114- Rq)0)t of the House q/'Cummons o7i Steam-Boats, 



most distinguished rank in the Hst of practical engineers, who 

 have added to the value of the invention. In 1781, he con- 

 structed a steam-boat at Lyons of 140 feet in length ; and vv'ith 

 this he made several successful experiments on the River 

 Soane. In 1795, Lord Stanhope constructed a boat to be 

 moved by steam. In 1801 Mr. Symington tried a boat that 

 was propelled by steam on the Forth and Clyde navigation.. 

 Still no practical uses resulted from any of these attempts. It 

 was not till the year 1807, when the Americans began to use 

 steam-boats on their rivers, that their safety and utility were 

 first proved. But the whole merit of constructing these boats is 

 due to natives of Great Britain ; Mr. Henry Bell, of Glasgow,. 

 gave the first model of them to Mr. Fulton, and went over 

 to America to assist him in establishing them ; and Mr. Ful- 

 ton got the engines he used in his first steam-bcat on the Hud- 

 son river from Messrs. Boulton and Watt*. Steam navigation 

 .seems to have made great progress from this tim.e in America. 

 It appears from the Report of the Select Committee of the 

 Session of 181 7 f, on this subject, that there were then seven- 

 teen large steam-boats in constant employment on the Ameri- 

 can rivers, besides ferry-boats 1 ; a list of steam-boats has been 

 published by Mr. Robinson, that shows that on the Mississippi 

 alone, the tonnage of those in work at present, amounts to 

 7,259 tons, and of those building to 5,995 tons. There are 

 now, in all, about 300 steam-boats in use in America. 



Mr. Bell continued to turn his talents to the .improving of 

 steam apparatus, and its application in various manufactures 

 about Glasgow; and in 1811 constructed the Comet steam- 

 boat, of twenty-five tons, with an engine of four-horse power, 

 to navigate the Clyde between Glasgov/ and the Helensburgh 

 Baths, establi.slied by him on an extensive scale. The success 

 of this experiment led to the constructuig of several steam- 

 boats, by other persons, of larger dimensions and with greater 

 steam.ing power : these having superseded Mr. Bell's small boat 

 in the Clyde, it was enlarged, and established as a regular 

 packet between Glasgow and the western end of the Cale- 

 donian canal at Fort William, by way of the Crinan canal in 

 Argyleshire. Mr. Bell about the same time constructed the 

 Stirling Castle steam-boat, and employed her on the river 

 Forth, between Leilh and Stirling; he afterwards took her to 

 Inverness, where she has been for two years plying between 

 that town and Fort Augustus, going seven miles by the Cale- 

 donian canal, and twenty-three miles along Loch Ness. INIany 

 other boats were successfully established about this time on 



* See Mr. Watt's Letter, p. 210 of the Evidence annexed to the Report. 

 f Sec Evidence of Mr. Seth Kiint. % ^^'^ Partington, p fi/. 



