# THE WATER-BOAT, A NEW INVENTION,

Of the greatest importance to the Agricultural and Commercial World.

SIR,

New York, June, 1st, 1812,

THE subscriber, a self-taught engineer, has the honour of making known to you, that he has recently invented an ENGINE, with which he can propel in rivers, canals, or lakes, a boat of from fifty to three hundred feet long; at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles, or more, every twenty-four hours, without using steam, fire, animals, or sails.

Water, weighing, by the force of gravitation only, on a quadruple balance-lever which is used as the prime mover and is armed in a manner peculiar to itself, and entirely new, together with appropriate machinery put in motion by that lever, and ultimately pulling on twenty folding paddles, on each side of the boat, is the sole agent which I employ to propel her; or, in other words, gravitation is the sole power which I make use of. The specification of the patent for the said engine, which I have already secured, and which, with a small model now about to be made, I shall readily show to you and any other person desirous of seeing them, will supply the deficiency of the short sketch just given, and will explain by what natural powers, and by what machines of my invention, I have found the way to raise to a sufficient height, without making my boat top-heavy, the great quantity of water which I consume to propel her, and which water I return to the river, immediately after having used it.

I have been entirely ruined, twenty months since, by the cupidity of Don JOSE GREGORIO QUINTANO, sole judge of St. Augustine, in East-Florida, and by the artful manœuvres of his two accomplices, Don JUAN JOSE de ESTRADA, and Don MANUEL de HITA. I have not been able, since I escaped from their claws and retured here, (seven months ago,) to do any thing for the recovery of my property, owing to my not having found a fit agent to be sent to Spain on that delicate business, and in consequence of the insuperable impediments which I met with in November last, when I was preparing to sail for Cadiz. My object was, to claim in person from the Cortes, the redress, which I know they would have granted me, for the excessive injuries which I and my whole family have received at St. Augustine, for in every instance of that nature, that highly respectable Senate has invariably rendered justice to those who have applied to them for redress.—This circumstance renders it impossible for me to build, as I would wish, a first boat of 100 feet long or thereabout, on the principle just stated, in order to try how far the power of that principle will extend, and to determine precisely what swiftness it will procure to the boat.

The principal object, therefore, of this address, is to make known to you, sit, that if yourself, or any rich house or company which you may be acquainted with, should feel disposed to patronize this invention, by making the advances necessary to utilize it, I will transfer to them one half of my patent right for that discovery, as far as relates

* For a short sketch of the cruel treatment, (worse than that of Frederick to Trenck,) which QUINTANO made me suffer during thirteen months, in a dungeon of the fortress of St. Marcos, in St. Augustine, see the note at the end of this letter.—He took every under-handed measure which he could possibly devise and employ, to procure my death, with a view, in case he could succeed, to gain by it an undisturbed possession of my property, which he had already seized, sent to his house, and turned to his own use.—O Virgil! what a deep and indescribable impression made on my mind, while in my dungeon, the recollection of those immortal lines, in which thou paintest in such vivid colours, the atrocious, horrid crime of Polymnestor, who murders Priam's son, (his brother-in-law,) while his guest, and wholly in his power, solely for the sake of robbing him of his money.

" Fas omne abrumpit, Polydorum obtruncat, et auro

" Vi potitur. QUID NON MORTALIA PECTORA COGIS, . . . . AURI SACRA FAMES?"
I dreamt QUINTANO was the king of Thrace, and I was Polydorus.

Eli Whitney Esq.

to those states and they shall have a right to one half of all the benefits which may be derived from the partial sales of my patent right for such parts of this state as we shall have no boat in, and from the employment of those which we will build, and keep going in this state with the capital of our concern.

The terms which I beg leave to propose, as expected from you, or the company that will contract with me for the above transfer, are the following, to wit:

*First.* To accept my draft at sight for one thousand dollars, after receiving, (under promise of secrecy until the patent is obtained,) a complete and satisfactory description of my principle and machinery, and also an answer to every objection proposed, or to any question made with a view to throw a further light on the subject. If this description does not prove satisfactory, I shall expect nothing. (I say until the patent is obtained, because since it is secured, it would be unwise to take it out, before the engine is ready to go into operation; it would be throwing away the money which could be made during the time thus lost.)

*Second.* To accept my draft at sixty days sight, for three thousand dollars, as soon as I shall have taken out a patent for my said invention, and as soon as a small model, made by my direction, shall have been approved of by you, or by the persons with whom I will be contracting. (N. B. The four thousand dollars comprehended in this article, and in the preceding one, I will reimburse, with interest, in three years, to the person with whom I shall have contracted.)

*Third.* To furnish five thousand dollars, monthly, during forty months, for the purpose of building six boats of different dimensions, to be used for our mutual benefit, some for freight, and some for passengers, in the rivers which are near this City, and in the most suitable places of this state.

*Fourth.* To leave in the concern, and without interest, the capital of two hundred thousand dollars, thus advanced, until the expiration of the term for which the patent shall have been obtained; after which time, the property then in existence, proceeding from the employment of the above capital, shall be sold at vendue, and the proceeds divided equally between us.

*Fifth.* The money produced by the sales of partial rights for using my invention in those states and by the employment of our own boats, shall be divided equally between us, every three months, after having, previously, paid out of it the just demands of the captains, workmen, and other attendants employed in our boats, or for them.

