A History of the Growth of the Steam-Engine

by Robert Henry Thurston

This first steamboat used dry pine wood for fuel, and the flames rose to a considerable distance above the smoke-pipe. When the fires were disturbed, mingled smoke and sparks would rise high in the air. “This uncommon light,” says Colden, “first attracted the attention of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were averse to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly coming toward them; and when it came so near that the noise of the machinery and paddles was heard, the crews (if what was said in the newspapers of the time be true), in some instances, shrank 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 approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited.”

In the Clermont, Fulton used several of the now characteristic features of the American river steamboat, and subsequently introduced others. His most important and creditable work, aside from that of the introduction of the steamboat into every-day use, was the experimental determination of the magnitude and the laws of ship-resistance, and the systematic proportioning of vessel and machinery to the work to be done by them.

The success of the Clermont on the trial-trip was such that Fulton soon after advertised the vessel as a regular passenger-boat between New York and Albany.[80]

During the next winter the Clermont was repaired and enlarged, and in the summer of 1808 was again on the route to Albany; and, meantime, two new steamboats—the Raritan and the Car of Neptune—had been built by Fulton. In the year 1811 he built the Paragon. Both of the two vessels last named were of nearly double the size of the Clermont. A steam ferry-boat was built to ply between New York and Jersey City in 1812, and the next year two others, to connect the metropolis with Brooklyn. These were “twin-boats,” the two parallel hulls being connected by a “bridge” or deck common to both. The Jersey ferry was crossed in fifteen minutes, the distance being a mile and a half. To-day, the time occupied at the same ferry is about ten minutes. Fulton’s ferry-boat carried, at one load, 8 carriages, and about 30 horses, and still had room for 300 or 400 foot-passengers. Fulton also designed steam-vessels for use on the Western rivers, and, in 1815, some of his boats were started as “packets” on the line between New York and Providence, R. I.

Meantime, the War of 1812 was in progress, and Fulton designed a steam vessel-of-war, which was then considered a wonderfully formidable craft. His plans were submitted to a commission of experienced naval officers, among whom were Commodores Decatur and Perry, Captain John Paul Jones, Captain Evans, and others whose names are still familiar, and were favorably commended. Fulton proposed to build a steam-vessel capable of carrying a heavy battery, and of steaming four miles an hour. The ship was to be fitted with furnaces for red-hot shot. Some of her guns were to be discharged below the water-line. The estimated cost was $320,000.

Fig. 82.—Launch of the “Fulton the First,” 1804.

The construction of the vessel was authorized by Congress in March, 1814; the keel was laid June 20, 1814, and the vessel was [launched] October 29th of the same year.

The “Fulton the First,” as she was called, was considered an enormous vessel at that time. The hull was double, 156 feet long, 56 feet wide, and 20 feet deep, measuring 2,475 tons. In the following May the ship was ready for her engine, and in July was so far completed as to steam, on a trial-trip, to the ocean at Sandy Hook and back—53 miles—in 8 hours and 20 minutes. In September of the same year, with armament and stores on board, the same route was traversed again, the vessel making 51∕2 miles an hour. The vessel, as thus completed, had a double hull, each about 20 feet longer than the Clermont, and separated by a space 15 feet across. Her engine, having a steam-cylinder 48 inches in diameter and of 5 feet stroke of piston, was furnished with steam by a copper boiler 22 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 8 feet high, and turned a wheel between the two hulls which was 16 feet in diameter, and carried “floats” or “buckets” 14 feet long, and with a dip of 4 feet. The engine was in one of the two hulls, and the boiler in the other. The sides, at the gun-deck, were 4 feet 10 inches thick, and her spar-deck was surrounded by heavy musket-proof bulwarks. The armament consisted of 30 32-pounders, which were intended to discharge red-hot shot. There was one heavy mast for each hull, fitted with large latteen sails. Each end of each hull was fitted with a rudder. Large pumps were carried, which were intended to throw heavy streams of water upon the decks of the enemy, with a view to disabling the foe by wetting his ordnance and ammunition. A submarine gun was to have been carried at each bow, to discharge shot weighing 100 pounds, at a depth of 10 feet below the water-line.