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| 1906 Replica of the North Shore Steamboat |
I recall doing a project in elementary school. We were tasked with creating Fulton’s Folly, the first successful commercial steamboat. Back in the day, sugar cubes were a go-to crafting tool. My mother assisted me in creating the boat, adding some popsicle sticks for the paddles and a toilet paper tube for the smokestack. Doing that project secured the historical trivia in my mind over fifty years later. But there is so much we never learned from our history books about Robert Fulton.
Robert Fulton
Born November 14, 1765, in Pennsylvania and the oldest of five children, Fulton apprenticed to a jeweler at 15. But his love of art took him on an alternative career path. For six years he lived in Philadelphia, where he earned a living painting a variety of things from portraits to machinery sketches. He always sent money home to his mother, so we have to assume his father passed and left him the provider for the family. In 1785 he purchased a farm near Pittsburgh for his mother and siblings.
In 1786, Fulton was diagnosed with consumption (tuberculous) and prescribed an ocean cruise for his health. He sailed to Europe, living there for 20 years. For a few years, he stayed in France with a family friend, artist Benjamin West and studied painting.
The sale of his art pieces provided his living expenses while he continued to experiment with mechanical inventions. Steam power and canals held his interest.
In 1793, he patented a design for canals using incline planes rather than locks. He also invented a dredging machine to clear waterways. He traveled to England to study their canals and found investors to create a prototype steamboat to navigate the canals. However, in time, they became dissatisfied with the design and withdrew from the project.
1794 finds Fulton in Paris again, where he is well-known as an inventor. Ever the seeker of knowledge, he immerses himself in the French and German languages along with chemistry and mathematics. During that time, he invented the first muscle-powered submarine, Nautilus. Napolean refused to fund it. But the Ministry of Marine did and in 1800, built it. The submarine was launched in the Seine River where it submerged, but only for a short time, and the invention was abandoned.
It should be noted here that Robert Fulton built things for Napolean and when he moved to Britain, he continued working on torpedoes and submarines. He seemed to be more focused on his inventions, rather than any political loyalties.
While in France, he met U.S. Ambassador Robert Livingston, a prominent figure in America’s wealthy class. He, too, had a scientific mind, and they collaborated in creating the North River Steamboat, historically referred to as the Clermont. Or by a few in the media Fulton’s Folly. Livingston saw not only the scientific value of the steam engine but also the monetary gain of a steamboat.
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His family home was on the Hudson River, in New York, and among his investments was a shipping line.
Both men returned to America, and while Fulton oversaw the installation of the engine on the boat he’d designed, Livingston got exclusive rights to run his steamboat on the Hudson River between New York City and Albany.
In 1807, the North River Steamboat (often referred to as The Claremont) made its maiden voyage with 60 passengers who paid 5 cents a mile. It cruised at 5 miles per hour and took 32 hours to reach Albany. That seems like a snail’s pace to us, but sailboats took a week to cover the same distance. The steamboat had three cabins with 54 berths, a kitchen, larder, pantry, bar and steward’s room.
On this first cruise, there was an overnight stay at Livingston’s Claremont Manor at the halfway point on the first day. I assume Mr. Livingston wanted to make the trip special for their first guests. Once they re-boarded on the second day, some 20 hours later, they began timing the trip again, and the total time on the river was 32 hours. On the return trip from Albany, they stayed only one hour at Livingston’s estate and managed to make it back to New York in 30 hours. Robert Fulton was among the passengers. Livingston and Fulton built three more steamboats and, like trains and buses today, the boats stopped at various ports between New York and Albany. In his lifetime Fulton built 17.
The successful voyage of the first steamboat opened other doors for the inventor. Fulton was appointed by the Governor of New York, to serve on the Erie Canal Commission, reigniting his interest in canal building.
Fulton remained busy working with Livingston and Nicholas Roosevelt from October 1811 to January 1812 on a joint project to build a new steamboat, New Orleans, stable enough to take on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the mouth of the Gulf in New Orleans, Louisiana. This steamship could travel against the strong currents as it headed upstream, transforming river transportation and trade for America.
One of his final designs was a floating battery, Demogolos. The first steam-driven warship in the world. It was built for the United States Navy for the War of 1812. The vessel was not completed until after his death.
Family life
Robert Fulton married later in life. At 43, he married Harriet Livingston, 25, on January 8, 1808, the niece of his business partner Robert Livingston. Harriet was well-educated, and an accomplished amateur painter and musician. They had four children.
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| Harriet Fulton |
The thing I found most fascinating about Robert Fulton was his insatiable desire to learn and understand, which led to creating a steam engine that changed how commerce and naval warfare were conducted. Eventually, others invented steam engines strong enough to sail across the oceans, cutting trips and transport of goods around the world from months to weeks. Many ships have been named after him. Various statues are on display in Europe and the US. And in 1965 Robert Fulton appeared on a postage stamp commemorating his achievement.
Cherishing Her Heart
