Robert Fulton and His Folly

Robert Fulton is sometimes called the inventor of the steamboat, but he didn’t really invent the steamboat. That attempt had been going on for a few centuries. Though he did come up with one that worked.

Fulton was a creditable artist but not a great one. Following the American Revolution, he painted Benjamin Franklin’s portrait. The two became friends and Franklin gave him a letter of introduction to London’s artistic circles.

Fulton exhibited at the Royal Gallery in 1791, and then he decided to pursue canal construction. In 1793, he dropped that pursuit and tried his hand at other things. But his dream was to design steam-powered ships.

Robert Fulton

Submarines

Fulton tried to work with the British Navy on submarines, but they had their own ideas, so he moved to France in 1797. In France, he began working on submarines for the French Navy.

Fulton’s submarine, the “Nautilus”, yielded a vast improvement over previous designs which used only ballast tanks. Fulton added rudders as diving planes, which provided for quicker diving and surfacing. The rudders also gave some underwater stability.

In 1800, Fulton piloted his “Nautilus” for 17 minutes in 25 feet of water. But the French Navy decided against the idea of a submarine.

Torpedoes

Fulton returned to England in 1804 to work with the British Navy. This work included “torpedoes”, which today we think of as floating mines. In a test, Fulton blew a 300-ton ship in half.

In 1806, when he returned to the U.S. after quite a few years, Fulton sank a ship in a demonstration in New York Harbor. The country was impressed. Congress offered him $5,000 for more experiments. That was not what Fulton wanted to do.

Canals

President Jefferson requested Fulton’s help in building canals for the Louisiana Purchase territory. That was not what Fulton wanted to do.

Fulton wanted to build his steamboat.

Building a Steamboat

Fulton’s first problem was how to make the thing go. In this regard, he contacted James Watt’s English firm and made a contract to use a special Watt’s engine, which included some of Fulton’s innovations.

The next to solve was the structure of the ship. Fulton came up with a flat-bottomed boat which had paddle wheels on both sides and the engine slightly forward of the wheels.

The ship was somewhat luxurious, with sleeping berths, a saloon, and a ladies’ lounge. The cost of the completed ship, in 1807 dollars, was $20,000.

Sailing a Steamboat

“Fulton’s Folly” was the target of much derision; the crazy idea was sure to fail.

But Robert Fulton had the last laugh. On August 17, 1807, Fulton’s ship made her maiden voyage, round-trip, New York to Albany, in about 30 hours each way.

Fulton was not content at stopping with his marvelous success. He had made the touchdown and he went for the extra point. Fulton put “The North River Steamboat of Clermont” into commercial service on the New York to Albany route, with a one-way fare of seven dollars. The service ran quite well until November when river ice raised its ugly head.

Robert Fulton’s Legacy

“Fulton’s Folly” ushered in a new generation of ship building. Think of the steamboats that, not too long after Fulton, provided transportation and shipping on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Think of how Fulton’s dreams have gone on to provide us with the ships of today.

I believe that Robert Fulton is a name that should be remembered.