Life of John Fitch - Chapter 17 New Machinery Imperfection of the Work Destitution of Fitch The Packet, Passenger, and Freight Steam-Boat of 1790

This vessel was made of eight­pound sheets of copper. Fitch at once perceived that such a thin material would be unable to resist the pressure to which it would be subjected. He earnestly begged that eighteen­pound sheets should be used. His appeal was disregarded. The flimsy material was adopted, and at the first trial the condenser " crushed in like an eggshell." A stronger vessel, on the same principle, (Thornton's,) was ordered, and in the meanwhile the engine vas tried faith the old Hall condenser. The boat moved along tolerably well, - as swiftly as it did in the previous summer, - but not with the speed which those concerned desired to obtain. In the meanwhile, an important change had taken place in the political relations of the independent members of the Confederacy of States. The Federal Constitution had been adopted, and the new Congress, having powers far more extensive than was possessed under the Confederation,had assembled at the city of New York on the 6th of April, 1789. Scarcely had the new President been sworn into office, before Congress was besought by authors and inventors to grant to them exclusive rights. David Ramsay, of South Carolina, the historian, asked for a copyright for his writings. John Churchman wished protection for the maps and charts for discovering the latitude and longitude by magnetic variation, which he was about to publish. Alexander Lewis, of Pennsylvania, had an invention for navigating boats of twenty­five tons and under against rapid streams. Arthur Greer had a machine to discover the longitude. Jedediah Morse wished a copyright for the "American Geography;" and on the 13th of May, John Fitch besought an interposition in his favor, as appears by the following record:

Wednesday, May13, 1789. - The Petition of John Fitch, of Pennsylvania, was presented, stating that he is the original discoverer of the principle of applying steam power to the purposes of navigation, and has obtained an exclusive right therefore, for a term of years, in the states of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and praying that his rights may be secured to him by law, so as to preclude subsequent improvers on his principles from participating therein until the expiration of his granted right. Referred to a committee, consisting of Messrs. Huntington, Cadwalader, and Contee, to report thereon.

The result of the deliberations of the Committee upon all the petitions before them, was the preparation of a bill "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries," which was received and read in the House of Representatives for the first time on the 23d of June. It was not acted upon and was postponed on the 10th of August until the next session.

Whilst the spirit of Fitch was harassed by these delays and constant failures, Voight, out of pity, came to his aid. Thornton's condenser was at length finished and applied. "The boat carried on cleverly, but did not exceed the performance of the preceding summer, with the twelve inch cylinder." Representations were made to the Company in reference to the matter, and the shareholders authorized new experiments. Voight had invented a plan of a pipe condenser. This was tried, but with no better success. These alterations took 3 great deal of time, and wearied out the patience of all concerned, beside occasioning a serious waste of money. Fitch became dispirited, and yielded the management to Voight, whilst he rather occupied the position of a spectator. Voight invented a curious forcing pump, to throw a jet of water into the condenser. The construction of this pump was an expensive and tedious piece of business, which procrastinated the work. When it was finished, the performance of the boat was not a whit better. Puzzled and despairing at the constant failures, no matter what changes were made in the condenser, Voight and Fitch - for the latter was again active - began to surmise that the difficulty lay in some other part of the machinery. The air­pump it was previously thought was not of sufficient power, and accordingly an effort was made to improve it by enlarging it. This " brought the engine pretty nearly to perfection." It was tried again, " and did pretty well, but the condensation was imperfect." A day was set to give the engine something like a fair trial. Fire was placed under the boiler early in the morning, and steam was made. Bat there arose a tremendous gale, against which even steam did not then dare to contend. The fire was quenched, as it was thought, but it was not entirely extinguished; some cinders remained. They ignited the wood­work, and before morning holes were burned in the boat to the water's edge on each side of the grate or furnace. Fitch was apprised of the accident in the night; and hastening to the Delaware, he succeeded in sinking the boat and extinguishing the fire. Nothing daunted, the Company set to work to raise her again. The injuries were repaired, and the steam­boat, being tried, was found to go very well, but not fast enough for a river packet. These experiments were made in December, 1789. The cold weather now approaching, the boat was laid up; and the excitement attending it being suspended, the enthusiastic schemer had some time to attend to his own affairs. His situation was truly affecting. His clothes were nearly worn out, he was in rags, and largely in debt for board. He went to Bucks County in January, and remained there ten days. On his return, Mrs. Krafft, who kept an inn at No. 469 North Second Street, again received the beggared genius, and permitted him to remain until his means would allow him to pay her. He had boarded there for some two years previous, and probably remained there while in Philadelphia. In Biddle's Directory for 1791, which was not published until some time in May, we find the following entry:

In the same book is the following:

" VOIGHT, Henry, Clock maker, 149 No. Second St."

