



STEAM-VK 



machinery would be cumbersome in the ship, and, if in a separate 

 TOM til, it might lie at any port to be ready for use, &c. 



The next circumstance* which claim notice in the history of tho 

 invention of steam navigation afford th<> princi|l reaiton* fur attri- 

 buting, as some of their writer* have don.-, the origin of the art to the 

 French. In 1774, the Comte d'Aiixir.>n, a French nobleman of mien- 

 tific attainments, constructed a steam-boat, and tried it op the Seine, 

 near Paris. It appears that the engine had not sufficient power to 

 move the wheels efficiently, an error into which many of the early 

 experimenters fell; and consequently the result was unsatisfactory, 

 and the persons who had united to enable the Comte to construct the 

 machine, abandoned the project In the next year, 1775, the eldest of 

 the ingenious brothers Pencr, who had assisted in d'Auxiron's experi- 

 ment, resumed the attempt, and placed a very imperfect engine, of 

 about one horse power, in a boat on the Seine, connecting the engine 

 with two paddle-wheels. He also laboured under the disadvantage of 

 having too little cngiue-power, and therefore failed to obtain any satis- 

 factory result ; his boat moving but slowly against the current of the 

 Seine. Fortified by the favourable opinion of the Marquis Ducrest, 

 who perceived the cause of his disappointment, " Perier did not," 

 observes Stuart, * altogether abandon the subject ; and in succeeding 

 years he made a few attempts with other propelling mechanism instead 

 of paddle wlit-i'li, which he thought were defective substitutes for oars, 

 and which, in his view, occasioned his failure." He did not, however, 

 accomplish anything important ; nor did his attempts, according to the 

 author just quoted, excite much attention in France, or any at all in 

 England. In an Historical Notice on Steam-Engines, by M. Arago, 

 in the French 'Annuaire' for 1837, it is stated, probably from inad- 

 vertence, that M. Perier was the first to actually construct a steain- 

 vesseL From this paper we learn that trials were made on a larger 

 wale, in 1778, at Baume-les-Dames, by the Marquis de Jouffroy, 

 who, in 1781 or 1782, tried a boat of considerable dimensions upon the 

 Saone, at Lyon. Several English authorities give the dimensions 

 of this boat as 140 feet long and 15 feet broad; but Arago says 

 it was 46 metres long and 44 broad. Colden's ' Life of Fulton,' in an 

 extract from the ' Journal des DebaU ' for March 28, 1816, states the 

 dimensions to have been 130 feet long and 1 4 brood. The vessel hod 

 a single paddle-wheel on each side, and the machinery appears to have 

 been constructed with some skill, although it was not sufficiently 

 strong. The experiments of the Marquis were eventually stopped by 

 the political disturbances of the country. After a long exile, he 

 returned to his country about 1796, and found that M. des Blancs, a 

 watchmaker of Trevoux, hod obtained a patent for a steam-vessel, 

 which, it has been supposed, was constructed chiefly on the informa- 

 tion which he could collect respecting that of the Marquis. Joufiroy 

 appealed to the government, but nothing important resulted from his 

 doing so, or from the experiments of M. des Blancs, which, like those 

 of Jouffroy, were made on the Sa6ne. While M. des Blancs was 

 engaged in his steam-boat project, Fulton, who was then in France, 

 was also experimenting upon the same subject. It appears, indeed, 

 that both tried the scheme of propelling by means of paddles or float- 

 boards attached to an endless chain stretched over two wheels project- 

 ing from each side of the vessel. Fulton abandoned this plan, and 

 adopted paddle-wheels in its stead ; but during his experiments, 

 M. des Blancs complained of his operations as an infringement upon 

 his patent right, and remonstrated with Fulton upon the subject. 



