Royal Academy, which office he held until his death. In 1817, he lost the companion with whom he had lived for more than half a century, and in the month of March, 1820, this extraordinary man breathed his last. He was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He left two sons, Rembrandt and Benjamin. Mr. West painted about one hundred portraits, and finished ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 55 Soon after Mr. Fulton's arrival in Paris, Mr. Barlow removed to his own hotel, and invited Mr. upwards of two hundred drawings with the PEN, which last, for sublimity of conception, are among the finest of his works : so that the whole of his pieces amount to above six hundred. Some of them are larger in size than any in the national gallery of France, being from thirty to forty feet square. In the zenith of his glory he was beloved as an amiable and upright man ; and in the memoirs of his life, written by himself, and published in London, by John Gait, in 1816, we find the following: "Toivards his old friend William Henry, of Lan- caster cifj/j he always cherished the most grateful affection : Tie was the first who urged him to attempt historical composi- tion." And this grateful acknowledgment is from the immortal West, whose works were composed with the serious ambition and hope of illustrating Scripture, and rendering Gospel truth more im- pressive. No subject seemed to him too lofty for his pencil : he considered himself worthy to follow the sublimest flights of the prophets, and dared to limn the effulgence of God's glory, and the terrors of the Day of Judgment. The mere list of his works makes us shudder at human presumption : " Moses receiving the Law on Sinai/ ' "The Descent of the Holy Ghost on the Saviour in the Jordan/' " The opening of the Seventh Seal in the Reve- lations," " Saint Michael and his Angels casting out the Great Dragon/' "The mighty Angel with one foot on Sea and the other on Earth," " Death on the Pale Horse," (it is irresistibly fearful to see the triumphant march of the terrific phantom, and the dissolution of all that Earth is proud of beneath bis tread war and peace, sorrow and joy, youth and age, all who love and all who hate, seem planet-struck !) " The Crucifixion" and " The 56 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Fulton to reside with him. Mr. Fulton lived seven years in Mr. Barlow's family, during which time he learned the French, and something of the Italian and German languages. He also studied the high mathematics, physics, chemistry, and perspective, and acquired that science which, when united with his uncommon natural genius, gave him so great a superiority over many of those who, with some talents, but without any sort of science, have pre- tended to be his rivals. Mr. Fulton, during his residence with Mr. Barlow, projected the first panorama that was exhibited in Paris. This was a novelty which attracted many spectators, and afforded a handsome emolument. At this period, an honored representative of one of the congressional districts of New Jersey visited Mr. Fulton. On the wall of his room was sketched distinctly the plan of a steamboat. " There," said Fulton, as he pointed it out to his visitor, "is the Resurrection !" And there are many others of the same class. "With such magnificence and sublimity, who could cope ? "Old paintings! who would not spare them? they are priceless for their age: spare them ! they are sacred to the dead ! They tell of times, of happy times, in years long, long gone by ; Of dear ones that have ceased to live but in the memory : They picture many a bright, bright scene, in sunny days of yore : 0, then, spare them ! they are a priceless store : They are the only links that bind us to the past." ARTS AND INVENTION'S OF FULTON. 57 image of what will yet traverse the river and the ocean." And wherever he went, this image of the future he carried with him. It was written in his mind. He saw it as he walked along, he thought of it, he dreamed of it, and at last he acted it. The taper of his lone room illuminated the world. Mr. Fulton s Inventions. 1. In 1797, Mr. Fulton invented and designed the first panorama ever exhibited in Paris, which he sold, to try his experiments on the propulsion of vessels by steam. 2. In 1794, he invented and received letters patent in England for a mill for sawing marble; for which the British Society for the " Promotion of the Arts and Commerce" presented him with their thanks and an honorary medal. 3. In 1797, he likewise invented and patented Double Inclined-Planes for canals. The DOUBLE INCLINED-PLANE, extending from one level of the canal to the other, and running into each canal about sixty feet. A TUB or cistern to move in a pit, into which water is drawn from the upper canal, in order to create a power to put the machine in motion. A drum-wheel over the pit, which gives motion to the apparatus. 58 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Balance-chains attached to the tub. A horizontal wheel at the bottom of the plane : also a wheel inclined on the same angle as the plane, to be placed at the top : round these two wheels the chains are continued, and perform a rotatory movement. A shaft with two wheels multiplied movement, to convey the motion from the drum to the inclined-wheel. A stopper on the plane near the bridge, to prevent the boat descend- ing until the man is ready. Centrifugal fans regu- late the movement. 4. Also a machine for spinning flax. 5. Also for a machine for making ropes, which can stand in a room forty feet square, arid by which the rope-yarns are put on spools, and any sized cordage made by one man. 6. He likewise obtained letters patent for a machine and contrivance for scooping out the earth to form channels for canals or aqueducts, afterwards much used in England. 7. He likewise invented and erected cast-iron bridges and cast-iron aqueducts, and wooden bridges, with his peculiar mode of combining the timbers. 8. His treatise on the " Improvement of Canal Navigation," in quarto form, one hundred and twenty pages, containing seventeen elegantly en- graved plates, all his own designs, was published ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 59 in London in 1796. He there exhibits several kinds of boats for canals, for the purpose of passing the planes, to avoid the loss of time, if the boats were placed on any kind of a carriage. 9. His invention of what he called the MARKET Or PASSAGE BOAT. 10. Another : the DESPATCH BOAT, for the pur- pose of conveying such goods as require expedition. 11. Another: the TRADER, which was twenty feet long, four wide, two feet ten inches deep in the clear, flat at the bottom, and ends like a box, bolted and screwed and stayed at the corners, with two knees or ribs inside, exactly above the wheels, and about five feet from the ends, which would leave ten feet in the centre. Two keels of scantling, about six inches square, eighteen inches asunder, were laid along the centre of the bottom to receive the wheels. The wheels from six to ten inches in diameter, two feet distance from the ex- tremities axle and wheel cast in one piece, and turned at the shoulders the axle moved on brass or iron steps. 12. The MODE OF CROSSING RIVERS and gaining height at the same time, performing the double operation of an aqueduct and locks. 13. A PERPENDICULAR Lift to pass boats by means of cranes on the upper side of the upper 60 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. canal : behind the cranes was a drum- wheel of two diameters to the largest the crane chains were fastened. To the crane chains a cage of iron was fixed to receive the boat : thus suspended, the cage and a tub of water moved alternately between the the summit and lower canals. 14. Another mode of passing, by machinery, a DESCENDING TRADE, and saving the whole of the water by means of the pumps. 15. His invention of beautiful air-guns one of which he sold to a gentleman of Chester county for seventy-five dollars. He experimented with air-guns, to test the difference between the force of air and steam : he concluded that they might be considered equal, but that steam was the most practicable. 16. The "Cable Cutter," to cut the cables of vessels when lying at anchor. 17. "Torpedoes:" copper cylinders which con- tained about one hundred pounds of powder, dis- charged by a gun-lock and clock-work, by which vessels could be blown to atoms the explosion taking place according to the time fixed. 18. In 18Q7, the first STEAM PACKET that was ever built, or sailed against wind and tide, which was called the "CLERMONT." 19. The first submarine plunging-boat, as a ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 61 terrible engine of war, constructed for carrying torpedoes and submarine guns, adapted for a mode of maritime warfare which he called the "torpedo war." These boats had a main-sail and a jib like a sloop : the masts and sails could be taken in, and the boat dive under water in one minute, and be rowed and steered by a compass, at any depth. Mr. Fulton was thoroughly acquainted with the pneumatic machinery by which the fish rise to the surface or lie at the bottom of the sea, and had imitated this natural power for his boat by some mechanical contrivance most probably through a contraction and expansion of the volume of the boat. His mode of propelling the boat was by a spiral sculler in the stern, turned by a crank ; and it made between two and three miles an hour. This was supposed to be the first propeller on the Archimedean plan. This "diving-boat," the "NAU- TILUS," was much admired at Brest for the science of the conception, anr> the extraordinary and won- derful skill in the execution. 20. Submarine guns. 21. A beautiful steamship called the "CAR OF NEPTUNE," of -295 tons. 22. In 1^11, the "PARAGON," of 331 tons. 23. In 1812, the "FIREFLY," of 118 tons. 24. In 1812, the Jersey ferry-boat "CAMDEN," 6 62 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. which commenced running at Philadelphia May 9, 1812, from Market street ferry, upper side, to Springer's ferry, at Camden, New Jersey. 25. In 1813, the "RICHMOND" steamer, of 370 tons. 26. In 1813, the steamer "WASHINGTON," of 275 tons. 27. In 1813, the "YORK" ferry-boat. 28. In 1813, the " NASSAU" ferry-boat. 29. Dec., 1813, the steamboat "VESUVIUS," 140 feet keel, 400 tons burden, was launched at Pitts- burgh, designed as a regular trader between the Falls of the Ohio and New Orleans ; and, August 10, 1816, with a rich cargo, bound up the Missis- sippi, was destroyed by fire off New Orleans. Luckily, she was anchored in the river, whereby no other damage was suffered. The people all saved. Property lost estimated at $200,000. A contract was made by the U. S. Government with Mr. Fulton, Dec. 27, 1814, for the purpose of employing his steamboats "VESUVIUS," "^ETNA," "NEW ORLEANS," and "NATCHEZ," on the Mis- sissippi, in transporting troops and munitions of war, and the "BUFFALO" steamboat on the Ohio. The celebrated battle of the 8th of January took place but a week afterwards, and it was upon ARTS AND INTENTIONS OF FULTON. 63 the possession of the "VESUVIUS," this auxiliary instrument of war, that the commanding General relied, in his anticipations of safety to the city and the accomplishment of a brilliant victory; and what would have been the mighty rivers of the West without Mr. Fulton's invention? And the records of our country exhibit the names of the two celebrated statesmen and presidents, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, certifying to Congress the invaluable services rendered to the country by Mr. Fulton, at the great battle of New Orleans. Such unquestioned proofs of his genius, and the application of his steamships to the best uses of his country, in so trying an emergency, entitle him to the gratitude of his countrymen and the applause of the world. 30. In 1813, the steamship FULTON," of 327 tons. 31. In 1814, the " FULTON THE FIRST," the first steam vessel of war in the world. Jan. 5, a num- ber of influential and patriotic gentlemen of the city of New York assembled at the house of Robert Fulton, Esq., to investigate the principles and utility of a steam vessel of war invented by that gentleman. After examining the plan and hearing the reasons submitted, they immediately adopted measures to raise $120,000, for the purpose of 64 THE LIFE OF EGBERT FULTON. giving a trial to the experiment, proposing to build one to carry 24-long-pounders, to aid in the defence of that city. Jan. 3, 1814, the committee, Stephen Decatur, Evans, Perry, Warrington, Lewis Jones, etc., re- ported having examined the MODEL and PLANS, and that it was among the best interests of the United States to carry the plan into immediate execution. Oct. 31, 1814, the steam frigate " FULTON THE FIRST" was launched at New York, of 2475 tons burden. She was cannon-proof. She carried thirty 32-pound carronades, and two 100-pound colum- biads, to fire hot shot. The gallant Porter com- manded her. This frigate was one hundred and forty-five feet deck, fifty-five feet in breadth, and drew eight feet water. Nov. 22, she was moved from the wharf of Messrs. Browns, in the East river, to the works of Mr. Fulton, on the North river, to receive her machinery cost $320,000. On the 4th of July she made a passage to the ocean and back, fifty- three miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes. She was used by the United States as a receiving- ship until June 4, 1829, when, by some accident, her magazine blew up, killing twenty-five persons and wounding nineteen others, causing the com- plete destruction of the vessel. ARTS AND INVENTIONS OF FULTON. 65 32. In 1815, the "OLIVE BRANCH." 33. In 1815, the "EMPEROR OF RUSSIA," built August 10, 1815, for Russia, where she was under contract to be on the 1st of December Captain Bunker, commander. This grand undertaking was in fulfilment or acceptance of a contract previously offered to Mr. Fulton by the Emperor of Russia, allowing him the exclusive navigation of steam- boats in the Russian Empire for twenty-five years. The vessel was built as substantial and strong as a sloop-of-war, and no doubt was entertained by naval men of the practicability of the attempt. The "SAVANNAH" was, however, afterwards built, and sailed to Russia. 34. In 1815, the "CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON," of 526 tons. 35. Mr. Fulton's last boat, which he called the " MUTE." Perpetual Motion. We here notice an occurrence that seems to show the practical knowledge Mr. Fulton had acquired in mechanics, and to mark the quickness of his apprehension, as related by Mr. Colden : " It is well known how long and how successfully Red- heffer had deluded the Pennsylvanians by his perpetual motion. " Many men of ingenuity, learning, and science had seen the machine : some had written on the subject aot 6* E 66 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. a few of these were his zealous advocates and others, though they were afraid to admit that he had made a discovery which violated what were believed to be the established laws of nature, appeared also afraid to deny what the incessant motion of his wheels and weights seemed to prove. These contrived ingenious theories, which were hardly less wonderful than the perpetual mo- tion itself. They proposed that Redhefier had discovered a means of developing gradually some hidden power, which, though it could not give motion to his machine for ever, would keep it going for some time, which they could not pretend to determine. " One of these perpetual motions commenced its career in New York city, in 1813. Mr. Fulton was a perfect unbeliever in Redheffer's discovery; and although hundreds were daily paying their dollar to see the wonder, Mr. Ful- ton could not be prevailed upon to follow the crowd. After a few days, however, he was induced by some of his friends to visit the machine. It was in an isolated house in the suburbs of the city. " In a very short time after Mr. Fulton had entered the room in which it was exhibited, he exclaimed : ; Why, this is a crank motion !' His ear enabled him to distinguish that the machine was moved by a crank, which always gives an unequal power, and therefore an unequal velocity in the course of each revolution ; and a nice and practised ear may perceive that the sound is not uniform. If the machine had been kept in motion by what was its ostensi- ble moving power, it must have had an equable rotary mo- tion, and the sound would have been always the same. "After some little conversation with the showman, Mr. Fulton did not hesitate to declare that the machine was an imposition, and to tell the gentleman that he was an im- postor. "Notwithstanding the bluster and anger which these charges excited, he assured the company that the thing -was a cheat, and that, if they would support him in the ARTS AND INTENTIONS OF FULTON. 67 x attempt, he would detect it, at the risk of paying any penalty if he failed. " Having obtained the assent of all who were present, he began by knocking away some very thin little pieces of lath, which appeared to be no part of the machinery, but to go from the frame of the machine to the wall of the room, merely to keep the corner-posts of the machine steady. " It was found that a catgut string was led through one of these laths and the frame of the machine, to the head of the upright-shaft of a principal wheel ; that the catgut was conducted through the wall, and along the floors of the second story, to a back cockloft, at the distance of a number of yards from the room which contained the ma- chine, and there was found the moving power. This was a poor old man with an immense beard, and all the appear- ance of having suffered a long imprisonment ; who, when they broke in upon him, was unconscious of what had hap- pened below, and who, while he was seated on a stool gnawing a crust, was with one hand turning a crank. "The proprietor of the perpetual motion soon disap- peared. The mob demolished his machine, the destruction of which immediately put a stop to that which had been, for so long a time and to so much profit, exhibited in Philadel- phia." CHAPTER IV. EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." "Fulton with his own soul the canvas warms, Creates, inspires, impassions human forms." WE copy the following from the " COLUMBIAD," or "YisiON OF COLUMBUS," a poem in quarto form, containing four hundred and fifty pages, written by Joel Barlow, and dedicated to his friend Robert Fulton. The subject of this splendid patriotic poem is altogether national and historical. The elegant plates which adorn that work were de- signed and published by Mr. Fulton, at an expense of $5,000 ; and the original paintings form a part of the handsome collection which he left to his family. The work is dedicated in such terms as evince the strong attachment which subsisted be- tween these men of genius. To Robert Fulton. "MY DEAR FRIEND: " This poem is your property. I present it to you in manuscript, that you may bring it before the public in the (68) EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." 69 manner you think proper. This letter will explain to them my motives for offering you such a testimony of my attach- ' ment an attachment which certainly comprises all the good affections that the virtues and talents of one man can inspire in the breast of another. " Our friendship has been uncommonly useful to us both. Yet, in no instance, has that delicious bond of union been more disinterested than between you and me. According to the common course of nature, you have longer to live than I have ; and though, as a faithful guardian, you would foster an orphan of mine, yet, as an adoptive father, your power over it would seem to be more complete. " These are motives of affection and precaution, but I am likewise impelled by a motive of justice. My poem, having grown up under your eye, much benefited by your observations, as well as by those of my excellent wife, is to come forward, I find, ornamented l>y your taste. You designated the subjects to be painted for engravings ; and, unable to convince me that the work could merit such ex- pensive and splendid decorations, you ordered them to be executed in my absence, and at your own expense ; so that the whole work, as committed to the publisher and estimated by its cost, is chiefly yours already ; for my proportion has cost me nothing but that leisurely and exhilarating labour in which I always delight. " Take it then to yourself, and let it live, as long as it is to live, a monument of our friendship : you cannot need it as a monument of your fame. Your inventions and dis- coveries in the useful arts, the precision and extension of your views in the physical sciences, and in their application to the advancement of society and morals, will render it proper that the lines you have selected and written under my portrait, should be transferred to yours. Posterity will vindicate the .right, and fix them in their place. "Continue to be happy, my Fulton, as your various merit entitles you to be. Continue to enhance that merit by well-directed labours for the good of mankind; and 70 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. since this address will not outlast the poem to which it is prefixed, I leave you to take some other method to unite my memory more durably with your own. "JOEL BARLOW." Philadelphia, MAY 1, 1807. HESPER, a brilliant planet, called the evening-star, assumes the figure of a beautiful young man, and appears to COLUMBUS in prison, as his guardian genius. " Thus mourn'd the hapless man : a thundering sound Roll'd through the shuddering walls, and shook the ground : O'er all the dungeon, where black arches bend, The roofs unfold, and streams of light descend : The growing splendour fills the astonish'd room, And gales ethereal breathe a glad perfume. Robed in the radiance moves a form serene, Of human structure, but of heavenly mien : Near to the prisoner's couch he takes his stand, And waves, in sign of peace, his holy hand. Tall rose his stature, youth's endearing grace Adorn'd his limbs and brighten'd in his face ; Loose o'er his locks the star of evening hung, And sounds melodious moved his cheerful tongue. 4 Rise, trembling chief ! to scenes of rapture rise ! This voice awaits thee from the western skies : Indulge no longer that desponding strain, Nor count thy toils, nor deem thy virtues vain. Thou seest in me the guardian power who keeps The new-found world that skirts Atlantic deeps. Hesper my name, my seat the brightest throne In night's whole heaven, my sire the living sun. er run EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." 71 My brother Atlas, with his name divine, Stamp'd the wild wave : the solid coast is mine. This hand, which formed, and, in the tides of time, Laves and improves the meliorating clime, Which taught thy prow to cleave the trackless way, And hailed thee first in occidental day, To all thy worth shall vindicate thy claim, And raise up nations to revere thy name.' ' CAPAC and OELLA instructing the Peruvians. " Now to yon Southern cities turn thy view, And mark the rival seats of rich Peru. Here reigns a prince whose heritage proclaims A long, bright lineage of imperial names ; Where the brave roll of Incas love to trace The distant father of their realm and race Immortal Capac. He, in youthful pride, With young Oella, his illustrious bride, Announc'd their birth divine : a race begun From heaven the children of their god the sun By him sent forth a polished state to frame, Crush the fiend gods that human victims claim, With cheerful rites their pure devotions pay To the bright orb that gives the changing day. On this great plan, as children of the skies, They plied their arts, and saw their hamlets rise. First of their works, and sacred to their fame, Yon proud metropolis received its name. Cusco, the seat of states, in peace design'd To reach o'er earth, and civilize mankind. Succeeding sovereigns spread their limits far, Tamed every tribe, and soothed the rage of war, 72 THE LIFE OF EGBERT FULTON. Till Quito bowed, and all the Heliac zone Felt the same sceptre, and confirm'd the throne. They form to different arts the hand of toil To whirl the spindle, and to spade the soil, Adore their persons, robed in shining white, Receive their laws, and leave each horrid rite, Build with assisting hands the golden throne, And hail and bless the sceptre of the sun." Action of the INCA CAP&C. A general invasion of his dominions threatened ly the mountain savages. ROCHA, the INCA'S son, sent with a few companions to offer terms of peace. Character and speech of ZAMOR, their chief. Capture of ROCHA and his companions. Sacrifice of the latter. The savage armies march down the moun- tains to Peru. The Peruvians march in haste out of the city, and engage the savages. Exploits of CAPAC. Death of ZAMOR. " He ceased ; and where the savage leader lay Weltering in gore, directs his eager way, Unwraps the tiger's hide, and strives in vain To close the wound, and mitigate the pain ; And while compassion for a foe distress'd Mix'd with reproach, he thus the chief address'd : ' Too long, proud prince, thy fearless heart withstood Our sacred arms, and braved the living God : His sovereign will commands all feuds to cease His realm is concord and his pleasure peace : This copious carnage, spreading far the plain, Insults his bounties, but confirms his reign. Enough ! 't is past : thy parting breath demands The last sad office from my yielding hands. To share thy pains and feel thy hopeless woe, Are rights ungrateful to a fallen foe ; OFStGNED BY FULTON. L.N. ROSENTHAL LITK. PMIL* (B i s # EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBI AD." 73 Yet rest in peace ; and know, a chief so brave, When life departs, shall find an honor'd grave : Myself in princely pomp thy tomb shall rear, And tribes unborn thy hapless fate declare.' 6 Insult me not with tombs !' the monster cried : ' Let no curs'd earth conceal this gory head, Nor songs proclaim the dreadful Zamor dead.' Thus pour'd the vengeful chief his fainting breath, And lost his utterance in the gasp of death. Vision confined to North America. Congress 1 endeavours to arrest the violence of England compared with those of the Grenius of Rome to dissuade CAESAR from passing the Rubicon. " The virtuous delegates behold with pain The hostile Britons hovering o'er the main ; Lament the strife that bids two worlds engage, And blot their annals with fraternal rage : Two worlds in one broad State ! whose bounds bestride, Like Heaven's blue arch, the vast Atlantic tide : By language, laws, and liberty combined, Great nurse of thought, example to mankind. Columbia rears her warning voice in vain, Brothers to brothers call across the main : Britannia's patriots lend a listening ear, But kings and courtiers push their mad career : Dissension raves, the sheathless falchions glare, And earth and ocean tremble at the war. Thus with stern brow, as worn by cares of state, His bosom big with dark unfolding fate, High o'er his lance the sacred eagle spread, And earth's whole crown still resting on his head, 7 74 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTOX. Rome's hoary Genius rose, and mournful stood On roaring Rubicon's forbidden flood, When Caesar's ensigns swept the Alpine air, Led their long legions from the Gallic war, Paused on the opposing bank with wings unfurl'd, And waved portentous o'er the shuddering world. The god, with outstretch'd arm and awful look, Call'd the proud victor, and prophetic spoke : 'Arrest, my son, thy parricidious hate, Pass not the stream, nor stab my filial State Stab not thyself, thy friends, thy total kind, And worlds and ages in one State combined.' The chief, regardless of the warning god, Rein'd his rude steed, and headlong pass'd the flood, Cried, ' Farewell, peace !' took fortune for his guide, And o'er his country pour'd the slaughtering tide. High on the foremost seat, in living light, Resplendent Randolph caught the world's full sight. Sage Franklin next arose, with cheerful mien, And smiled unruffled o'er the solemn scene : His locks of age a various wreath embraced, Palm of all arts that e'er a mortal graced ; Beneath him lay the sceptre kings had borne, And the tame thunder from the tempest torn. Crowds rose to reason, while their accents rung, And INDEPENDENCE thunder'd from their tongue ! Now the broad field, as untaught warriors' shade, The sun's glad beam their shining arms display'd ; High waved great WASHINGTON his glittering steel, Bade the long train in circling order wheel, And, while the banner'd youths around him press'd, With voice rever'd he thus the ranks address'd : l.N.ROSENTHAl'S LITH.PHU' BjBILJJEILTT IPRE8DBIW* "rM I IPTOOKi EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." 