During the winter of 1789­90, Dr. Thornton, Mr. Wells, and Mr. Stockton resolved to have the boilers of the boat altered. This improvement it was estimated would cost 50 pounds. It is presumed that Voight's pipe­boiler did not work well. There was some objection on the part of Fitch, upon account of the expense; but he was overruled, and the improvement was finally settled upon without other modifications. John Brown made the grate, and probably Jacob Graff did the most of the work upon the boiler.

At the session of Congress in 1790, the subject of inventions and inventors was brought to the attention of the members by a petition from John Stevens, Jr., of New Jersey, praying that exclusive privileges should be granted to him for improvements on the steam engine, which he had made by a new mode of generating steam. This memorial was referred, on the 8th of February, to a Committee, consisting of Messrs. Burke, Huntington, and Cadwalader. On the 16th,

Mr. Burke presented a bill " to promote the progress of useful arts." On the 10th of March, that bill passed the House and was sent to the Senate. Fitch who was watchful, did not like some of its features, and he remonstrated against it to the Senate.

March 22, 1790. - The Petition of John Fitch was read, praying that a clause providing for a trial by Jury might be inserted in the bill before Congress " to promote the progress of useful arts "

Ordered, that the Petition be referred to the committee who have under consideration the last mentioned bill.

A report, with a bill, (not according to Fitch's request, however,) was presented shortly afterward. It was passed March 30th, and signed by the President April 10th, 1790. And thus commenced the patent law

system of the United States; which, in consequence of the ingenuity of our countrymen, has become one of the most important jurisdictions of the Government.

In the spring of 1790, the Steam­boat Company began to put the works on board, some of which had been taken out when the boat was laid up in the previous winter. The alterations to the boiler were also in progress. The pleasant prosecution of the business was prevented by recriminations and quarrelsome scenes between Fitch and some of the Directors. His temper was soured, and he was irritable and insulting. In reference to these defects, he himself confessed his weakness. He said,

"My temper of mind being 80 different from any man that I ever saw before caused me many new difficulties.. My natural disposition I find to be truly this, which I have experienced several tines in the course of my life; it seems to be a part of my existence and I cannot overcome it: When in easy circumstances modest to excess and put up with almost any indignities and resent them no other way than by a familiar levity; but when in wretchedness, haughty, imperious, insolent to my superiors tending to petulance; yet exceedingly Civil in both instances till indignities are first offered to me; and the greater the man the more sweet pleasure in retorting upon him in his own way; and a man in this disposition to be in low circumstance, can never get through the world easy."

The cause of dispute at this time was in reference to the propriety of getting a new condenser. The Directors ordered a new one to be made, twice as large as any which had previously been tried. To this Fitch was Opposed. The new article was finished, however, and placed in the " condensing­tub," which had to be enlarged

to hold it. Preparations were made to try the boat by Easter Monday. The engine would not work with any degree of force, and the little vessel scarcely stemmed the tide. Dr. Thornton was much discouraged. Already seven condensers had been tried, of different sorts and sizes, and all had failed. The five small ones were the most successful. That of 1787, a pipe­condenser without injection, was the best. Fitch, as usual when he desired to carry out any point, resorted to his pen, and placed his ideas upon paper. He declared that the defect so long observable in the manner in which the boat worked, the cause of which had so long puzzled them, could not be in the cylinder, air­pump, or boiler; but must be in the condenser. In regard to the latter, he made the following observations:

"The principle which I have urged for several years, and which I think we ought now to attend to, is the point of Condensation; and if possible, bring the steam precisely to the valve of the air pump, which should drive the air before it thro the valve, and condense the steam before it passes; but if a small quantity of steam should pass the valve, I conceive no great inconvenience from it; for when our Engine worked its best, in the year 1787, Mr. Voigt frequently said that v e wanted a better condensation, for our air pumps drew steam.

