Memoir of William C. Redfield. 359 



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knowledge of the properties of steam, of steam navigation, and of 

 ship building. On the ruins of that enterprize was erected an- 

 otherj which after vsome vicissitudes acquired a permanent suc- 

 cesSj and opened to him a sphere of professional labor which con- 

 stituted ever afterwards the leadiag object of his life, as a man of 

 business. Several disastrous steamboat explosions had spread 

 alarm through the community and created a general terror of 



i steamboats. Eedfield was the first to devise and carry into exe- 



cution the plan of a line of safety barges to ply on the Hudson 



, between New York and Albany. The scheme was, to construct 



a passenger boat to be towed by a steamboat at such a distance 

 from it as to avoid all apprehension of danger to the passengers. 

 Large and commodious barges were built, fitted up with greater 

 taste and luxury than had at that time been exhibited by steam- 

 boats. With these were connected two large and substantial 

 steamers ; and in the excited state of the public mind, 'these 

 safety barges became great favorites with travellers, especially 

 with parties of pleasure. But our countrymen never hold their 

 fears long: a short interval of exemption from steamboat acci- 

 dents ended the excitement, while the greater speed attained by 

 the ordinary boats, and the lower fare, gradually drew off pas- 

 sengers from the safety barges, until they could be no longer run 

 with profit to the company, and were abandoned. But the idea 

 was not without profit, for it suggested to him the system of toiv 

 louts for conveying freight, which was established in the spring 

 of 1826, and still continues under its original organization. The 

 fleets of barges and canal boats, sometimes numbering forty or 

 fifty, which make so conspicuous a figure on the Hudson river, 

 were thus set in movement by Mr. Eedfield, and for thirty j-ears 

 the superintendence of the line first established, constituted the 

 appropriate business of our friend. In its management he em- 

 ployed unwearied industry, superior mechanical genius for con- 

 triving expedients, and a knowledge of both the science and 

 art of steam navigation, such as was possessed by few men of 

 husiness. Seldom have we seen the inductive philosopher so 

 tappily united with the practical engineer, each character bor- 

 rowing aid from the other. Seldom has any one connected 

 with the management of a steam navigation concern as his pro- 

 fession in life, carried into his business so much of the spirit of 

 true science. No one else could have so thoroughly collected 

 tbe statistics of the profession in this country, embracing all 

 the facts relating to the explosion of steamboat boilers, as they 

 successively occurred— the number of lives lost — the number 

 ^f deaths by steam compared with those by lightning — and the 

 dumber compared with those lost by other modes of travel. 

 Moreover, while Mr. Eedfield was diligently pursuing his daily 



