Today is the anniversary of the first voyage of the first successful steamboat.
Robert Fulton was an indifferent student, but he did show some ability in art and an interest in inventing. At age 12, his family visited England where he saw a steam engine made by James Watt. He started thinking about using one to propel a boat. Years later he was living in Paris, studying art. He painted mostly portraits and landscapes. But he also dabbled in inventing. He was commissioned by Napoleon to build a submarine. He invented the first practical sub and named it Nautilus. He also built a steamboat that went up the Seine, but later sank. Returning to America, he was determined to revolutionize transport and commerce on rivers by building a practical steamboat. He called his creation the North River Steamboat (the Hudson River was called the North River at the time). But it became better known as the Clermont. It was 142 feet long and 18 feet wide. It had two paddle wheels. On August 17, 1807 it was ready for its maiden voyage. A crowd gathered and many were skeptical. Some yelled: “You’ll never get it to run!” They seemed to be right when the boat’s engine started and then stopped. As Fulton worked on the engine, the catcalls increased. Some threw out the nickname given to Fulton’s effort – “Fulton’s Folly”. After thirty minutes, he was able to start the engine and the boat pulled out into the Hudson and headed slowly up stream. (At this point some of the skeptics started yelling “You’ll never be able to stop it!”) The invited guests enjoyed the 32-hour trip to Albany (which was 150 miles away). Some spectators along the route thought the boat was a sea monster. But what they actually saw was the first successful steamboat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_River_Steamboat#First_voyage
https://d2y1pz2y630308.cloudfront.net/15942/documents/2020/3/1RobertFulton.pdf
https://www.heritage-history.com/index.php?c=read&author=perry&book=inventors&story=fulton
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