Robert Fulton and The Clermont
by Alice Crary Sutcliffe, The Century Co., New York, 1909
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Passanger Lists, Account Books, Future Plans

CHAPTER 4-5

THE “Clermont”

SOME PASSENGERS ON THE EARLY TRIPS

The captain’s passenger list for the North River Steamboat showing the individual bookings for the 48th trip of the boat, September 20th, 1809, to May 5th, 1810, inclusive, presents the complete record for eighty-four trips. The names seem an old time roll-call of the prominent families of the Hudson River. A partial list of the passengers will be of interest:
H. W. Livingston, Lady & Daughter
Mrs. Lawrence
Mr. Monell
Gov. Lewis & Lady & blk. girl
Mr. Tillotson
C. D. Colden & Lady
Mr. Jay
Mr. PV. Rensalaer & Lady
Judge Radcliffe
Mrs. Mynderse & Miss Teller
Miss Cruger
Mr. Schenck
Mr. V. Schoonhoven & Lady
Captain Bogert & Daughter
Mrs. Van Kleeck & Son
Miss Ludlow & Girl
Montgomery Livingston
J. J. Coddington
Miss Duane & Miss Van Kleeck
Mrs. Yates [who carried 461 lbs. of baggage]
Nicholas Roosevelt
Mr. Peter Schuyler
General Gansevoort & Daughter & Lady & Servant
Capt’n Fipher & Lady
J. Alden
Mr. Cuyler, Lady & Ser’t
Thos. Ludlow
Walter Livingston
Alden Danforth
Mrs. Pendleton
Mr. Van Tassell
Miss Stats
Mr. Ten Eyck
D. Romeyn Beach
Guy Catlin
Mr. McVicker
Mr. Averill
E. P. Livingston & Family
Mr. Lee Avery
Mr. Buel
Mr. Daniel Potter
Mr. Van Ness
Doct. Bard
Mrs. Schenck & Child
Mrs. Varrick
D. McComb
Mr. Morris
John Sk’vens
D. Hossack
Mr. Emmet
John Pintard
T. P. Grosvenor
Mr. Ruggles
G. E. Verplanck
Mr. Proudf.oot, Lady & Child
Mr. Pawlding &
Mr. Irving
P. V. Hoffman
Doctor Forsyth
Mr. Boyd
Martin Radcliffe
Mr. Burr
Mr. Duer & Family
Mr. Huntington
Alanson Cary
Mr. Bayard
Mr. Beekman & Lady
Mr. Cutting
Mr. Van Wyck
Mr. Pomeroy
Mrs. Livingston &
Mrs. Van Kleeck
N. Bleecker
S. Van Rensalaer & Ser’t
Matthew Vassar
Mrs. Content Ferguson
William Hudson
Mr. Kissam & Lady
W. Edgar Jr. &
T. Leroy
J. C. Goldbag
Charles Joy
Mr. Newbould & Lady
Win. Fish
Mr. Brevort & Ser’t
Mr. Beekman
L. Standish
Mr. Satterlee
Mr. Delavan
Mr. Byam
Mr. Sanford
Capt. Chancy
H. R. Teller
Cal. Troop
Mr. Pell
C. Guernsey
Isaac Montague
More light on the financial side of the enterprise is furnished by the following page in Fulton’s handwriting, now in possession of J. R. Leamont, Esq., of Montreal, here published for the first time. By “the new boat” is probably meant the Rariton, Fulton’s second American steamboat, which ran from New York to New Brunswick, New Jersey; or The Car of Neptune for additional service on the Hudson River, a companion for the North River. Both boats were built in 1808.

1808 DISBURSEMENTS BY ROBT FULTONDC
June 25 To Mr. Cheetham for printing2575
Dec. 22 For copying thewriting of the patent1500
1809   
Jan. 22 For the patent 3000
Feb. 1
" 4		To Mr. Milligan for binding the patent
A Mahogany box to contain the patent 		8
3		00
00
Mch. 4To Mandivil the pilot of the N.R.boat 700
" 13To Capt. Wisnell a Cheque 150 00
" 28 Mr. Stowdenger a Cheque 120 00
Apr. 8 Mr. Cheetham for printing 14 56
" 22To Bachelar the Blacksmith 50 00
“ 20To Mr. Clogson Attorney at law 2000
“ 24Mr. Jenkel for insurance against fire—one year 150
______		 00
____
   598 81
  Carried forward 598 81
  TO PAY TO THE NEW BOAT FOR THE NEW BOAT
June 9 To Mr. Revere for Copper 4259 00
 To Mr. Revere for Copper Rivets 195 40
  To Mr; Smallman for the steam engine 2450 00
  To Mr. Brownne for the Boat5000 00
  To Bennet the Coppersmith making boiler 200 00
  To Capt. Roorback 50 00
  To Mess. Ogden and Hoffman for Writings 25 00
" 28 Mr. Rooseveld on Mississippi expedition 600
______		 00
_____
  dollars1887781
    6688 90
1809 CASH RECEIVED OF R. R. LIVINGSTON, ESQ.
March 19 2000 
April 20 . . 1000 
June 1 . . .2000 
  _______
5000		 
Paid for Wood at Albany; 300 
  ______
5800		 
TO PAY FOR THE NEW BOAT
To Mr. Smallman 900 
To Mr. Brownne 8000 
To Bennet the Coppersmith. . . . 1000 
To McQueen for Contract and Labor. 8000 
for Sails, furniture and Sundries . . 8000 
  10900 
paid— 1277951
  2867951

