Steamboat Development 33 



years later John Fitch had a curious little 

 boat running on the Delaware river. 

 This was a paddle-wheeler. 



A little later on John Stevenson had 

 a queer craft running on the Hudson; 

 as originally built, we learn that it had 

 paddle-wheels and a propeller the latter 

 probably the forerunner of the now uni- 

 versal screw propeller. After considerable 

 experiment Stevenson seems to have 

 decided that the paddle-wheels might be 

 dispensed with by adding another screw. 

 I ought to mention that this early form 

 of propeller had little real resemblance 

 to the kind which came into service some 

 half a century later. 



A famous vessel which Stevenson built 

 with the aid of his son was the Phoenix, 

 which had the distinction of being the 

 first steam vessel to attempt a sea trip, 

 voyaging from New York to Philadelphia. 



Another pioneer in steam navigation 

 was Henry Bell, a far-sighted Scotsman, 

 who quickly made up his mind that steam 