75 'Ye generous bands, behold the task to save Or yield whole nations to an instant grave. Rise then to war ! to timely vengeance rise ! Ere the grey sire, the helpless infant dies : Look thro' the world, see endless years descend ; What realms, what ages, on your arms depend ! Reverse the fate, avenge the insulted sky ; Move to the work : we conquer or we die !' ' British cruelty to American prisoners. Prison-ship. Story of LUCINDA. " But of all tales that war's black annals hold, The darkest, foulest, still remains untold ; New modes of torture wait the shameful strife, And Britain wantons in the waste of life. Cold-blooded CRUELTY ! first fiend of hell ! Ah ! think no more with savage hordes to dwell : Quit the Caribbean tribes who eat their slain, Fly that grim gang, the inquisitors of Spain, Boast not thy deeds in Moloch's shrines of old, Leave Barbary's pirates to their blood-bought gold, Let Holland steal her victims, force them o'er To toils and death on Java's morbid shore ; Some cloak, some color, all these crimes may plead 'T is avarice, passion, blind religion's deed ; But Britons here, in this fraternal broil, Grave, cool, deliberate, in thy service toil. Come then, curs'd goddess, where thy votaries reign ; Inhale their incense from the land and main : Come to New York, their conquering arms to greet, Brood o'er their camp, and breathe along their fleet, See the black PRISON-SHIP'S expanding womb Impested thousands, quick and dead, entomb. 76 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON". Bark after bark the captured seamen bear, Transboard and lodge thy silent victims there : A hundred scows, from all the neighbouring shore, Spread the dull sail and ply the constant oar, Waft wrecks of armies from the well-fought field, And famish'd garrisons who bravely yield : They mount the hulk, and, cramm'd within the cave, Hail their last house their living, floating grave. She comes, the fiend ! her grinning jaws expand, Her brazen eyes cast lightning o'er the strand, Her wings like thunder-clouds the welkin sweep, Brush the tall spires and shade the shuddering deep ; She gains the deck, displays her wonted store, Her cords and scourges wet with prisoners' gore ; Gripes, pincers, thumbscrews spread beneath her feet, Slow poisonous drugs and loads of putrid meat ; Disease hangs drizzling from her slimy locks, And hot contagion issues from her box. v/er the closed hatches ere she takes her place, She moves the massy planks a little space, Opes a small passage to the cries below, That feast her soul on messages of woe ; There sits with gaping ear and changeless eye, Drinks every groan and treasures every sigh ; Sustains the faint, their miseries to prolong, Revives the dying and unnerves the strong. But as the infected mass resign their breath, She keeps with joy the register of death. As toss'd thro' port-holes from the encumber'd cave, Corpse after corpse fall dashing in the wave Corpse after corpse, for days and months and years, The tide bears off, and still its current clears ; EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." 77 At last, o'erloaded with the putrid gore, The slime-clad waters thicken round the shore. Green ocean's self, that oft his wave renews, That drinks whole fleets with all their battling crews, That laves, that purifies the earth and sky, Yet ne'er before resign'd his natural dye, Here blushes, purples for the race he bore To rob and ravage this unconquer'd shore : The scaly nations, as they travel by, Catch the contagion, sicken, gasp, and die." Murder of LUCINDA (Miss MACREA.) " One deed shall tell what fame great Albion draws From these auxiliars in her barbarous cause : Lucinda's fate ! the tale, ye nations, hear ! Eternal ages, trace it with a tear ! Long from the rampart, thro' the embattled field, She spied her Hartley where his column wheel'd, Traced him with steadfast eye and tortured breast, That heaved in concert with his dancing crest ; And oft, with head advanced and hand outspread, Seem'd from her love to ward the flying lead ; Till, dimm'd by distance and the gathering cloud, At last he vanish'd in the warrior crowd. She thought he fell ; and, wild with fearless air, She left the camp to brave the woodland war, Made a long circuit, all her friends to shun, And wander'd wide beneath the falling sun ; Then veering to the field, the pickets pass'd, To gain the hillock where she miss'd him last. Fond maid, he rests not there : from finished fight He sought the camp, and closed the rear of flight. 7* 78 THE LIFE OF EGBERT FULTON. He hurries to his tent rage ! despair ! No glimpse, no tidings of the frantic fair ; Save that some carmen, as a-camp they drove, Had seen her crossing for the western grove : Faint with fatigue, and choked with burning thirst, Forth from his friends with bounding leap he burst, Vaults o'er the palisade with eyes on flame, And fills the welkin with Lucinda's name Swift thro' the wildwood paths frenetic springs Lucinda ! Lucinda ! thro' the wildwood rings. All night he wanders : barking wolves alone, And screaming night-birds, answer to his moan ; For war had rous'd them from their savage den They scent the field, they snuff the walks of men. The fair one, too, of every aid forlorn, Had rav'd and wander'd, till officious morn Awak'd the Mohawks from their short repose, To glean the plunder ere their comrades rose. Two Mohawks met the maid historian, hold ! Poor human nature ! must thy shame be told ? Where then that proud preeminence of birth, Thy moral sense? the brightest boast of earth. Had but the tiger changed his heart for thine, Could rocks their bowels with that heart combine, Thy tear had gush'd, thy hand relieved her pain, And led Lucinda to her lord again. She starts : with eyes upturned and fleeting breath, In their raised axes views her instant death, Spreads her white hands to heaven in frantic prayer, Then runs to grasp their knees, and crouches there. Her hair, half-lost along the shrubs she pass'd, Rolls in loose tangles round her lovely waist ; L N.RQSENTKAL'S LITH.PMH EMI i m IE n OF L y e c EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBI AD ." 79 Her kerchief torn betrays the globes of snow That heave responsive to her weight of woe. Does all this eloquence suspend the knife ? Does no superior bribe contest her life ? There does : the scalps by British gold are paid A long-hair'd scalp adorns that" heavenly head ; And comes the sacred spoil from friend or foe, No marks distinguish, and no man can know. With calculating pause and demon grin, They seize her hands, and thro' her face divine Drive the descending axe : the shriek she sent Attain'd her lover's ear he thither bent With all the speed his wearied limbs could yield, Whirl' d his keen blade, and stretch'd upon the field The yelling fiends ; who there disputing stood Her gory scalp, their horrid prize of blood. He sunk delirious on her lifeless clay, And pass'd, in starts of sense, the dreadful day. Are these thy trophies, Carleton ? these the swords Thy hand unsheath'd and gave the savage hordes, Thy boasted friends, by treaties brought from far, To aid thy master in his murderous war ?" Capture of CORNWALLIS and his army. Their banners furled and muskets piled on the field of battle. " Cornwallis first, their late all-conquering lord, Bears to the victor chief his conquer'd sword, Presents the burnish'd hilt, and yields with pain The gift of kings, here brandish'd long in vain. Then bow their hundred banners, trailing far Their wearied wings from all the skirts of war. Battalion'd infantry and squadron'd horse, Dash the silk tassel and the golden torse ; 80 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Flags from the forts and ensigns from the fleet Roll in the dust, and at Columbia's feet Prostrate the pride of thrones : they firm the base Of freedom's temple, while her arms they grace. Here Albion's crimson cross the soil o'erspreads, Her lion crouches and her thistle fades, Indignant Erin rues her trampled lyre, Brunswick's pale steed forgets his foamy fire, Proud Ilessia's castle lies in dust o'erthrown, And venal Anspach quits her broken crown. Long trains of wheeled artillery shade the shore, Quench their blue matches and forget to roar ; Along the encumber'd plain thick planted rise High stacks of muskets glittering to the skies, Numerous and vast. As when the toiling swains Heap their whole harvest on the stubbly plains, Gerb after gerb the bearded shock expands, Shocks rang'd in rows hill high the burden'd lands : The joyous master numbers all the piles, And o'er his well-earned crop complacent smiles ; Such growing heaps this iron harvest yield, So tread the victors this, their final field. Triumphant WASHINGTON, with brow serene, Regards unmov'd the exhilarating scene, Weighs in his balanced thought the silent grief That sinks the bosom of the fallen chief, ( With all the joy that laurel crowns bestow, A world reconquer'd and a vanquished foe. He bids brave LINCOLN guide with modest air The last glad triumph of the finish'd war ; Who sees once more two armies shade one plain, The mighty victors and the captive train." EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBIAD." 81 The danger of losing LIBERTY by inattention, illustrated in the Rape of the Grolden Fleece. " Think not, my friends, the patriot's task is done, Or freedom safe, because the battle's won. Unnumber'd foes, far different arms that wield, Wait the weak moment when she quits her shield, To plunge in her bold breast the insidious dart, Or pour keen poison round her thoughtless heart. Perhaps they '11 strive her votaries to divide, From their own veins to draw the vital tide ; Perhaps, by cooler calculation shown, Create materials to construct a throne, Dazzle her guardians with the glare of state, Corrupt with power, with borrowed pomp inflate, Bid thro' the land the soft infection creep, Whelm all her sons in one lethargic sleep, Crush her vast empire in its brilliant birth, And chase the goddess from the ravaged earth. The dragon thus, that watch'd the Colchian fleece, Foil'd the fierce warriors of wide-plundering Greece ; But the sly priestess brings her opiate spell, Soft charms that hush the triple hound of hell A settling tremor through his folds extends, His crest contracts, his rainbow neck unbends, O'er all his hundred hoops the languor crawls, Each curve develops, every volute falls, His broad back flattens as he spreads the plain, And sleep consigns him to his lifeless reign. Flush'd at the sight, the pirates seize the spoil, And ravaged Colchis rues the insidious toil." F 82 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Initiation to the mysteries of Isis. Progress of the Arts and Sciences. " Unfold, thou Memphian dungeon ! there began The lore of mystery, the mask of man : The bold initiate takes his awful stand, A thin pale taper trembling in his hand ; Long ladders heaved on end, with banded eyes He mounts, and mounts, and seems to gain the skies ; Then backward falling, tranc'd with deadly fright, Finds his own feet, and stands restored to light. Here all dread sights of torture round him rise : Lash'd on a wheel, a whirling felon flies ; A wretch, with members chain'd and liver bare, Writhes and disturbs the vulture feasting there ; One strains to roll his rock, recoiling still ; One, stretch'd recumbent o'er a limpid rill, Burns with devouring thirst : his starting eyes, Swell'd veins, and frothy lips, and piercing cries, Accuse the faithless eddies, as they shrink And keep him panting still still bending o'er the brink. ***** GENIUS assumes new force and elevates his pride, Calls up DISCOVERY, with her tube and scroll, And points the trembling magnet to the pole. Rome, Athens, Memphis, Tyre ! had you but known This glorious triad, now familiar grown, The PRESS, the MAGNET faithful to its pole, And earth's own MOVEMENT round her steadfast goal, Ne'er had your science, from that splendid height, Sunk in her strength, nor seen succeeding night." ES1GNED BY FULTON . LN ROSENTH AL. LI7H PHIL* IFC^ITDOIM TTO TTME DESIGNED BY FULTON (CXF3F3EUEiJriIIID)IC EXTRACTS FROM THE "COLUMBI AD ." 83 The final Resignation of Prejudices. u So, from all tracts of earth, this gathering throng In ships and chariots shape their course along, Reach with unwonted speed the place assign'd To hear and give the counsels of mankind. South of the sacred mansion first resort The assembled sires, and pass the spacious court. Here in his porch earth's figur'd GENIUS stands, Truth's mighty mirror poising in his hands : Graved on the pedestal and chased in gold, Man's noblest arts their symbol forms unfold, His tillage and his trade ; with all the store Of wondrous fabrics and of useful lore : Labors that fashion to his sovereign sway Earth's total powers her soil, and air, and sea; Force them to yield their fruits at his known call, And bear his mandates round the rolling ball. Beneath the footstool all destructive things, The mask of priesthood and the mace of kings, Lie trampled in the dust ; for here at last Fraud, folly, error, all their emblems cast. Each envoy here unloads his wearied hand Of some old idol from his native land ; One flings a pagod on the mingled heap, One lays a crescent, one a cross to sleep ; Swords, sceptres, mitres, crowns, globes, and stars, Codes of false fame and stimulants to wars, Sink in the settling mass since guile began These are the agents of the woes of man. * Here, then,' said Hesper, with a blissful smile, * Behold the fruits of thy long years of toil. To yon bright borders of Atlantic day Thy swelling pinions led the trackless way, 84 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, To trace new seas and happy nations rear ; Till by fraternal hands their sails unfurl'd Have waved at last in Union o'er the world. Then let thy steadfast soul no more complain Of dangers braved and griefs endured in vain, Of courts insidious, envy's poison'd stings, The loss of empire and the frown of kings ; While these broad views thy better thoughts compose To spurn the malice of insulting foes ; And all the joys descending ages gain, Kepay thy labours and remove thy pain.' " CHAPTER V. INLAND NAVIGATION, CIVIL ENGINEERING, AND STATESMANSHIP. "Nor seas alone the countless barks behold, Earth's inland realms their naval paths unfold. Her plains, long portless, now no more complain Of useless rills and fountains nursed in vain : CANALS curve thro' them many a liquid line, Prune their wild streams, their lakes and oceans join. New York resigns her stagnant world of fen, Allures, rewards the cheerful toils of men, Leads their long new-made rivers round her reign, Drives off the putrid air, and waves her golden grain, Feeds a whole nation from her cultured shore, Where not a bird could skim the skies before. From Mohawk's mouth, far westing with the sun, Thro' all the midlands recent channels run, Tap the redundant lakes, the broad hills brave, Aud HUDSON marry with MISSOURI'S wave. From dim SUPERIOR, whose uncounted sails Shade his full seas and bosom all his gales, New paths unfolding seek Mackenzie's tide, And towns and empires rise along their side; Free crystal highways all his north adorn, Like coruscations from the boreal morn. Proud MISSISSIPPI, tamed and taught his road, Flings forth irriguous from his generous flood Ten thousand watery glades; that, round him curl'd, Vein the broad bosom of the Western World. 8 (85) 86 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Sway'd with the floating weight each river toils, And joyous Nature's full perfection smiles j While growing arts their social virtues spread, Enlarge their compacts and unlock their trade, Till each remotest clan, by commerce join'd, Links in the chain that binds all human kind." IN 1793, we find Mr. Fulton actively engaged in a project to improve inland navigation : even at that early day, he had conceived the idea of pro- pelling vessels by steam; and he speaks in some of his manuscripts with great confidence of its practicability. In May, 1794, he obtained from the British Government a patent for a Double Inclined-Plane, to be used for transportation. Indeed, the subject of canals appears chiefly to have engaged his attention about this time. He now, and probably for some time previously, pro- fessed himself a civil engineer. Under this title, he published his work on canals. In 1795, he published some essays on the same subject in the London Morning Star. In the introduction to his Treatise on Canal Navigation, he says that his thoughts were first turned to this subject by reading a paper descrip- tive of a canal proposed by the Earl of Stanhope. In the spring of 1796, he published in London his " Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Naviga- tion," with many plates. The object of this work INLAND NAVIGATION. 87 was to prove that small canals, navigated by boats of little burden, were preferable to canals and vessels of the dimensions then in use, and to re- commend a mode of conveyance over mountainous countries independent of locks, railways, and steam- engines. This he proposed to accomplish by In- clined-Planes, upon which vessels navigating the canal, of a construction adapted to his plan, and their cargoes, should be raised and lowered from one level to another, or by lifting or lowering the boat and her freight perpendicularly by machinery of very ingenious construction, placed on the higher level. This was to be moved by the power of water taken from the superior height, and applied to a water-wheel ; or by the weight of a body of water received into a coffer, which was to move in a direct line between the higher and the lower level, through a perpendicular shaft or well made in the earth for the purpose. He also proposed, by a different modification of his machinery, and by what he calls Double Inclined-Planes, to accom- plish the passage over a valley, from one summit to another. He does not pretend that to use Inclined-Planes for these purposes was an original thought of his ; but their connection with machi- nery, as he suggests, and particularly the perpen- dicular lift, he claimed as his invention. 88 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Before he published this work, he submitted his plan, with models of his machines, to the British Board of Agriculture, of which Sir John Sinclair was then president. It was favorably received and strongly recommended by a resolution of the Board, which was communicated to Mr. Fulton in a very complimentary manner. It would not be right to omit noticing that the work of which we have been speaking is not confined to canals. These are so nearly connected with aqueducts and with bridges, that he bestows some chapters, containing new ideas and valuable information, on these objects. It is gratifying to find that Mr. Fulton ever felt as an American. His long residence abroad did not enfeeble his attachment to his country. Thoughts of her prosperity and welfare were con- nected with all his projects; and those that he thought might be of advantage to her, he commu- nicated with a promptness and disinterestedness which marked his desire to serve her. With his Treatise on Canals, he published .a letter to the governor of his native State, in which he illustrates the advantages of forming interior communications by canals, rather than by turnpike roads ; and re- commends his own system of small canals and boats, as being preferable to the method of canal- FULTON'S STATESMANSHIP. 89 ling then in use in Europe. With the same views, he sent a copy of his work to General Washington, from whom he received in return a flattering ac- knowledgment. In the spring of 1798, he addressed two letters on this and other subjects to Lord Stanhope. They have the following title : " Letters from Kobert Fulton to the Right Honourable the Earl of Stan- hope, explaining the present projects of the Go- vernment of France, their plans of aggrandizement, their system of acquiring revenues, and their views with regard to foreign possessions and trades." These are rather essays than letters, and were evidently intended for the press ; but whether they were ever published, we do not know. In a con- fidential letter to Lord Stanhope, he tells him that the title sounds high; that he had adopted it to excite curiosity, and to induce the people of Eng- land to read them, and to awaken their minds to the advantages of canals, home improvements, simple taxation, and free trade. In this letter, he makes another disclosure which shows how con- stantly his country was in his mind, and how inti- mately her prosperity was connected with all his projects. He acknowledges to Lord Stanhope that his principal reason for wishing these letters to be printed, was that a knowledge of them might 8* 90 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. precede his return to America, which he then contemplated; and where he intended, as he in- formed his lordship, to use all his influence to induce his countrymen to adopt the systems of which his letters point out the advantages. It seems to be at about this time that he wrote a work which is found among his manuscripts, and which probably was designed to have an influence on the great political questions which were then agitated in France. It is addressed "to the friends of mankind," and is intended to enforce on the French legislators the duty of providing for educa- tion, and of attending to interior improvements, upon which he maintains that the happiness of a nation, and more particularly of a republic, most essentially depends; or, to express his sentiments in his own words, he says : " The whole interior arrangements of governments should be to promote and diffuse knowledge and industry; their whole exterior negotiations, to establish a social inter- course with each other, and to give a free circula- tion to the whole produce of virtuous industry." An universal free trade is his favorite theory in political economy, and one which he loses no opportunity of advocating, with all the force of his ardent mind. He considers what he calls the war-system of the FULTON'S STATESMANSHIP. 91 Old World as the cause of the misery of the great- est portion of its inhabitants ; and this leads him into a curious investigation of its effects, as well as an interesting enumeration of the inhabitants of Europe. These he classes as producers and idlers: of the number of each of these he gives an esti- mate, and then presents a variety of calculations to show what are the effects of the last upon the society they encumber. This work, like everything that came from the pen of Mr. Fulton, is written with great natural strength and originality. He never attempts to borrow either ideas or ornament, but is content to express the conceptions of his own mind with force and perspicuity. There is also among his manuscripts another volume on the same subject. It is entitled, " Tlioughts on Free Trade ; with reasons why foreign possessions, and all duties on importations, are inju- rious to nations." It is written with great anima- tion and force. Ardour and perseverance were characters of Mr. Fulton's mind : when he had conceived what he thought a practicable and beneficial project, he left ho means untried, and spared no pains for its accomplishment. Mr. Fulton says, in one of his manuscripts : 92 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. "After this, I was convinced that society must pass through ages of progressive improvement before the free- dom of the seas could be established by an agreement of nations ; that it was for the benefit of the whole : I saw that the growing wealth and commerce, and the increasing population of the United States, would compel them to look for a protection by sea, and perhaps drive them to the necessity of resorting to European measures, by esta- blishing a navy. Seeing this, I turned my whole attention to find out 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 would compel every government to adopt the simple principles of educa- tion, industry, and a free circulation of its produce." Out of such enlarged and philanthropic views and reflections, grew Mr. Fulton's inventions for submarine navigation and explosions; and with such patriotic motives did he prosecute them. Mr. Fulton, while he was on a visit to Washing- ton, January, 1807, was invited by General Dear- born, then the Secretary at War, to make the necessary surveys and drafts for a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi. He declined this undertaking, on account of his engagements with his steamboats and torpedoes. On these, he says in a letter to the Secretary: "/ labour with the ardour of an enthusiast" He avails himself of this opportunity of submitting to the Government some ideas on canal navigation; and this letter contains the earliest suggestion we have met with CIVIL ENGINEERING. 93 of the practicability arid advantages of a canal to unite our great Western lakes with the waters of the Hudson. Aqueducts. The SHREWSBURY CANAL passes over the valley of TERN, at LONG, for a distance of sixty-two yards, upon an aqueduct. In consequence of the great floods which happened in the beginning of the year 1795, much damage was done to the canal. Mr. Kobert Fulton, the American engineer, hap- pened to be at LONG at the time, and availed him- self of what was going on at the aqueduct, and of the machinery of various kinds in use upon the KETLEY and SHROPSHIRE canals, and prepared DRAW- INGS and MODELS of a variety of such machinery, with many improvements of his own, and submitted the same to the examination of a committee of the Board of Agriculture, in March, 1796. On con- structing aqueducts of CAST-IRON for a canal, the following is a copy of his specifications and draw- ings annexed : " The abutments and piers being raised, it will only be necessary to extend two pieces of timber across the span ; each to be braced back to the piers and covered with plank, to form a stage or scaffolding which will answer every pur- pose of centres necessary to works of stone. The iron- work, as represented in the section, may all be cast in open sand, and of the following dimensions supposing 94 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. the span one hundred feet, and the spring one-sixth of the span. First, three segments of a circle, each in three pieces about thirty-six feet long, eight inches by four dia- meter, to be united as at A. Second, three straight bars, to extend from one pier to the other, to be of the above diameters, may also be cast in three pieces ; which bars are to extend along the top of the segments to the piers, and form a line parallel to the horizon : the bars and seg- ments to be united by perpendicular stirrups like B, ten or fifteen feet distant from each other. The mortice in the lower end of the stirrup being thirteen inches long, will be sufficient to secure the segment, and leave room for a hole two inches square, through which a cross-brace, C, is to pass, and fasten the segments at proper distances : the brace- to have a mortice cast on each side of the stirrup, in order to tighten the work by wedges. On the top of the stirrup, the square hole to receive the cross-brace may be beneath the mortices, as in the figure ; by which means the whole may be combined, and form an iron stage to support the troughs. The trough plates should be at least one inch thick, the side plates six feet broad, and as great a length as can conveniently be cast ; which may be per- formed twelve feet, and perhaps more in length : the flange to be outside on these plates. The bottom plates may be six feet wide, thirteen feet long, seven feet plate, and four arms projecting, each three feet long, in order to support the horse-path and braces, as exhibited at D. Two of these plates laid across the stage, and screwed together, with a flange under, will compose a length equal to one of the side plates, which may either meet or break joint, as is thought proper. The whole may, in this manner, be screwed together on packing of wool and tar, and have the seams pitched like those of a ship. On the plates composing one side of the trough, small brackets, about three feet from the top, must be cast, as at E, in order to support the horse-path : perpendicular rails, eight feet long, being raised from the arms of the bottom plates, will sup- CIVIL ENGINEERING. 