Robert Fulton and the Submarine

by William Barclay Parsons

The words “two last” refer, of course, to Dr. Cartwright and Mr. Davison. The “Descriptions,” therefore, give Fulton’s case as he saw it, and consequently are of intense interest and historical importance.

His vision for the United States that the population would increase from 5,500,000, as it then was, to 120,000,000 has already been almost realized, sooner, of course, than he expected, but the absence of colonies and lack of desire for them have hardly met an equally successful prophetic fate. Certainly he never foresaw Porto Rico, Panama, Samoa, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and other outlying possessions.

What a delightful picture Fulton unconsciously presents of the skillful and diplomatic way in which the British Ministry handled him from the beginning to the end! When the emissary, known only as “Mr. Smith,” stated to Fulton that the Government wished to use the submarine against the French fleet, Fulton pointed out that it was not the part of wisdom so to do, that the British with their superiority in sea power had more to lose than to gain by developing such a weapon. In so doing, he but anticipated Earl St. Vincent who, bluff old sea-dog like so many of his profession to whom innovations in naval warfare were anathema, exclaimed that “Pitt was the greatest fool that ever existed to encourage a mode of war which they who commanded the seas did not want, and which, if successful, would deprive them of it.”

“Mr. Smith” was very clever and was not put off by any such argument. He saw clearly that whether England needed the device or not, they must have control of the man who possessed the secret. He evidently felt sure of Fulton’s sentiments because he told him quite frankly that they wished him “out of France and in England.”

On the financial side, Fulton appears to have had a proper estimate of himself and the value of his devices. The sum of £10,000 as a retainer would be no mean figure today, but owing to the difference in purchasing power it was comparatively a vastly greater figure in 1803. This retainer was in addition to his main fee or price for selling the explanation of his devices which he put at £100,000. The “Descriptions” read that he said “require” that sum. He first wrote “demand,” which word he erased, but not sufficiently to obliterate it, and then wrote “require.”

The rating of the value of his devices as being equivalent to a ship-of-the-line, or battle ship as a capital ship is now called, is certainly ingenious and not unreasonable. If his devices had any value at all they would increase the effective power of the fleet by much more than the addition of one first-class vessel.

But Fulton was dealing with men far abler than he in fixing values and making contracts. The negotiations were not broken off by abruptly refusing to pay the sums asked. That would have been a blunder that one selected for such a delicate mission would not be guilty of committing. The British representative apparently did not even suggest that the retainer was exorbitant, but only that it was “contrary to established rules” to pay in advance. Then, before giving an obligation to pay a sum commensurate with the value of the devices, the reasonable and unanswerable preliminary condition of an experimental demonstration was made a prerequisite.

The British diplomats unlike the French had avoided giving any offense to his amour propre. Though they refused to grant his financial requests, they succeeded in getting him to go to England, which was their main purpose. Not until they had him safe in London, did they take up the question of a contract. The original demand of £100,000 was reduced to £40,000. The retainer disappeared entirely except as it was represented by such portion of the £800 with which “Mr. Smith” was furnished in the first instance to pay his own and Fulton’s expenses. In lieu of the reductions, there appears in the contract an agreement to pay a salary of £200 a month. How deliciously clever! To one in the straightened circumstances in which Fulton always had been and still was, for even now any surplus of income of which he might have been possessed, but of which there is no evidence, was swallowed up by his steamboat experiments, this monthly payment must have been of inestimable importance. It guaranteed him comfort and at last a substantial excess for his other work, because his submarine disbursements were to be met entirely by the government up to a maximum limit of £7,000. On the other hand, the Government held secure the man, who as an enemy they feared, and who as such was a constant source of worry. This result was obtained at a cost that was to them a trifling figure.

Fulton appears to have concluded that his claim for £100,000 was perhaps too high because he voluntarily accepted the sum of £40,000 mentioned in the contract. Of this latter amount, he made to the arbitrators the ingenious suggestion that they pay him one-half in cash and the other half in an annuity based on his life, the annuity to be forfeit should the secret of his inventions in submarine warfare be divulged by him or his friends. It is regretted that Fulton did not disclose the names of his friends who were jointly interested with him, as they were probably the same who had financed his French experiments.

Fulton’s receipts on his own account amounted on balance to £13,391 .. 16 .. 10, leaving due as he claimed £1608 .. 3 .. 2, exclusive of any payment in part or whole of the £40,000. As it was, he did not do badly for two years’ work. In addition the Government furnished £11,353 .. 3 .. 2 to repay his expenditures.