" Thornton's Condensor is undoubtedly one of the best calculated to condense without a jet of Water; but I conceive the difficulty of getting rid of the air is insurmountable. Suppose a Condenser to be made on his plan, as represented by Figure 1. Suppose A to be the cylinder, B the Condenser, C the Air Pump. When the steam is let out of the Great Cylinder to the Condenser, I expect that the steam is destroyed by the time that it arrives at e; then the space between e and the valve of the air pump, A, must be filled with air. As soon as the steam is de destroyed the air expands, and occupies all the space from h to g in the great

Cylinder. The great Cylinder, being hot, expands the air, and opposes the piston nearly equal to Common air; and when it is drove back again by the steam to the Cold Condensor, it becomes nearly equal to common air in density, and skulks into the bottom of the Condensor for security, Here it cannot be dislodged until the steam is destroyed, when it rushes out and does the same injury again; which Condensor leaves such a stronghold for it to fly to that it can never be expelled by steam; consequently we have always nearly an atmosphere to contend with.

"Suppose we were to Condense our steam byletting it run through a tube in common air; that tube must be of great length, and the point of Condensation would be very unequal; and if it did not arrive at the extreme end, where the air pumps should be fixed, the air which should not be expelled would return again, expand with the heat, and have a pernitious tendency in proportion to its quantity.

" But by letting a tube run through the Water, would bring it to a more nice point; but as the Water would be sometimes cooler and sometimes Warmer, it cannot be brought to so nice a point as by an injection; and the smaller that the Condensor

is, I believe the more perfect the vacuum can be made, provided the steam cat be destroyed in time.

But suppose our Condensors of one straight tube, as Fig 2. Suppose A to be the Cylinder. B the Condenser, and C the air pump; when the steam rushed out of the Great Cylinder to the condenser, I think probably it avoid arrive to the valve of the Air Pump, and drive the air before it thro the valve, as on its first arrival it would check the injection; If not, the quantity of air remaining would be inconsiderable to what would be in a large Condensor; consequently, less capable of in luring us, and much more perfect vacuum formed."

This paper was shown to some of the Company, and they agreed to try the thing. Another condenser was ordered, and this, with other alterations, seems to have secured the long­sought result.

On Monday, the 12th of April, the machinery was tried; and it worked so forcibly that a pully was broken. They were compelled to come to anchor. A strong north­west wind was blowing. Several sailboats passed them, but refused any help, jeering, at the same time, at their misfortune. There was now some hope of success; and a new and stronger pully having been procured, the adventurers made a trial which was glorious in its consequences. In the simplicity and exultation of his heart, Fitch thus exclaims in his journal:

" On the 16th of April, [1790,] got our work completed, and tried our Boat again; and altho the wind blew very fresh at the north east, we reigned Lord High Admirals of the Delaware, and no boat in the River could hold its way with us, but all fell astern, although several sail boats, which were very light, and heavy sails, that brought their gunwales well down to the water, came out to try us. We also passed many boats with oars, and strong manned, and no loading, and [they] seemed to stand still when we passed them. We also run round a vessel that was beating to windward in about two miles, which had half a mile start of us, and came in without any of our works failing."

The next day eras appointed to make a trip with members of the company. The wind blew very strong, and none came but Dr. Benjamin Say. They ventured out in the stream, and found that they could work very well. Before the wind they went "amazingly swift," and they returned well pleased, and with an idea that their troubles were nearly at an end. A short time afterward, David Rittenhouse and Dr. Robert Patterson were taken on a four mile trip and returned, and subsequently, Dr. Ewing, General James Irvine, and Mr. Gray, were favored with the novelty of a steam voyage.

In the joy of his heart at this happy consummation, Fitch exclaims,

"Thus has been effected, by little Johnny Fitch and Harry Voight, one of the greatest and most useful arts that has ever been introduced into the world; and although the world and my country does not thank me for it, yet it gives me heartfelt satisfaction."

For the first time since these persevering experiments commenced, the public journals condescended to notice their progress. The following paragraph, published in the Gazette of the United States, May I5, was republished generally throughout the Union, in newspapers and magazines:

" BURLINGTON, MAY 11, 1790.

" The friends of science and the liberal arts will be gratified in hearing that we were favored, on Sunday last, with a visit from the ingenious Mr. Fitch, accompanied by several gentlemen of taste and knowledge in mechanics, in a steamboat constructed on an improved plan. From these gentlemen we learn that they came from Philadelphia in three hours and a quarter, with a head wind, the tide in their favour. On their return, by accurate observations, they proceeded down the river at the rate of upwards of seven miles an hour."