95 port the outside of the horse-path also the iron railing, as in the section. By this mode, two patterns will answer for the whole of the trough plates, and but few will be required for the springs, rails, and spurs ; while the saving in time and expense will be considerable particularly where it is necessary to bring the stone by long land car- riage ; for the arches being dispensed with, and the piers not more than one-third of the dimensions necessary to an aqueduct of stone, will most materially reduce the quan- tity of masonry. "In aqueducts of stone, one of the great difficulties is to line and puddle so tight as to prevent the water pene- trating into and injuring the masonry ; but in one of iron, should a leak take place, it will instantly appear ; and, on shutting the stop-gates at each end, and discharging the water, it may be stopped in a few hours, if not minutes : this circumstance in aqueducts is, perhaps, one of the greatest preservatives they are consequently less liable to injury, and only subject to the corroding tooth of time." A short time after this, a most stupendous work of this kind (a Fulton castriron aqueduct) was undertaken and completed for crossing, the DEE river, in Scotland, at PONTCYSYLTEE, about twenty miles south-west of Chester ; where nineteen mas- sive conical pillars of stone, at fifty-two feet from each other, the middlemost of which is no less than one hundred and twenty-six feet in height, support between the top of every pair a number of ellipti- cal cast-iron ribs, which, by means of uprights and horizontal bars, support a cast-iron aqueduct about three hundred and twenty-nine yards long, twenty feet wide, and six in depth, composed of massive 96 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. sheets of cast-iron, cemented and riveted together, having on its south side an iron platform and rail- ing for the towing-path. It was foretold that the effects of heat and cold would destroy it, but no expansion or contraction of the metal is as yet visible ; and notwithstanding the summer's heat, the winter's ice, and numerous floods, this cast-iron aqueduct still remains an evi- dence of Fulton's practical engineering. Bridges. Mr. Fulton also submitted his PLANS, DRAWINGS, and MODELS of bridges, to the British Board of Agriculture; and his different kinds of cast-iron bridges for passing railways over valleys, either level across, down one slope and up the other of the valley, or rising obliquely up : in the first and last of which he proposed to avoid any solid plat- form or top for carrying the horse-path, and to tow or drag the wagons over this open railway by an endless rope or chain, passing over a pulley at each end, which can be set in motion by a windlass, a descending weight, or other power. On the ap- proach to a river or yard where considerable quan- tities of coals or other minerals are to be discharged, it will be proper to keep the railway upon a high level, by embankment, or on arches, or on a stage CIVIL ENGINEERING. 97 of timber, that the wagons may be discharged from the top of a staith or stage into ships or boats, or into carts and wagons, without being moved by manual labour. Kivers, brooks, or hollow roads, must be crossed on bridges whose tops* are formed to the regular slope of the plane ; and where roads cross the intended railway, they must either be raised so as to be carried over, or sunk so as to pass under the same, or be made up the same height ; and the rails must, in that part, have ribs of less height and greater strength, and the whole must be so firmly embedded in masonry, that the heaviest carriages, in crossing, cannot damage it. The Board was highly pleased, and approved of Mr. Fulton's plans; and one of his bridges was erected in Wandsworth town, and at several other places on the SURREY IRON KAILWAY. Mr. Fulton's designs fully explained the princi- ples of his different bridges of cast-iron ; also for bridges for newly settled and woody countries, wherein large timbers dowelled together supply the place of keystone, above which the platform for the road was to be supported. He never completed a model until he had first designed and projected a perfect drawing, accord- ing to the proper scale ; and for canals and railways his specifications, descriptions, and calculations, are 9 G 98 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. most remarkable for their accuracy, and quite voluminous ; showing the cost of every foot of the work, its complete proportions and dimensions, the average number of tons to a horse, the rate of miles per hour, from one ton and upwards, according to the speed, and the clear amount of revenue and profits on each and every ton or article of trans- portation evincing the practical knowledge of a most experienced and perfect civil engineer. Inclined-Planes. On the 8th of May, 1794, Mr. Fulton obtained a patent in England for the use of a DOUBLE IN- CLINED-PLANE, with cradles having cisterns or cais- sons under them, that the boats were in some cases to be taken on to the cradles sideways instead of lengthways : this was proposed to be accom- plished by short Inclined-Planes, on which the boats, upon wheeled carriages, were to be dragged out of the upper and lower canals by means of ropes working on the axles of water-wheels: a brake is to be used for regulating the motion of the boats and cisterns when brought nearly to an equilibrium by the valves : brace-locks or pulleys to be used for shortening or lengthening the large ropes when necessary. He recommended the general adoption of fords Double Inclined Plane, L.N.RosenthAisL CIVIL ENGINEERING. 99 on his small canals; and stated that fifteen or twenty of his small rectangular boats, linked toge- ther, could be drawn by one horse, and be kept in their proper line upon the canal by a man with a boat-hook walking by the side of them on the towing-path : this was to prevent the use of pointed poles tipped or shod with iron, which the boat- men used for shoving barges along, on account of the damage which such often did, by penetrat- ing and disturbing the lining and banks of the canal, thus causing it to leak. Mr. Fulton's Treatise on Canals made it known that he had turned his thoughts to that subject, and probably induced Mr. Gallatin, then Secretary of the Treasury, to address a number of queries to Mr. Fulton, for information on which to ground the Report made by the Treasury Department to Con- gress, on the subject of public roads and canals, in the spring of 1808. In answer to these queries, Mr. Fulton made a communication to Mr. Gallatin, which is annexed to the Report. It contains a great variety of information and calculations of the most useful kind, upon the subjects proposed. We cannot refrain from extracting some passages of it which show the extensive view which Mr. Fulton took of objects which were presented to his mind; that, so far from being limited by mere 100 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. mechanical operations, he connects the great im- provements of art which he had in contemplation, with their ultimate effects on the happiness, pros- perity, and policy of his countrymen. After having enumerated the economical advan- tages of improving internal communications, he says : " Secondly : on their effect in cementing the Union, and extending the principles of a confederated republican go- vernment. Numerous have been the speculations on the duration of our Union, and intrigues have been practised to sever the Western from the Eastern States. The opi- nion endeavoured to be inculcated was that the inhabitants beyond the mountains were cut off from the market of the Atlantic States ; that consequently they had a separate interest, and should use their resources to open a commu- nication of their own ; that, remote from the seat of go- vernment, they could not enjoy their portion of advantages arising from the Union ; and that, sooner or later, they must separate, and govern for themselves. "Others, by drawing their examples from European governments, and the monarchies which have grown out of the feudal habits of nations of warriors, whose minds were bent to the absolute power of the few and the servile obedience of the many, have conceived these States of too great an extent to continue united under a republican form of government ; and that the time is not distant when they will divide into little kingdoms retrograding from common sense to ignorance, adopting all the follies and barbarities which are every day practised in the kingdoms and petty states of Europe. "But those who have reasoned in this way, have not reflected that men are the creatures of habit; and that their habits, as well as their interests, may be so combined CIVIL ENGINEERING. 101 as to make it impossible to separate them without falling back into a state of barbarism. "Although in ancient times some specks of civilization have been effaced by hordes of uncultivated men, yet it is remarkable that, since the invention of printing and gene- ral diffusion of knowledge, no nation has retrograded in science and improvements ; nor is it reasonable to suppose that the Americans, who have as much, if not more infor- mation, in general, than any other people, will ever aban- don an advantage which they have once gained. "England, which at one time was seven petty kingdoms, has by long habit been united into one. Scotland by suc- cession became united to England ; and is now bound to her by habit, by turnpike roads, by canals, and reciprocal interests. " In like manner all the counties of England, or depart- ments of France, are bound to each other ; and when the United States shall be bound together by canals, by cheap and easy access to a market in all directions, by a sense of mutual interests arising from mutual intercourse and mingled commerce, it will be no more possible to split them into independent and separate governments, each lining its frontiers with fortifications and troops, to shackle their own exports and imports to and from the neighbouring States, than it is now possible for the government of England to divide, and form again into seven kingdoms. But it is necessary to bind the States together for the people's inte- rests ; one of which is to enable every man to sell the produce of his labour at the best market, and purchase at the cheapest. This accords with the idea of Hume : 4 That the government of a wise people would be little more than a system of civil police ; for the best interest of man is industry and a free exchange of the produce of his labour for the things which he may require.' "On this humane principle, what stronger bonds of union can be invented than those which enabje each indi- vidual to transport the produce of his industry twelve 9* 102 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. hundred miles, for sixty cents the hundred weight ? Here then is a certain method of securing the union of the States, and of rendering it as lasting as the continent we inhabit. " It is now eleven years, since I have had this plan in contemplation for the good of our country. At the con- clusion of my work on small canals, there is a letter to Thomas Mifflin, then governor of the State of Pennsylva- nia, on a system of canals for America. It contemplates the time when canals should pass through every vale, winding round each hill, and bind the whole country toge- ther in the bonds of social intercourse ; and I am now happy to find, through the good management of a wise administration, a period has arrived when an overflowing treasury exhibits abundant resources, and points the mind to works of such immense importance." We have already said that the earliest notice we have met with, of the utility and practicability of opening a communication between the great lakes and the Hudson, is in a letter addressed by Mr. Fulton, in 1807, to the Government, in answer to an application made by him, through General Dearborn, respecting a canal from Lake Pontchar- train to the Mississippi. But a project which promised such incalculable advantages to the State of New York, and indeed, it may be said, to the world, soon attracted the attention of the public; and, in the spring of 1810, the Legislature of New York appointed commissioners to explore the route of an inland navigation from Hudson river to Lakes Ontario and Erie. This commission reported CIVIL ENGINEERING. 103 in 1811. The same session, Mr. Fulton was, by an act of the Legislature, appointed one of the commissioners. In 1812, a second report was made. In their report of 1811, the commissioners had suggested the possibility of bringing the waters of Lake Erie to a reservoir near the Hudson, a distance of three hundred miles, in a canal on an Inclined-Plane, having a descent of six inches to a mile, by making mounds and aqueducts over the intervening valleys : as the descent of six inches to a mile would place the reservoir at a great elevation from the level of the river, the commissioners proposed that it should be brought down from thence by locks, so that the extreme of the Inclined-Plane at the lake would be one hundred and fifty feet higher than the end at the river. Though the commissioners, in their second report, appear to have abandoned the idea of an Inclined- Plane for the whole extent, they yet supposed that the canal might be conducted as far as the Seneca outlet, as they had proposed in their first report. It is probable that Mr. Fulton, though this proposal had been sanctioned by an English engineer of great eminence, may have found it difficult to con- ceive how water could be confined within the banks of a canal which should have so considerable an 104 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. elevation at the one end above the locks, by which it would be stopped at the other. He might also have supposed that there would have been great difficulty in raising a mound of earth one hundred and thirty feet high, as a bed for the canal over the Cayuga outlet and its valley for a mile in extent. In February, 1814, he addressed a letter to Gouverneur Morris, Esq., President of the Board of Commissioners, in which he shows what would be the advantages of the proposed canal, and ex- hibits very interesting and curious calculations of the comparative expense of transportation upon land, upon rivers, and upon canals. When we speak of Robert Fulton as an INVEN- TOR, we do not allude to his successful application of steam to machinery for propelling boats, the mere mechanical devices, as his chief merit, al- though they were the first successful experiments that had been accomplished, and ever since adopted, and although improvements innumerable have been made and added since to steam navigation, and many wonderful contrivances have been used, yet each and all have only been additional improve- ments in the building of steamships for beauty and comfort; whilst his original combination of the piston and crank and paddle-wheels with the pro- FULTON'S CORRESPONDENTS. 105 portionate power of steam, is the only invention used in the best steamers now traversing the ocean, and all are guided by the "phantom-ship Clermont" and the immortal spirit of Fulton ! We admire Fulton still more as a man of science, as a man whose every invention was the contrivance of a real philanthropist, whose every act was for the benefit of mankind, whose whole mechanical powers and scientific attainments were combined and con- centrated to find out and produce things that were hidden and unknown, and whose mind dictated and directed communications of facts and truths to the greatest men then known to the world. He communicated in writing with Washington, with Napoleon, with King George the Third, with Lord Stanhope, Earl of Chatham, President Madison, the National Congress, the officers of the United States' army and navy, Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, Governor Mifflin, of Pennsylvania, Benjamin West, Benjamin Franklin, and with the prominent scientific societies of England, France, and Ame- rica, on the subjects of education and the arts and sciences; and in all his communications, in all his writings, he is to be most admired for the applica- tion of the whole force of his imagination, mind, and genius, to the interests, credit, honour, and glory of his own country. 106 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. In 1810, in a letter addressed to President Madison and the Congress of the United States, giving a sketch of the improvements which should be made in America, Mr. Fulton wrote as follows : "Canals, bending round the hills, would irrigate the grounds beneath, and convert them into luxuriant pastu- rage. They would bind a hundred millions of people in one inseparable compact, alike in habits, in language, and in interest one homogeneous brotherhood, the most invul- nerable, powerful, and respectable on earth. Say, legis- lators, you who direct the destinies of this great nation shall Americans, like servile creatures of established habits, imitate European vices, or copy them because they are familiar? shall they nourish a useless marine, lay the basis for its increase, and send it down the current of time to futurity with all its complicated evils ? shall such a system consume our resources, deprive the earth of im- provements, draw into its vortex ambitious men, divert the best talents of our country from useful works, and interest them in its support, creating non-productive labourers, who must be the consumers of the produce of the productive class, and diminish their enjoyments? or will you search into the most hidden recesses of science, to find a means for preventing such incalculable evils, and direct the genius and resources of our country to useful improvements, to the sciences, the arts, education, the amendment of the public mind and morals ? " In such pursuits lie real "honor and the nation's glory : such are the labours of enlightened republicans those who labour for the public good. Every order of things which has a tendency to remove oppression and meliorate the condition of man, by directing his ambition to useful in- dustry, is in effect republican. Every system which nou- rishes war, and its consequent thousands of idlers and FULTON'S PATRIOTISM. 107 oppressors, is aristocratic in its effects, whatever may be its name. "These sentiments exhibit my political creed the ob- ject of all my exertions ; and these principles, practised by Americans, will create for them a real grandeur of character which will secure to them the respect and admi- ration of the civilized world." And this is the language of Kobert Fulton, and he is the man that every American should love to read and speak of. It was such language, such sentiments, and acts like his, that have placed this country upon the highest pinnacle of fame. Let us then, as Americans, as neighbours, as friends of the lamented Fulton, erect sudi a monu- ment as shall show to the world that here, where he is best known, his unblemished virtues, his no- bleness of character, and his immortal genius, shall be remembered with gratitude : his noble sentiments, his Golden Deed, and his imperishable motto : " Edu- cation, the arts and sciences, and the liberty of the seas, shall be the happiness of the earth," are adopted, and prove to the world the brightest page in American history. CHAPTER VI. TORPEDOES. IT has been mentioned that the Earl of Stanhope had taken great pains to inform himself as to Mr. Fulton's proceedings in France. This nobleman's mathematical and mechanical mind perceived what consequences might result from the application of Mr. Fulton's inventions. The information he ob- tained was communicated to the British Cabinet, and excited alarm. It was determined by the British Ministry, if possible, to withdraw Mr. Ful- ton from France. Lord Sidmouth, who was then one of the ministers, contrived to have a commu- nication with Mr. Fulton while he was in Paris, and obtained his consent to meet an agent of the British Government in Holland. In October, 1803, Mr. Fulton went from Paris to Amsterdam, for this purpose. But the agent with whom he was to confer did not arrive ; and after being in Amsterdam three months, he returned to Paris. It may be well to stop here, and notice a matter not otherwise of importance than as it serves to (108) TORPEDOES. 109 mark the pliancy of Mr. Fulton's mind, and the versatility of his genius. At a time when he was taking a step which, as he thought, would be decisive of the fate of nations, which put his life at risk, and might determine his own fortune, he amused himself with making sketches from the scenery of Holland, and representations of the manners, figures, and costume of the Hollanders : some of them are broad caricatures, which cannot but excite a smile. They are found in his port- folio ; and though in general they are but sketches, they show that they are from the hand of a master, guided by wit and genius. Sometime after his return to Paris, the agent whom he was to have met at Amsterdam made his appearance in the French metropolis, bearing a letter from Lord Hawkesbury to Mr. Fulton, which induced him to proceed to London, where he arrived in May, 1804. Lord Sidmouth was then out of office, and Mr. Pitt had resumed the administra- tion. The new ministry seemed to approve of what had been done by their predecessors in rela- tion to Mr. Fulton. He soon had an interview with Mr. Pitt and Lord Melville. When Mr. Pitt first saw a drawing of a torpedo, with a sketch of the mode of applying it, and understood what would be the effects of its explosion, he said that, 10 110 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. if introduced into practice, it could not fail to annir liilate all military marines. It would not be extraordinary if Mr. Pitt, en- tertaining this opinion, should, as the minister of a nation which had then the largest navy in the world, have felt cordially disposed to encourage an inven- tion that might deprive her of the mighty supe- riority she derived from her fleets. This was cer- tainly the view that some of her statesmen had on the subject. When Mr. Fulton had an interview with the Earl St. Vincent, he exhibited to him a torpedo, and described to him the effects it had produced, the noble earl, in the strong language of his profession, rather than in a style comporting with his new dignity, exclaimed against Mr. Pitt for encouraging a mode of warfare which, he said, with great reason, they who commanded the seas did not want, and which, if successful, would wrest the trident from those who then claimed to bear it as the sceptre of supremacy on the ocean. In June, the British Ministry appointed a com- mission to examine Mr. Fulton's projects. The commissioners were Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. Caven- dish, Sir Home Popham, Major Congreve, and Mr. John Rennie. Many weeks passed before Mr. Fulton could prevail on them to do anything ; and TORPEDOES. Ill finally, when they met, they reported against the submarine boat, as being impracticable. At about this time, an expedition was fitted out against the French flotilla in the roads of Boulogne. In the night, torpedoes were thrown, by boats from a British squadron, across the bows of two of the French gun-brigs. The Frenchmen, when the tor- pedo-boats were discovered, exclaimed, with horror, that the infernal machines were coming! They had in their minds, no doubt, the effects of some vague reports as to Mr. Fulton's engines ; and were terrified by knowing what had been the tremendous consequences of the explosion, in the streets of Paris, a short time previously, of a machine in- tended to destroy the life of Bonaparte. The torpedoes exploded alongside of the French vessels, without doing them any injury. Mr. Ful- ton imputed this failure to a mistake, arising from want of experience, in what was apparently a slight matter. The torpedo had been so placed as that it hung perpendicularly by the side of the vessel, whereas it should have been so arranged as that the current would have swept it under her bottom. This, he was convinced, might be accom- plished by the simple contrivance of attaching a bridle to the torpedo in such a manner as that it should lay in the water at an angle with the line 112 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. of direction of the current. This, when the tor- pedo was stopped by a line connected with it meet- ing the hawser or bow of the vessel, would give it a sheer which would carry it towards the keel of the vessel to be destroyed. Mr. Fulton's subse- quent experiments proved that his theory on this subject was perfectly correct. On the 15th of October, 1805, he blew up a strong-built Danish brig, of the burden of 200 tons, which had been provided for the experiment, and which was anchored in Walmar roads, near Deal, within a mile of Walmer castle, the residence of Mr. Pitt at that time. He. has given an in- teresting account of this experiment in a pamph- let which he published in this country, under the title of " Torpedo War." . In a letter to Lord Cas- tlereagh, of the 16th of October, 1805, he says: "Yesterday, about four o'clock, I made the intended experiment on the brig, with a carcass of one hundred and seventy pounds of powder; and I have the pleasure to inform you that it succeeded beyond my most sanguine expectations. Exactly in fifteen minutes from the time of drawing the peg and throwing the carcass in the water, the explosion took place. It lifted the brig almost bodily, and broke her completely in two. The ends sunk imme- diately, and in one minute nothing was to be seen of her but floating fragments : her mainmast and pumps were thrown into the sea, her foremast was broken in three pieces, her beams and knees were thrown from her deck and sides, and her deck planks were rent in fibres. In TORPEDOES. 113 fact, her annihilation was complete, and the effect was most extraordinary. The power, as I had calculated, passed in a right line through her body, that being the line of least resistance, and carried all before it. At the time of her going up, she did not appear to make more resistance than a bag of feathers, and went to pieces like a shattered eggshell." Mr. Fulton embarked at Falmouth in October, 1806, and arrived at New York, by the way of Halifax, on the 13th of December, in the same year. Upon his arrival in this country, he immediately engaged in the pursuit of both the objects which had latterly engaged his attention in Europe ; that is, submarine war and steam navigation. He had not been landed in America a month before he went to the seat of government, to pro- pose to the administration to enable him to prose- cute a set of experiments with his torpedoes. He found Mr. Madison, then Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Smith, much dis- posed to encourage his attempts, the success of which Mr. Fulton, by his ingenious models and drawings, with his lucid and engaging mode of lecturing upon them, made to appear so probable. The Government authorized a certain expenditure to be made, under the direction of Mr. Fulton, for this purpose. In the meantime, anxious to pre- 10* H 114 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. possess bis countrymen with a good opinion of his project, he invited the magistracy of New York, and a number of citizens, to Governor's Island, where were the torpedoes and the machinery, with which these experiments were to be made : these, with the manner in which they were to be used, and were expected to operate, he explained very fully. While he was lecturing on his blank tor- pedoes, which were large empty copper cylinders, his numerous auditors crowded around him. At length he turned to a copper case of the same de- scription, which was placed under the gateway of the fort, and to which was attached a clock-work lock ; this, by drawing out a peg, he set in motion, and then said to his attentive audience : " Gentle- men : this is a charged torpedo, with which, pre- cisely in its present state, I mean to blow up a vessel : it contains one hundred and seventy pounds of gunpowder, and if I were to suffer the clock- work to run fifteen minutes, I have no doubt but that it would blow this fortification to atoms." The circle round Mr. Fulton was very soon much enlarged, and before five of the fifteen minutes were out, there were but two or three persons re- maining under the gateway ; some, indeed, lost no time in getting at the greatest possible distance from the torpedo, with their best speed, and did TORPEDOES. 