A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat

by John H. B. Latrobe

The committee of the Legislature finally reported, and very wisely, that it was inexpedient to make any special provision in connection with the matter in controversy before that body.

It was in March, 1815, on the heel of the Legislative proceedings, that the deed of trust to Mr. William Griffith was made, and the fact of his accepting the trust, and that Aaron Ogden of New Jersey, was a party to the transaction, shews that the cause of Roosevelt as the inventor of vertical wheels over the sides under the patent of 1814, was deemed good as against the patent granted to Fulton four or five years previously. Had the letter to Lord Stanhope or the reply thereto, been regarded by the outside world, or by those interested in the subject, as sufficient to establish Fulton’s prior right to the invention of vertical wheels over the sides of steamboats, counsel of the standing of Mr. Griffith would not have become mixed up in the business, licenses to use Roosevelt’s patent would not have been granted, nor would I have made the acquaintance of John Devereux Delacy; for Roosevelt’s pretensions would have been nipped in the bud.

My tale is nearly ended. The object has been to shew that the merit of the practical suggestion of the employment of vertical wheels over the sides of steamboats was due to one who has been lost sight of in this connection, and wholly ignored in the biography of Fulton, who availing himself of the suggestion of another, in all its details, made it a great commercial success, and in so doing built upon it a lasting fame. That the papers I have referred to, now collated for the first time, shew this to be the fact, I think there can be no question.

It may be interesting to state something in regard to the subsequent career of Roosevelt. He was once asked why, with the secret of success in his possession, he allowed it to slumber. Why did not he anticipate the Clermont in the first five years of the present century. I give the answer in his own words from a manuscript before me.

“First: At the time Chancellor Livingston’s horizontal wheel experiment failed, I was under a contract with the corporation for supplying the city of Philadelphia with water, by means of two steam engines; and, besides, I was under a contract with the United States to erect rolling works and supply government with copper, rolled and drawn, for six 74 gun ships, that were then to be built. The engines for the supplying of Philadelphia with water I completed, though with heavy loss. The rolling works I also brought into operation upon a very extensive scale, and a considerable quantity of copper was delivered. But the encouragement from government by which I had been led into this heavy expense was cut off by a change of men in the administration. The 74s were laid aside, and no appropriations were made, and embarrassment to me was the natural consequence.”

This embarrassment, in the then condition of the law, was imprisonment for debts contracted in getting ready to fulfil his contract. In truth, he was a broken man. In the meanwhile, on the return of Livingston and Fulton to America, the workmen that Roosevelt had brought from Germany and made what they were, entered into Fulton’s service, and to their skill was he indebted for the mechanical success of his earlier boats. In 1807, Roosevelt was introduced to him; and in a letter from the Chancellor, now before me, references to old times are pleasantly made; and, a year or two afterwards, we find Roosevelt associated with Fulton in the introduction of steamboats on the Western waters. Here, he built the New Orleans, the pioneer boat that descended the river in 1811—the year of the comet and the earthquake. The voyage of the New Orleans is, in itself, a romance; but time does not permit it to be told at present.[1] With all his merit, Fulton was not an easy man to get along with; and Roosevelt had his faults of temper too, no doubt; and after the successful voyage of the New Orleans, the two men parted, and Roosevelt disappeared from public life, and was lost in the quiet of the domestic circle of a numerous and happy family. He died at a very advanced age, not many years ago, forgotten by the world as he was forgotten by the biographer of Fulton. He appears again before me, as I write, as I remember to have seen him in my childhood, and in after years—a finished gentleman, energetic and sanguine, warm and generous in his temper, a devoted husband and father, and now made the hero of a lost chapter in the history of the steamboat.

APPENDIX.

N. J. ROOSEVELT TO R. R. LIVINGSTON.

Proposes Vertical Wheels with the Size of Cylinder and presses for Money Arrangements.

Second River, Sept. 6th, 1798.

