On December 24, 1813, Robert Fulton invited a 



group of friends prominen xcl -. professional 



men and naval officers to Ins home in New York 

 Cit) ind there presented .1 pioposal for a p|-i»j>-i 1 "I 

 t;rc. it local interest. At that time the War of 1812 



was in us second yeai and the economic effet 1 oi the 

 Biiiish naval blockade w is being felt severely. The 

 blockade cut off seaborne trade and posed a constant 

 threat of attack upon Nev\ York and other important 

 poits, particularl) Baltimore. To defend the ports, 

 it had been proposed to build mobile floating bat- 

 teries or heavily built and armed hulks with small 

 sailing rigs, but the high cost ol these tnd then 

 doubtful value in helping to break the blockade, 

 compared to the value ami action of a very heavy, 

 large frigate, or a 74-gun ship, caused authorities 

 to hesitate to proceed with the construction of any 

 blockships or floating batteries. 



Fulton's proposal concerned 1 floating batter) 

 propelled b) steam power, lie believed that sic, 1111 

 propulsion not only would give it effective maneu- 

 verability with no loss of gunpower, but also would 

 allow a successful attack upon the Royal Navy blot k- 

 ading ships during periods of protracted calm, win,, 

 Sailing men-of-war were nearly helpless. The block- 

 aders then could he attacked and picked off, one by 

 one. In the heavil) aimed steamboat. 



Among those present at the meeting was Major 

 General Henry Dearborn, a leading citizen and 

 soldier who was later to become noted in American 

 political history. The first step taken during this 

 meeting was the founding of the ('oast and Harbor 

 Defense Company with 1 (earborn as president, Fulton 

 as engineer, and Thomas Morris as secretary, . Next, a 

 committee was established to raise funds from federal. 



State, and New York Cit) governments as well as 

 from individual contributors to build the battel \. 

 The members of this committee consisted of General 



Figure 2. — "Demologos," \ wood engraving based 

 cm the sketch which Robert Fulton showed to 

 President Madison in 1813. This wood engra\ 

 ing appears as plate 1 in Charles B. Stuart's 

 Naval and Mail Steamers of the I 'nit, . S 

 illustrates the section on Naval Steamers, from which 



die .hiuiini '[he Demoloyns; oi\ f'ulton the 

 First," is here reproduced (pp. 167-171). Smart 

 obtained the skett h. assumed to have been made for 

 Fulton's patent on the design ol the Steam Battery, 

 from the files of die I ,S. Nav) Department. 



Dearborn, • ommodore Stephen Decatur, I .S.N.; 

 General Morgan Lewis; Commodore Jacob | 

 l ,S.N ; Noah Brown, shipbuilder; Samuel I.. 

 Mm lull: I lenry Rutgers; and I homas Morris. 



The committee proved cumbersome and was re- 

 duced to General Lewis, tssai Branson, Henr) 

 Rutgers, Nathan Sanford, rhomas Morris, Olivei 



WolCOtt, and John Jacob \ tor. Known as the 



Coast Defense Society and with the name ,,1 /•. 

 given the ship in prospectus, the) attempted, un- 

 successful!) , to l .use funds pi i\ atel) . 



I he estimated sums |o biul.l .1 I, .ill, 1 \ ] ', 



long, with a 50-foot beam, 1 apableoi a speed ol 5 mph, 

 and carrying 24 long guns 18-pdr.), was 5110,000. 

 Fulton, still the chiei engineer, in an effort to ii 



id' bil'i.:! Govei niiieiu. built odel ol die pin- 



posed vessel ami submitted it to s e prominent 



naval officers 1 om Ion Stephen Decatur, Jacob 



Jones. James Biddle, Si tel Evans, Olivet I 



Samuel Warrington, and Jacob Lewis. All gave 

 their support to the Society in a written statement 

 and this recommendation proved helpful to the 

 project in < ongress and in the Navy Department. 

 In the process of passing a bill which went to the 

 Senate Naval A (fairs Committee calling foi 5250,000 

 for the construction of the floating battery, the sum 

 was raised to 51,500,000 for the construction of 



"one or more" floating batteries and passed on 



Man h 9, 181 I 



To supers ise the start of construction, the ( oasl 

 Defense Societ) appointed a committee consisting of 

 Dearborn, Wolcott, Morris. Mitchill, and Rutgers, 

 with Fulton as engineer, and a model and drawing 

 ol the proposed vessel was submitted to the Patent 

 Office. The Secretar) of the Navy, although sup- 

 porting the project, delayed action until he had 

 weighed the importance oi the batteries in relation 

 to other war needs, for at this time the naval ship- 

 building program on the Great Lakes was considered 

 of prime importance. He also raised some technical 

 questions concerning the design of the batteries, 

 which Fulton answered wiih .1 description ol thi 



vessel as [38 feet on deck. [20 feet on the keel. 55 



feet beam (each hull to have a 20-foot beam and the 



between to be 15 feet wide), draft 8 or 9 



feet loaded, and the intended speed w.i- to 



5 mph. The ship was to carry L' I long gut 



the engine \y.is to be lad hp, and the total 



s'_>( Hi.ot it 1 I,, his letters to the Set retar) ol the Navy, 

 Fulton -rind 1h.1i Adam and Noah Broun would 

 build the hull foi id that he would build 



paper 39: pulton's "steam battery" 



141 