115 not again appear on the ground till they were assured it was lodged in the magazine from whence it had been taken, and did not seem to feel them- selves quite safe as long as they were on the island. The conduct of Mr. Fulton's auditors was not very extraordinary or unnatural; but his own compo- sure indicated the confidence with which he handled these terrible instruments of destruction, and the reliance he had on the accuracy of the performance of his machinery. The apprehensions of the com- pany surprised, but amused him, and he took occa- sion to remark, how true it was that fear frequently arose from ignorance. On the 20th of July, 1807, in pursuance of the experiments which the Government had authorized him to make, he blew up with a torpedo, in the harbor of New York, a large hulk brig, which had been provided for this purpose. Of this experi- ment, Mr. Fulton has given a circumstantial account in his work entitled "Torpedo War" There were several unsuccessful attempts to place and fire the torpedoes, so that the explosion did not take place till several hours after the time fixed for it by Mr. Fulton, and after it was expected by the multitude of spectators who crowded the shores. The tor- pedo locks missed fire several times : this was owing to the following trivial circumstances : Mr. 116 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Fulton had tried his prepared carcasses in a tub of water, till he found they were so balanced by the corkwood, or buoyant matter attached to them, that they would retain the desired position; but he had done this without their locks, which were^ of considerable weight, being attached to them. When these came to be fixed to the torpedoes, and thrown into the river to be floated against the hulk, the additional gravity which the locks gave to one side of the torpedoes reversed them, so that the locks were downwards : the consequence w r as, that when the hammer of the lock drove up the pan, the priming powder fell out, and the spark from the flint could have no effect. Nothing could have been easier than to have provided against such an occurrence, but it was in vain to attempt to correct the error at that moment : an adjustment of the parts of the machine was necessary, which required leisure so much do matters of this kind depend on slight circumstances, and so necessary is prac- tice to perfect every theory. At length, however, the explosion took effect, and nothing was seen in the place of the vessel but a high column of water, smoke, and fragments. This experiment only served to prove to the inhabitants of New York, by ocular demonstration, what indeed was not doubted by any one who had the least acquaintance TORPEDOES. 117 with the subject, that the explosion of a torpedo under a vessel's bottom would annihilate her. The day after this experiment, Mr. Fulton ad- dressed a letter to the governor, mayor, and mem- bers of the corporation of New York, from which the following are extracts : " Having now clearly demonstrated the great effect of explosion under water, it is easy to conceive that, by orga- nization and practice, the application of the torpedoes will, like every other art, progress in perfection. Little diffi- culties and errors will occur in the commencement, as has been the case in all new inventions ; but where there is little risk, little expense, and so much to be gained, it is worthy of consideration whether this system should not have a fair trial. Gunpowder, within the last three hun- dred years, has totally changed the art of war ; and all my reflections have led me to believe that this application of it will, in a few years, put a stop to maritime wars, give that liberty on the seas which has been long and anxiously desired by every good man, and secure to America that liberty of commerce, tranquillity and independence, which will enable her citizens to apply their mental and corporeal faculties to useful and humane pursuits to the improve- ment of our country and the happiness of the whole people." The torpedo was a copper case two feet long, twelve inches in diameter, containing one hundred pounds of powder, having a lock similar to a gun- lock to contain a musket charge of powder : the box, with the lock cocked and barrel charged, is screwed to the copper case. The lever at top has 118 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. a communication to the lock inside of the box, and holds the lock cocked and ready to fire, a weight holds it down to any given depth under water, a small anchor prevents a strong tide moving it from its position. The torpedo thus anchored, it is obvious that, if a ship in sailing should strike the lever, the explo- sion would be instantaneous, and she be immedi- ately destroyed; hence, to defend our bays or harbors, let a hundred of these engines be anchored in the channel; as, for example, the Narrows, to defend New York : they may be set to stay under water a day, a week, or a year. Having made improvements on his invention, and learned much, as he conceived, by his late experiments, Mr. Fulton, in January, 1810, visited Washington again. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and a number of members of Congress, assembled by his invitation at Kalorama, the seat of his friend Mr. Barlow, to see his new models and drawings, and to listen to his explanations of them, and of the modes in which he intended they should be applied. Soon after this, he published his work entitled "Torpedo War; or, Submarine Explosions! 1 He adopted as a motto for his publication, his favourite sentiment : " THE LIBERTY OF THE SEAS WILL BE THE TORPEDOES. 119 HAPPINESS OF THE EARTH." He addressed it to the President of the United States, and to the members of both houses of Congress : it contained a descrip- tion of the experiments he had made, of his engines as he had improved them, and of the manner in which they might be used. The members of Congress were so favourably impressed with respect to Mr. Fulton's inventions, by the lectures which he had given upon them in their presence, that, in March, 1810, they passed an act making an appropriation for trying practi- cally the use of torpedoes and submarine explo- sions. For this purpose, five thousand dollars were granted, to be expended at the discretion of the President, under the immediate direction of the Secretary of the Navy. In execution of this act, it was proposed that some preliminary experiments should be made in the harbor of New York. The Secretary of the Navy addressed a circular letter to several gentlemen, inviting them to be present at the experiments, and to make a report, so far as the gentlemen might be enabled to form satisfac- tory opinions. Commodore Eodgers and Commo- dore Chauncey were directed to give their super- intendence. In the month of September, Mr. Fulton exhibited to the gentlemen appointed by the Government the 120 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. models of his engines, and explained to them the manner in which he proposed they should be used. His machines were torpedoes, which were to be applied to the bottom of a vessel in various ways. First, he proposed that two torpedoes should be united by a coupling-line; that they should be floated in the tide at a certain depth below the surface, and suffered to drift down on each side of the vessel to be attacked, so as that the coupling- line would be arrested by the cable of the vessel : this would occasion the torpedoes, when pressed by the force of the current, to approach each other and come in contact with the inferior parts of the vessel to be destroyed. Secondly, he proposed that a torpedo should be fastened to one end of a line, the other end of which should be attached to a harpoon, which was to be discharged into the bows of a vessel at anchor in a current, or under way, from a piece of ordnance that he had contrived, and which was to be carried by a light boat con- structed for the purpose. He conceived that such a boat might approach a hostile vessel near enough to do execution, with at least as little danger as fire-ships are exposed to in accomplishing their objects. The line being fastened to the vessel at One end by the harpoon, the current, if the vessel were at anchor, or the progress of the vessel through -.., -.. ' '' TORPEDOES. 121 the water, if she were under way, would bring the torpedo at the other extremity of the line under her bottom. The torpedoes, when in this situation, were to be discharged by clock-work locks, or by locks so constructed that the triggers should be drawn by levers connected with them coming in contact with the vessel. He proposed also to apply a torpedo by having it attached to a long spar, which should be sus- pended, by a swivel from the bowsprit of a torpedo- boat, so nearly on a balance, that a man in the bow of the boat could elevate or depress the tor- pedo with one hand, while with the other he could pull a string attached to the trigger of the lock, when the torpedo should be run under the bottom of a vessel. He also proposed to employ in his " torpedo war" what he called block-ships; that is, large vessels of from 50 to 100 tons measurement, the sides of which were to be cannon-proof, and the. decks im- penetrable to musket-shot. Each of these vessels was to be propelled by machinery, which was to be worked by her crew, who were to be under the protection of her impenetrable sides. On each quarter and bow she was to be armed with a tor- pedo, fastened to a long spar, the interior end of which was to be supported and braced by ropes 11 122 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. from the yards, like the lower steering-sail-boom of a ship. By means of these spars, the torpedoes were to be thrust under the bottom of the vessel to be destroyed. He afterwards thought of em- ploying our common river sloops for this purpose, and to prepare them for it by lining them with thick timber and covering their decks with pretty stout sheet-iron. He supposed that these might be navigated by their common sails. It was his idea, that if a man-of-war of the largest size were at- tacked by ten or twelve such vessels assailing her from all quarters, she could not defend herself so as to prevent the approach of all of them : if only one of them got sufficiently near, the destruction of the vessel attacked would be inevitable. The torpedo-vessels would not be affected by the explo- sion, because, according to his theory, the correct- ness of which was proved by what happened in the attack on the French vessels in the roads of Boulogne, and by other experiments, the force of powder exploded under water is always perpendi- cularly to the surface : the lateral pressure of the mass of waters of the sea or of a river, opposes an infinite resistance to a sudden impulse, and confines the course of an explosion in a line at right angles to the surface, as certainly as the sides of a cannon direct the force of a discharge in the course of its calibre. TORPEDOES. 123 If ten or twelve such vessels were in our harbors or on our coasts, a match for a man-of-war, we should be able to make a maritime defence at much less expense of men and money than it would cost to attack us ; for ten or twelve of these torpedo-vessels, and their equipment, would require much less of men and money than a man-of-war. But to return to Mr. Fulton's proceedings before the commissioners appointed by the Government. At the first interview, above-mentioned, he ex- plained to them his stationary torpedoes, as he has described them in his "Torpedo War." These were to be carcasses of powder, like those before described. Having levers attached to the triggers of the locks, numbers of them were to be anchored in the channel through which vessels, to make an attack, must pass : the hostile vessel, in passing over a torpedo, would press the lever and cause an explosion. Another machine which Mr. Fulton exhibited and explained to the commissioners, was one which he had invented subsequently to his publication of the " Torpedo War." He called it a cable-cutter. On this he placed great reliance, even in the state in which it then was; but which he afterwards greatly improved. This machine consisted of a large iron hook, 124 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. upon the shaft or haft of which was placed a small piece of ordnance charged with powder, as in the common mode, andean instrument with a chisel or cutter at the outwal^end, of a crescent form : the piece was to be discharged by a water-proof lock, like those used for the torpedoes : to the iron part of this machinery was attached a sufficient quan- tity of wood or buoyant matter to support it : from the buoyant matter, the iron was to be supported, by chains or cords, at any required depth : to the extreme end of the shaft of the hook was attached a long line, to the other end of which was fastened a floating body : thus prepared, the machine, for an attack upon a vessel at anchor in a tideway, was to be thrown into the current at any distance above the object : the hook with its appurtenances on one side of her, and the buoy at the other extremity of the line on the other side : the current would then carry them both down the stream, till the line was intercepted by the cable of the vessel : when in this position, the buoy at the one end of the line, which was to be of such size as to present a greater resistance to the water than was at the other end, would draw the line across the cable till the hook embraced it, and would bring the cable immediately before the muzzle of the piece of ordnance, and of course directly in opposition THE CABLE-CUTTER. 125 to the chisel or cutter : at the moment the cable was in this position, it pressed against a lever which crossed the hook, and which communicated with the trigger of the lock : by this means, the piece was fired, and the cable separated by the cutter. In these attacks, so much of the machinery was permitted to be seen on the surface of the water, that they could only be made with a chance of success at night; but Mr. Fulton thought the buoyancy of the machine was so arranged as to keep the whole below the surface of the water, and thus render the attack at all times invisible. In the months of September and October, the commissioners assembled several times at the Navy- yard to witness Mr. Fulton's experiments. The sloop-of-war Argus, which was then commanded by the gallant Captain Lawrence, was to have been the subject of them : she had been prepared to defend herself against them, under the orders of Commodore Eodgers, after Mr. Fulton had ex- plained to him his proposed mode of attack. She had a strong netting suspended from her spritsail- yard, which was anchored at the bottom : she was surrounded by spars lashed together, which floated on the surface of the water, so as to place her completely in a pen : she had grappling-irons and 11* 126 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. heavy pieces of the same metal suspended from her yards and rigging, ready to be plunged in any boat that came beneath them : she had swords or scythes fastened to the ends of long spars, moving like sweeps, which unquestionably would have mowed off as many heads as came within their reach. Whatever might have been the ingenuity of the proposed mode of attack, there was certainly no little in the dispositions for defence. It was instantly seen by every one that these were not to be encountered with success by any means which Mr. Fulton had then prepared. This he at once acknowledged, but expressed his confidence that he should find means of surmounting them. One of the gentlemen appointed by the Government to attend these experiments, in his report to the Se- cretary of the Navy, says : "A vessel of war, surrounded by large booms and spars, with nets as deep as the water hanging from her bows, with her rigging loaded with weighty pieces of iron, and with grapnel and shot suspended from her yards to guard against torpedoes, and with chains to guard her cables, must be much less wieldy, and of course much less formidable for attack or defence, than she would be without such incum- brances." The report adds : "An invention which will oblige every hostile vessel that enters our ports to guard herself by such means, can- not but be of great importance in a system of defence." THE CABLE-CUTTER. 127 Mr. Fulton contented himself, for that time, with exhibiting a torpedo, and trying some experiments with his harpoon and cable-cutter, neither of which entirely answered his expectations. The harpoon, fired from a small piece of ordnance at a target, did not take effect at so great a distance as he supposed it would do, and there was more difficulty in bringing the cable-cutter in contact with the cable to be cut, than he had anticipated; but at that time he had not made his last improvements on this machine. There was no contrivance by which it would explode itself at the proper moment, as before described; neither was it calculated to fix itself upon the cable by means of a float at the opposite end of the line attached to the hook. In the ex- periment whicn Mr. Fulton exhibited at this time, he attempted to produce an explosion by a long string which led from the trigger of the piece to a boat, which, after dropping the machine in the water at a distance from the vessel, on the one side, was to row across her bows to the other side, and then down the stream till the line, one end of which was fastened to the machine and the other end to the boat, brought the cable-cutter in its proper position; and then the string connected with the trigger was to be pulled by a person in 128 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. the boat. All this was certainly too complicated, and the assailants were too much exposed, to raise any expectations that this mode of attack could be practised with any effect; but Mr. Fulton was persuaded that the improvements he afterwards made on this machine, and which we have at- tempted to describe, rendered it very practicable. After several attempts, however, Mr. Fulton suc- ceeded in placing his machine, and with it cut oif, several feet below the surface, a fourteen inch cable, which was attached to a vessel that had been anchored in the stream for the purpose. This experiment was satisfactory, so far as not only to show that a cable might be cut under water by these means ; but it proved that a gun might be fired in that situation with effect, and from this Mr. Fulton took the idea of firing under water cannon charged with bombs or balls, which he afterwards attempted. Chancellor Livingston, after a long examination of each particular subject which the experiments had suggested, expresses himself as follows : "Upon the whole, I view this application of powder as one of the most important militarg discoveries which some centuries have produced. It appears to me to be capable of effecting the absolute security of your ports against naval aggression ; provided, that, in conjunction with it, the usual means necessary to occupy the attention of the enemy are not neglected." TORPEDOES. 129 The rest of the gentlemen of the committee could not agree with those who made separate reports, farther than to unite with them in a state- ment which was but little more than a detail of facts. These reports were forwarded to the Secretary of the Navy by Mr. Fulton, with a letter from himself. His buoyant mind was never to be de- pressed: he gives his own views of the experi- ments, and writes with increased confidence in his ultimate success. He expresses himself satisfied with the report of the committee, and thinks their opinions were as favourable to the infant art as, under all circumstances, could have been expected. It is due to Mr. Fulton to give some extracts from this letter. He says : " It is proved and admitted, first, that the water-proof locks will ignite gunpowder under water ; secondly, it is proved that seventy pounds of powder, exploded under the bottom of a vessel of two hundred tons, will blow her up ; hence, it is admitted that if a sufficient quantity of powder and which I believe need not be more than two hundred pounds be ignited under the bottom of a first-rate man-of- war, it would instantly destroy her ; thirdly, it is proved and admitted, by all parties concerned in the experiments, that a gun can be fired under water, and that a cable of any size may be cut by that means, at any required depth. "With these immensely important principles proved and admitted, the question naturally occurs, whether there be, within the genius or inventive faculties of man, the means of placing a torpedo under a ship in defiance of her powers of resistance. He who says that there is not, and that I 130 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. consequently torpedoes never can be rendered useful, must of course believe that he has penetrated to the limits of man's inventive powers, and that he has contemplated all the combinations and arrangements which present or future ingenuity can devise, to place a torpedo under a ship. " I will do justice to the talents of Commodore Rodgers. The nets, booms, kentledge, and grapnels, which he ar- ranged around the Argus, made a formidable appearance against one torpedo-boat and eight bad oarsmen : I was taken unawares: I had explained to the officers of the navy my means of attack ; they did not inform me of their means of defence : the nets were put down to the ground, otherwise I should have sent the torpedoes under them. In this situation, the means which I was provided with being imperfect, insignificant, and inadequate to the efiect to be produced, I might be compared to what the inventor of gunpowder would have appeared had he lived in the time of Julius Caesar, and presented himself before the gates of Rome with a 4-pounder, and had endeavoured to convince the Roman people that, by means of such machines, he could batter down their walls. They would have told him that a few catapultas, casting arrows and stones upon his men, would cause them to retreat ; that a shower of rain would destroy his ill-guarded powder ; and the Roman centurions, who would have been unable to conceive the various modes in which gunpowder has since been used to destroy the then art of war, would very naturally conclude that it was an useless invention ; while the manufacturers of catapultas, bows, arrows, and shields, would be the most vehement against further experiments. " I had not one man instructed in the use of the ma- chines, nor had I time to reflect on this mode of defending a vessel. I have now, however, had time, and I feel con- fident that I have discovered a means which will render nets to the ground, booms, kentledge, grapnel, oars with sword-blades, through the port-holes, and all such kinds of operations, totally useless." FULTON'S EQUANIMITY OF MIND. 131 It would not be doing justice to Mr. Fulton to pass over these transactions without noticing the industry, perseverance, indefatigability, presence of mind, and command of temper, which they gave him an opportunity of displaying. Throughout the whole course of the experiments, no opposition or contradiction, no failure or disappointment, irri- tated or discomposed him. When his machines were broken or disordered, he, with the utmost calmness and composure, pointed out their defects or the causes of his disappointment. If an expe- riment failed, though it had cost him great pains and labour in the preparation, and although the failure was frequently and obviously owing to the awkwardness or unskilfulness of those who assisted him, his temper could not be disturbed : he would not hear the scoffs of some of the bystanders, which were frequently expressed in whispers intended to reach his ear. Not a fretful or angry word ever escaped him ; and after a disappointment he recom- menced his preparations with the same ardour, and with the same calmness, with which he first began : even when his physical strength must have been exhausted by his corporeal exertions and the ex- cessive fatigue he would sometimes undergo through a sultry day, his spirits were never for a moment depressed. On these occasions, he showed him- 132 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. self as much a moral as a mechanical philoso- pher. After the conclusion of these experiments, he does not appear to have turned his attention to torpedoes or submarine explosions until the late^ war was declared between Great Britain and the United States. His mind was engaged by other great and interesting objects. He had in the meantime brought his system of navigation by steam to such perfection, that steamboats were established and running as regular packets upon the Hudson, between New York and Albany, and as ferry-boats across the bays and rivers. But Mr. Fulton's thoughts upon submarine war took another direction. Having ascertained, by the experiments he had made with his cable-cutter, that powder might be discharged from a piece of ordnance under water with effect, he conceived the idea of forming submarine batteries. With this view, he instituted a number of experiments, to try the practicability and effect of discharging can- non loaded with ball at different depths under water. He made a number of calculations on this sub- ject : his desire to ascertain what resistance a ball of given dimensions, propelled with a certain velo- city, would meet with in passing through a body THE SUBMARINE BATTERY 133 of water at a certain depth. The basis he took for these calculations, and the calculations them- selves, mark both his ingenuity and his science. He assumed that a body passing through water would meet with a resistance equal to the force of a column of water of the same diameter as the body moving with the given velocity. He then ascertained what head or height of water would be required to discharge a stream of water, from an orifice at the foot of a perpendicular tube, with the same velocity w r ith which the boat was sup- posed to be propelled. He then, by the well- known rules of hydraulics, found what force or power the ascertained head of water would give, and thence formed his estimates as to the resist- ance with which a body projected in water would meet. In this instance, as in others, he is not satisfied with obtaining the information necessary for his particular purpose, but he establishes, from his calculations, a rule which may, by a very brief and simple arithmetical process, afford all the information and accuracy generally necessary for practical purposes. His first experiment was with a 4-pounder, hav- ing the breech, and as much of the gun as is usually within the sides of a vessel, in a water- 12 134 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. tight box, and the muzzle stopped with a tompion : the box and gun were then submerged three feet in the Hudson : the gun was fired by dropping a live coal through a tin tube which penetrated the box immediately above the vent of the gun, and rose above the surface of the water : the ball was found to have struck the sand at the bottom of the river, at the distance of forty-one feet from the muzzle. The gun was uninjured. This experi- ment satisfied him that guns might be placed in a ship, below her water-line, with their breech on board and their muzzles in the water, without any more danger of their bursting than there is when they are fired in the air. This gave him the idea of arming ships with guns to be fired in this way. He proposed that the muzzle of the gun made for this purpose should recoil through a stuffing- box, and be followed by a valve which would exclude the water when the gun was not protruded. An elegant model of this construction is now in possession of his family. He next tried the same piece with a pound and a half of powder, and fired it, by means of one of^ his water-tight locks, when it was entirely in water, three feet below the surface : the ball pene- trated eleven and a half inches into a target of pine logs, which had been prepared for the purpose, THE SUBMARINE BATTERY. 135 and placed beneath the water at the distance of twelve feet from the piece. His next experiment was with a columbiad carrying an hundred pound ball, fired at the tar- get, as in the last instance : all that we know is that the ball tore the target in pieces, and that the cannon was uninjured. We have not information that will enable us to give any further details of this experiment; but we know that Mr. Fulton was entirely satisfied with the result. He proposed to use cannon in this way by suspending them, two for instance, from the bows of the vessel. A single shot, as he demonstrates, from a piece of large calibre, which should break into the side of a ship at any consi- derable depth beneath the water-line, must be fatal to her. And though the range of shot fired through water, may be but a few feet, yet conflicting ves- sels, whenever they engage yard-arm and yard-arm, with accounts of which our naval heroes have made us so familiar, must be so near as to give effect to a submarine discharge. Mr. Fulton did not propose that these guns should be always in the water; but that they should be suspended so as to be raised when the vessel was not in action. The plans for the submarine use of cannon were 136 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. submitted to one of our most distinguished naval commanders, who gave them his decided approba- tion. He expressed a strong opinion that such an attack would be fatal to any vessel exposed to it, and that it would be extremely difficult for an enemy to evade an attempt, made with sufficient resolution, to destroy her by these means. In 1813, Mr. Fulton took out a patent "for several improvements in the art of maritime war- fare, and means of injuring and destroying ships and vessels of war by igniting gunpowder under water, or by igniting gunpowder below a line hori- zontal to the surface of the water, or so igniting gunpowder that the explosion which causes injury to the vessel attacked shall be under water." He communicated to Mr. Jefferson an account of his experiments on submarine firing, with draw- ings of his various plans. Mr. Jefferson expressed himself much pleased with this novel mode of maritime warfare, and assured Mr. Fulton that he would recommend it to the attention of Govern- ment. It is curious to observe how Mr. Fulton's projects grew one out of another : the submarine guns gave rise to the steam man-of-war. THE SUBMARINE BATTERY. 