Demologos: The World's First Steam Powered Warship

[Music] i think it's safe to say that the war of 1812 is one of america's lesser remembered wars i mean what do you have to remember about a war that's called the war of 1812 but went clear until 1815 and in a war whose whose causes were so obtuse for both sides that at the end of the war both sides agreed to return to status quo antebellum meaning literally the way things were before the war but the war of 1812 actually had wide ranging of facts some very dramatic battles and a profound impact on the young united states it also represented a transformation of technology that was illustrated by a little remembered but highly innovative naval vessel that was built by one of the most celebrated engineers of his time the steam battery demo logos was almost a symbol of the energy and promise of the united states as it entered into the 19th century it is history that deserves to be remembered the war of 1812 was largely a war of oceans the complaints listed by president james madison and his message asking congress to declare war delivered june 1 1812 was almost exclusively complaints about actions on the high seas the policies that had drawn the nation's ire had to do with british attempts to blockade trade with france under napoleon the napoleonic wars were a series of world wars fought via number of alliances and coalitions of nations but with the main protagonists being largely the united kingdom and the first french empire under napoleon bonaparte the shifting wars had come to something of a stalemate in 1806 when france conquered or subdued most of western europe but the royal navy had prevented any possibility of an invasion of britain especially after the near total defeat of the combined french and spanish navies at the 1805 battle of trafalgar rather than attempt to rebuild his navy napoleon decided on economic warfare seeking to exclude britain from trade with the european continent napoleon enforced the so-called continental system banning trade between france and her allies with britain while the british enforced a naval blockade banning french trade with britain its allies or neutral nations this economic warfare had negative impacts on both sides it was only intermittently enforced largely undermined by smuggling and often enforced by private tears because don't all good stories involve pirates but it had a unique impact on the united kingdom because the british blockade was intended to stop even trade from neutral nations with france and that gave the royal navy an excuse to board ships even ships of non-belligerents on the high seas and confiscate any cargo they thought might be headed for france and that unsurprisingly led to tension with neutral nations and sometimes conflict with nations like denmark and russia and the united states the british policy of stopping american ships as part of the embargo as well as the policy of impressing sailors from american ships as purported british deserters represented madison's key complaints when calling for war he said british cruisers have been in the continued practice of violating the american flag on the great highway of nations and of seizing and carrying out persons sailing under it british cruisers have been in the practice also of violating the rights and peace of our coast they hover over and harass our entering and departing commerce under pretended blockades without the presence of an adequate force and sometimes without the practicality of applying one our commerce has been plundered in every sea the great staples of our country have been cut from their legitimate markets and a destructive blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime interests such is the spectacle of injuries and indignities which have been heaped upon our country and as trade on the oceans was one of the central complaints leading to war it's no surprise that this conflict between an island nation and what was then mostly a coastal nation was largely conducted also at sea there is much that can be said about the naval component of the war of 1812 and there are many events that deserve to be remembered but in an overarching sense and regardless of its various victories at sea the united states navy was simply too small to match the royal navy and throughout the war u.s trade was subject to blockade and u.s coast subject to attack and one effort to protect those coasts came from one of the most famous inventors of his time robert fulton was born in pennsylvania in 1765 he was first an artist before turning his attention to invention he tried to sell an innovative submarine designed about the french and the british during the napoleonic wars but by far his most important success was in the design of the first commercially successful steam-powered boat fulton's north river steamboat launched in 1807 traveling new york's north river now more commonly called the hudson between new york city and the capital of albany the double paddle wheeled steamer significantly reduced the time of travel joining what was for a sailing vessel a four-day trip into an approximately 30-hour passage fulton's steamship helped to establish new york city as the nation's leading trading capital in 1811 he and others launched the new orleans the first steamboat on america's western waters new orleans traveled along the ohio and mississippi rivers from pittsburgh to new orleans revolutionizing river trade as previously