THE HIGHWAY OF THE WATERS 



tions. Even though sailing ships continued to be con- 

 structed in large numbers, their picturesque rigging 

 became less and less a feature in all navigable waters, 

 and the belching funnel of the steamship had become a 

 characteristic substitute as typifying the sea-going 

 vessel. 



The story of the development of this new queen of 

 the waters must now demand our attention. It begins 

 with the futile efforts of several more or less visionary 

 enthusiasts who were contemporaries of James Watt, 

 and who thought they saw great possibilities in the 

 steam engine as a motive power to take the place of 

 oars and sails for the propulsion of ships. 



EARLY ATTEMPTS TO INVENT A STEAMBOAT 



Among the first of these was an American named 

 John Fitch. Judged by the practical results of his 

 efforts, he was not a highly successful inventor; as a 

 prophet, however, and as an experimenter whose efforts 

 fell just short of attainment, he deserves a conspicuous 

 place in the history of an epoch-making discovery. Yet 

 his prophecy was based on his failures. From 1780, 

 for twenty years he strove to perfect a steamboat. His 

 efforts did not carry him far beyond the experimental 

 stage. But his courage and enthusiasm never waned. 

 "Whether I bring the steamboat to perfection or not," 

 he declared, "it will some time in the future be the 

 mode of crossing the Atlantic for packets and armed 

 vessels." 



[63] 