137 It having been suggested, by the distinguished naval officer before alluded to, that, in approaching an enemy so near as was necessary to give effect to submarine cannon, the vessel, if she were rigged in the ordinary way, would be liable to be entangled with her adversary. To meet this objection, Mr. Fulton proposed to move the vessel by steam. His reflections on this project, and what he saw of the performance of so large a vessel as the " Fulton," her speed, and the facility with which she was managed led him to conceive that a vessel of war might be constructed, in which, to all the advan- tages possessed by those now in use, might be added the very important ones which she would derive from being propelled by steam as well as by the winds. 12* CHAPTER VII. SUBMARINE NAVIGATION, AND PLUNGING- BOAT. IN December, 1797, he made an experiment, in company with Mr. Barlow, on the Seine, with a machine which he had constructed, and by which he designed to impart to carcasses of gunpowder a progressive motion under water, to a given point, and there to explode them. But he was disap- pointed in the performance of this machine. He continued, however, to employ his mind and talents on this subject, and to make a variety of experiments, with a view to the accomplishment of his object, of which experiments very inte- resting particulars are preserved among his papers, until he had perfected the plan for his submarine boat, as it was afterwards executed. A want of funds to enable him to carry his plans into execution, induced him to apply to the French Directory. They at first gave him great reason to expect their countenance and encourage- ment ; but, after a long and irksome attendance on (138) SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 139 the public offices, to his great surprise and disap- pointment, he received a note from the Minister of War, informing him that the Directory had totally rejected his plan. Mr. Fulton was never to be discouraged; and he proposed to build submarine boats "to deliver France and the whole world from British oppression" But the French government changed. Bona- parte placed himself at the head of it, with the title of First Consul. Mr. Fulton soon presented an address to him, soliciting him to patronize the project of submarine navigation, and praying him to appoint a commis- sion, with sufficient funds and powers, to give the necessary assistance. This request was immediately granted, and the citizens Volney, La Place, and Monge, were named the commissioners. In the spring of the year 1801, Mr. Fulton repaired to Brest, to make experiments with the plunging-boat he had constructed the preceding winter. This, as he says, had many imperfections, natural to a first machine of such complicated combinations. Added to this, it had suffered much injury from rust, in consequence of his having been obliged to use iron, instead of brass or copper, for bolts and arbours. 140 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, he engaged in a course of experiments with the machine, which required no less courage than energy and perseve- rance. Of his proceedings, he made a report ; from which report we learn the following interesting facts : On the 3d of July, 1801, he embarked with three companions on board his plunging-boat, in the harbor of Brest, and descended in it to the depth of five, ten, fifteen, and so on to twenty-five feet ; but he did not attempt to go lower, because he found that his imperfect machine would not bear the pressure of a greater depth. He remained below the surface one hour. During this time, they were in utter darkness. Afterwards he de- scended with candles; but finding a great disad- vantage from their consumption of vital air, he caused, previously to his next experiment, a small window of thick glass to be made near the bow of his boat, and he again descended with her on the 24th of July, 1801. He found that he received from his window, or rather aperture covered with glass, for it was no more than an inch and a half in diameter, sufficient light to enable him to count the minutes on his watch. Having satisfied him- self that he could have sufficient light when under water; that he could do without fresh air for a The 7i2iaiqedwi8iJftist and. Seals, struc&.cts ^ncwd. Ifetwe&t Ch^o/i^r cuid Lowei' Tvcutei's z>t thoicr trfJji'&ff. July Ijffj The SUBMARINE NAVIGATION. 141 considerable time; that he could descend to any depth, and rise to the surface with facility, his next object was to try her movements, as well on the surface as beneath it. On the 26th of July, he weighed his anchor and hoisted his sails : his boat had one mast, a mainsail, and a jib. There was only a light breeze, and therefore she did not move on the surface at more than the rate of two miles an hour; but it was found that she would tack and steer, and sail on a wind or before it, as well as any common sailing boat. He then struck her mast and sails ; to do which, and perfectly to prepare the boat for plunging, required about two minutes. Having plunged to a certain depth, he placed two men at the engine which was intended to give her progressive motion, and one at the helm, while he, with a barometer before him, go- verned the machine which kept her balanced be- tween the upper and lower waters. He found that, with the exertion of one hand only, he could keep her at any depth he pleased. The propelling engine was then put in motion, and he found, upon coming to the surface, that he had, in about seven minutes, made a progress of four hundred meters, or about five hundred yards. He then again plunged, turned her round while under water, and returned to near the place he began to move from. 142 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. He repeated his experiment several days succes- sively, until he became familiar with the operation of the machinery and the movements of the boat. He found that she was as obedient to her helm, under water, as any boat could be on the surface, and that the magnetic needle traversed as well in the one situation as in the other. On the 7th of August, Mr. Fulton again de- scended, with a store of atmospheric air compressed into a copper globe of a cubic foot capacity, into which two hundred atmospheres were forced. Thus prepared, he descended with three companions to the depth of about five feet. At the expiration of an hour and forty minutes, he began to take small supplies of pure air from his reservoir, and did so, as he found occasion, for four hours and twenty minutes. At the expiration of this time, he came to the surface, without having experienced any inconvenience from having been so long under water. Mr. Fulton was highly satisfied with the success of these experiments : it determined him to try the effects of these inventions on the English ships which were then blockading the coast of France, and were daily near the harbor of Brest. His boat at this time he called the submarine boat, or the plunging-boat: he afterwards gave it THE PLUNGING-BOAT. 143 the name of the " NAUTILUS :" connected with this machine were what he then called submarine bombs, to which he subsequently gave the name of torpedoes. This invention preceded the " NAU- TILUS." It was, indeed, his desire of discovering the means of applying his torpedoes that turned his thoughts to a submarine boat. Satisfied with the performance of his boat, his next object was to make some experiments with his torpedoes. A small shallop was anchored in the roads, with a bomb containing about twenty pounds of powder : he approached to about within two hundred yards of the anchored vessel, struck her with the torpedo, and blew her into atoms. A column of water and fragments was thrown or blown from eighty to one hundred feet in the air. This experiment was made in the presence of the prefect of the depart- ment, Admiral Yillaret, and a multitude of spec- tators. St. Aubin, a member of the Tribunate, gives, in the Journal of Commerce of the 20th of January, 1802, an account of a submarine boat which he says Mr. Fulton was then constructing. In this, however, there is a mistake. Mr. Fulton had pro- jected another boat of this description, upon a larger and an improved plan ; but he had not the means of executing it, and all his experiments 144 THE LIFE OF EGBERT FULTON. were made with the small boat he first constructed, and which, as we have before remarked, he found, at the end of the winter, much impaired by the rusting of some parts of the machinery. St. Aubin's account is as follows : u. " The diving-boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty days, and will be of suffi- cient strength and power to enable him to plunge one hundred feet under water, if necessary. He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours. When the boat is above water, it has two sails, and looks just like a common boat ; when it is to dive, the mast and sails are struck. "In making his experiments, Mr. Fulton not only re- mained a whole hour under water, with three of his com- panions, but had the boat parallel to the horizon at any given distance. He proved that the compass points as correctly under water as on the surface, and that, while under water, the boat made way at the rate of half a league an hour, by means contrived for that purpose. " It is not twenty years since all Europe was astonished at the first ascension of men in balloons : perhaps, in a few years, they will not be less surprised to see a flotilla of diving-boats, which, on a given signal, shall, to avoid the pursuit of an enemy, plunge under water, and rise again several leagues from the place where they de- scended ! " But if we have not succeeded in steering the balloon, and even were it impossible to attain that object, the case is different with the diving-boat, which can be conducted under water in the same manner as upon the surface. It has the advantage of sailing like the common boat, and also of diving when it is pursued. With these qualities, it THE PLUNGING-BOAT. 145 is fit for carrying secret orders, to succour a blockaded fort, and to examine the force and position of an enemy in their harbors. These are sure and evident benefits which the diving-boat at present promises. But who can see all the consequences of this discovery, or the improve- ments of which it is susceptible ? Mr. Fulton has already added to his boat a machine by means of which he blew up a large boat in the port of Brest ; and if, by future expe- riments, the same effect could be produced in frigates or ships of the line, what will become of maritime wars, and where will sailors be found to man ships of war, when it is a physical certainty that they may at any moment be blown into the air by means of diving-boats, against which no human foresight can guard them ?" In all Fulton's negotiations with the British Government, he presented himself as an Ameri- can; and when it was proposed that he should, for a considerable reward, suppress his inventions, so th j;ht be buried, and that neither his owe country nor the rest of the world could derive troiii them tho^ advantages which he thought they would aflbrd, he indignantly rejected the overture. This will appear from his written communication with the British ministry, extracts from which we shall now present, though by doing so the order of events will be a little anticipated. In a paper which Mr. Fulton read to certain gentlemen who were appointed by the British Ministry, in the month of August, 1806, to confer with him, he says : 13 K 146 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. "At all events, whatever may be your award, I never will consent to let these inventions lie dormant should my country at any -time have need of them. Were you to grant me the annuity of twenty thousand pounds a-year, I ivould sacrifice all to the safety and independence of my country." He concludes a letter to Lord Grenville in the following words : " It never has been my intention to hide these inventions from the world, on any consideration. On the contrary, it has ever been my intention to make them public as soon as may be consistent with strict justice to all with whom I am concerned. For myself, I have ever considered the interest of America, free commerce, the interest of man- kind, the magnitude of the object in view, and the rational reputation connected with it, superior to all calculations of a pecuniary nature." These are the sentiments of a man who had confidence in the rectitude of his conduct. It is very possible that Mr. Fulton, on withdrawing from France, was also in some measure influenced by an aversion to the new character which the government assumed on the accession of Napoleon to the consular dignity. In a letter to Lord Melville, Mr. Fulton expressed himself as follows : "There is no project, flattering to vanity, which is too extravagant for men who consider conquest and military fame as the most estimable of all acquirements. Alexan- der, Gringhis Khan, and Bonaparte, have been guided by similar sentiments. In writing this letter, I feel no en- FULTON'S POLITICAL OPINIONS. 147 mity to the people of France, or any other people ; on the contrary, I ^vish their happiness ; for my principle is that every nation profits by the prosperity of its neighbours, provide? the governments of its neighbours be humane and just. What is here said is directed against the tyrannic principles of Bonaparte a man who has set himself against all law: he is, therefore, in that state which Lord Somers compares to that of a wild beast, un- restrained by any rule, and he should be hunted down as the enemy of mankind. This, however, is the business of Frenchmen. With regard to the nations of Europe, they can only hold him in governable limits by fencing him round with bayonets" CHAPTER VIII. HISTORY OF ORIGINAL INVENTORS. "Dear bought the experiment, and hard the strife Of social man, that reared his arts to life." BEFORE giving a description of Mr. Fulton's in- ventions in steam navigation, it may not be amiss to show that numerous individuals had endeavoured to accomplish that which only Mr. Fulton's gigan- tic mind could properly conceive and practically perfect. The different modes of propelling vessels on the seas form a striking and peculiar picture in the eventful history of man : levers in the shape of oars, paddle-wheels, condensed air, horse-power, explosive force of gunpowder, and the fall of water, were proposed ; but all have vanished before the triumphant use of steam. Many controversies have existed, and much paper wasted, respecting the nature and construction of the various steam- boats; and whilst each inventor has deservedly received the highest praise and applause for his own wonderful invention, it was Fulton, and Ful- (148) THE RESULTS OF STEAM. 149 ton only, who grasped hold of the reins of the all- powerful STEAM-ENGINE OF WATT, and harnessing it, like a snorting steed, to his leviathan car, he lashed its foaming sides, and giving it liberty, it " Rode the waters like a thing of life," and startled old Neptune from the lowest depths of the ocean, to yield his trident to the boldest commander of the waves. We now live in a new age, and the day has gone by that an inventor can be ridiculed with impunity. Mind, genius, and talent, have pro- duced the most extraordinary results : "That teach the tempered soul, at one vast view, To glance o'er time and look existence throV The mountains have been levelled, the valleys filled up, and the fiery chariot drives along our plains ; and, for business or pleasure, the traveller mounts the "lightning-trains," to convey him from place to place ; and whilst the modest, unassuming Morse, by the lightning's flash delivers the mes- sages of nations from pole to pole, the enterprising merchants of the East are crowding the swiftest, boldest steamers of the seas, that madden with the strength they gain, bound the billowy main, and onward sweep, between the rising and the setting sun, to heap their treasures in the Western World, 13* 150 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. and establish the truth that England, France, and America, with one accord, proclaim the glory of Fulton. Many eminent and ingenious men proposed to propel vessels by steam power; and amongst the t number were Dr. Papin, a Frenchman, Savery, the Marquis of Worcester, and Dr. John Allen, of London, in 1726. In 1786, Oliver Evans, of Phila- delphia, and about the same time Dr. Benjamin Franklin proposed to propel a vessel by the imme- diate action of the steam upon water, forcing a column of water through a channel, for that pur- pose, in the keel out at the stern. In justice to the more successful inventors who left some lasting testimony of their contrivances, it affords us pleasure to represent their inventions as correctly as it was possible for us to obtain the same; and whatever ideas they may have had, they perseveringly endeavoured to exhibit. They proved that steam power could be applied to navigation, but they did not succeed in accom- plishing the application to perfection. They evinced, in a manner, great practical knowledge, and their^ experiments were of such vast importance as to command the respect and honour cf their country- men ; but still they did not possess that rare union of genius and science so as to attain and achieve ORIGINAL INVENTORS. 151 the great triumph of steamboat navigation. The first patent on record to propel a vessel by steam power, is that of JONATHAN HULLS, who published a pamphlet, in 1737, describing it as a means of towing other vessels out of harbor against tide and winds. This was the first paddle-wheel driven by steam power, and the idea of placing the wheel in the stern occurred to the inventor as being the proper place for it, because that water-fowl, ducks and geese, pushed their web feet behind them. In 1787, MR. JAMES EUMSEY, of Sheppardstown, Virginia, made a public experiment on the Potomac river. His boat was about eighty feet long, and was propelled by a steam-engine which worked a vertical pump in the middle of the vessel, by which the water was drawn in at the bow, and expelled at the stern through a horizontal trunk in her bottom. The reaction of the effluent water car- ried her at the rate of four miles an hour when loaded with three tons, in addition to the weight of her engine, of about one-third of a ton. The boiler held no more than five gallons of water, and needed only a pint of water at a time ; and the whole machinery did not occupy a space greater than that required for four barrels of flour. It seems that he and Dr. Franklin entertained simi- lar ideas about the same time. Mr. Eumsey went 152 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. to England to put a vessel afloat on the Thames, and died there in 1793. A steamboat one hun- dred feet long was tried on the Loire, at Lyons, by the Marquis de Jeffrey. He used paddles revolving on an endless chain. It was unsuc- cessful. MR. JOHN FITCH'S steamboat was built in Phila- delphia, and made several experimental excursions on the Delaware. The following is Mr. Fitch's own account of it, in December, 1786 : "The cylinder is to be horizontal, and the steam to work with equal force at each end. The mode by which we obtain what I term a vacuum is, it is believed, entirely new, as is also the method of letting the water into it, and throwing it off against the atmosphere without any fric- tion. It is expected that the cylinder, which is of twelve inches diameter, will move a clear force of eleven or twelve cwt. after the frictions are deducted : this force is to be directed against a wheel of eighteen inches diameter. The piston moves about three feet, and each vibration of it gives the axis about forty evolutions. Each evolution of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles five and a half feet: they work perpendicularly, and are represented by the strokes of a paddle of a canoe. As six of the paddles are raised from the water, six more are entered, and the two sets of paddles make their strokes of about eleven feet in each evolution. The crank of the axis acts upon the paddles about one-third of their length from their lower ends, on which part of the oar the whole force of the axis is applied. The engine is placed in the bottom of the boat about one- third from the stern, and both the action and reaction turn the wheel the same way." ORIGINAL INVENTORS. 153 He was an ill-used man. The distress of mind and mortification he suffered from the failure of his protracted exertions, and his poverty, were too much for him; and to drown his reflections, he had recourse to the common but deceptive remedy, strong drink, in which he indulged to excess ; and retiring to Pittsburg, he ended his days by plung- ing into the Allegheny river : thus terminated the life of a man of great mechanical resources and inventive powers, who should have received honours where he met with coldness and neglect. He con- fidently predicted the future success of steam navi- gation. He prophesied that in less than a century the Western rivers would be swarming with steam- boats. It is said that lie expressed the wish to be buried on the shores of tJie Ohio, where the song of t7te boatmen might enliven the stillness of his resting- place, and the music of the steam-engine soothe his spirit. What an idea! Yet how natural to the mind of an ardent projector, whose life had been devoted to one darling object, which it was not his destiny to accomplish ! Mr. Patrick Miller, of Dalwinston, Scotland, in 1787, applied steam to propel a double vessel with a wheel in the stern. The steam-engine for this boat was made and fitted up by an ingenious me- chanic named William Symington, and which, it is 154 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. said, is carefully preserved to the present day. The success of this boat was very gratifying, but it was only on a small scale, the cylinder being only four inches in diameter. In 1789, Mr. Symington again, under the direction of Mr. Miller, fitted up an en- gine on a double boat sixty feet long. This canal- boat, on the Forth and Clyde canal, went at the rate of seven miles per hour, and was very pro- mising, as an experiment, on the canal, a placid water, but could not be employed on the river ; for unfortunately the boat was too weak for the ma- chinery, which was taken out, and Mr. Miller tried no more experiments. A work published by his son states that out of his private fortune Mr. Miller spent no less than $150,000, making expe- riments for which he never received in return a single cent. He was a patriot in mechanical science. 1 mr^; CHAPTER IX. STEAM NAVIGATION, AND FULTON'S SUCCESS " Then FULTON looked : beneath his wondering eyea Gay streamers lengthen round the seas and skies; The countless nations open all their stores, Load every wave and crowd the lively shores; STEAMERS in mingling mazes streak the air, And COMMERCE triumphs o'er the rage of war. From Baltic streams, from Elba's opening side, From Rhine's long course and Texel's labouring tide, From Gaul, from Albion, tired of fruitless fight, From green Hibernia, clothed in recent light, Hispania's strand, that two broad oceans lave, From Senegal and Gambia's golden wave, Tago the rich, and Douro's viny shores, The sweet Canaries and the soft Azores, Commingling barks their mutual banners hail, And drink by turns the same distending gale. Thro' Calpe's strait that leads the Midland main, From Adria, Pontus, Nile's resurgent reign, The sails look forth and wave their bandrols high, o J And ask their breezes from a broader sky. Where Asia's isles and utmost shorelands bend, Like rising suns the sheeted masts ascend; Coast after coast their flowing flags unroll, From Piemen's rocks to Zembla's ice-propped pole, Where Behring's pass collapsing worlds divides, Where California breaks the billowy tides, (155) 156 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Peruvian streams their golden margins boast, Or Chili bluffs or Plata flats the coast. Where, clothed in splendour, his Atlantic way Spreads the blue borders of Hesperian day, From all his havens, with majestic sweep, The swiftest, boldest STEAMSHIPS of the deep Swarm forth before him, till the cloudlike train From pole to pole o'ersheet the whitening main." WE must now revert to an early period of Mr. Fulton's life, to trace from the beginning the pro- gress of that great improvement in the arts for which we and all the world are so much indebted to him we mean the practical establishment of navigation by steam. At what time his attention was first directed to this subject, we do not know ; but it is ascertained that, in the year 1793, he had matured a plan in which, even at that early day, he had great con- fidence. The evidence of this is his letter to the Earl of Stanhope, to which we have before adverted. This letter is dated the 30th of September, 1793. The answer from Lord Stanhope is dated the 7th of the following October, at Holdsworthy, Devon, and is as follows : " SIR : I have received yours of the 30th of Septem- ber, in which you propose to communicate to me the prin- ciples of an invention which you say you have discovered, respecting the moving of ships by the means of steam. It is a subject on which I have made important discoveries. STEAM NAVIGATION. 157 I shall be glad to receive the communication which you intend, as I have made the principles of mechanics my particular study," etc. The history of the discovery of the power of steam, and of its application to engines which have been made for its use, and the progress of their improvement, might be very interesting, but would be inapplicable here. Mr. Fulton had indeed given to Watt and Bolton instructions for constructing the FIRST ENGINE WHICH WAS SUCCESSFULLY USED IN A BOAT, and had directed the parts to be made so that it might be arranged in a manner and within a compass suited to his purpose, which no one with a less mechanical genius than himself would have been able to do so accurately as it had been done by him ; yet he made no pretensions as an inven- tor with respect to the engine. Mr. Fulton, when he conceived a mechanical invention, not only perceived the effect it would produce, but he could ascertain, by calculation, the power his combination would afford, how far it would be adequate to his purpose, and what would be the requisite strength of every part of the machine. To Mr. Fulton belongs the great honour of hav- ing been the first who endeavoured to investigate, on principle, the difficulties of the subject. His 14 158 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. method of proceeding was, in principle, this : hav- ing determined the resistance of the vessel, he inferred that the paddles must experience the same resistance, and that the engine must exert a force at the centre of effort of the paddles equal to the resistance of the paddles. Assuming then the velocities of the piston and paddles as known, and equivalent to V and v, and the forces on the same as equivalent to F and /, he formed the proportion V v, f F ; and by dividing the whole force on the piston, by the force exerted by the steam on any given portion of its surface, he obtained the surface of the piston itself, and thence its diameter. Knowing then the whole resistance on the pad- dles, and supposing only one paddle on each side to act at the same instant, the area corresponding to that resistance becomes known, the half of which determines the surface of one paddle. Knowing also from the number of strokes made by the pis- ton the number of strokes made by the paddle- wheels, the diameter of the wheel may be deter- mined so as to ensure to the paddle the velocity originally assumed. Fulton having in this manner determined the force necessary to propel his boat, and accurately considered the mode by which it might be most successfully applied, avoided the great error of his predecessors, viz., attempting too STEAM NAVIGATION. 