soon had the mortification to see numerous and far more elegant vessels deprive him of the advantage at which his lawless cupidity had tempted him to grasp.

Although Mr. Fulton had undoubtedly the merit of introducing steam navigation on the waters of the western world, it is stated that he derived his first ideas of it, while in this country, from Mr. Symington :

"It happened one day during the month of July 1801 or 1802, while Mr. Symington was conducting his experiments under the patronage of Lord Dundas, a stranger came to the banks of the canal and requested an interview: he announced himself as Mr. Fulton, a native of North America, to which country he intended to return in a few weeks; but having heard of the steamboat experiments, he could not think of leaving Scotland without waiting upon Mr. Symington, in the hope of seeing the boat and machinery, and procuring some information as to the principles upon which it was moved he remarked that however beneficial the invention might be to Great Britain, it would certainly be of more importance to North America, considering her many navigable rivers and lakes, and the ease with which timber could be procured for building such vessels and supplying them with fuel. He thought fit farther to say, that the usefulness of steam vessels in a mercantile point of view could not fail to attract the attention of

every observer; and that if he was allowed to carry the plan to North America it could not but turn out to Mr. Symington's advantage, as if inclined for it, or his other engagements would permit, the constructing, or at least the superintending the constructing, of such vessels, would naturally devolve upon him. Mr. Symington, in compliance with the stranger's earnest request, caused the engine fire to be lighted up, and the machinery put in motion: several persons entered the boat, and along with Mr. Fulton, were carried from Lock No 16, where she then lay, about four miles west; and returned to the place from whence they had started, in one hour and twenty minutes, to the astonishment of Mr. Fulton and the other gentlemen present. Mr. Fulton asked and obtained leave to take notes and sketches of the form, size, and construction of the boat and apparatus; after fully satisfying his curiosity, he took his leave; but he never afterwards had the honour or the gratitude to acknowledge his obligation to Mr. Symington.'"

An effort of the muse, the work of a Mr. Muir of Kirkintilloch, was published in 1803, under the title of "The Steam Barge or Nautical Novelty; written on seeing the New Steam Boat, invented by William Symington, pass through the Great Canal, dragging two vessels fully loaded." The production is not of a high class, though some of its local Scotch expressions are

admirable. Its chief value is in the fact that the writer seemed to foresee developments of steam and steam navigation, some of which took half a century to evolve themselves, while others are still in the bosom of futurity :

But lately we hae seen a lighter
Wi' in her tail a fanner's flighter,
May bid boat-haulers a' gae'dight her
Black sooty vent.

Than half-a-dozen horse she's wighter,

By ten per cent.

Wi' something that the learned ca' steam That drives at heughs the waukin' beam O huge engines to drain coal seam

Or carry hutches

As has few matches.

To gar them trow that boats wad sail
Thro' fields o' corn or beds o' kail,
An' turn o'er glens their rudder tail

Like weather-cocks,

Was doctrine that wad needed bail
Wi' common folks.

They ca'd it nonsense, till at last
They saw boats travel east an' wast,
Wi' sails an' streamers at their mast;
Syne, without jeeirn,'
They were convinced the blusterin' blast
Was worth a hearin'.

For mony a year, wi little clatter,
An' naething said about the matter,
The horses harled them through the
water

Frae Forth to Clyde,
Or the reverse, wi' weary splatter
An' sweaty hide.

Then we believed, puir silly bodies
Wha naething ken o' learned studies,
That horses' hoofs and hempen woodies
'Boot still to draw them,
Wi' cursin callants clad in duddies,
To swear and ca' them.

But little think we what's in noddles
Whar science sits an' grapes and guddles,
Syne darklins forth frae drumly puddles
Brings things to view,
That the weak penetration fuddles
O' me an' you.

By it she through the water plashes,
An' out the stream ahint her splashes
At sic a rate, baith frogs and fishes
Are forced to scud
Like ducks an' drakes amang the rushes
To shun the mud.

It was sae odd to see her pullin'
An' win' an' water baith unwillin';
Yet deil may care, she, onward swellin',
Defied them baith,

As constant as a mill that's fullin'

Gude English claith.

Can e'er, thought I, a flame o' reek
Or boilin' water's caudron smeek
Tho' it was keepit for a week

Perform sic wunners, As quite surprise amaist the feck

O' gazin' hunners?
But facts we canna weel dispute them;
Altho' we little ken aboot them;
When prejudice inclines to doubt them
Wi' a' her might,
Plain demonstration deep can root them
An' set us right.

