the boat was precipitated to the bottom. Fulton subse- 

 quently visited Scotland and it is said, was taken for a trip 

 in the "Charlotte Dundas," and with the knowledge thus 

 gained he returned to America to further prosecute his 

 experiments. In August 1803, Fulton wrote to Boulton 

 and Watt to order a steam engine for a boat to be launched 

 in America, and he evidently anticipated the great diffi- 

 culty he subsequently experienced in persuading the 

 authorities to allow the engine to be sent to America from 

 England. With our modern ideas of detailed specifications 

 Fulton's order for this engine seems to be simplicity itself. 

 It was as follows: — "If there is not a law which prohibits 

 the exportation of steam engines to the United States of 

 America, or if you can obtain a permit to export parts of 

 an engine, will you be so good as to make me a cylinder of 

 twenty-four horse power, double effect, the piston rod 

 making a four foot stroke; also the piston and piston rod. 

 The valves and movements for opening and shutting them, 

 the air pumps and rod, the condenser with its communica- 

 tions to the cylinder and air pumps etc." It was only 

 after much correspondence and many interviews with the 

 authorities in i'higland, that a permit was granted to 

 export this engine from England, which on arrival was 

 placed in the vessel constructed to receive it. Fulton's 

 own description of the "Clermont" is as follows: — "My 

 first steamboat on the Hudson River was 150 feet long, 13 

 feet wide, drawing 2 feet of water bow and stern 60 c ; she 

 displaced 3,610 cubic feet, equal 100 tons of water; her 

 bow presented 26 feet to the water plus and minus the 

 resistance on one foot running four miles an hour." On 

 the 17th August. 1807, the "Clermont" made her first 

 voyage on the Hudson River and shortly afterwards became 

 a regular trader between New York and Albany, a distance 

 of 150 miles, doing the trip in from 30 to 36 hours. It will 

 thus be seen that, although Symington 