The narrative must now return a few years, in order to notice the 

 attempts making in North America to solve the problem of propelling 

 vessels by mechanical power. Without noticing mere vague sugges- 

 tions of its possibility, of which some have been mentioned of earlier 

 date, we find that two individuals named Fitch and Rumsey were 

 early in the field as experimentalists. Stuart goes into their claims very 

 minutely ; but it may be briefly stated that as early as 1783 Fitch hod 

 succeeded in moving a boat on tho Delaware by means of paddles (not 

 paddle-wheels) set in motion by a steam-engine ; and that in 1785 he 

 presented a model and description of his apparatus to Congress. He 

 was supported for some time by on association of wealthy persons, 

 and was so sanguine as to the success of his project, as to send draw- 

 ings and descriptions of his machinery to Messrs. Boulton and Watt , 

 in order that they might procure an English patent for it. Nothing 

 was accomplished by Fitch and his friends in England, and but little 

 in America. It is worthy of notice that Fitch expressed his belief 

 that the time would come when steam-power would be employed for 

 crossing the Atlantic. Rumsey, the rival of Fitch, had exhibited a 

 model of a contrivance for moving a boat, to General Washington, as 

 early as 1784 ; but Fitch alleged that it was merely an apparatus for 

 enabling a boat to stem the current of rapid rivers, by means of 

 wheels, cranks, and poles ; and that it had been tried soin- 

 before by another person on the Schuylkill, and hod failed. In \ 7S7, 

 Rumsey made some short voyages on the Potomac, with a boat about 

 fifty feet long, propelled by the re-action of a stream of water drawn in 

 at the bow and forced out at the stern by means of a pump worked by 

 a steam-engine. This boat moved, it is said, at the rate of three or 

 four mile* an hour, when loaded with three tons, in addition to tin- 

 weight of her engine, which was about one-third of a ton. The boiler 

 held only five gallons of water, and the whole machinery did not occupy 

 more space than four barrels of flour. The fuel consumed was from 

 four to six bushels of coals in twelve hours, liumsey afterward- pro- 



posed applying the power of a steam-engine to long poles, which were 

 to -force the boat forward by reaching the bed of the river, when it hud 

 to move against a rapid run-cut. Humsey, a* well aa Fitch, was 1 

 byacotnpany; andth.-i; i Mends did not confine their rivalry 



to Ameriivi, for tin- adherents of Rumsey addressed themselves to 

 Roulton and Wntt in opposition to the statement* of Fitch. After all 

 their conflicting pretensions, however, neither succeeded in 

 establishment of steam navigation. Rumsey came to England aft 

 failure of his projects in America, and commenced a steam-boat on the 

 same principle as that he had used on the Potomac, which 

 some respects like the much older plan (1730) of Dr. John Allen. He 

 died before the completion of this vessel; but it was tini-ln 1 

 persons associated with him, and was brought to trial in l''el>niary . 

 This steam-boat performed several times on the Thai: wind 



and tide, and attained a speed of four miles an hour. This method of pro- 

 pelling a boat was subsequently trii-d l,y Mr. William 1. maker, ma-tcr- 

 shipwright in Portsmouth dockyard, who obtained a patent for it in 

 1808. His experiments had, as appears by his p ..nnl 



as early as 171'3. Stuart states that a similar apparatus was tried on 

 the Thames after Linaker's death, the engine used being on tin- prin- 

 ciple of that invented by Savery. 



While Fitch and Rumsey were making their experiments in America, 

 other experiments were in progress in Scotland, which tendril. 

 than any previous trials, to the useful application of steam t 

 purpose of propelling vessels. Of the highly interesting cx]<erimcnts 

 mode in 1788 and 1789, under the auspices of Patrick Miller, Esq., 

 of Dalswinton, in Dumfriesshire, many accounts ore extant, differing 

 indeed very slightly from each other, yet tending, by tin- colouring 

 given to minor details, to attribute different degrees of honour to the 

 three individuals by whom they were carried out It is not likely 

 that this question will ever be thoroughly set at rest ; for the degree 

 in which each contributed to the success of the experiments will ever 

 be estimated differently, according to the peculiar mode of jud- 

 adopted by the inquirer. Without desiring to throw any slight upon 

 those who differ from bun, rather in his deductions than in the facts 

 upon which they are based, our narrative will be condensed from that 

 of Mr. Russell, who has evidently token much pains to product- . 

 factory account of the whole course of proceedings. 



After stating that it has been very usual to attribute the invention 

 of steam navigation to Miller, and that two comj>etitors have contested 

 his claim, Mr. Russell observes, " We shall soon see that to n 

 of the three can the palm be awarded. The creation of the steam -hip 

 appears to have been an achievement too gigantic for any single man. 

 It was produced by one of those happy combinations in which 

 individuals are but tools working out each his part in a great system, 

 of the whole of which no single one may have comprehended all the 

 workings." The persons who have contested the title of inventors of 

 steam navigation, or rather, they for whom the title has been contested 

 by others, are Patrick Miller, James Taylor, and William .Symington ; 

 and, after a long and patient examination of their respective claims, 

 and of the papers, published and unpublished, of the parties who 

 advocate the cause of each, as well as of the personal testimony of such 

 individuals as could throw light on the case, our author gives it as his 

 conclusion that the art of steam navigation was the joint invention of 

 the three. It will be seen from the history given above, that if the 

 mere suggestion of applying a steam-engine to the propulsion of a 

 vessel, or even the actual construction of a steam-boat, be cons! 

 sufficient to entitle a person to the name of inventor of steam naviga- 

 tion, that name belongs to some earlier projector, Hulls for instance, 

 and not to any of the three individuals just mentioned ; and if, on tin- 

 other hand, the honour be due to those who produced the first 

 successful steam-boat, it cannot be applied with propriety to any 

 individual, seeing that the superiority of the boats of Miller, Taylor, 

 and Symington was attributable to a happy union of talent and 

 enterprise. 



Mr. Miller, of Dalswinton, had been engaged in attempts for the 

 improvement of naval architecture, proposing to build ships of much 

 greater length than usual, in proportion to their breadth, and, in order 

 to enable such narrow vessels to bear sail, to unite two or even three 

 boats or hulls, side by side, so as to form a double or triple boat. He 

 hod also experimented upon the application of paddle-wheels, turned 

 by a power within the vessel, instead of, or rather as auxiliary to, the 

 force of the wind. Russell observes, that he does not find that JlilK-r 

 anywhere claimed absolute property in the invention of paddle--,* 

 which, as has been already stated, had been often tried. Having thus 

 prepared a form of vessel suitable for the purpose of steam navigation, 

 and provided it with an apparatus for propelling it through the water, 

 it only remained to apply tho steam-engine itself. This, it appears, 

 was done subsequently, in consequence of the suggestion of Mr. 

 Taylor, who, in 1785, went to reside in Mr. Miller's family as tutor to 

 his younger sons, and, in 1786 and 1787, frequently assisted in hia 

 experiments with paddle-wheel boats. In one of thc.-c. in the latter 

 year, one of Miller's double boats, sixty feet long, propelled li\ two 

 wheels, each of which was turned by two men, was matched 

 a Custom-house boat, which was reckoned a fast nailer ; and on this 

 occasion the want of a sufficient moving power to turn the wheels was 

 sensibly felt. Both Miller and Taylor perceived this ; but when tho 

 latter suggested the steam-engine, Mr. Miller, for a time, questioned 