Dr Sir,

I have your two letters of the 31st and 1st inst. before me. Since writing you the 27th, I made an experiment in order to ascertain as nearly as I could the power of the engine, and put on your wheels. This was done by laying the vessel on shore stern foremost so as to leave the wheels entirely out of the water. The Engine was then put to work at the rate of from 40 to 45 strokes and wheels turned from 160 to 180 revolutions per minute. When the water first entered them it was thrown out with great violence; but before it got any considerable depth in them the motion of the engine was impeded and in a short time entirely stopped. By this experiment I was fully convinced that the wheels would require a power far greater than this engine possesses and that any attempts to proceed with the power we have and the present wheels would be fruitless. I was also farther convinced (by getting men whose strength was ascertained to turn the wheels by hand before the operation of the engine) tho’ she has her full power and indeed considerably more than as first mentioned, I expected we would have. Now, Sir, to proceed with the experiment you recommended of closing the openings with doors will be doing nothing more than what we have already done by the last trial. I would therefore recommend that we throw two wheels of wood over the sides fastened to the axes of the flys with 8 arms or paddles, that part which enters the water of sheet iron to shift according to the power they require either deeper in the water or otherwise and that we navigate the vessel with those until we can procure an Engine of proper size which I think ought not to be less than 24 inches cylinder. The Barometer to ascertain the exact power of the engine has not as you observe been left to depend entirely on Mr. Van Ness, although I looked upon him as your Representative according to the tenor of your own letter; but Mr. Mark and Mr. Speyer have both been on the search for one and have not yet succeeded. The copper pipe for it is made and we will I believe be obliged to wait for the glass until we can get it from the glass house above Albany. I have requested Mr. Speyer, who has gone up to the Oneida country, to call on Mr. Dezang for that purpose. If you know of any to be had in New York please to inform me and I will immediately get it.

As to your charge of my want of candor and my possessing too much distrust, those Sir are charges which have never before been laid to me and which I feel perfectly free from and I will recommend to the Chancellor to meet me in future upon equally candid and fair ground. I can assure him he shall never have reason to complain of me on that score again.[2] We have as you observe put our hands to the oars and ought not to look back until we reach port. This I am for, Sir, with all my heart, and firmly believe that with this determination we have nothing to fear, as I think, with the wheels I have recommended, that the State patent may be secured. We will then have time to prepare for your wheels, and if they should not have the effect you promise us, we can then adopt such other plans as we may together think best. No bad consequences need be apprehended from what I communicated out of your letter to Smallman and Stoudinger as they are as anxious for the success of the business and your good opinion as I am. As to altering any of the wheels in the way you propose I cannot approve, as the alteration will be attended with considerable expense, and as I believe any alteration we can make with our present small Engine will be inadequate to driving the wheels to any advantage. In this the Chancellor will agree with me when he considers that when the Engine making 30 strokes per minute the horizontal wheels make 120 revolutions by which 3/4 is taken from the power to afford this.

I sincerely hope that Mrs. Livingston may soon recover from her accident so that you may not be detained long from thoroughly investigating everything appertaining to our present concern.

I am, dear Sir, &c., &c.

N. J. ROOSEVELT.

N. B. I have not, upon overlooking what I have above written, been so particular in my objections to your proposed alterations as may be agreeable and will ask for a little of your patience. See how the alteration of the wheels on the connecting rod by being smaller will operate. They will most certainly shorten the stroke of the engine. This therefore cannot take place unless we alter the wheels round which they move accordingly, which may be done. At the same time in doing it we shall be obliged to lengthen the spindle of the horizontal wheels and disturb the wooden work the whole of which will be attended with considerable expense and require a second alteration when we come to operate with power equal to what those wheels will require, and indeed, why should we go to any expense in alterations which can do us no service; as I clearly saw from actual experiment that about 1400 pounds will be necessary to be applied directly to the wheels independent of friction, which is equal to an engine of 24 inches Cylinder. An Engine of this size I find has 5424 pounds power independent of the friction of the machine and I think power enough for the air pumps (perhaps something more.) This I cannot however ascertain until I get a barometer and try our present engine, which I believe perfect. I was about trying the power by weights but found difficulties which I have not yet been able to get over, as her power is equal both ways, and to bring the weight only to the connecting rod would tear everything to pieces.

Yours, &c.

N. J. ROOSEVELT.

A plan of my substitute which may not be quite correct, as I do not understand anything of drawing. N. J. R.[3]