Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1909-10-29
MoREY rAE lNvENroR.
Charges Made that His Plans Were
stolen for FuIton,s steamboat.

Charges Made that His Plans Were
stolen for Fulton's steamboat
The Boston Journal Is making an effort
to prove that Robert Fulton was not the
inventor OF the steamboat, but that the
honor belongs to Capt Samuel Morey,
plain Vermont farmer In the course of
an article on the subject the Journal
makes the following quotations from the
Concord, N. H., Patriot Of March &c. 1888.
| evidence now in the hands of inter-
| ested parties, shows conclusively that the
plans of Robert Fulton's boat were stolen
| from Mr. Morey, and that the boat then
in use by Mr. Morey was scuttled and
sunk in the pond at Fairee, vt. where it
now lies by Fultons emissaries."
The Journal, which may have over
| looked the fact that the committee in
charge of the Hudson Fulton celebration
| in New York does not claim that Fulton
was the first man to launch a steam
propelled craft, but merely that he is the
| first to make 1t a commercial success,
says:
almost coinoldent with the great Hud-
son river celebration in honor of Robert
| Fulton, evidence tending to show that he
was not the real inventor Of the steam
| boat, though extolled as such, comes to
| the Journal from those believing fully in
the claims of Capt. Samuel Mercy,
plain farmer whose home was in Fairlee,
VT, that his little steamboat, the Aunt
Sally, was built and put into operation on
the Connecticut river in 1888, IA years
before Fultons famous Clermont ever wet
her hull in the Hudson.
THAT the Clermont indeed was merely
an enlarged duplicate of Morey's tiny
| craft is the contention of his supporters,
who further declare that his plans were
| stolen from him after he had gone to New
York at the bidding of Fulton and other
scientists of the time, and shown his
model.
For many years has the Vermont in
ventor lain almost unremembered in
country churchyard, but the merits of his
claims have now fresh significance in the
light of the great honor that this and
| other nations have just been paying
Fulton in New York. The Clermont made
its trial trip up the Hudson in 1907, as
the histories tell but from number of
sources facts have been brought to light
to prove that one Sabbath day in 1793-or
it may have been 1792-Captain Morey
was seen making his way up the Con-
necticut river at a point between the
little settlements of Fairlee, VT, and
Oxford, N. H., in an odd-lool1ing steam
craft, which successfully prevailed against
the current at a speed Of about four
miles an hour. Gray headed Vermonters
tell today of having heard their fathers
describe the establishment and incredulfty
that prevailed along the river at the sight
Rev Cyrus Manu. a son of one of the
original settlers, writing of the incident
some time before his death, stated that in
his boyhood he witnessed this trip of the
Aunt Sally, a little boat as he described
It, just large enough to contain it's one
passenger, the rude machinery connected
with the small boiler and a handful of
wood for fire.
Satisfied as to the practicability of his
invention, Captain Morey set about to
secure a patent That he went to New
Wnrsy ov,1 4 ,t,J lit, Al,
leading scientists there is shown by a
letter written by Capt Mercy himself in
1918 to William A. Deur, a prominent
member of the New York legislature.
This letter was called forth in connection
with the grant of exclusive right to navi-
gate the waters of New York. 1t was
published in the Grafton County Register,
printed al Havernill N. H., Jan 2S 1887.
After stating that as nearly as he
| could recollect 1t was as early as 1893 that
he turned his attention to improving the
steam engine and applying it to the pur-
pose Of propelling boats. Captain Morey
refers to his first experiments on the Con-
necticut and then says: Having made
sundry improvements in the engine went
to New York and applied the power to a
wheel in the stern, by which the boat was
impelled at the rate of about five miles
an aa,, hour INVITED invited the attention 4 Chan.
Livingston, Edward Di4lREztnb Mr..
Stevens and others went with me- In the
boat from the Ferry as far as Greenwich
and back, and they expressed great salts
faction at her performance and with the
engine
Refused $1,000 offer.
According to Captain Morey, Fulton
and Livingston suggested changes in the
arrangement of the machinery and the
paddewheels, which he effected. Living
ston offered him $1,000 for the patent right
on the North River and to Amboy but he
refused it. In June 1897, at Bordentown
on the Delaware, he built a steamboat
propelled by two wheels, one on each side.
The shaft he wrote ran across the boat,
with crank in the middle, worked from
the beam of the engine with a shackle
bed $50 called) which mode is in prin-
ciple the same as that now used in the
large steamboats,, The boat was openly
exhibited in Philadelphia.
DR.. b. Allison writing from Washing
ton in 1799 corroborates Capt. Morey
concerning the exhibition at Bordentown
and adds, 1t was only for want of public
funds that we did not then bring the boat
into public use.
Capt Morey received patents for the
application of steam to propel boats In
1895, 1899 and 1900. The original (1795)
is In possession of the New Hampshire
Historical Society in Concord On Marcel
16, 1888, the People and Patriot of Con.
cord printed list of resolutions from the
Vermont Historical Society urging the
erection of monument to Capt Morey
as the rightful inventor of steam naviga'
ton.
THE boat was sunk between 1920 ant
1925, by filling it with stones in abou
eighteen feet of water on a soft bottom
in the midst of very dense pickerel grass
The sudden GOODNESS exhibited TOWARD
Capt Morey by Fulton and Livingston
after they had seen his plans worked ou
haunted his thoughts ever after. He
most bitterly blamed Fulton for secretly
depriving him of his rights Capt. Morey
was native of Connecticut The orr
ginal model of his first steamboat is IL
the possession OF Mrs. Kibbey, Lake
Morey or was for years"