On the 16th of June, Governor Thomas Mifflin and Messrs. Samuel Miles, Zebulon Potts, Amos Gregg, Christopher Kucher, Frederick Watts, Abraham Smith, William Findlay, John Hartzell, and Charles Biddle, of the Council, were on board, and took a trip. They were highly pleased, and authorized Fitch to get a suit of colors at their expense. This was done. The bill amounted to 5 pounds 6s. 11d. There had been no flags on the steamboat before, and Fitch, naturally anxious for the éclat which such a gift would occasion, desired that it should be presented in form. The Governor and Council were tool shrewd politicians thus publicly to commit themselves in favor of a scheme which had been the subject of popular derision for four years. Mr. Biddle, the Secretary, informed the inventor that the flags were given by private subscription among the members of the council, and not officially.

­ Dr. Thornton stated that these flags were afterward taken to

France by Fitch, and presented to the National Convention. A paragraph which has been printed in the American newspapers recently declares that they are in the Patent Office at Washington. This allegation we have been unable to verify.

The boat was now ready for active service, but it vas necessary to make some accommodation for passengers. Dr. Thornton wanted the cabin high, and stately. Fitch feared that such a structure would catch the wind, and prove an obstacle to the progress of the boat. There was a dispute about it, which finally resulted in the vanquishment of the projector and the triumph of his adversary.

It was probably about this time that the experiment took place which seas described by Dr. Thornton in 1810:

"The day was appointed, and the experiment made in the following manner: A mile was measured in Front street, or Water street, Philadelphia, and the bounds projected at right angles, as exactly as could be, to the wharves, where a flag was placed at each end, and also a stop watch. The boat eras ordered under way at dead water, or when the tide was found to be without movement. As the boat passed one hag it was struck, and at the same instant the watches were set off; as the boat reached the other flag it was also struck, and the watches instantly stopped. Every precaution was taken before witnesses; the time was shown to all, the experiment declared to be fairly made, and the Boat was found to go at the rate of Eight miles an hour, or one mile within the eighth of an hour; on which the shares were signed over with great satisfaction by the rest of the Company. It afterwards went eighty miles in a day."

The great problem, it was now thought, was demonstrated. The boat was run to Burlington frequently, beating everything which sailed on the Delaware. There were occasional accidents, but they were easily repaired. It is said in the journal that the boat ran as much as five hundred miles between these various accidents; which would give an average of nearly fourteen uninterrupted trips. At this time the steamboat was run as a regular passenger boat. This is substantiated by some remarks in the journal in reference to an article ridiculing the steamboat, which was published in the Franklin Gazette on the 17th of January, 1791. Although this purported to come from a correspondent, it was thought that Benjamin F. Bache, the proprietor of the paper, ought to be held responsible

for it. A certificate of B. F. Bache, in favor of the performance of the boat, dated 16th of June, 1790, was referred to, and the injured party thus proceeds:

" Mr. Bache has taken many trips in the boat, on his own business, to Burlington and other places, without offering us a single sous for the favour; and from such customers, and others like him, we actually run our boat last summer to a disadvantage; but I think it is ungenerous in him to abuse us for it, even if he claims Dr. Franklin's share in Rumsey's steam­boat."

We find further and complete confirmation of the usefulness of the boat in the following advertisements, copied from newspapers published at the time:

is now ready to take passengers, and is intended to set off from Arch street Ferry, in Philadelphia, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

for Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, &Trenton, to return on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Price for passengers, 2/6 to Burlington and Bristol, 3/9 to Bordentown, 5s. to Trenton.

June 14.

Pennsylvania Packet, June 15, 1790. Published also in the Federal Gazette, June 14th, 17th, 19th, 22d, and 24th.

sets out to morrow morning, at ten o'clock, from Arch Street Ferry, in order to take passengers for Bristol, Bordentown, and Trenton, and return next day.

Philad., July 26th, 1790.

Federal Gazette.

sets out from Arch street ferry on Sunday morning, at eight o'clock, for Chester, to return the same day. And on Thursday following, at seven o­Clock, for Wilmington and Christian Bridge.

July 30, 1790.

Federal Gazette.

sets out from Arch Street Ferry on Thursday next, at Seven o Clock, for B Wilmington and Christian Bridge. Aug. 2, 1790. Published also Aug. 4th.

Federal Gazette

THE STEAMBOAT

sets off to morrow morning, from Arch St. Ferry, at 10 o'clock, with passengers for Burlington; and on Sunday, at eight o'clock, for Chester, and to return same days. Aug l1 dtf Pennsylvania Packet, Aug. 11, 1790.