boat traffic could not travel upstream against the strong currents of these rivers and fulton's steamboats had obvious implications for ships of war freed from dependence upon the winds a steam-powered vessel would presumably have been able to out-maneuver a standard sail-powered vessel but there were problems first of all the large paddle wheels on the sides of fulton's boats would have been obvious targets and they would have blocked some of the broadside guns the way that a ship was expected to fight in the era and steam engines at the time were simply not powerful enough to power a ship at sea still with new york under constant threat from the british navy a coastal defense committee from the city asked the opinion of their famous inventor the keyport weekly of keyport new jersey recalled in 1904 these were the days when the good bulk of the towns along the atlantic seaboard walked in fear of english ships and slept lightly through troubled dreams the coast lay unprotected president madison and his advisors at washington were quite as concerned by this as the fishermen of maine in delaware and then came fulton with his proposal of a floating battery fulton's response was a proposal for a truly extraordinary vessel his innovative plan was for a defense battery that would be a two-hold catamaran with the paddle wheel in the center this would protect the wheel from attack one of the biggest issues considered for esteemed warship as well is allow the vessel a full broadside without being obstructed by the paddle wheels the balance between the holes would be maintained by placing the steam apparatus on one side and the boiler on the other more of a barge than a ship the boat would have five foot thick walls of alternating vertical and horizontal oak timbers to protect it from enemy shot and would include furnaces used to heat the shot before firing uniquely fulton also planned to add massive pumps that would throw seawater over an enemy vessel like a giant fire hose inundating their gunpowder fulton concluded his proposal she will be the most formidable fighting ship ever constructed the design was enthusiastically embraced by naval authorities at the time the pittsburgh weekly gazette of pittsburgh pennsylvania wrote on february 4th 1814 the distinguished and indefatigable robert fulton we find has directed his attention to the employment of steamboats for purposes of public defense in the harbors and waters of the us the paper went on to quote a letter from some of the most renowned naval leaders in the nation we the undersigned have this day examined the model and plan of a vessel of war submitted to us by robert fulton to carry 24 guns 24 or 32 pounders and use red hot shot to be propelled by steam at the speed of four to five miles an hour without the aid of wind or tide the properties of which vessel are that without master sails she can move with suspicion speed that her machinery being guarded she cannot be crippled that her sides are so thick is to be impenetrable to every kind of shot and in calm or light breeze she can take choice of position or distance from an enemy the letter was signed by stephen decatur naval hero of the tropolitan war and the concurrence was signed by oliver hazard perry hero of the 1813 battle of lake erie with such enthusiasm and part of the navy congress elected to support the project on march 9 the long island star reported a bill is in its third reading in the house of representatives having passed the senate appropriating half a million dollars for the purpose of erecting one or more floating batteries to be moved by steam on the plan of fulton's warship the task was not without difficulty scotsman john duncan wrote in his fascinating work travels through part of the united states and canada in 1818 and 1819 after visiting the boat at the brooklyn naval yard our vessels kept the whole of the sea coast in a state of close blockade and it was the greatest difficulty that building materials could be got for her timber copper iron lead and coal required to be imported from distant parts of the union or from foreign countries and the vigilance of our cruisers allowed so little to escape that they were all scarce and enormously expensive ship carpenters have been sent off in such numbers to the lakes and so many stragglers had volunteered into the army and navy that workmen could scarcely be procured and only for very high wages many people wanted to name the boat after fulton but he himself proposed a different name he wanted to call it the demo logos meaning the voice of the people still the press mostly referred to the boat as fulton the first the keyboard weekly news describes the boat she was a mighty craft the boilers over which the doubters shook their heads in fear was 20 feet long by 12 feet deep through 2 475 tons will be driven by a water wheel 16 feet in diameter there's a vessel resting on two keels separated from into in by a canal 15 feet wide and 60 feet long the weekly reports that a british newspaper at the time described the demo logos as the terror of the seas she was designed to carry 30 32 pounder heavy guns 12 each to a side and three each four and a half as well as two massive 100 pounder columbiads large guns used in coastal defense that were able to fire both high and flat trajectories with the purpose of blowing holes below an enemy's water line however the navy had difficulty procuring the guns they were never all mounted duncan