159 much with an inadequate power, and gave to steam navigation that splendid and triumphant character which it now possesses. In none of those who have attempted this great object were united those qualities and acquirements to which Mr. Fulton owed his success ; that is to say, a genius for invention, mathematical and philo- sophical science, mechanical knowledge, and, what is rare in combination with these, considerable practice. None of the projectors, prior to him, whose claims have been set up to rival his, have left any traces of calculations, or even an account of the principles upon which their machines were con- trived. They were among the multitude that thought steam might be applied to navigation. They went to work to form a machine, upon a crude notion that it might be made to do some- thing, without having attempted to calculate what, and without having any precise plan for its exe- cution : when it did not answer their expectations, it was abandoned, because they could not perceive the cause of its failure, or any mode of making improvements upon it. On the contrary, he never attempted to put in practice any improvements in mechanics without having made his calculations, drawn his plans, and executed his models. 160 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. A society in Rotterdam had applied to the American Philosophical Society to be informed whether any and what improvements had been made in the construction of steam-engines in Ame- rica. The subject was referred to Mr. Benjamin H. Latrobe, who, on the 20th of May, 1803, read to the Philadelphia Society a report ; from which, as it is recorded in their Transactions, the following are extracts : "During the general lassitude of mechanical exertion which succeeded the American Revolution, the utility of steam-engines appears to have been forgotten ; but the subject afterwards started into very general notice in a form in which it could not possibly be attended with suc- cess. A sort of mania began to prevail, which indeed has not yet entirely subsided, for impelling boats by steam- engines. Dr. Franklin proposed to force forward the boat by the immediate application of the steam upon the water. Many attempts to simplify the working of the engine, and more to employ a means of dispensing with the beam in converting the libratory into a rotatory motion, were made. For a short time, a passage-boat, rowed by a steam-engine, was established between Bordentown and Philadelphia, but it was soon laid aside. The best and most powerful steam- engine which has been employed for this purpose except- ing perhaps one constructed by Dr. Kinsey, with the per- formance of which I am not sufficiently acquainted belonged to a gentleman of New York. It was made to act, by way of experiment, upon oars, upon paddles, and upon flutter-wheels : nothing in the success of any of these experiments appeared to be sufficient compensation for the expense and the extreme inconvenience of the steam-engine in the vessel. STEAM NAVIGATION. 161 " There are, indeed, general objections to the use of the steam-engine for impelling boats, from which no particular mode of application can be free. These are : " First : the weight of the engine and of the fuel. " Second : the large space it occupies. " Third : the tendency of its action to rack the vessel, and render it leaky. " Fourth : the expense of maintenance. " Fifth : the irregularity of its motion, and the motion of the water in the boiler and cistern, and of the fuel- vessel in rough water. " Sixth : the difficulty arising from the liability of the paddles and oars to break, if light, and from the weight, if made strong. " Nor have 1 ever heard of an instance, verified by other testimony than that of the inventor, of a speedy and agree- able voyage having been performed in a steamboat of any construction. " I am well aware that there are still many very respect- able and ingenious men who consider the application of the steam-engine to the purpose of navigation as highly im- portant, and as very practicable, especially on the rapid waters of the Mississippi ; and who would feel themselves almost offended at the expression of an opposite opinion. And perhaps some of the objections against it may be avoided. That founded on the expense and weight of the fuel may not, for some years, exist on the Mississippi, where there is a redundance of wood on the banks ; but the cutting and loading will be almost as great an evil." In speaking of what had been done in this country prior to the running of his boats, it would be great injustice not to notice, with due respect and commendation, the enterprises of the late Chancellor Livingston, who had so intimate a con- 14 * L 102 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. nection with him in the progress and establishment of this public benefit. While Mr. Livingston devoted much of his own time and talents to the advancement of science and the promotion of the public good, he was fond of fostering the discoveries of others. The resources of his ample fortune were afforded with great libe- rality, whenever he could apply them to the sup- port and encouragement of genius. He entertained very clear conceptions of what would be the great advantages of steamboats on the large and extensive rivers of the United States. He had applied himself, with uncommon perseve- rance and at great expense, to constructing vessels and machinery for that kind of navigation. As early as 1798, he believed that he had accomplished his object, and represented to the Legislature of the State of New York that he was possessed of a mode of applying the steam-engine to propel a boat on new and advantageous principles, but that he was deterred from carrying it into effect by the uncer- tainty and hazard of a very expensive experiment, unless he could be assured of an exclusive advan- tage from it, should it be found successful. The Legislature, in March, 1798, passed an act vesting Mr. Livingston with the exclusive right and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats STEAM NAVIGATION. 163 which might be propelled by the force of steam or fire, on all the waters within the territory or juris- diction of the State of New York, for the term of twenty years from the passing of the act ; upon condition that he should, within a twelvemonth, build such a boat the' mean of whose progress should not be less than four miles an hour. The bill was introduced into the House of As- sembly by Dr. Mitchell, then being a representative from the city. Dr. Mitchell said : "Upon this occasion, the wags and the lawyers in the House were generally opposed to my bill. I had to en- counter all their jokes, and the whole of their logic. One main ground of their objection was, that it was an idle and whimsical project, unworthy of legislative attention." A venerable friend, the late Senator L'Homme- dieu, who was a member of the Senate at that time, has described the manner in which this ap- plication from Mr. Livingston was received by the Legislature. He said it was a standing subject of ridicule throughout the session; and whenever there was a disposition among the younger mem- bers to indulge a little levity, they would call up the steamboat bill, that they might divert them- selves at the expense of the project and its advo- cates. In the American Medical and Philosophical Re- gister, there is a piece published under the title of 164 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. "An Historical Account of the Application of Steam for the propelling of Boats.'' This was drawn up by Mr. Livingston, and addressed to Drs. Hosack and Francis, the editors of that jour- nal. He very candidly acknowledges that all his efforts had been unavailing. He explains the nature of the connection between him and Mr. Fulton, and shows what part that gentleman per- formed in the experiment which led to the accom- plishment of their object. As this account, from Chancellor Livingston himself, must be very satis- factory, we shall present a part of it, in an extract from the learned and valuable work we have just mentioned : " Robert R. Livingston, Esq., when Minister in France, met with Mr. Fulton, and they formed that friendship and connection with each other to which a similarity of pursuits generally gives birth. He communicated to Mr. Fulton the importance of steamboats to their common country, informed him of what had been attempted in America, and of his resolution to resume the pursuit on his return, and advised him to turn his attention to the subject. It was agreed between them to embark in the enterprise, and immediately to make such experiments as would enable them to determine how far, in spite of former failures, the object was attainable: the principal direction of these 1 experiments was left to Mr. Fulton, who united, in a very considerable degree, practical to a theoretical knowledge of mechanics. After trying a variety of experiments, on a small scale, on models of his own invention, it was un- derstood that he had developed the true principles upon STEAM NAVIGATION. 165 which steamboats should be built, and for the want of knowing which all previous experiments had failed. But as these two gentlemen both knew that many things, which were apparently perfect when tried on a small scale, failed when reduced to practice upon a large one, they determined to go to the expense of building an operating boat upon the Seine. This was done in the year 1803, at their joint expense, under the direction of Mr. Fulton ; and so fully evinced the justice of his principles, that it was immedi- ately determined to enrich their country by the valuable discovery as soon as they should meet there, and in the meantime to order an engine to be made in England. On the arrival at New York of Mr. Fulton, which was not till 1806, they immediately engaged in building a boat of, what was then considered, very considerable dimensions. " This boat began to navigate the Hudson river in 1807 : its progress through the water was at the rate of five miles an hour." We have seen that Mr. Fulton's mind, previously to his return to this country, had long been directed to the project of propelling vessels by steam : we know that, prior to 1793, he had exercised his thoughts on this subject. u The application of steam to navigation had been thought of by all artists, but the means of executing it were wanting, and Fulton furnished them." It may be well to remark here, that the idea of propelling vessels by water-wheels, which at pre- sent are believed to be essential to the success of steamboats, had occurred to Dr. Franklin ; but ha rejected them as impracticable, and with his essay 166 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. read before the American Philosophical Society, referred to by Mr. Latrobe in his answers to the Eotterdam Society, which we have before noticed, Dr. Franklin gives a drawing of a water-wheel, accompanied with what he supposes to be a de- monstration that they cannot be used to any advantage. The experimental boat of Mr. Livingston and Mr. Fulton was completed early in the spring of 1803, to be propelled with paddle-wheels, on the Seine, in France : they were on the point of making an experiment with her, when one morning, as Mr. Fulton was rising from a bed in which anxiety had given him but little rest, a messenger from the boat, whose precipitation and apparent consternation announced that he was the bearer of bad tidings, presented himself to him, and exclaimed, in ac- cents of despair: "Oh, sir! the boat has broken in pieces, and gone to the bottom !" Mr. Fulton, who himself related the anecdote, declared that this news created a despondency which he had never felt on any other occasion; but this was only a momentary sensation. Upon examination, he found that the boat had been too weakly framed to bear the great weight of the machinery, and that, in consequence of an agitation of the river by wind the preceding night, STEAM NAVIGATION. 167 what the messenger had represented had literally happened. The boat had broken in two, and the weight of her machinery had carried her fragments to the bottom. It appeared to him, as he said, that the fruits of so many months' labour, and so much expense, were annihilated; and an opportu- nity of demonstrating the efficacy of his plan was denied him at the moment he had promised it should be displayed. His disappointment and feel- ings may easily be imagined, but they did not check his perseverance. On the very day that this misfortune happened, he commenced repairing it. He did not sit down idly to repine at misfor- tune which his manly exertions might remedy, or waste in fruitless lamentations a moment of that time in which the accident might be repaired. Without returning to his lodgings, he immediately began to labour with his own hands to raise the boat, and worked twenty-four hours incessantly, without allowing himself rest or taking refresh- ment an imprudence which, as he always sup- posed, had a permanent bad effect on his consti- tution, and to which he imputed much of his subsequent bad health. The accident did the machinery very little injury; but they were obliged to build the boat almost en- tirely new : she was completed in July : her length 168 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. was sixty-six feet, and she was eight feet wide. Early in August, Mr. Fulton addressed a letter to the French National Institute, inviting them to witness a trial of his boat, which was made in their presence, and in the presence of a great multitude of the Parisians. The experiment was entirely satisfactory to Mr. Fulton, though the boat did not move altogether with as much speed as he expected. But he imputed her moving so slowly to the ex- tremely defective fabrication of the machinery, and to imperfections which were to be expected in the first experiment with so complicated a machine, but which he saw might be easily remedied. Such entire confidence did he acquire from this experiment, that immediately afterwards he wrote to Messrs. Watt and Bolton, of Birmingham, Eng- land, ordering certain parts of a steam-engine to be made for him, and sent to America. He did not disclose to them for what purpose the engine was intended; but his directions were such as would produce the parts of an engine, that might be put together within a compass suited for a boat. Mr. Fulton then designed to return to America imme- diately; but, as we have seen, he first visited England, and then probably gave new orders on this subject, as the engine which was employed in the first American Fulton boat was of the manu- FULTON'S FIRST AMERICAN BOAT. 169 facture of Messrs. Watt and Bolton ; but it did not arrive in America till long after the time we are speaking of. Very soon after Mr. Fulton's arrival in New York city, lie commenced building his first Ame- rican boat : while she was constructing, he found that her expenses would greatly exceed his calcu- lation. He endeavoured to lessen the pressure on his own finances by offering one-third of the exclu- sive right which was secured to him and Mr. Livingston by the laws of New York, and of his patent rights, for a proportionate contribution to the expense. He made this offer to several gen- tlemen, and it was very generally known that he had made such propositions ; but no one was then willing to afford this aid to his enterprise. In the spring of 1807, the first Fulton boat built in this country was launched from the ship-yards of Charles Brown, on the East river. The engine from England was put on board of her : in August, she was completed, and was moved by her machi- nery from her birthplace to the Jersey shore. Mr. Livingston and Mr. Fulton had invited many of their friends to witness the first trial : among them were the learned Drs. Mitchell and M'Nevin, to whom the country is indebted for some account of what passed on that occasion. Nothing could 15 170 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. exceed the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous, who had styled the boat " Ful- ton's Folly," were changed in a few minutes. Be- fore the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile, the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. The man who, while he looked on the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money on such idle schemes, changed the expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf and gained her speed : his complacent smile gradually stiffened into an expression of wonder. The jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough to suppress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for a moment by a vulgar astonishment which deprived them of the power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multitude which crowded the shores, shouts and acclamations of congratulation and applause. The boat had not been long under way, when Fulton ordered her engine to be stopped. Though her performance so far exceeded the expectations of every other person, and no one but himself thought she could be improved, he immediately perceived that there was a defect in the construe- I : ' ?,. O CD M^ -d 5-1 o> cr ^ * ^5 ,_j O CO s. n cr Z3 FULTON'S FIRST AMERICAN BOAT. 171 tion of her water-wheels: he had their diameter lessened, so that the buckets took less hold of the water ; and when they were again put in motion, it was manifest that the alteration had increased the speed of the boat. It may well be said that the man of genius and knowledge has a sense beyond those which are common to others, or that he sees with different eyes. How many would have gazed on these ill-proportioned wheels with- out perceiving that they were imperfect ! This boat, which was called the "CLERMONT," soon after sailed, from a dock near the State Prison, for Albany. It is announced, in the newspapers of that date, that the boat built by Messrs. Living- ston and Fulton, with a view to the navigation of the Mississippi river from New Orleans upwards, would depart for Albany in the afternoon. Indeed, this was according to the general impression at the time. For though the performance of this boat had been witnessed in New York harbor, yet it was not conceived that steamboats could be em- ployed as packet-boats between that city and Albany. The "CLERMONT," was 160 tons. The cylinder was twenty-four inches in diameter and four feet stroke, and on her first voyage, arrived at her destination without any accident. She excited 172 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON". the astonishment of the inhabitants of the shores of the Hudson, many of whom had not heard of an engine, much less of a steamboat. There were many descriptions of the effects of her appearance upon the people of the banks of the river : some of these were ridiculous, but some of them were of such a character as nothing but an object of real grandeur could have excited. She was described, by some who had indistinctly seen her passing in the night to those who had not had a view of her, as a monster moving on the waters, defying the wind and tide, and breathing flames and smoke. She had the most terrific appearance, from other vessels which were navigating the river, when she was making her passage. The first steamboats, as others yet do, used dry pine wood for fuel, which sends forth a column of ignited vapour many feet above the flue, and whenever the fire is stirred, a galaxy of sparks flies off, and in the night have a very brilliant and beautiful appearance. This uncommon light 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 as that the noise of the machinery and paddles were heard, the crews if what was said in the FULTON'S SUCCESS. 173 newspapers of the time be true in some instances shrunk 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 approaches of the horrible monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited. Mr. Fulton was himself a passenger on this voyage, and upon his return published an account of it, which deserves to be preserved. It is as follows To the Editor of tlie "American Citizen' 1 "NEYT YORK, September 15, 1807. " SIR : "I arrived this afternoon, at four o'clock, in the steamboat from Albany. As the success of my expe- riment gives me great hopes that such boats may be ren- dered of great importance to my country, to prevent erro- neous opinions and give some satisfaction to the 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, 1 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 15* 174 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. 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." He 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 favourable 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 ac- complishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great pleasure to see it fully 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 emo- lument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel infi- nitely more pleasure in reflecting on the immense advan- tage my country will derive from the invention," etc. MR. FREELAND'S LETTER. 175 The passengers on board the boat, on her first passage as a Packet, thought it but just to publish a statement, over their signatures, that the accom- modations and conveniences on board far exceeded their most sanguine expectations. To J. Franklin Reigart, Esq. " SOUDERSBURG, LANCASTER COUNTY, January 4th, 1856. " DEAR SIR : Having been informed that you are about to publish a history of Robert Fulton, Esq., who was distinguished for many noble inventions, allow me to state that the publication of the narrative of facts as they hap- pened, and the description of his productions, would be exceedingly interesting to the admirers of genius and every lover of the arts and sciences. The works of Fulton are now justly appreciated, and the citizens of this matchless county will for ever honor the name and birthplace of his genius. " It was in the early autumn of the year 1807, that a knot of villagers was gathered on a high bluff just oppo- site Poughkeepsie, on the west bank of the Hudson, at- tracted by the appearance of a strange dark-looking craft, which was slowly making its way up the river. Some imagined it to be a sea-monster, whilst others did not hesitate to express their belief that it was a sign of the approaching judgment. What seemed strange in the ves- sel was the substitution of lofty and straight black smoke- pipes, rising from the deck, instead of the gracefully ta- pered masts that commonly stood on the vessels navigating the stream, and, in place of the spars and rigging, the curious play of the working-beam and pistons, and the slow turning and splashing of the huge and naked paddle- wheels, met the astonished gaze. The dense clouds of smoke, as they rose wave upon wave, added still more to the wonderment of the rustics. 176 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. "This strange-looking craft was the "CLERMONT," on her trial trip to Albany ; and of the little knot of villagers mentioned above, the writer, then a boy in his eighth year, with his parents, formed a part ; and I well remember the scene, one so well fitted to impress a lasting picture upon the mind of a child accustomed to watch the vessels that passed up and down the river. " The forms of four persons were distinctly visible on the deck, as she passed the bluff one of whom, doubtless, was Robert Fulton, who had on board with him all the cherished hopes of years, the most precious cargo the wonderful boat could carry. "On her return trip, the curiosity she excited was scarcely less intense the whole country talked of nothing but the sea-monster, belching forth fire and smoke. The fishermen became terrified, and rowed homewards, and they saw nothing but destruction devastating their fishing- grounds ; whilst the wreaths of black vapour, and rushing noise of the paddle-wheels, foaming with the stirred-up waters, produced great excitement amongst the boatmen, until it was more intelligent than before ; for the charac- ter of that curious boat, and the nature of the enterprise which she was pioneering, had been ascertained. From that time, Robert Fulton, Esq., became known and respected as the author and builder of the first STEAM PACKET ; from which we plainly see the rapid improvement in commerce and civilization. Who can doubt that Fulton's first packet boat has been the model steamer ? Except in finer finish and greater size, there is no difference between it and the splendid steamships now crossing the Atlantic. Who can doubt that Fulton saw the meeting of all nations upon his boats, gathering together in unity and harmony, that the "freedom of the seas would be the happiness of the earth?" Who can doubt that Fulton saw the world circumnavigated by steam, and that his invention was carrying the mes- sages of freedom to every land, that no man could tell all its benefits, or describe all its wonders ? What a wonder- HOSTILITY TO MR. FULTON'S BOAT. 177 ful achievement ! What a splendid triumph ! Fulton was a man of unparalleled foresight und perseverance. His character and genius rise higher in our estimation, and still more grandly before our minds, the more we contem- plate him. To write his history requires the noblest effort, and I trust you will be able to accomplish it. With my best wishes for your success, I subscribe myself, "Very respectfully yours, " H. FREELAND." But it was not only to accidents arising from defects in the machinery that the boat was ex- posed : it was soon perceived that she would inter- fere with the interests of those who were engaged in the ordinary navigation of the river. By many of these, Mr. Fulton was spoken of and treated as if he had introduced some project baneful to so- ciety. Many attempts were made to run the "CLERMONT" down by captains of sloops, who thought their trade would soon be gone. The boat became an object of their enmity : she was several times damaged by vessels running foul of her, if we may credit the testimony which was published in the newspapers of the time. It is not unimportant to notice these facts ; they illustrate the character of Mr. Fulton. They show what embarrassments are to be expected by those who introduce improvements in the arts which interfere with established interests or prejudices ; and they evince the perseverance and resolution M 178 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. which were necessary to surmount the physical and moral difficulties which Mr. Fulton encoun- tered. Sneered at by his own countrymen, called knave, fool, and enthusiast, yet he bravely lived all opposition down. The spirit of hostility to the boat had so far manifested itself, that the Legislature thought it necessary, by this act, to declare combinations to destroy her, or wilful attempts to injure her, public offences, punishable by fine and imprison- ment. Notwithstanding her misfortunes, the boat con- tinued to run as a Packet, always loaded with passengers, for the remainder of the summer. In the course of the winter, she was enlarged ; and in the spring of 1808, she again commenced her run as a Packet-boat, and continued it through the season. Since then, steam navigation has not ceased for a single day : its progress has been onward, and, to the praise of Eobert Fulton, we are indebted to him for the perfect establishment Of STEAM NAVIGATION. In 1811 and 1812, two steamboats were built, under Mr. Fulton's directions, as ferry-boats for crossing the Hudson river, and, soon after, one of the same description for the East river. Of the former, Mr. Fulton wrote and published a descrip- STEAM NAVIGATION 179 tion in the American Medical and Philosophical Eegister for October, 1812. These boats were what are called twin-boats; each of them being two complete hulls united by a deck or bridge : they are sharp at both ends, and move equally well with either end foremost, so that they cross and recross without losing any time by turn- ing about. He contrived, with great ingenuity, floating docks for the reception of these boats, and a means by which they are brought to them with- out a shock. In his publications respecting the Hudson river ferry-boats, which we have noticed, he has the following observations : " In a new combination of this kind, it is not to be expected that everything should work to the best advan- tage in a first experiment, or that every requisite should be foreseen. The boat which I am now constructing will have some important improvements, particularly in the power of the engine to overcome strong ebb-tides ; from which again other improvements will be made, as in all other new inventions. The present boat crosses the river, which is a mile and a half broad, when it is calm, in fifteen minutes: the average time is twenty minutes. She has had in her at one time eight four-wheel carriages, twenty- nine horses, and one hundred passengers, and could have taken three hundred persons more." If steam navigation could have been applied to no other purpose than to move these floating bridges over such streams as they cross, where other bridges 180 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. are impracticable, he who introduced it well deserved to be ranked among the benefactors of mankind. A number of other boats were built, under the direction of Mr. Fulton and according to his plans, for steamboat companies formed in different parts^ of the United States: several of these were for the Ohio and Mississippi. Let us for a moment consider what must be the consequences of introducing this species of navi- gation on these great rivers. Previously, they were in a great measure unnavigable, except in the direction of their currents ; but now their streams may be ascended with less labour, and in less time, than they were formerly descended. Never before was there so extraordinary a demonstration that knowledge is power. The mind of an individual has contended with nature in her grandest form, and subdued what appeared to be her irresistible opposition. If he could have created other rivers like the Mississippi and its tributary streams, to wind their thousands of miles through fertile valleys, he could not have done so great a good as he has done by furnishing the means of navigating her waters against their currents. At the commencement of the year 1814, a num- ber of the citizens of New York, alarmed at the STEAM NAVIGATION. 