The final whereabouts of the pioneer vessel remains a mystery. It has been asserted that she was finally transported as The Henrietta to the Cape Fear River, North Carolina, where Fulton himself as early as 1813 had suggested the formation of a steam-navigation company. Another authority, Mr. J. Seymour Bullock, states that the boat was broken up, when further important improvements rendered her antiquated shape and construction unequal to the increased traffic upon the river, and that the “ribs” of the hull were used under the wharf in Jersey City where the Secor Foundry built monitors during the Civil War.

A third statement that the boat was sunk off Poughkeepsie, is of doubtful authenticity. Fulton, with his usual thrift, probably incorporated the useful parts of the Clermont in a boat of later construction.

Fulton’s own definition of his priority in the invention of the steamboat is contained in an interesting paper, now in possession of Judge Peter T. Barlow. In a letter to Joel Barlow the inventor asks him to obtain the signature of William Thornton, Clerk of the Patent Office, to a deposition, and writes in part:

New York, June 28th, 1811.

Dear Barlow:
“My whole time is now occupied in building North River and Steam ferry boats, and in an interesting lawsuit to crush 22 Pirates who have clubbed their purses and copied my boats and have actually started my own Invention in opposition to me by running one trip to Albany: her machinery however gave way in the first voyage and she is now repairing, which will detain her I presume until we obtain an Injunction to stop her. A more infamous and outrageous attack upon mental property has not disgraced America. Thornton has been one of the great causes of it. In this interesting suit which places a great fortune at stake I want you to do two things for me immediately. First go or send Lee to Thornton’s office and demand a certified copy of my transfer of one half of my United States patents to Robert R. Livingston and let the certificate state that such transfer is legally registered in the patent office,—it may be certified by a Notary Public.
The absorbing demands of the Clermont deterred Fulton from undertaking other important projects. President Jefferson, who had been interested in Fulton’s treatise on Canal Navigation, and who had enjoyed a correspondence with him on this and kindred subjects, proposed at this time that he should examine the ground and report on a canal to unite the Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain. In his reply to the Secretary of War, Fulton speaks specifically not only of the building of the Clermont but also of the Torpedo project which he had already offered to the American nation. This letter, in possession of the estate of Corneia Livingston Crary, Fulton’s daughter, has never before been published. An extract is here given:

Philadelphia, March 20th, 1807.

To General Dearborn, Secretary of War,—
Dear Sir:
I am infinitely obliged by the proposal of the President that I should examine the ground and report on a canal to unite the waters of the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain, And am sorry I cannot undertake a work so interesting and honourable. The reason is I have now Ship Builders, Blacksmiths and Carpenters occupied at New York in building and executing the machinery of my Steam Boat, And I must return to that City in ten days to direct the work till finished, which probably will require 4 months. This enterprise is of much Importance to me individually and I hope will be of great use in facilitating the navigation of some of our long rivers. Like every enthusiast I have no doubt of success. I therefore work with ardor, and when adjusting the parts of the machine, I cannot leave the men for a day.

I am also preparing the engines for the experiment of blowing up a Vessel in the harbour of New York this Spring. The machines for this purpose are in great forwardness and I hope to convince the rational part of the inhabitants of our cities, that vessels of War shall never enter our harbours or approach our Coasts but by our consent. Thus I hope I am usefully e ployed for 6 or 9 months — Yours truly,

ROBT. FULTON.

Three days earlier, Joel Barlow, who was always in Fulton’s confidence, wrote to his wife:
The President wants Toot [Fulton] to go immediately to New Orleans to survey the ground for a great canal there. Mrs. Dearborn says her home is high, airy and healthy, that you must come on with Fulton as far as here in the little phaeton & pass the summer with her, either here or jaunting a little about in these regions. Fulton, they say, is to be back in July, and then if it is thought best to go north, it can be done, as he may then be going to operate in N. York. All this is only thrown out to think on.