wrote that when she was launched no artillery of a suitable description was to be found in new york but a british prize was opportunity brought into philadelphia and 20 of her guns were dragged around through the deep roads of new jersey duncan described the demo logos as a most tortoise-looking man of war actually the boat didn't even have a front or a back the wheel could spin both directions and so it could go either way it had rudders on both holes on both sides but this ungainliness as well as the power and unreliability of the motor meant that it was about for coastal or harbor defense it wasn't suitable for sailing on the high seas the ship was launched in october of 1814 with great fanfare even though she hadn't even had her steam engine installed yet she was towed by two steam vessels the fulton and the paragon the new york columbian road on october 29th this morning fifteen minutes before nine o'clock the steam battery fulton the first was launched into her destined element the spectacle exhibited on this occasion was one of the most magnificent and interesting ever witnessed in the city or country the steamboats fulton and paragon with select companies on board and the firefly and horse but williamsburg with their decks covered with passengers were on the river and a large number of other vessels and boats amounting to upwards of 200 were present after a flurry of gun salutes to paper rights the different sections of the multitude rent the air with their repeated acclimations the pride of the nation was on display the maryland gazette of annapolis maryland described the floating battery as a mammoth frigate which of herself is equal to a small navy the colombian wrote the fulton entered the water under the flag the united states and an emblematic standard representing the genius of america standing securely amidst the destruction of her maritime enemies by explosion and conflagration the colombian concluded the fulton is the first vessel or battery of her kind ever constructed and her opportunity shall display her potency with half the success that has crowned the steamboat experiments of colonel fulton his fame as an engineer and mechanism will be greatly enhanced and an improvement in the art of naval defense be effective beyond all the boasted experiments of the old world but that opportunity never came the voice of the people was launched october 29th but by then the whole purpose of the war had pretty much faded with the abdication of napoleon the previous april and neither side saw any purpose in prolonging the war peace discussions had already begun in august and a treaty was signed on december 24th although too late for the news to reach louisiana and prevent the january 8th battle of new orleans the piece came early enough that fulton's formidable fighting ship never fired a shot in anger the treaty was officially ratified by congress on february 16th in fulton died of consumption eight days later at the age of 49. the symbol of the genius of america wasn't completed until summer she was sent on trial runs as part of new york's 1815 july 4th celebration where she according to the new york gazette performed all that we want of her she was then placed in reserve in the brooklyn naval yard where john duncan visited her in 1818. in 1821 her boiler was removed although she remained a floating barracks and she was towed out as part of the parade celebrating the opening of the erie canal in 1825 then on june 5th 1829 a small store powder in her magazine exploded the evening post reported we have to record one of the most dreadful and fatal accidents that ever took place in this neighborhood yesterday the powder magazine of the steam frigate fulton the first lying in the navy yard in brooklyn exploded the vessel was one of great strength with sides more than four feet thick and the other parts of proportionate solidity but now she is a complete wreck her bow blown away to the water's edge her larva side shattered to pieces her timbers rent and shivered in every direction 25 men were killed in the explosion yet the tragic demise of the world's first steam warship is somewhat deceptive of its importance despite never actually fighting in a war and actually not being completed until after the death of its brilliant engineer the demo logo so if you prefer the fulton the first was still emblematic of one of the most important impacts of the war of 1812. it represented america coming onto the world stage and proving that we could go toe to toe with one of europe's great powers it was some have called it america's second war for independence and like robert fulton himself the demo logos which came seven years ahead of the steam tug hms comet the royal navy's first steam-powered vessel would continue to surprise with its energy and innovation those great powers as the keyport weakly noted it is seldom recalled that the first steam battleship that the world ever saw was built by an american for america and when the united states navy turned its attention back to building steam warships in 1836 the first one was appropriately named uss fulton but popularly called fulton the second i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise at teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 119,252

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, War of 1812, New York

Id: MDJ6quCOELc

Length: 15min 43sec (943 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 12 2022