Chapter 13

ROBERT FULTON.

Trinity churchyard--The Livingston vault--An interesting place--Fulton's tomb--Birth of Robert Fulton--Boyhood--Early mechanical skill--Robert astonishes his tutor--Robert's fireworks--"Nothing is impossible"--"Quicksilver Bob"--The fishing excursion--The first paddle-wheel boat--Fulton's success as an artist--His gift to his mother--His removal to England--Intimacy with Benjamin West--Goes to Devonshire--Acquaintance with the Duke of Bridgewater--His interest in canal navigation--His first inventions--Goes to Paris--Residence with Mr. Barlow--Studies in engineering--Invents the diving boat--The infernal machine--His patriotic reply to the British ministry--His marriage--Returns to America--The General Government declines to purchase his torpedo--Brief history of the first experiments in steam navigation--Fulton's connection with Livingston--The trial boat on the Seine--Determines to build a boat on the Hudson--Fulton and Livingston are given the sole right to navigate the waters of New York by steam--Popular ridicule--Disbelief of scientific men--Launch of the "Clermont"--The trial trip--The first voyage up the Hudson--Fulton's triumph--Scenes along the river--Efforts to sink the steamer--Establishment of steam navigation on the Hudson River--The first New York ferry-boats--The floating docks--Boats for the West--New York threatened by the British fleet in 1814--Fulton's plan for a steam frigate--The "Fulton the First"--The steamboat war--Illness of Fulton--His death and burial--His last will--True character of his invention.