



f''*)'^ 



CoxTEMPORARV \'iEVV OF Fulton's Steamboat. 1 hc .Xortfi Riui-r (popularly known as the (.Ucrmontj passing 

 West Point, showing the vessel as rebuilt in 1807-08 with figurehead, wheelboxes, and leeboards. From a 

 lithograph by F. Berthaux, Dijon, of a work attributed to Saint-Memin. {Photo courtesy of Xew Tork Public 

 Library.) 



on steamboat navigation that gave them time to 

 perfect their boat and its operation without financial 

 trouble. Apparently Fulton had intended his boat 

 for operation on the Mississippi, and although he 

 later began operations there, the more profitable 

 opportunity for the boat in New York waters diverted 

 him at the time from any western navigation. 



The e.xact dimensions of the boat as first built are 

 unknown; one report gives her dimensions as 133 

 feet long, \6]i feet beam, and 7 feet deep. She was 

 apparently a "Durham boat"; this type was used, 

 with some variations in detail, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, 

 and New York for inland water navigation under 

 oars and sail — having a long, narrow, shoal, flat- 

 bottomed hull with little sheer, the bottom straight 

 or nearly so fore-and-aft and flat athwartships, the 



sides somewhat flaring and sometimes curved verti- 

 cally, the bilges angular, with chines, or very slightly 

 rounded, and the stem and post raking, the stem 

 sometimes having the same curve as the side frames. 

 This form of hull was called a "praam" in some parts 

 of Europe and was widely used there for craft oper- 

 ating in shallow water. When rebuilt in 1807-08 

 Fulton's vessel measured 149 feet between perpen- 

 diculars, 17 feet 11 inches beam, and 7 feet depth of 

 hold. She does not appear ever to have been named 

 Clermont; originally known as "The North River 

 Steamboat of Clermont" she was registered after 

 her rebuilding as the North River. 



The model of this vessel in the Watercraft Collec- 

 tion was reconstructed for the Hudson-Fulton Cele- 

 bration of 1907. 



Ill 