Published in the Federal Gazette, August 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th.

sets off from Arch St. ferry to morrow morning, at seven o'clock, and on Sunday at eight o'clock, with passengers for Burlington, and returns

same days.

August 18th.

  Published on the 19th, 20th, and 21st.

Federal gazette.

sets off this day, from Arch St., at 10 o'clock, for Burlington and Bristol Bordentown & Trenton, and returns to morrow.

Aug. 26, 1790. Pennsylvania Packet.

Published in the Federal Gazette on the 26th, 27th, and 28th.

THE STEAMBOAT sets off from arch st. to morrow for Chester, d; returns same day.

Aug. 28, 1790.

Pennsylvania Packet.

The Steam­boat will set out this morning, at 11 o'clock, for Messrs. Gray's Garden, at a quarter of a dollar for each passenger thither. It will afterward ply between Gray's and middle ferry, at 11d each passenger. To morrow morning, Sunday, it will set off for Burlington at eight o'clock, to return in the afternoon.

Sept. 4, 1790.

Pennsylvania Packet.

Here are no less than twenty­three advertisements, counting all the days of publication, specifying the times at which no less than thirty­one trips would take place, counting each passage from Philadelphia to the place of destination as one. If the steam­boat had done no more than make the passage on the days designated, it would have passed over thirteen hundred and eighty miles

But as the city was small, and the performances of the boat a matter of notoriety, it is quite probable that from June 14th to September 10th, and perhaps for some weeks afterward, the vessel ran steadily. To Trenton was considered thirty miles, to Burlington twenty, to Chester fifteen, to Wilmington thirty. If we average all the trips at twenty­five miles each, the steamboat must have run, before she was laid up, from two thousand to three thousand miles. That the voyages were made without material delays, appears by Fitch's MS. journal. He says that if the safety­valve had not been overloaded by Voight, in defiance of entreaty, there would have been no accident during that summer. " The axle­trees broke twice; there was nothing but these accidents which could not be repaired in a single hour or two." The grate was burnt out, and had to be renewed. They beat " the sailboats on the river, three to one " but their enemies took advantage of every accident to spread reports against the work. " The boat run five hundred miles between these accidents."

The following account of the performances of the boat is found in the New York Magazine for 1790, page 493.

Extract of a letter from

Philadelphia, August 13

" Fitch's steamboat really performs to a charm. It is a pleasure, while one is on board of her in a contrary rind, to observe her superiority over the river shallops, sloops, ships, &c., who, to gain any thing, must make a zigzag course, while this, our new invented vessel, proceeds in a direct line. On Sunday morning she sets off for Chester, and engages to return in the evening - 40 miles. God willing, I intend to be one of the passengers,

were it only to encourage American ingenuity and the fine arts. Fitch is certainly one of the most ingenious creatures alive, and will certainly make his fortune. I am told he is now in contemplation to build a steam vessel on a larger scale, which may be capable of carrying freights and passengers to the West Indies, and even to Europe. One great advantage I can foresee in these voyages, which is, that the steam ship can make progress in a calm, when other vessels must lie motionless. How she would behave in a gale of wind, must be left to experience to determine. Having no sails, masts, or top hamper, to lay too or scud under, it is probable she might at such time be in great Jeopardy."

The trip made to Gray's Ferry, and on the Schuylkill, September 4th, was doubtless that which was witnessed by Rembrandt Peale. Ale gives his recollections in a letter to a member of the Historical Society, dated January 13, 1848. It will be seen that Mr. Peale gives the date of the spring of 1785 as the time when he saw the boat. This was before it was thought of. Mr. Peale has no doubt been deceived in his memory of the time by the lapse of many years: '

" In the spring of 1785, hearing there was something curious to be seen at the floating bridge, on the Schuylkill, at Market street, I eagerly ran to the spot, where I found a few persons collected, anxiously gazing at a shallop at anchor below the bridge, with about twenty persons on board. On the deck was a small furnace, and machinery, connected with a complex crank, projecting over the stern, to give motion to three or four paddles, resembling snow shovels, which hung into the water. When all was ready, and the force of steam was made to act, by means of which I was then ignorant, knowing nothing of the nature of a piston except in a common pump, the paddles began to work

pressing against the water backwards as they rose, and the boat, to my great delight, moved against the tide, without grind or hand; but in a few moments it run aground at an angle of the river, owing to the difficulty of managing the unwieldy rudder, which projected eight or ten feet. It was soon backed off, and proceeded slowly to its destination, at Gray's ferry."

