of Steam-Navigation* 83 
small vessel, which he properly enough calls a Tow-boat, ha- 
ving a retaining paddle extended from its stern, which was 
put in motion by a small and simple steam-apparatus placed in 
the body of the boat ; and with the aid of this tow-boat, he 
proposed to drag larger vessels out of the harbour in a calm, 
or against the wind and tide. It would be unjust to the me- 
mory of an ingenious speculatist, to deny to Jonathan Hulls the 
credit of having first conceived the idea of rendering the power 
of steam subservient, in any measure, to the purposes of navi- 
gation ; while, on the other hand, it would be quite absurd, 
and equally unjust to the claims of posterior inventors, to state 
his little tow-boat as bearing any close analogy to the steam- 
vessels of the present day, or to insinuate the possibility of any 
hint having been derived from the description and draught of 
his new invented machine, printed by Hulls in 1737, but of 
which, till within the last few years, no copy was known to ex- 
ist. In a word, it may be fairly stated, that, forty years ago, 
no man, either professional or speculative, had seriously thought 
of substituting rotatory oars or paddles in place of sails in the 
propulsion of large vessels at sea, or of employing the boundless 
force of steam for any purpose of this nature. 
This much I feel myself warranted in saying, that, in the 
various experiments on both of these parts of the system upon 
which my father is known to have expended his means, he was 
not impelled or guided by any previous discoveries, either of 
ancient or more recent date. 
And here I hope to be pardoned for saying a few words of 
the person, whose claims to the grateful recollection of his 
countrymen I have thought it my duty to record. My father 
was not of any profession, either military or naval ; his proper 
business was that of a banker, by means of which he had accu- 
mulated considerable wealth, on which, however, he appeared 
to set little value, unless in so far as it enabled him to in- 
dulge his ruling passion for the promotion of improvements 
in the arts, tending either to national security or to the general 
benefit of mankind. In prosecuting his schemes of this nature, 
which he always did with a certain characteristic energy and 
zeal not easily to be baffled, nothing could be more remote 
from his thoughts than any sordid or selfish ends ; and even in 
F 2 
