• Robert Fulton, a man of great intelligence and potential, was born on November 14, 1765 in Little Britain, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to his father, Robert Fulton Sr. and his mother, Mary Fulton. While Robert was a young child, his father died and left his widowed wife with five small children. Although this could have brought her down, Mary Fulton did the best she could. Mary home schooled the children and when Robert was eight, she enrolled him into a Quaker school. Robert was an average student but did very well in mechanics, drawing and painting. When Robert was seventeen he set up a job as a portrait and landscape painter in Philadelphia. He was a social bird and made many friends and acquaintances, among them was Benjamin Franklin. Fulton painted a portrait for him and in return Franklin introduced Robert to many important people. At 21 he moved to England to study painting under the teachings of Benjamin west. As his lessons went on, Robert became more interested in engineering and naval warfare.
    Fulton’s curiosity in water transportation gave him the urge to design a canal system to take the place of locks that were already being used. After many hard working years he came up with a double inclined plane system that obtained British patent in 1794. He then developed a plan for cast iron aqueducts and invented a digging machine. In 1796, he published a summary of his ideas on improving canal navigation called “Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation”. And these works lead to the ideas of the “plunging- boat”.
    Between 1793 and 1797, Fulton designed the invention called a submarine. He named it the Nautilus. He first built it out of copper on top of iron ribs. It was 6.47 meters long, and 1.93 meters in the beam. The first test of The Nautilus was July 29, 1800. After rough currents faulting with the testing, Fulton moved the submarine to a quieter harbor. He tested the speed of two men cranking the submarine against two men rowing and The Nautilus covered a 360 foot course two minutes faster. On July 3, 1801 at Le Havre, Fulton descended the Nautilus to a depth of 25 feet and rested there for an hour. He added a globe that contained enough air for the crewmen to remain under water for 4 hours. Napoleon examined the submarine and named Fulton a swindler after he noticed that the Nautilus leaked a bit, and decided the submarine was a suicidal mission for his crew even though Fulton had no problems. The French dropped their interest in Fulton’s new invention. He dissembled the Nautilus because of its faults. Though the French had lost interest the British didn’t. They paid Fulton enough money to go to England and re-construct another Nautilus. In 1805, The Second Nautilus successfully blew up a ship, named Dorothea, off Walmer Castle. Fulton left back to America angry after being ignored and left his papers of submarines behind, never asking for them again.
    On Monday, August 17, 1807, the Hudson River was a popular place. Robert Fulton was about to test his torpedo invention. His first two attempts were failures, the torpedoes just floated on top of the water, and the next couple exploded but many feet away from the target vessel. His next try, however, exploded the ship with sparks and flames flying around. The happy inventor stated,
    “It was rent in two and went to the bottom in 20 seconds…the practicability of destroying vessels by this means.” (The Fire of His genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream by Kirkpatrick Sale, 2001, pg. 7)

    The invention was a great new thing for exploding enemy ships but some had their doubts on its limitations. This didn’t stop Fulton, his invention was dear to him and he knew he couldn’t give up. He kept with trying to get the American Government’s support hoping that if it was successful the world would obtain freedom of the seas with nothing to stop or harm it.
    Also in 1807, Robert Fulton, with the help of Robert Livingston, directed the making and construction of the steamboat in New York. Many believe he invented the steam boat, but he didn’t. He just recreated and improved it. He decided to name this vessel, The Clermont, after the Hudson River home of Robert Livingston. On August 7th, 1807 the steamboat made its first successful trip of 150 miles within 30 hours including an overnight stop. After the successful trip they re-built it and allowed passengers to board it and take their first trip along the Hudson. Although, The Clermont was not the first steamboat, it was the first to become practical, financial, and commercially successful. The Clermont was slim along the Hudson River. It was 142 feet by 14 feet. It had a flat bottom and square sides. The deck was only a few feet from the water’s surface. It had a large copper boiler with a 15 foot smokestack. About three-quarters down the vessel were two 15 foot paddlewheels and it had masts equipped with sails.
    Robert Fulton married Harriet Livingston, the niece of Robert Livingston. The couple had four children, three girls and one boy. Their marriage was a rocky one, neither of them showed any love for each other. She would, at times, refer to him as “my lord and master”. Robert painted a miniature portrait of Harriet and it didn’t show any love, and the look on her face was stern and not happy. Harriet, due to the time of their marriage, had no rights. In other words, she belonged to him.
    On February 24, 1815, Robert Edward Fulton died at the age of 50. He was buried in a plain mahogany casket with a metal plate engraved with his name and age. He was carried to Trinity Church followed by national and state officials, city council, citizens, and representatives of academic and scientific societies. In the background you could hear the distant, faint sound of gun shots being fired. The funeral service was short and afterwards Robert Fulton was buried in a vault owned by the Livingston family because he didn’t buy one for himself. After he died, he had thirteen steamboats he created running throughout America. After her husband’s death, Harriet remarried quickly and some saw this as a carelessness of remorse.
    Robert Fulton was a very intelligent and creative man. He was also very inspirational; he never gave up when times were tough and when people didn’t believe in him. He kept his determination and with it, he created so many things that we need today. With the major inventions he created he also came up with smaller ones, like a device for making rope, a machine to spin flax, a marble cutting machine, and a dredging machine for cutting canal channels. Robert Fulton helped create the world we live in today.

    “To those who were favored with high communion of his superior mind, I need not expatiate on the wonderful vivacity, activity, comprehension and real clearness of his intellectual faculties: and while he was meditating plans of mighty import for his future fame and his country’s good, he was cut down in the prime of his life and in the midst of his usefulness. Like the self-burning tree of Gambia, he was destroyed by the fire of his own genius and the never-ceasing activity of a vigorous mind.” (The Fire of His Genius: Robert Fulton and the American Dream by Kirkpatrick Sale, 2001, pg. 173)