This article about the history of the steamboat was published in a magazine in 1874. It is much more interesting than simply the story of Robert Fulton, as it goes into considerable detail on quite a few other things as well. —fadedpages.com

Fulton's steamboat, "Clermont," 1807.

The steam-engine was used for transportation on the water before it was adapted to land carriages. This was owing to its having started as an atmospheric engine, where the force was derived from the pressure of air upon the piston when a partial vacuum was produced by the condensation of steam in the cylinder. The engine was relatively large and heavy, and in its proportions was better suited to a boat than to a wagon. The use of high-pressure steam was an afterthought. Though Watt, with his singular sagacity, added to his specification the idea of adapting high-pressure steam to the purposes of river and land locomotion, it was but as a caveat, for he built none.

The origin of the steamboat has been a vexed question for nearly a century. As the parties who first worked at the problem with success could not apportion among themselves the exact measure of credit to which each was entitled, so by carefully fanning the flames of national vanity the subject has been kept afloat, and of three nations each has its advocates, who feel bound to depreciate the claims of all others. The truth is, the engine was Newcomen's, and then Watt's, and the boat was any body's; and persons went to work here and there, with varying degrees of success, depending upon political influence, social standing, moneyed resources, or friends thus provided, and last, not least, mechanical talent for harnessing the engine to the paddle or propeller used to push against the water.

In this struggle great pertinacity was exhibited in Scotland and America. To deal out the exact proportion of credit due to each man is not easy; one measure is to be awarded to skill in mechanical adaptation, another to skill in fitting and proportioning.

In 1780 was patented the present arrangement of connecting-rod, crank, and fly-wheel. The Marquis de Jouffroy in that year successfully worked a steamboat 140 feet long on the Saône. Joseph Bramah (1785) patented a rotatory engine on a propeller shaft. Here occurs the term "screw-propeller," since so common. In 1787 Patrick Miller, of Dalswinton, published a specification of a triple boat, with paddles in the intervals, and a deck over the three boats. The same year a double boat was steamed on the Frith of Forth. John Fitch, of Philadelphia, the next year obtained a patent for the application of steam to navigation in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. The boat had vertical reciprocating paddles, and made eighty miles per day. It proceeded upon an entirely wrong principle.

In 1802 Symington ran the Charlotte Dundas on the Forth and Clyde Canal. She had a double-acting Watt engine, working by a connecting-rod to a crank on the paddle-wheel shaft. This is the first instance of these parts being thus combined.

Symington's steamboat, "Charlotte Dundas," 1802.

The idea of canal use alone engaged the inventor, and the boat was rejected because the canal banks were likely to be damaged.

In 1804 John Cox Stevens, of New Jersey, constructed a boat on the Hudson, driven by a Watt engine, with a tubular boiler of his own invention. It had a bladed screw-propeller. The same year Oliver Evans had a stern-paddle-wheel boat on the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It was driven by a double-acting high-pressure steam-engine, which was the first of its kind, and was geared to rotate the wheels by which the boat was moved on land, and driven in the water when the power was transferred to the paddle-wheel at the stern.

In 1807 Robert Fulton, of New York, went from that city to Albany in the Clermont, a boat of 160 tons burden, with side paddle-wheels, driven by an engine which he purchased when in England of Boulton and Watt. She ran during the remainder of the year as a passenger boat. She was the first that ran for practical purposes, and proved of value. The outside bearing of the paddle-wheel shaft and the guard were invented by Fulton. The boat may be considered to have been about the sixteenth steamboat; nevertheless the popular verdict is a just and righteous one. To Fulton much more than to any other one man is due the credit of the introduction of steam navigation. His enterprise opened the way, and he was the first to apportion the strength and sizes of parts to the respective strains and duties. He had previously seen Symington's boat, and had launched an experimental one, 66 feet long, on the Seine. The former may have directed his attention to the matter, and the latter was a useful apprenticeship. Mr. Charles Brown had built for Mr. Fulton, between 1806 and 1812, six steamboats of lengths varying from 78 to 175 feet, and tonnage 120 to 337, prior to the practical working of any steamboat in Europe.

The first steamboat in the Mississippi Valley was the Orleans, of 100 tons, built at Pittsburg by Fulton and Livingston in 1811. She had a stern wheel, and went from Pittsburg to New Orleans in fourteen days. The next was the Comet, of 25 tons, in 1814. She made three or four trips, was taken to pieces, and the engine was set up in a cotton factory. The Vesuvius, in 1814, was the next. She made a number of trips, but eventually exploded.

Henry Bell, of Scotland, in 1812 built the Comet, of 30 tons, with side paddle-wheels, which plied between Glasgow and Greenock on the Clyde, and the next year around the coasts of the British Isles.

Bell's steamboat, "Comet," 1812.

In 1818 the Walk-in-the-Water, of 360 tons, was built at Black Rock, Niagara River, by Noah Brown, of New York, for traffic on the lakes. Her Boulton and Watt engine was made in New York and transported by boat to Albany and by teams to Black Rock. The boilers were prepared in New York and sent piecemeal to the lake. The vessel was lost in a gale in 1821.

In 1819 the Savannah, 380 tons burden, crossed the Atlantic from America, visited Liverpool, St. Petersburg, and Copenhagen, and returned. Six years later the Enterprise rounded the Cape of Good Hope and went to India.

In 1838 the Great Western (1340 tons) and the Sirius steamed across the Atlantic from England. Two years afterward the Cunard line was started, and was followed by the Collins line in 1850. The Great Eastern was built in 1858, the French iron-clad La Gloire in 1859, the English iron-clad Warrior in 1860, and the Ericsson Monitor in 1862.

Feathering paddle-wheels, such as Morgan's, were largely used in the British navy. Manly's are somewhat noted here. Holland's oblique paddle float, and many others, might be noted were there room for detail.

The steamboats of our American rivers and lakes have no equals in the world, nor are there such waters elsewhere to afford a theatre for such boats.

The paddle-wheel has to a large extent given place to the screw-propeller. There is perhaps but one paddle-wheel steamer in the United States navy, the Powhatan.

Pacific Mail Company's screw steam-ship, "City of Peking."

The screw-propeller was invented by numerous people, if we are to assume that each person who put forward a claim or who patented it supposed himself to be an original inventor. Several notices of it occur, but it came more distinctly into notice when brought forward by Ericsson in 1836. The supernaturally wise old sea-dogs and landsmen of the British Admiralty sneered at the innovation, but Captain Robert F. Stockton and Francis B. Ogden, of New Jersey, appreciated it. The former introduced it to the United States Navy Department, and the war steamer Princeton was launched upon the Delaware. The Robert F. Stockton, an iron vessel fitted with a screw-propeller, was launched upon the Mersey In 1838, and crossed to the United States the next year. Her name was changed to New Jersey, and she was the first screw-propeller vessel practically used in America, as Ericsson's Francis B. Ogden was the first in Europe. Ericsson accomplished for the screw-propeller in England and America what Fulton did for the paddle-wheel in America and Bell in England.

Other improvements have been added, including Woodcroft's increasing pitch screw and Fowler's and Hunter's vertical submerged paddle-wheels.

Warning - This information has been transcribed from a source that is well over 100 years old. It may be incorrect or outdated in some cases. It is also possible that errors were made during the transcription process. This information is being made available for entertainment purposes only.