181 exposed situation of the harbor, had assembled with a view to consider whether some measures might not be taken to aid the Government in its protection. This assembly had, in fact, been in- vited by some knowledge of Mr. Fulton's plans for submarine attack, and of his contemplating other means of defence. They deputed a number of gentlemen to act for them, and these were called the coast and harbor- defence committee. Mr. Fulton exhibited to this committee the model and plans for a vessel-of-war, to be propelled by steam, capable of carrying a strong battery, with furnaces for redhot shot, and which, he re- presented, would move at the rate of four miles an hour. The confidence of the committee in this design was confirmed by the opinions of many of our most distinguished naval commanders, which he had obtained in writing, and exhibited to the committee. In this document which is signed by Commo- dore Decatur, Captain Jones, Captain Evans, Cap- tain Biddle, Commodore Perry, Captain Warrington, and Captain Lewis these gallant and experienced seamen enumerate the following advantages that such a vessel would possess : In a calm or light 16 182 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. breeze, she could make choice of position or dis- tance. If she could move at the rate of four miles an hour, she could, in the harbors, bays, and rivers, be rendered more formidable than any kind of en- gine hitherto invented; and, in such case, she would be equal to the destruction of one or more seventy-fours, or of compelling them to depart from our waters. They, therefore, gave it as their decided opinion, that it was among the best inte- rests of the United States to carry Mr. Fulton's plan into immediate execution. It was contemplated that this vessel, besides carrying her proposed armament on deck, should also be furnished with submarine guns. The committee, without delay, addressed a me- morial to Congress, recommending the invention of Mr. Fulton, and praying that measures might be adopted for executing his plan. With this memo- rial, the committee addressed a letter to the Secre- tary of the Navy, soliciting, in a very earnest manner, his patronage and influence with the Go- vernment. Without the skill and talents, they say, of Mr. Fulton, the machine cannot be con- structed. It was apprehended that there would be great difficulty about funds. On the one hand, there was a disinclination to make the project public by THE "FULTON THE FIRST." 183 inducing a discussion on the subject in Congress ; and, on the other, it was doubtful whether the Executive was authorized to make the necessary appropriations without a law for the purpose. To obviate these difficulties, the committee offered, in behalf of the association which they represented, to construct the vessel at their expense and risk, if assurances were given that the Government, which alone could give employment to her, would receive and pay for her after she was built, and her utility demonstrated. It was estimated that she would cost about $320,000, nearly the sum requisite for a frigate of the first class. This activity of private citizens for their own protection ; this voluntary offer to risk their funds, first, upon the success of the project, and then upon a bare assurance of the Executive of the Govern- ment ; and this intimate intercourse between the rulers and the people, present a view of a state of society of which, it is believed, there are few examples. The project was zealously embraced by the Exe- cutive ; and the National Legislature, in March, 1814, passed a law authorizing the President of the United States to cause to be built, equipped, and employed, one or more floating batteries, for the defence of the waters of the United States. 184 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. The building of this vessel was committed, by the coast and harbor-defence association, to a sub- committee of five gentlemen : they were General Dearborn, who then commanded in this district, Colonel Henry Rutgers, Oliver Wolcot, Samuel L. Mitchell, and Thomas Morris, Esquires, who were recognized by the Government as its agents for this purpose. Mr. Fulton, whose soul indeed animated the whole enterprise, was appointed the engineer. On the 20th of June, 1814, the keel of this novel and mighty engine was laid, and in little more than four months, that is, on the 31st of October, she was launched, from the yard of Adam and Noah Brown, her able and active archi- tects. The scene exhibited on that occasion was mag- nificent. It happened on one of our bright autum- nal days. Multitudes of spectators crowded the surrounding shores, and were seen upon the hills which limited the beautiful prospect. The river and bay were filled with vessels-of-war, dressed in all their variety of colours, in compliment to the occasion. In the midst of these was the enormous floating mass, whose bulk and unwieldy form seemed to render it as unfit for motion as the land batteries which were saluting her. Through the fleet of THE "FULTON THE FIRST." 185 vessels which occupied this part of the harbor, were seen gliding in every direction several of our large steamboats, of the burden of three or four hundred tons. These, with bands of music, and crowds of gay and joyous company, were winding through passages left by the anchored vessels, as if they were moved by enchantment. The heart could not have been human that did not share in the general enthusiasm expressed by the loud shouts of the multitude. He could not have been a worthy citizen who did not then say to himself, with pride and exultation : " This is my country !" and when he looked on the man whose single genius had created the most interesting objects of the scene : " This is my countryman !" By May, 1815, her engine was put on board, and she was so far completed as to afford an opportunity of trying her machinery. But, unhappily, before this period, the mind that had combined and conceived it was gone. It was the pleasure of the Almighty that Fulton should live to serve mankind, and .be taken to a better world for his reward. On the 4th of July, in the same year, the steam frigate made a passage to the ocean and back, and went the distance which, going and returning, is fifty-three miles in eight hours and twenty mi- 16* 186 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. nutes, by the mere force of her engine. These trials suggested the correction of some errors, and the supplying of some defects in her machinery, In September, she made another passage to the sea, and having at this time the weight of her whole armament on board, she went at an average of five and a half miles an hour with and against the tide. When stemming the tide, which ran at the rate of three miles an hour, she advanced at the rate of two and a half miles an hour. The substance of the following description of the " FULTON THE FIRST," the honoured name this vessel bore, is extracted from the report of the gentlemen who were the commissioners for build- ing her. She is a structure resting on two boats and keels, separated from end to end by a channel fifteen feet wide and sixty feet long: one boat contains the caldrons of copper to prepare her steam. The cylinder of iron, its piston, levers, and wheels, occupy part of the other. The water-wheel re- volves in the space between them. The main or gun-deck supports her armament, and is protected by a parapet four feet ten inches thick, of solid timber, pierced by embrasures. Through thirty port-holes as many thirty-two pounders are in- tended to fire redhot shot, which can be heated THE DEMOLQGOS Oil F ULTOJS T THE FIRST. ErL u * y the > message of General Jackson. Vide Executive Docs. 1835-'36, vol. 6. There can be little doubt that floating batteries, propelled by this agent, will be among the most efficient means of coast defence. A hostile fleet, about to enter the Chesapeake, would certainly calculate the means of annoyance to which it would be exposed by these formidable vessels. During a calm, they would take a distant position, insuring their own safety, while, with their heavy guns, they might cripple and destroy the enemy ; and their power of motion would enable them, under almost all circumstances, to approach the fleet, and to retire, when necessary, where they could not be pursued. These vessels, properly constructed, may become floating forts, almost equal to permanent fortifications in their power of annoyance and defence, and in other advantages FAR SUPERIOR TO THEM. Being transferable defences, they can be united upon any point, and a few of them be thus enabled to protect various places. 21 Q 242 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Extract from Report of the Chief Engineer of the United States, dated January 13, 1836, to the Secretary of War, and l>y him transmitted to the Senate of the United States, with his approval ' thereof. Vide Senate Doc. vol. 2, 1835-36. That steam batteries would be most effective and powerful auxiliaries to the other means of defence now existing, and to be created for the protection of our seaboard, there can be no doubt; and the almost necessity of their construction is evident, when the length .and extent of our bays and har- bors are considered. Vessels of this description would possess the advantages of being able to change their position, regardless of shoals and bars always to be met with in our harbors, placing them beyond the reach of a pursuing enemy; and, in case of calms or storms, or any other cause obliging the enemy to anchor, might select such positions as to place their opponents at their mercy. They would likewise be efficient in preventing marauding excursions in boats, so often attended with distress and ruin to the peaceful and unoffending citizen. Captain M. C. Perry, commander of the present steam battery " FULTON," in a report made to the Secretary of the Navy, on February 17, 1838, and communicated to Congress by him, (vide House EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 243 Doc., 25th Congress, 2d Session, No. 423, page 121,) states that, under certain circumstances, she could annoy a whole squadron; and, by taking advantage of the vicissitudes of winds and weather, render the anchorage of enemy's vessels in our waters extremely hazardous, moving as she can in every direction, with astonishing rapidity for so heavy a body, regardless of winds or tides. Turn- ing to starboard or port, going ahead or astern, she could select the most desirable positions for attack, and change them at pleasure. Lieutenant Carter, in the same report, states that he looked upon her, in point of efficiency, as equal to almost any number of armed vessels not propelled by steam. Affidavit of Paul A. Sabbaton, Esq., of New York, a very eminent steam-engine constructor, to whom the Navy Commissioners were referred as the most competent to give information preparatory to the building of the present steam frigate "Fulton." I, Paul A. Sabbaton, of the city and State of New York, steam-engine constructor, depose, on the value of Kobert Fulton's, Esq., services in constructing the steam battery " FULTON," in 1814, and on the value of the patent right of the steam battery, as follows : 244 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. I shall briefly state that, as early as 1810, I was intrusted with the general superintendence of the late Mr. John Youle's foundry establishment ; that, shortly after that period, Mr. Fulton came to the foundry with drawings of parts of engines, to have patterns made to cast from ; and that the difficulty at that time to obtain workmen who understood to work from drawings, was such as to require from Mr. Fulton continual exertions, night and day, in travelling from one shop to another, either to alter mistakes or prevent others; and, even after the patterns were finished, many delays and perplexi- ties took place in casting them, that branch being then in its infancy in this country : all this, how- ever, relates only to small engines, etc. But when the battery was in progress of con- struction, not having at his disposal any person in whom he could confide to superintend some of the plans, his exertions became laborious in the ex- treme, and required almost supernatural efforts to meet exigencies : of these great labours in con- structing the steam battery, I was a witness, and had personal knowledge. I understand that five per cent, is usually paid for superintending the construction of steamboats, at this time, which requires the mere looking on of the superintendent to see that the work is well EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 245 done ; therefore, if to estimate the services rendered by the present engineers, and those of Mr. Fulton be reduced to per centage, I should say that, to allow Mr. Fulton ten per cent.* on the whole cost, is not only moderate, but scarcely just. As to the value of the patent right for steam batteries, being an object of a national character, and the result it would produce in case of war, can be best appreciated by those conversant in maritime affairs ; but, merely viewing it as a patent right of the first importance, I am of opinion that $100,000 for the same is such an amount as no one ought to refuse to pay. I shall merely take the liberty to add, that, when the celebrated Mr. Watt applied to his Government for a renewal of his patent, then pending before Parliament, one of the right honourable members, in discussing the justness of the application, stated that if Mr. Watt, in the first instance, had chosen not to disclose the secret of his invention, the Go- vernment would have purchased the secret cheaply at ten millions : this is somewhat a parallel case. In giving my judgment above, as to the amount which should be allowed for each item, a purely practical and business view only is taken. PAUL A. SABBATON. * Ten per cent, on $250,000, equal to $25,000. 21* 246 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. City and county of New York, ss. I do hereby certify that, on the 19th day of December, 1838, before me, came and appeared Paul A. Sabbaton, who, being by me duly sworn, on his oath, declared that the matters set forth in . the above certificate, subscribed by him, are true. PETER DE WITT, Commissioner of Deeds. Receipt of Superintendent of Patent Office of speci- fication of steam battery. Robert Fulton, Esq., by Mr. Delacy, his agent, deposited this day a drawing of a floating steam battery in the patent office, including a description thereof. Given under my hand, this 15th day of March, 1814. \ TV. THORNTON. Report of the Commissioners superintending the construction of a steam vessel-of-war, to the /Se- cretary of the Navy. NEW YORK, December 28, 1815. SIR : The war which was terminated by the treaty of Ghent afforded, during its short continu- ance, a glorious display of the valour of the United EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 247 States, both by land and sea. It made them better known to foreign nations, and, what is of much greater importance, it contributed to make them better acquainted with themselves it excited new enterprises it educed latent talents it stimu- lated to exertions unknown to our people before. A long extent of coast was exposed to an enemy powerful above every other on the ocean. His commanders threatened to lay waste our country with fire and sword, and actually, in various in- stances, carried their menaces into execution. It became necessary, for our defence, to resist, by every practicable method, such a formidable foe. It was conceived, by a most ingenious and en- terprising citizen, that the power of steam could be employed in propelling a floating battery, carry- ing heavy guns, to the destruction of any hostile force that should hover on the shores, or enter the ports, of our Atlantic frontiers. The perfect and admirable success of his project for moving boats, containing travellers and baggage, by the same elastic agent, opened the way to its employment for carrying warriors and the apparatus for fighting. The plan was submitted to the consideration of the Executive of an enlightened Government. Congress, influenced by the most liberal and pa- triotic spirit, appropriated money for the experi- 248 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. ment ; and the Navy Department, then conducted by the Hon. William Jones, appointed commis- sioners to superintend the construction of a con- venient vessel, under the direction of Robert Ful- ton, Esq., the inventor, as engineer, and Messrs. Adam and Noah Brown as naval constructors. The keels of this steam frigate were laid on the 20th day of June, 1814. The strictest blockade the enemy could enforce interrupted the coasting- trade, and greatly enhanced the price of timber. The vigilance with which he guarded our coast against intercourse with foreign nations, rendered difficult the importation of copper and iron. The same impediment attended the supplies of coal, heretofore brought to New York from Richmond and Liverpool. Lead, in like manner, was pro- cured under additional disadvantages. These at- tempts of the enemy to frustrate the design were vain and impotent. All the obstacles were sur- mounted. Scarcity of the necessary woods and metals was overcome by strenuous exertions ; and all the blockading squadron could achieve was, not a disappointment in the undertaking, but merely an increase of the expense. So, in respect to tradesmen and labourers, there was an extraordinary difficulty. Shipwrights had repaired to the lakes, for repelling the enemy, in EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 249 such numbers that comparatively few were left on the seaboard. A large proportion of the men who had been engaged in daily work had enlisted as soldiers, and had marched under the banners of the nation to the defence of its rights. Yet, amidst the scarcity of hands, a sufficient number was pro- cured for the purpose which the commissioners had in charge. An increase of wages was the chief impediment, and this they were enabled practi- cally to overcome. By the exemplary combination of diligence and skill on the part of Mr. Fulton and the construc- tors, the business was so accelerated that the vessel was launched on the 29th day of October, amidst the plaudits of an unusual number of citizens. Measures were immediately taken to complete her equipment : the boilers, the engine, and the machinery, were put on board with all possible expedition. Their weight and size far surpassed anything that had been witnessed before among us. The stores of artillery of New York not fur- nishing the number and kind of cannon which she was destined to carry, it became necessary to trans- port guns from Philadelphia. A prize taken from the enemy put some fit and excellent pieces at the disposition of the Navy Department. To avoid the danger of capture by the enemy's cruisers, 250 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. they were carted over the miry roads of New Jersey. Twenty heavy cannon were thus con- veyed by strength of horses, though the perform- ance was attended with a proportionate expense. Carriages of the most approved model were con- structed, and everything was done to bring her into prompt action as an efficient instrument of war. About this time an officer, preeminent for bra- very and discipline, (Commodore Porter,) was com- missioned by the Government to her command. She is finished conformably to the plan submitted to the Executive. She is a structure resting upon two boats and keels, separated from end to end by a canal fifteen feet wide, and one hundred and fifty- six feet long. One boat contains the capacious cauldrons of copper to prepare her steam. The vast cylinder of iron, with its pistons, levers, and wheels, occupies a part of its fellow. The great water-wheel revolves in the space between them. The main or gun-deck supported her armament, and was protected by a bulwark four feet ten inches thick, of solid timber : this is pierced by thirty port-holes, to enable as many 32-pounders to fire redhot balls. With the expectation of being able to raise the blockade of New London, by destroying, taking, or routing the enemy's ships, EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 251 and, under the opinion of Mr. Fulton and Commo- dore Porter, the following additions were incorpo- rated with the vessel, viz. : her upper or spar-deck is surrounded by a bulwark and stanchions, two stout masts are erected to support lateen-sails, and two bowsprits for jibs, and a corresponding rigging. It must here be observed that, under the ex- haustion of the treasury and the temporary de- pression of public credit, the commissioners were exceedingly embarrassed : their payments were made in treasury notes, which they were positively instructed to negotiate at par. On several occa- sions, even these were so long withheld that the persons who had furnished labour and materials for the vessel were importunate for payment, or silently discontented. To a certain extent, the commissioners pledged their private credit. The men actually broke off, notwithstanding all this, at one time : the work was retarded, and her com- pletion unavoidably deferred, to the great disap- pointment of the commissioners, until winter ren- dered it impossible for her to act. Under all this pressure, they persevered in the great object confided to them. Their exertions, however, were retarded by the premature and unexpected death of Mr. Fulton. The world was deprived of his invaluable labours before he had 252 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. completed this favourite undertaking. We will not inquire wherefore, in the dispensation of Divine Providence, he was not permitted to behold his grand conception realized. But his discoveries sur- vive for the benefit of mankind, and will extend to unborn generations. At length, all matters were prepared for a trial of the machinery to urge such an extraordinary vessel through the water. This essay was made on the 1st day of June, 1815 : she proved herself capable of opposing the wind and of stemming the tide, of crossing currents, and of being steered among vessels lying at anchor, though the weather was boisterous and the water rough. Her perform- ance demonstrated that the project was successful : no doubt was entertained on the principal subject that a floating battery, carrying heavy cannon, could be moved by steam. The commissioners returned from the exercise of the day satisfied that the vessel would answer the intended purpose, and consoled themselves that their care had been be- stowed upon a worthy object. She was prepared for a second voyage with all convenient speed. Pn the 4th day of July, the vessel was ready for a second experiment. She performed a trip to the sea, eastward of Sandy Hook, and back again, a distance of fifty-three miles, in eight hours and EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 253 twenty-six minutes : a part of this time she had the tide against her, and had no assistance what- ever from sails. Of the gentlemen, civil and mili- tary, who formed the company invited to witness the experiment, not one entertained a doubt of her fitness for her intended purpose-. These arrangements having been made, a third trial of her powers was attempted on the llth day of September, with the weight of twenty-six of her long and ponderous guns, and a considerable quantity of ammunition and stores on board : her draught of water was short of eleven feet. She changed her course, by inverting the motion of the wheel, without the necessity of putting about. She fired salutes as she passed the forts, and she over- came the resistance of the wind and tide in her progress down the bay. She performed beautiful manoeuvres around the United States frigate "JAVA," then at anchor near the light-house. She moved with remarkable celerity, and she was perfectly obedient to her double helm. It was observed that the explosion of powder produced very little con- cussion. The machinery was not affected by it in the smallest degree. Her progress during the firing was steady and uninterrupted. On the most accu- rate calculations, derived from heaving the log, her average velocity was five miles and a half per hour. 22 254 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Notwithstanding the resistance of currents, she was found to make headway at the rate of two miles an hour against the ebb of East river, running three and a half knots. The day's exercise was satis- factory to the respectable company who attended, beyond their utmost expectations. It was univer- sally agreed that we now possessed a new auxiliary against every maritime invader. The city of New York, exposed as it is, was now considered as having the means of rendering itself invulnerable. The Delaware, Chesapeake, Long Island Sound, and every other bay and harbor in the nation, may be protected by the same tremen- dous power. Among the inconveniences observable during the experiment, was the heat endured by the men who attended the fires. To enable a correct judgment to be formed on this point, one of the commission- ers (Dr. Mitchell) descended, and examined by a thermometer the temperature of the hold between the two boilers. The quicksilver, exposed to the radiant heat of the burning fuel, rose to one hun- dred and sixteen degrees of Fahrenheit's scale. Though exposed thus to its intensity, he experi- enced no indisposition afterwards. The analogy of potteries, forges, glass-houses, kitchens, and other places where labourers are habitually exposed to EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 255 high heats, is familiar to persons of business and reflection. In all such occupations, the men, by proper relays, perform their services perfectly well. The Government, however, will understand that the hold of the present vessel could be rendered cooler by other apertures for the admission of air ; and that, on building another steam frigate, the comfort of the firemen might be provided for as in the ordinary steamboat. The commissioners congratulate the Government and the nation on the event of this noble project. Honourable alike to its authors and its patrons, it constitutes an era in warfare and the arts. The arrival of peace, indeed, has disappointed the ex- pectations of conducting her to battle : that last and conclusive act, of showing her superiority in combat, it has not been in the power of the com- missioners to make. If a continuance of tranquillity should be our lot, and this steam vessel-of-war be not required for the public defence, the nation may rejoice that the fact we have ascertained is of incalculably greater value than the expenditure ; and that, if the present structure should perish, we have the information, never to perish, how, on a future emergency, others may be built. The requisite variations will be dictated by circumstances. 256 THE LIFE OF ROBERT FULTON. Owing to the cessation of hostilities, it has been deemed inexpedient to finish and equip her as for immediate and active employ. In a few weeks, everything that is incomplete could receive the proper adjustment. After so much has been done, and with such encouraging results, it becomes the commissioners to recommend that the steam frigate be officered and manned for discipline and practice. A dis- creet commander, with a selected crew, would acquire experience in the mode of navigating this peculiar vessel. The supplies of. fuel, the tending of the fire, the replenishing of the expended water, the management of the mechanism, the heating of shot, the exercise of the guns, and various other matters, can only become familiar by use. It is highly important that a portion of seamen and marines should be versed in the order and economy of the steam frigate. They will augment, diffuse, and perpetuate knowledge. When, in process of time, another war shall call for more structures of this kind, men regularly trained to her tactics may be dispatched to the several stations where they may be wanted. If, on any such disposition, the Government should desire a good and faithful agent, the commissioners recommend Captain Obed Smith to notice, as a person who has ably performed the EXTRACTS FROM PUBLIC RECORDS. 