Dr. John Ewing certified that on the 1st day of May, 1790, the steam­boat " went six miles an hour, without wind or tide." David Rittenhouse also made a statement that he was on board the boat on the 4th of May, 1790, when it " was propelled at the full rate of six miles an hour, solely by steam."

General James Irvine, Vice­President of the State of Pennsylvania, corroborated the statement of Dr. Ewing, having been on board the steam­boat at the same timed

Lewis Rue and John Shaffer gave a certificate that on Saturday, the 5th of June, 1790, they left Philadelphia in the steam­boat about four o'clock in the morning, and went to Trenton Landing, and to Lambertville, fifteen miles above Trenton. They returned to Philadelphia by half­past five o'clock in the afternoon. They stopped one hour at Lambertville and other places. The current was against them eight or nine miles before they reached Lambertville. There was a fresh wind against them all the way on their return, and the tide was against them for seven or eight miles before reaching Philadelphia. The space

passed over by the boat in twelve hours and a half was ninety miles, and the speed was, on the average, seven miles and a half an hour. Probably with the tide, on the upward passage, it was nine or ten miles an hour. Contrast this with the performance of Fulton's boat, the Clermont, on the Hudson, seventeen years afterward, which occupied thirty­two hours running time, to go a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, - about four miles and three­quarters an hour, - and how great is the triumph of the original inventor ! " Had they started together, over the same course, at the same time, Fitch's boat would have reached Albany fifty­two miles in advance."' Fitch had an engine manufactured in this country by common blacksmiths, under his own supervision, at a time when the principles and the relative forces of the different parts of the steam engine were almost unknown. Fulton employed an imported engine, built in England, by Bolton and Watt, on their improved principles. Fulton told Dr. Thornton that it was impossible to make a boat to " go more than Jive miles an hour in dead water." He "offered me," said Dr. Thornton, "$150,000, if I would make one that exceeded it. I agreed to his proposal at once, but ha declined to write the terms. Our boat [Fitch's] went at the rate of eight miles an hour, in the presence of witnesses yet [1814] living.2

The following, which was published some time since in the New York Leader, is, without doubt, the letter

in which Fulton's offer was made. The place from which it is dated was Joel Barlow's residence, near Washington:

KALORMA,January 9, 1811

TO DR. THORNTON:

DEAR SIR: - Having an unfortunate bile, and being altogether 80 unwell that I shall probably not be able to go out of the house in a fortnight, I shall be happy to have some conversation with you on your steamboat inventions and experience. Although I do not see by what means a boat containing one hundred tons of merchandise can be driven six miles an hour in still water, yet v hen you assert your perfect confidence in such success, there may be something more in your combinations than I am aware of. As such success would be of infinite national importance, I should feel disposed, on the principles of patriotism, to give the essay every aid, at the same time to make such an arrangement as would secure you ample fortune. To prove your principles by practice, it has occurred to me that one of two things may be done: either that you find some one to join you, with funds, to build the boat, and if you succeed to run six miles an hour in still water, with one hundred tons of merchandise, I vi ll contract to reimburse the cost of the boat, and to give you one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your patent; or, if you can convince me of the success by drawings or demonstrations, I will join you in the expenses and profits. Please to think of this, and have the goodness to let me see or hear from you as soon as possible.

I am, sir, your most obedient,

ROBERT FULTON.

That Fulton was incredulous that as high a rate of speed as six miles an hour, in still Rater, could be attained,

is not strange. He had no right to expect a better performance from the experience which he had with the "Clermont" and the "Car of Neptune." Some months after

after the foregoing letter was written, the latter boat attained, under favorable conditions of tide, a speed of seven miles and two­thirds per hour; which remarkable circumstance was thus chronicled in the Boston Weekly Messenger of November 8th, 1811:

RAPID TRAVELLING !

NEW YORK, OCT. 24.

The steamboat " Car of Neptune," which left this city on Saturday evening last, at five o'clock, arrived at Albany in 20 hours. She returned this morning in 22 hours - equal to 330 miles in 43 hours. Let foreigners, who say we have no talent for improvement, point out where there is any mode of conveyance equal to this! In what country are there so many enjoyments combined in one great polytechnic machine, and mounted with wings, as this, which wafts passengers as by enchantment between the cities of New York and Albany ?

To our countrymen, then, and our arts, let justice be liberally and honestly measured out.