Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1859-09-24
Mts teIlaneous.
THE sTEAMBoAT-FULToN & FITCH.

but n more thorough inVesiRuuOn OiVcn gives u
better estimate of things. Perhaps no more strik.
ing instance can be found of the honor accorded to
success, than in the popular belief that Robert
Fulton was the originator Of The steamboat. He
has enjoyed this honor almost without question.
for the last Fifty years and our school books gem
orally impress this idea upon tho minds of the
young,
The following statement, from Prof. 0lmsted's
Natural Philosophy" will serve as an example
of the prevailing notions on this subject AL
though the idea of propelling boats by the force Of
steam, was entertained by different individuals, in
different countries, lorg before it was carried into
practice, yet the first successful effort ut steam nav.
igation was made by our coun,ryman, Robert Full
ton, in the year 1907. This year the first steam
boat, the CHeJ mont, assembled the river Hudson to
Albany"
OF late years,a new claimant for the honor of the
invention, has appeared in tho person of a Span
lard, Of the sixteenth century. Prot. Silliman, Jr.,
In his work on Natural Philosophy" Just pub
lished. says:-"Blanco dc Garay, a sea-cap,ain of
Barcelona, in Spain, in 1913, moved a vessel of
two hundred tons, three miles an hour by paddles,
propelled probably by steam, as the moving force
came, it was said, from a boiler containing water,
and liable to burst. This was more than one
hundred and fifty years before the steam-engiue
itself was recognized as a practical invention in
its rudest forms. This story is by many regarded
as fabulous, or at least as having received large
additions, and is omewhat successfully called in
question in an article published in the Scientific
american, of Nov. Goth, 1858. The writer, John
MacGregor, of London, says ;-"Some months
ago, | inspected two letters, written A. D. 1913,
by Blanco de Garay, and now prese rived in the Ma
tional Archives, ut Simancas, in Spain. These
gave the particulars of experiments at Malaga and
Barcelona, with large vessels propelled by paddles
which were turned by forty men. BY many authors
and for a long time, it has been positively affirmed
that Blanco de G9ray used a steam engine for mar
thine propulsion but after careful and minute in
vcstigations, at Simancas, Madrid and Barcelona, /
cannot find one particle Of reliable evidence for
this assertion" H
Westcott's Life Of John Fitch,' recently pub
lisbed at Philadelphia, throws new light upon the
general question. From this work it appears that
the first boat propelled by steam in this country,
and probably in the world, was a small skiE, con-
structed by John Fitch, at Philadelphia, in July,
l7S6. He experimental upon the various forms
of propulsion, the screw, endless-chain, side
wheels, SC, and finally attained a speed of seven
miles IN DOuT, Will InlS steam skill. Inc DeXb
year, August, 1877, Fitch tried his second steam
boat on the Delaware, in the presence of many
members of the Convention to frame the Federal
ton. and received certificates of his success
from Gov. Randolph, of Virginia, David Ritten-
house, and many others. This boat was ~forty-fve
feet in length, with an engine of twelve inch cyl
inder. ,,,,.. -
About this time o steamboat company was or
ganized at Philadelphia, for which Fitch construct
ed his third ste amer-a boat about sixty feet long
and eight feet beam. This boat made a trip in
July, 17SS. from Philadelphia to Burlington, q dis.
lance Of twenty miles. In October, of tho same
year, it made the trip to Burlington in three
hours and ten minutes carrying thirty passengers.
The same boat made several other trips in that and
the following years but its speed did not satisfy
the Company, and in 1889 they built another, with
an eighteen-inch cylinder, and after sundry I'M
proven ents, the beat attained a speed Of eight
miles an hour, in April 1870. The same year the
steamer made regular trips, advertised in the city
papers, to Trenton, Burlington, Wilmington and
Gray's Ferry. Twenty-three of these advertise
ments have been found, giving information of thir-
tyrone trips. Several persons are still living who
were passengers on this boat. Among these is
Com. Charles Stewart, Of the United States Navy.
The enterprise did not pay, and the company
lost their interest in the project while Fitch was
building for them his fifth boat, the Perseverance,
designed for the navigation Of the Mississippi
Thus abandoned, without funds to realize his hores
he was compelled to retire from the field. He
seems to have done nothing afterwards, except to
experiment in a small way at Bardstown, Ken
lucky. W. -il3
In the summer of 1874. Samuel Morey, Of Con-
n%ecticut, made a trip in a stern-wheel steamer,
built by himself from Hartford to New York city,
with a speed of five miles an hour, Chancellor,
Livingston, and other distinguished men, wen,
aboard this steamer at New York, and made q
short excursion. Morey also built another boat at
Bordentown, New Jersey, in 1898, q side-whee
steamer, with which he made a trip to Phiiadel
phia.
In the year 1907, Fulton moored his first steam
rersthe Ciermont, on the Hudson. Eleven steam
Aers, atleast, had been constructed before this, SOM
of which would probably not suffer in comparison
with the Ciesmont, but at that time, none wert
running. He had the advantage of all preceding
experiments, and made his Loaf a side-whee
steamer, similar to that Of Morey, on the Delaware
baeThe Clermont entered upon a course of trips be-
stween New York and Albany, making the passage
each way in ~thirty-six to forty hours. From this
time on, steam navigation suffered no intermissioni
and hence, Fulton, the last experimenter, has
borne off all the honors, instead of his fair pre-
portion. a9
- Steamboat racing was introduced soon after the
establishment Of Fulton's line, and has kept
even pace with steam navigation. The first race,
probably that ever transpired, is thus described by
Prot. Renwick, Of Columbia College, in a paper
read before the New York Historical Society. and
published in the Historical Magazine, August,
1858: qsrtre ,srus
"In the month Of September, 1909, was a par
taker in the exciting scene then first enacted. Of a
steamboat race. A company at Albany had been
formed for the purpose Of competing with Fulton.