These details, which might, by some persons, be deemed premature, are given here in the first onset, in order to show what means the inventor would wish to find in the house or company who may feel disposed to patronize this invention, and to render it productive. Their object is also to point out, that as they will receive, every three months, the half of the earnings of our boats, in proportion as these are built and put in service, and also the half of the partial sales of my patent right, for other states in the Union, and for other places of this state, (which sales will probably take place soon after our first boat shall have begun to run,) there is every reason to believe that they will have received, for their half, at least one hundred thousand dollars, or more, by the time the latter part of the advances, heretofore specified, shall become due. Should this statement prove true, (and it is highly probable,) the real amount of clear advances made by the contractors would be only 100,000 Dollars, or less, and not 200,000, as might appear from a first perusal of this, if it were taken too hastily, and not sufficiently considered.

The advances mentioned in the third article of these proposals, have been specified in the manner you have seen, not with an idea of asking an advance of 200,000 Dollars, since 100,000 will be full sufficient, but solely with a view to designate the more clearly, by the ultimate division of the property, by equal halves, at the end of the time for which the patent shall have been obtained, what is the sum which the inventor expects from his patron, for the transfer of a half in his patent-right.—Please to observe also, that this sum, instead of coming immediately into my hands, remains in the concern during fourteen years, employed for our mutual advantage, in building the half of our boats.

The inventor hereby obligates himself to give to the concern his time and constant
attendance, without any extra pecuniary emolument whatever, until the two first boats
are built, and have run during one month.

In case of a renewal of my patent in these States, the privileges and emoluments
arising from that renewal, will belong to you and to me, in the same manner as was be-
fore expressed respecting the first term of the patent obtained*.

(* I speak of renewal of patent, as granted to William Whittemore, of Boston, in case I should succeed to obtain such a renewal from Congress, as a special favour, in recompense for important services which I am about to render to the Union, by the new species of harbour-defence which I lately invented, and offered to the honourable the Corporation of this city. Those services, however, it would be improper for me to attempt specifying here, since they have not been rendered as yet; my expectation, however, of their being soon accepted, is strongly encouraged; for, the honourable the Common Council of this city, has, on the eighteenth day of last month, in consequence of the report made to them by the honourable the members of their standing committee of defence, on the subject of my three machines, thought proper to appropriate the money which I requested, to make the models of the same; and I have very great hopes that they will give general satisfaction to my judges; for, every intelligent man, to whom I have explained their action and object, has highly approved of them.)

I strongly hope, also, that the other invention which I lately made for forming, floating, sinking, and either permanently fixing, or taking away at pleasure, stone piers of 120 feet high, of a sexago-conic form, of a basis double of the top in lineal breadth, (consequently quadruple in weight,) for the defence of harbours, and for building high arched bridges in rivers which are deep, and have strong tides, like our East and North rivers, (without sending masons to work below,) will attract the attention of the general and state governments, and will entitle me to some recompense.—The two middle piers here, at the Narrows, and in the North river, near the shores, (as none ought to be put near the middle,) will contain, when completed, nearly fifty-two millions and a half of stone each; and yet I will engage to sink one of them in six weeks, and to take it away again entirely in four, without leaving a pound of stone behind. This I will do, without using any more costly implements than ships' long boats, each of them being provided with the double crane and particular key which I have invented for that express purpose, and without which such piers would cost nearly double the price, although built on the same principle.

Should you, Sir, believe that the pecuniary recompense, which I expect for my inven-
tion, is too great, I will request of you to consider how important it is, and how produc-
tive it can be made; and as comparisons produce reasons, I hope that you will alter
your opinion, when recalling to memory, that Richard Arkwright, (the penny-barber of
Manchester,) received, from the time of his invention to that of his death, in 1792,
half a million sterling for his cotton spinning-jenny; Bolton & Watts, half a million
sterling for their steam-engines, and other inventions; Lawrence Whitney, four hundred
thousand dollars for his upland cotton-gin; William Whittemore, three hundred thou-
sand dollars for his card-making machine; and Robert Fulton, Esq. and his highly
respectable patron, the honourable Robert R. Livingston, an immense sum for their in-
genious steam-boats.—Amongst our great masters of old time, Archimedes, by find-
ing the proportion of the cylinder to the sphere therein contained, by discovering the
nature and application of the three kinds of levers, and by inventing his hydrostatick
balance, his neptun, and his Egyptian wheel (our Noria:) Pythagoras, by finding the
square of the Hypothenuse, and Ctesibius, by the invention of his pump, and of his
Clepsydra, (whence our hour-glasses,) have acquired the incontrovertible right of saying
with Ovid,

*Jamque opus exegi, quod nec Jovis ira, nec ignes,
Nec poterit ferrum, nec edax abolere vetustas.*

The favour of your answer, with whatever modification you may think proper to
suggest, forwarded, as soon as convenient, to the address at foot, will be immediately
attended to, by

Sir,

No. 78, Pearl-street, New-York.

your most obedient servant,

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED, WHOLLY OR IN
PART, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM
THE LIBRARIAN OF YALE UNIVERSITY.

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Photographic Copy Made By</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>JUL 21 1948</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td>Yale University Library</td>
  </tr>
</table>

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