He adds this postscript to Fulton:

Toot, don’t give an answer to Gen’l. Dearborn’s letter of yesterday till I come. He does not expect it till then.

One hundred years has but served to emphasize the wisdom of “Fulton’s Folly.” Before the death of the inventor in 1815, eight years after the Clermont steamed up the Hudson, he had built no fewer than seventeen boats, which list includes the first steam war frigate, the torpedo boat, and the first steam ferry-boats, the latter equipped with rounded ends for approach at either shore and floating docks to receive them.

FULTON‘S PLANS FOR STEAM NAVIGATION UPON FOREIGN WATERS

Energetic to the last degree of activity, Fulton not only introduced steam navigation upon the chief rivers of America but also contemplated its introduction upon foreign rivers.

A letter at the Lenox Library, in the Thomas Addis Enunet collection, shows that in 1812 Fullton signed a joint contract with a certain Thomas Lane to introduce steamboats in India. He writes:

I agree to make the Ganges a joint concern—the work is so honorable and important. It is so grand an Idea that America should establish steam vessels to work in India that it requires vigor activity, exertion, industry, attention and no time should be lost. My Paragon’ beats everything on this globe, for made as you and I are, we cannot tell what is in the moon—this Day she came on from Albany 160 miles in 26 hours, wind ahead.
Four days earlier, Fulton wrote another letter to Chevalier Svinie (Swinine), a Russian gentleman, then staying in Weymouth Street, London. The letter forwarded by J. Eliot Hodgkin of London, in response to the author’s inquiry in “Notes and Queries,” is here printed for the first time.

New York, April 12, 1812.

CHEVALIER SVINIE,
Sir;
Being inventor of the Steam Boats having a claim on every Government for the use of my invention much superior to that of any other individual, and relying on the respect which the Government of Russia have for the arts, I wrote to Mr. Adams’ in November last to obtain for me an exclusive right for 20 years on condition that I should cause a steam-boat to be established from Petersburgh to Cronstadt in three years after obtaining the Grant, the considerations proposed to Mr. Adams render it necessary for me to wait his answer; But should he neglect or not obtain the grant, and it should be given to another, It will then be time enough to talk of the terms on which I would go into the enterprise, on which it is impossible for me at present to make up my mind. I am

Sir Respectfully your most obedient,
ROBERT FUTLTON

A second letter upon this proposition is extant from the Chevalier. It is among Fulton’s family papers in possession of the estate of his daughter, Cornelia Livingston Crary. M. Swinine says in part:
“Doubtless Sir, it is known to you, that for several months past I have been taken up with your admirable invention of the steam boat, dedicating all my knowledge for its introduction in Russia. As you have received the Imperial permission for this introduction, I offer you, Sir, my services, which I flatter myself may be of great utility. Certainly it will be necessary for you to have the plan of the River Neva and of the channel from St. Petersbourg to Cronstadt, to have the clearest information of the value of materials necessary for the construction of the steam boat, the description of other communications by water in Russia etc. I hope to give you all that and whatever else may be requisite for you in the most agreeable way, as none but myself can satisfy you.

“My demands are limited to the two following agreements:

1st That your Company honour me with the title of Superintendent of the Steamboats of Russia. 2nd: That it will grant me on my arrival in Russia an annual salary as may

seem most just.” [etc.]

At the time of Fulton’s death the steam-boat The Emperor of Russia was in process of building, and in accordance with contract was to be transferred to Russian waters before December 1st. The enterprise was postponed, and was subsequently taken up by other contractors.

“ROBERT FULTON is going to be a great man this year!” observed a casual appraiser.

“Sir,” he was answered, “Robert Fulton was a great man one hundred years ago, or the justice of an American nation would not, at the end of a century, recall his life with gratitude.”

With the recognition of Robert Fulton’s chief invention, it should be kept in mind that he was deeply interested in the largest problems of humanity. He was not only an inventor, he was also a reformer, a statesman, and a patriot. With splendid courage born of conviction, he enriched the world by original products which he was pleased to term “useful arts” and sometimes “mental property.” To forward his plans he gave in unstinted measure, — his time, his talents, his wealth. It is characteristic that in his writings he capitalized the word “Ideas” and spelled “money” with small initial. Thus as the world gauges success,—he died poor: yet, as a centUry translates that poverty it becomes golden with the wealth of honor.

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