257 duties of inspector, from the beginning to the end of the concern. Annexed to the report, you will find, sir, several statements explanatory of the subject. A separate report of our colleague, the Honourable Oliver Wolcott, whose removal from New York precluded him from attending to the latter part of the busi- ness with his accustomed zeal and fidelity, is here- with presented. A drawing of her form and ap- pearance, by Mr. Morgan, as being likely to give satisfaction to the Department, is also subjoined ; as, likewise, an inventory of her furniture and effects, and an account of the timber and metals consolidated in her fabric. It is hoped these communications will evince the pains taken by the commissioners to execute the honourable and responsible trust reposed in them by the Government. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL, THOMAS MORRIS, HENRY KUTGERS. 22* WE subjoin the following copies of Documents, from amongst the many communications, entered of Record, which exhibit Mr. Fulton's connection with the most important men and measures of his country. As an Engineer, he evinced the most extensive knowledge of Internal Improvements, and publicly suggested almost every practicable improvement of his day, whilst the ablest and wisest officers of our Government were pleased to solicit and secure his statements, and profit by the information which his experience and good sense as a writer rendered so plain and intelligible. (259) ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER TO GOVERNOR MIFFLIN, DATED 1796. To Thomas Mifflin, Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. LONDON, March 179.6. "SlR: During the prosecution of my experiments on canal operations, which are exhibited in the preceding treatise, I frequently contemplated their great importance to the States of America, and much wish to awaken the public mind to a full sense of the subject ; but, on con- sidering the habits of the people of the interior country, accustomed only to land-carriage, I feared much difficulty would arise in removing the prejudice in favor of wagoning, and in raising a sum of money adequate to the first ex- pense of a canal of importance. In deliberating on the mode of surmounting these obstacles, I was so fortunate as to meet with your address to the House of Representatives, in 1795, and particularly happy to find your ideas of the importance of easy communications between remote parts of the country, so consonant to my own, and at the same time so earnestly recommended to the public attention : which circumstance has urged me to address this chapter to you, convinced that your sense of the subject will not suffer any observations which may be useful, to lie dormant. I must, therefore, request you deliberately to peruse the system laid down, which you will find, by chapter 7, totally explodes the whole practice, for two reasons : First, because they may be constructed for half the sum necessary to a lock canal ; and, Secondly, because on them you may perform dispatch, and pass through the most mountainous country (261) 2(52 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER at the speed of 6 miles per hour, an advantage which lock canals can never give, and which precludes an immensity of carriage ; yet the small canal takes in every kind of conveyance, and performs the double office of canal and road; therefore, if founded and governed by sound prin- ciples, a mountainous country may have all the blessings of a water conveyance, so celebrated in the level and fer- tile plains of Egypt. But how to extend these convey- ances into every corner and district of America, is now to be considered. While the mind hovers over the immense continent of America, and views its vast interior, inhabited, in various districts remote from the marts of trade, with infinite scenes for the improvement and nourishment of millions of human beings, philanthropy seeks, to combine the exertions of the present inhabitants to facilitate their labor, extend their interests, invite population, and give a cultivating hand to every acre of that extensive territory. To such a wish, in one point of view, is presented a great and fertile country, interspersed with luxuriant vales, and numerous mountains nourishing infinite rivulets, which, meandering the country, feed long and rugged rivers, diminishing to naked shoals in dry seasons, or swelling to roaring torrents in time of rain, pressing their way through stupendous cliffs and infinite rocks, present objects hostile to navigating the streams of nature. But such are the materials which art must bring into unison ; the performance of which is a subject the most 'benevolent and important, and worthy the serious contem- plation of the penetrating members of society, as a great national question. On this head, it must be evident, that in proportion as .produce is remote from market its value is diminished, in consequence of the expense of carriage; and, hence, re- mote parts are excluded the market, or, a facility of ex- TO GOVERNOR MIFFLIN. 263 changing their surplus produce for necessaries which they may require, thus the nerves of exertion are cramped, the faculties of body and mind are not called forth, and the country remains a dreary and inhospitable waste. But, to encourage population, and increase the value of the lands, the cheapest possible conveyance of the produce must be established on sound principles ; for, exactly in proportion to the ease of reaching the market, the remote countries of equal fertility will be of more or less consequence in the scale of society ; therefore, to sum up the idea, would not the lands about Fort Pitt be as valuable as those around Lancaster, if the produce could be brought to market for the same sum ; and would not population consequently be encouraged ? For this purpose, as I have the strongest conviction operating on my mind, that canals are the only effectual means of producing easy communications, and that they are consequently of the utmost importance, I much wish that the public may be made thoroughly sensible of their utility, and that each state might establish a society to in- vestigate the propriety of forming them in such districts as the present state of population and trade may most re- quire them, keeping one important object in view, that all future canals may be constructed on one scale and principle, in order that when the various branches meet the boats, one may navigate the other wherever canals extend. This, you will observe, has been my wish throughout, and in which, I hope, I have been so fortunate as to succeed ; if so, canals appear in a new light, and are still more im- portant than formerly, because they may now be fitted to every kind of country, and, by their cheapness, approach near to the expense of constructing turnpike roads. At a period when a country is improving by turnpike roads, the question is, whether it is not best to adopt canals ; and the criterion to judge of the propriety of the canal 264 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER depend on simple calculation, to the following effect : 1st, what is the expense of the road ; 2d, what is the ex- pense of the canal ; 3d, what is the expense of carriage by the road ; 4th, what is the expense of carriage by the canal, and probably it will be found that the canal will perform the work so cheap as to justify three or four times the sum being expended on the canal, that would be neces- sary to construct a road of the same length ; to which one consideration must be added in favor of the canal, viz., on all roads, however good, the great expense of carriage is the number of horses ; but on canals, the principal expense is the tonnage or tolls to the proprietors, as interest for the money advanced in forming the canal ; yet this tonnage by a judicious arrangement, may be reduced, if not liquid- ated, and the carriage on a canal may be so regulated, that goods conveyed 400 or more miles, will not cost more than those which are navigated eighty or one hundred miles ; yet the eighty or one hundred miles canal conveyance will not cost half the sum necessary to land carriage, on the best roads. To elucidate this, I will suppose a canal from Philadel- phia to Fort Pitt, or any other long line, to say, three hun- dred and fifty miles : on such a canal, a man, boy, and horse, would convey 40 tons 20 miles per day, and arrive in Philadelphia, in say eighteen days, at 10 shillings per day, amounting to 180 shillings for forty tons, or 4s Qd per ton, the expense of boating, independent of tolls. By a road of the same length, four horses perhaps five, would set out with not more than two tons, and, travelling at the rate of twenty-five miles per day, arrive at Philadelphia in 14 days, and, to say only two dollars, or 15 shillings per day, amounting to 210 shillings, or 5< 5s per ton for wagoning, independent of turnpike. This, I hope, will exhibit the immense disparity between the two modes, and show that roads, however good, can never effectually relieve TO GOVERNOR MIFFLIN. 265 a remote country. The question then is, how to construct a canal in'order to reduce the tolls, and completely assist the distant districts ; this, I conceive, will totally depend on the mode of raising and appropriating a sum of money to the first fifty or one hundred miles of canal. In this country, canals are paid by companies of sub- scribers, who receive a toll on the carriage of goods as an interest for the money advanced ; and the immense quantity of carriage throughout every part of this compact kingdom usually produces a considerable interest for the money ex- pended, while the expense of carriage is reduced below that of land conveyance ; but as England is environed with water with numerous sea-ports, there is no part very re- mote from the market, and hence, they never will have canals of any comparative length with those necessary in America to say seven or eight hundred miles ; therefore, the mode of proprietors receiving tonnage at so much per mile, although it will ever be much below land carriage, yet even that tonnage would preclude the market from the remote country, and by no means answer for American canals : for instance, s. d. A constructs a canal fifty miles long, and \ n 8 4 receives two-pence per ton per mile / B. Ditto 8 4 C. Ditto 8 4 D. Ditto 8 4 E. Ditto 8 4 F. Ditto 8 4 G. Ditto..., 084 350 miles. 2 18 4 per ton tolls, independent of boating; and hence, I conceive, the produce could not bear the expense of carriage by this method. But as it is, the produce of the interior country, which 23 266 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER must be drawn forth, the leading canals should be national works, perhaps, by the following system : First, that the legislature, by such duties or imposts as they conceive most eligible, raise a sum of money adequate to the expense of the first 60 or 70 miles of canal, to say from Philadelphia to Lancaster, which, perhaps, may cost 150,000, of which, 30,000 per annum may be required till the canal is finished. On this canal, 60 miles long, if I suppose fifty tons per day to be navigated at two pence per ton per mile, allowing two hundred and eighty working days per year, it would amount to ,7000 per annum, which should be applied to extending the canal, the tolls on such extension being appropriated in like man- ner to further extensions, and so on, the toll to be con- tinually devoted to forming more canal, till canals would pervade the whole country, by virtue of their own produce arising from the tolls. If this mode of extending the canal by appropriating the tolls should be deemed too tedious for the speedy relief to the interior country, and the funds of the state would admit of the advance of a further sum, they might imme- diately extend the canal two hundred miles, and receive the tolls till the last advanced sum was liquidated ; or, as the proprietors of the lands in the interior would be much benefited by their property being raised in value, probably they might raise the sum, and receive the tolls till such sum was liquidated ; the lands being increased in value, might be deemed sufficient interest till the principal was discharged, which would diminish every year. If by either of these modes, or any better which can be devised, I suppose the first 200 miles of canal to be formed, the trade will be more in proportion to the length than on the first sixty miles before estimated : because, being more remote from the metropolis, the interior inhabi- tants will be necessitated to fly to the canal, the tonnage TO GOVERNORMIFFLIN. 267 will also be greater ; therefore, if I allow on the 200 miles 100 tons per day, to be navigated at twenty shillings per ton for the whole length, or in proportion, for a shorter distance, the annual produce would be <28,000 ; and having arrived at such annual income, canals would proceed with dispatch, and progressively increase, both in riches and extension ; each year the produce of tonnage would in- crease, and each year a greater length of canal might be constructed. Therefore, if I proceed with this progressive and Creative system, till a canal reached Fort Pitt, which, with some bends, I will call 360 miles, the country which such canal would accommodate, would widen as it was more remote from Philadelphia. For instance, the man who lived 20 miles from Philadelphia might convey his goods seven to the canal ; the man at forty miles distance might go 14 or 15 to the canal ; at sixty miles, 20 to the canal ; and so on, till at the extremity of 360 miles, they probably would go fifty on each side to the canal ; hence, if I average the whole, such canal may be said to accommodate a country 360 miles long, and fifty miles wide ; on which the tonnage must now be regulated. The man who resides 20 miles from Philadelphia, and seven from the canal, should he convey a ton of goods by land, it would be worth at least fifteen shillings, as it would employ a man and two horses two days.* s. d. The carriage to the canal, seven miles, in like proportion 5 Carriage on the canal 4 Total. * The English reader, who may look over this chapter, may perhaps be surprised at stating the land carriage of America so low. But as I do not know the average expense of that country, I estimate it low in order to give it every advantage, in a comparative view with the canal. In England, it would cost at least one guinea, with all the advantage of good turnpike roads. 268 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER Thus the saving would be six shillings, and the tonnage should increase to a certain sum on the first hundred miles of canal, keeping much within the limits of land-carriage ; then decrease as the boating increased, in order to draw the trade of the back country into the canal. The expense of boating a ton 20 miles will be as follows : a man, boy, and horse, will convey 40 tons twenty miles- for ten shillings, which is three pence per ton for 20 miles ; but to allow contingencies, say 4 pence per ton, for boating 20 miles ; the tonnage and boating on the 360 miles should then be regulated, perhaps, in the following order : Miles. Tonnage. Boating. Amount. s. d. s. d. s. d. 20 4 4 4 4 40 8 8 8 8 60 12 1 13 80 16 , 1 4 17 4 *100 20 1 8 21 8 120 19 8 2 21 8 140 19 4 2 4 21 8 160 19 2 8 21 8 180 18 8 3 21 8 200 18 4 3 4 21 8 220 18 3 8 21 8 240 17 8 4 21 8 260 17 4 4 4 21 8 280 17 4 8 21 8 300 16 8 5 21 8 320 16 4 5 4 21 8 340 , 16 5 8 21 8 f360 , 15 8 .. 6 21 8 By this system, the country at the extremity of 360 miles, would deliver goods at Philadelphia for twenty-one * This being within the limits of land-carriage, the tonnage must now begin to decrease as the boating is increased. } If the boats return without back-carriage, the expense of boating, which on the 360 miles is six shillings, must be deducted from the tolls ; and in proportion on the various parts of the canal. TO GOVERNOR MIFF LIN. 269 shillings and eight pence ; which is the same as paid at the distance of one hundred miles ; to which the land carriage to the canal must be added. But as such a system would open a market to the remote country, every acre of ground within reach of the canal would become more valuable, and the carriage to the canal must be borne for some years. But as population increased, and the tonnage on the main line became productive, lateral branches would be cut from the canal, and thus further improve the country ; the ton- nage on such branches being proportioned, as before stated, according to the distance from the city. The carriage on such canal would consequently be im- mense; for, as I before stated, it would accommodate a country 360 miles long, fifty miles wide in the main, con- taining eighteen thousand square miles, or eleven million five hundred and twenty thousand acres. If, by further improvement, I allow that only every fiftieth acre will pro- duce one ton of carriage per annum, the amount would be two hundred and thirty thousand four hundred tons ; which appears, by averaging the preceding tonnage, would cost 15 shillings per ton, in tolls, to the canal, amounting to X172,800 per annum, in order to construct further canals; a sum adequate to forming, perhaps, eighty or one hundred miles per year ; having arrived at such a length, it is evi- dent, canals would increase with astonishing rapidity, and produce conveniences, even beyond the limits of calcula- tion ; for it must be observed, and strictly adhered to, that by canals you may equalize the carriage of the near and remote country, as before exhibited by the mode of regu- lating the boating with the tonnage, in proportion to the extent ; inasmuch as that a ton of goods may be carried 360 miles for .............. . J , . . , be, superior captains having more Pilot ................................................................... 300 00 Boy .................................................................... 200 00 Wear on the sloop, at fifteen per cent ........................ 450 00 Total .............................................................. $1350 00 for the maintenance of three persons and their families, also interest on the capital, and the wear of the sloop. But if the present population gives this important trade to 160 miles of sloop navigation, may we not look forward with perfect confidence to that of the next twenty years, for producing a trade, which, if required, will pay ample interest on the capital to be expended in executing the canal. Had it pleased the Author of the Universe to have drawn Hudson's river from Lake Erie, a calm and gentle stream of 10 feet water, the reflecting mind would contem- plate with gratitude the Divine munificence ; and he who feels that a hundred and sixty miles of navigation on Hud- son's river is a blessing to this state, would compare the successive range of extended benefits, and draw exact esti- mates of national wealth from 160 miles of easy communi- cation to the western extremity of Lake Superior. For, if Hudson's river, collecting freight from its sur- rounding country, and an interior not more distant than Cayuga or Ontario, now bears on its waters near 400,000 tons per annum, where shall the mind be arrested ? on what number of tons shall it dwell, when coming from the popu- lation of the next 20 years, and the countries which sur- round Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, and a canal of 300 miles through a fertile country ? Compared with the trade now on the Hudson's river, it cannot be less than a million of tons each year ; and for the following reasons : TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 293 where the canal unites to the Hudson's river, the man who lives 10 miles from the river, and 10 from the canal, will, when he has his produce in a wagon, go directly to the river ; hut he who lives 30 miles from the river, and 5 from the canal, will carry it to the canal ; and he who lives 50 miles from the river will go 30 to the canal ; he who lives 300 miles from the river will wagon his produce 100 miles to the canal ; thus the canal would draw in the trade of a country forming a triangle, with a base line 200 miles long, and from thence to the apex, 300 miles, equal a range of country 300 miles long, 100 miles wide, or 30,000 square miles, equal acres, 19,200,000 Lake Erie will draw in the trade for 100 miles round its margin ; Huron and Michigan from a long distance ; Lake Superior from 150 miles ; all of which may he estimated at 30,000,000 Total, Acres, 49,000,000 a quantity, if I recollect right, not far short of the whole of England. (Arthur Young states England, Ireland, and Scotland to contain 90 millions of acres.) The population of England is about one soul to 6 acres, and there can be no doubt that the time will come, when the population in the countries here indicated will be one to 10 acres, or 4,920,000 persons, a number equal to half the population of England, whose industry and necessities must cause more than one million of tons to move through the canal in a season ; which million of tons, carried at so low a rate as to enable everything useful to come to mar- ket, would produce abundant interest on the capital ex- pended : for, at one cent a ton per mile in expenses, the transport on 300 miles of canal would Cost $3 00 And from Albany to New York 2 50 Total $5 50 25* 294 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER or 55 cents a barrel. If, then, 50 cents for toll were charged on each barrel, or 25 cents a hundred on merchan- dise and other materials, for passing through the canal, still the barrel, or 200 weight, would arrive at New York for one dollar fifty cents, which 50 cents toll, or 5 dollars a ton, would, on one million of tons, give 5 millions of dollars a year, or 50 per cent, for 10 millions to make the canal. Admitting that from Lake Superior to the com- mencement of the canal at Lake Erie, the expense should be one dollar a barrel, it would arrive at New York, from that distant region, 1600 miles, for two dollars, the price which it now costs to wagon a barrel of flour about 130 miles, at which distance, the expense of coming to market checks agriculture, and the improvement of the country. Therefore, this canal and passage through Lake Erie into Lake Superior will ever be cheaper than transport on our much admired river Mississippi, even when she shall have the advantage of steamboats. For from Louisville to New Orleans, a distance of 1545 miles, the freight is one dollar 50 cents a barrel, but to come up from New Orleans to Louisville, it is four and a half dollars a hundred weight, or 9 dollars a barrel. Hence, this great work would, as a lucrative speculation for a company of subscribers, be superior to any banking association, or incorporated body now known, and in every point of view is worthy of this great state : by drawing forth its resources and those of other states into and through this state, as a source of abundant revenue, ob- tained by the economy of labor, and consequently a clear gain to the state, as a means of strength, by consolidating population, as an immense object of real glory, a vast and noble example to our sister states. Such are the con- quests worthy of a great and enlightened people conquests as lasting as the waters that nourish them, and of which we could never be deprived. TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 295 All that is honorable of the fame of Louis the 14th is the canal of Languedoc, and his public highways. His military conquests were lost before he died ; his canal and roads alone remain blessings to France. Not more than 40 years ago, the Duke of Bridgewater, regardless of public prejudice, constructed the first canal in England, in length about 30 miles ; it gave him immor- tality and $130,000 a year. His success and good ex- ample have been the cause of many hundred miles being since executed in various parts of the kingdom, on which the easy conveyance of the ponderous articles of agri- culture, manufactures, and commerce, has greatly pro- moted the improvements of that country, and added to her wealth and power. It is a curious fact, that his canal runs nearly parallel to the river Mersey, the former channel of communication from Manchester to Liverpool ; it was, therefore, thought absurd to contend that a canal should rival river naviga- tion ; as some persons now believe it visionary to cut a canal anywhere bordering on our lakes. The river was an imperfect navigation, embarrassed by uncertainty and risk ; the canal was without risk, and certain to deliver the goods at a given place in the appointed time ; it therefore drew the trade from the river, and left it a deserted stream. In fact, that a communication may be perfect, the trade must pass with equal ease each way ; it must not be subject to the impediments of calms or contrary winds on the lakes ; or what is worse, to freshets, floods, or shoals, which are common to fresh water rivers. But seeing our vast lakies and rivers, there is nothing more natural, than to associate the idea of navigation with them, and lead the mind on through locks to Ontario, and along the St. Lawrence to Quebec. The best of all prac- tice, however, the practice of English and Dutch canals, has proved how vastly inferior such communications are to 296 ROBERT FULTON'S LETTER the one contemplated ; and the calculations which I here submit, will, I hope, make it clear to every unbiassed mind. But were the conveyance by the lakes and St. Lawrence more perfect than it ever can be, and Canada ours, it could never be good policy in New York, to let so immense a trade go by that course, to the infinite injury of this state. I have shown, and I hope clearly, that were the intended canal to cost ten millions of dollars, it would in a few years, produce five millions. Then it would pay its capital in less than four years, and give a revenue to this state without a tax of from 3 to 5 millions a year; with which income this state might proceed with other and greater im- provements to its own glory, and incalculable benefit. A canal is in reality like a great labor-saving machine in the possession of a prudent and skilful manufacturer ; the economy and profits of which are applied to extending his works and increasing his capital. Here the state is pro- prietor, and possesses the capital to execute a work, which 1 do not hesitate to say would be an inexhaustible mine of wealth, that in a few years would give to this state the most refined order of public improvement. For if my cal- culations be correct, and I challenge any one to confute them on principles of increasing population and industry, the canal yielding 5 millions a year, would, in twenty years, give one hundred millions, to be expended in other canals, bridges, roads, and improvements. What could be done with 100 millions of dollars ? All reflecting men can conceive and calculate. By this statement you will perceive, that I am not for a canal free of toll. My reason is, that the whole inhabi- tants of the state being responsible for the necessary funds to construct it, or the interest thereon, they who benefit by the canal should pay such toll as will return the interest ; and not only so, but they should pay at least as much toll as I have stated, which still leaves them an immense ad- TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. 297 vantage in coming to market, yet produces an ample fund for other improvements. It is therefore, I think, evident, that if a reasonable toll can produce an annual income, which in time will improve the whole state, it is th 3 interest of the whole state that the canal should be made and the toll laid. My estimate of one million of tons a year is, for 9 months, equal 3703 tons a day, or 74 boats a day. To pass the locks at 12 minutes for each boat will require from 14 to 15 hours, or a double range of locks. On this subject and the manner of executing the canal, I will perhaps, at a future day, trouble you with another letter. I am, Sir, Respectfully, Your most obedient, ROBERT FULTON. THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. " JAK151954 DBRARY USB JUL 1 1 1961 REC'D LC JUL 1 1 196(1 MAR 15 1966 RECTO LD JUN10 J979 MAY25198640 MHYlS'SB 28 RCO !R LIBRARY 5 1967 LD 21-100m-7,'52(A2528sl6)476 IA ^ UN 4 1979 " f s THE UNIVERSITY OF CHIFORNI* LIBRHRY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CUIFORNU ' s^ / UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRAI 3? 9e UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRAF y i UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRAR fill