THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



vented at least three years before Fulton's historic voy- 

 age in 1807. Yet no one questions that it was Fulton's, 

 not Stevens', invention that inaugurated steam navi- 

 gation. 



Just why this was so is a little difficult to compre- 

 hend at this time, unless it was that Stevens' boat was 

 such a small affair that it did not attract the attention 

 it deserved, as did Fulton's larger boat. And yet we 

 should not be guided too much by retrospective judg- 

 ment. The significant fact remains that Stevens him- 

 self did not have entire confidence in his boat, or in 

 the principle of his screw propeller, as is shown by the 

 fact that three years later, while Fulton was building 

 the Clermont, Stevens was also constructing a steam- 

 boat, not along the lines of his previous inventions, but 

 as a paddle-wheel boat. This leaves little room for 

 doubt that Stevens had not full confidence in the pro- 

 peller; and when an inventor himself mistrusts his 

 own device, there is little likelihood that anyone else 

 will supply the necessary confidence. This may ac- 

 count for the fact that Stevens found difficulty in se- 

 curing financial backing for his enterprise; and when 

 such backing was found it was for the construction of 

 the paddle-wheel boat, which was finished a few months 

 after Fulton's boat had solved the problem of steam 

 navigation. 



FULTON AND THE CLERMONT 



As we shall see in another place, Fulton was no nov- 

 ice in the construction of peculiar boats at this time. 



[70] 



