c^ AT- ,' 



Steam Navigation. 



subject of bringing into use in England Mr. Fulton's in- 

 ventions for steam navigation. Lord Stanhope then con- 

 firmed to me the fact of his having received Mr. Fulton's 

 plans so early as 1793, and of his having conferred with 

 him upon their practical application. In 1803 Mr. Fulton 

 constructed a steamboat on the Seine, which satisfied him 

 of the correctness of the principle he had adopted ; and in 

 conjunction with the American Minister, Mr. Livingstone, 

 it was determined to transfer their joint exertions for 

 establishing steam navigation to the American waters, for 

 which purpose a steam-engine was ordered from Messrs. 

 Boulton and Watt. From various causes of delay, Mr. 

 Fulton did not arrive in New York until 1806. During 

 that year he devoted his attention to superintend the 

 building of the " Claremont " in the shipyard of Mr. Charles 

 Brown. This vesse'l was 133 feet long, 18 feet beam, and 

 1 60 tons burden, and was employed, as aforesaid, in the 

 summer of 1807. 



' I have sailed in this vessel in company with Mr. 

 Fulton, and retain a vivid recollection of the general 

 interest which this great enterprise excited, and of the 

 admiration bestowed upon its author, even by the many 

 persons who had shortly before ridiculed his projects as 

 chimerical. 



' It is not my present purpose to join issue in any of the 

 discussions concerning the original application of steam 

 power to navigation, the subject having been exhausted by 

 the respective advocates claiming it on behalf of England, 

 France, Switzerland, and America. I content myself with 

 stating the simple fact, that all of the experiments in each 

 country, which preceded those of Mr. Fulton, had already 

 proved, without any exception, utter failures, and no bene- 



