The second Fulton steamer, the Raritan, was built 

 in 1808 by Charles Brown of New York after Fulton's 

 design; a plan of this vessel has survived and shows 

 that the Durham boat hull form was retained in her. 

 The plan of the Rarilan in Griffiths" Marine and jYaval 

 Architecture shows a flat-bottomed hull ha\ing' a stem 

 curxed in profile, raking post, no rocker in the bottom, 

 slight sheer, short and rather full entrance, and a 

 short nm. The stern is square and has the same 

 type of platform used in the North River. The side 

 frames amidships are straight vertically and the 

 sides flare markedly. The crude plan shows that 

 the side paddle wheels were housed and placed well 

 forward and that the hull was trussed in way of the 

 engine and boiler. The vessel was about 124 feet 

 overall and 21 feet beam at the gimwale, and about 

 5 feet 6 inches headroom was allowed in the cabins. 

 The wheels were about 15 feet in diameter and the 

 paddles were about 3 feet 9 inches wide. (Custom- 

 house dimensions: 124' .\ 21' x 6'8", 16393^5 tons, 

 eagle figurehead, round tuck, square stern, no 

 galleries.) 



She was followed by the Car of Neptune, of 295 tons, 

 157 feet long on the bottom, 171 feet 6 inches on deck, 

 22 feet beam on the bottom, and 26 feet on deck. 

 This vessel was built in 1808 by Brown, who also 

 Ijuilt the Fulton-designed Paragon, of 331 tons, in 1811. 

 Another steamer, the Firefly, was built in 1812, as was a 

 ferryboat of 118 tons, with ramps at each end. 



Fulton also designed and supervised construction of 

 the first steam man-of-war for the United States 

 Navy, a catamaran with the paddle wheel between 

 the hulls, 156 feet long, 56 feet beam and 20 feet deep. 

 The paddle wheel was 16 feet diameter and the blades 

 were 12 feet wide. The ship made 5'i miles per hour. 

 Wood \vas used for fuel in these boats; the first known 

 use of coal was in the Car oj Neptune in 1816. 



After Fulton's \essels had demonstrated the steam- 

 boat to be practical, a large number of steamers were 

 built in the United States. Fulton's monopoly in 

 New York did not last long, and his patents were 

 worthless, so there were soon competitors. Speed in 

 steamboats was important very early; the first race 

 between steamers on the Hudson occurred in 1809. 

 The first boats were all relatively narrow for their 

 length but soon the beam was increased and the ends 

 sharpened, to give a more easily driven form. 



All the early American steamers were built for use 

 in rivers or in relatively protected waters such as 

 Long Island Sound. Delaware Bay, and the Chesa- 

 peake, the greatest number being built for river 

 service. By 1832 Hudson River steamers were 

 being built in lengths between 250 and 272 feet, with 

 beam between 22 and 26 feet. Robert L. Stevens 

 took much interest in the Hudson River steamers 

 and through his experiments the models were much 

 improved. In 1836 vessels for Long Island Sound 

 were as large as 212 feet 6 inches long and 27 feet 10 





Rigged Model (USNM 309409) 

 of a reconstruction of Robert Ful- 

 ton's \orth River, commonly called 

 the Clermont. The reconstruction 

 was built for the Hudson-Fulton 

 Celebration of 1909. For a view 

 forward, see p. 126. (Smithsonian 

 plwto 44g57-a.) 



112 



