after- Digitized by Microsoft® Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 121 wards Livingston was practically engaged in the ac- tual labour of invention or construction. His connection seems rather to have been that of a business partner or backer. Preparations for a trial of their boat in the Seine were interrupted by the collapse of the contrivance, which broke in two and sunk in the river. Fulton succeeded, however, in raising the wreck, and, having repaired the hull, proceeded to demonstrate his theory. The trial was pronounced a success and the partners agreed to construct a larger boat on the Hudson River. For this enterprise Livingston was to supply the funds. The engine was ordered from Messrs. Boulton and Watt, of Birmingham. It was built from specifications furnished by Fulton, but so greatly was the work de- layed that it arrived in New York subsequently to the inventors' return in 1806. A bill was passed by the Legislature, similar to one previously obtained by Livingston, renewing an ex- clusive privilege granted him before his departure for France. This act gave the associates the sole right to navigate the waters of New York State by steam for twenty years, an allowance of two years being made for the completion of the first steamboat. The actual outlay for the boat exceeded the esti- mated cost, and it was found necessary to raise money by subscription. .d\mong the subscribers was Robert Lenox, who, according to one account, put down a hundred dollars, but would not allow his name to be / Digitized by Microsoft® 122 The Hudson River used because he did not wish to have it connected with such a preposterous scheme. The vessel was built at the shipyard of Charles Brown, on the East River, and not, as some writers have claimed, in the North Bay, near the Livingston manor- house of Clermont, at Tivoli. Nor can we find any warrant for the tradition that the plans for the boat were made at Clermont, though very possibly they may have been altered or perfected there. Fulton's plans were said to have been marvels of careful detail, and we know that the engines for the steamboat were ordered in England before he had returned to America. We must, therefore, suppose that the plans were mainly worked out in France, where most of the preliminary experimenting had been done. The steamer was named the Clermont, in compli- ment to Livingston. It was one hundred and thirty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and four feet deep, of one hundred and sixty tons measurement. The engine had a steam cylinder twenty-four inches in diameter, with a four-foot stroke. The boiler was twenty by seven by eight feet, and the wheels measured fifteen feet in diameter. This singular craft carried a smoke-stack that was very tall in comparison with the size of the boat and her paddle-wheels were uncovered. Alto- gether, she was something of a monstrosity, as com- pared with the river boats of to-day. A contemporaneous account of the trial trip of the Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Digitized by Microsoft® Fulton and the Hudson River Steamboat 125 Clermont, in the summer of 1807, makes interesting reading. Nothing 90uld exceed the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed th© experiment. The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes. Before 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 suppress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, were silenced for a moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the power of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the incredulous multi- tude which crowded the shores, shouts and acclamations of congratulation and applause. Fulton, in a letter to the American Citizen, in sen- tences that show a stern repression of the pride that must have made his nerves dance, speaks of the achieve- ment of his cherished plans. He states, briefly, that he has returned from Albany, and modestly mentions his hope that "such boats may be rendered of great importance to my country. ' ' He then proceeds to the statement of facts regarding his voyage. I left New York on Monday at one o'clock, and arrived at Clermont, the seat of Chancellor Livingston, at one o'clock on Tuesday — time, twenty-four hours: distance, one hundred and ten miles. On