Ere lang gae now, wi' whirligigs
An' steam engines we'll plough our riggs
An' gang aboot on lazy legs

Wi' nought to pain us, An flit in tethers useless naigs

That used to hain us.

Braw news indeed for man an' beast; They'll then hae nought to do but rest An' on their former labours feast

Wi' cheerfu' heart, When thus they see warm steam insist To play their part.

The Steam Boat.

66

THE steamers constructed by

William Symington referred to in the preceding chapter were paddle-steamers, but their peculiarity was that the paddles were inside the vessel. Those in the original steamboat-as it is called

were situated fore and aft of the engine, working in a trough which extended from stem to stern, and allowed free egress and ingress to the water. The mode by which motion was given to the wheels was by the reciprocal action of a chain acting on ratchet wheels attached to the axle of the paddles; the stop ran over the teeth of the ratchet while the chain ran in one direction, but caught the wheel and moved the paddles in the return motion. A similar mode

much that is stated in the immediately preceding chapter might have found a place in the earlier section of this work. We now, however, arrive at the time when the steam vessel aimed at something higher than the drudgery of dragging canal-barges,-however useful that occupation might be, and was preparing to take flight into the rivers and lesser seas preparatory to the subjugation of the ocean itself. For the history of the first step in this advance we have to cross Atlantic.

the

THE FIRST AMERICAN STEAMER.

In March 1786, the Legislature of New York granted to a person of the name of Fitch, and to his descendants, the exclusive right of “making and employing and navigating all kinds of boats or water craft, which might be impelled through the water by force of fire or steam, in all the creeks, rivers, and bays, and waters whatsoever, within that State for fourteen years."

Fitch never availing himself of this privilege, | the New York Legislature, in 1798, repealed that act and granted the same privilege to Robert Livingstone, under certain restrictions as to the time he should accomplish his object. Nothing material, however, was effected until April 1803, when Robert Fulton joined with Livingstone. By successive acts the exclusive privilege was secured to these gentlemen for thirty years,

а

they gave the required evidence "that they had constructed steamboat of more than 20 tons propelled by steam more than four miles an hour against the stream of the Hudson, between New York and Albany." Thus, says an American writer, were twenty-two years expended in bringing to perfection this noblest of human inventions.

Mr. Fitch, who obtained the above powers from the State Legislature of New York, had in 1783 constructed a steamboat with paddle-wheels, on the river Delaware. For some reason which cannot be fully explained he failed in his efforts to realise what so soon after was accomplished; but he seems to have had a clear perception of the ultimate value of the invention when he prophesied that the time would come when steam-power would be employed in crossing the Atlantic.

We have already seen where Fulton obtained the ideas which enabled him to snatch the prize of victory from the hands of so many competitors who had nearly realised what he had the good fortune actually to accomplish. During his interview with Symington in the first years of the century, Fulton asked the former if he had any objections to his taking notes regarding the steamboat, which was answered in the negative, and he jotted down particularly everything that was then described to him.

Mr. Fulton also learned from

Symington the objection made to his vessel, on account of the narrowness of the canal, on which he observed that this objection would not apply to the wide rivers of America. It was two years after this, that experiments were made by Mr. Livingstone and Mr. Fulton on the Seine in France, and several years afterwards he ordered an engine to be constructed by Boulton and Watt, which should be applicable to a boat. This when finished was sent out to America, and was the first engine used with success for this purpose.

In August 1807, Fulton had the satisfaction of seeing this celebrated vessel moved by her

machinery from the birth-place to the Jersey shore. "Nothing," we read "could exceed the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutesbefore the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. The man, who, while he looked on the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money on such idle schemes,

changed the expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf and gained her speed; his complacent smile gradually stiffened into an expression of wonder-the jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough to repress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for the moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multitude which crowded the shores shouts and acclamations of congratulations and applause."

This famed vessel, which was named the 'Clermont' (and is shown in the annexed woodcut), soon after sailed for Albany, and arrived without any accident. She excited the astonishment of the inhabitants of the shores of the river Hudson, many of whom had not even heard of an engine, much less of a steamboat. There were many descriptions of the effects of her first appearance upon the people of the banks of the river. Some of them were ridiculous, but some of them were of such a character as nothing but an object of real grandeur could have excited. She was described by some who had indistinctly seen her passing in the night, to those who had not had a view of her, as a monster moving on the waters, defying the winds and tide, and breathing flames and smoke. In Colden's Memoir we read that "the vessel had a most terrific appearance from other vessels which were