The Maiden Voyage of Steam (Robert Fulton's "SS North River" aka "Clermont")

one of the greatest inventions of the last 500 years is arguably the development of steam-powered transportation which paved the way for all other machine propulsion on the land sea and even the air while not the inventor of steam power itself the man responsible for proving its use by creating the first successful steamboat and commanding her first voyage was robert fulton right here on the waters of the hudson river which at the time was simply called the north river born in lancaster pennsylvania fulton had long played with the idea of a steam-powered ship having conducted test runs on the sane river in france aside from his work in steam he was a renowned painter and an engineer who developed canals for various governments and a torpedo and submarine for napoleon bonaparte but his first passion would always be boats don't you ever think about anything else but the boat mr fulton oh yes of course [Music] but after all the boat is the boat i mean friends girls things like that [Music] do you like boats the first steamboat sailed a test run in 1776 long before fulton had even entered the shipbuilding scene but this boat and all subsequent prototypes built could never prove their practical use fulton envisioned a boat that could sail reliably and even turn a profit he'd been developing sketches of this vessel since he was 12 years old historically this ship was called the claremont but this is a bit of an inaccuracy in the government registry of the time the ship was officially called the north river steamboat of claremont or in company's records simply the north river fulton would never have been able to realize his dreams without the financial support and continuous aid of his benefactor and friend robert r livingston of new york livingston was a lawyer and politician and one of the founders of the united states in fact livingston was one of the writers of the declaration of independence and would have signed it had he not been recalled to new york during that time he also administered the oath of office to george washington when he became president in 1789. suffice to say livingston was a key player in the start of the country and would become a key player in the development of the steamboat alongside fulton while the steamboat was an american invention it had very rich international routes fulton had long studied the french experiments in water resistance and the british advancements in steam technology the two americans fulton and livingston had met each other in france in 1802 and right from the introduction fulton was impressing livingston with the ideas of steam-powered boats that he had dreamed of since he was 12. livingston loved the idea and wanted to help fulton make it happen in practically no time at all they came to an agreement fulton would build it and livingston would fund it and one of their first decisions was to import a british steam engine and boiler for their enterprise which livingston pulled off by using his diplomatic connections in england ultimately fulton and livingston had their sights set on capturing the trade of the mississippi and missouri rivers but livingston owned a house on the hudson river which as i said was then commonly known as the north river and knew that that area would be the perfect proving ground for a prototype steamboat in 1806 fulton left france behind to return to the united states his sea voyage took two months i cannot help but imagine it was on his mind that these two months would be greatly reduced upon the success of his venture after arriving he spent the winter at livingston's home on the hudson which was known as the claremont estate spending much of that time rebuilding the imported machinery and drawing plans for the rest of the ship fulton knew exactly how he wanted the ship to be even years in advance and it was this extensive planning that impressed livingston in the beginning as he wrote describing the dimensions of the vessel she was 150 feet long 13 feet wide with a draft of two feet the bow and stern were 60 degrees displacing 100 tons of water her bow stood 26 feet from the water he commissioned charles brown ship builder at corlier's hook on the east river in manhattan to build the hull now as with most projects that gain any sort of notoriety it had its hecklers from the start from the street people would congregate cracking jokes and labeling the ship fulton's folly now calling a project someone's folly was essentially a dead meme even in the 1800s one notable example is brunel's folly the great eastern but back to the ss north river people actually were making threats against fulton and his vessel there were instances of vandalism and after the boat was launched and sitting in the water being fitted out another boat rammed into her seemingly intentionally fulton was forced to pay for guards around the clock in the later weeks of construction between unexpected expenses and the need for more guards funding ran out they were one thousand dollars short of what they needed they appealed to livingston's brother-in-law but he refused expressing a serious doubt in the financial feasibility the public ridicule of the project was so severe that when they did finally raise the money the benefactors requested to be kept anonymous on august 9 1807 fulton conducted sea trials with his completed vessel on the east river at noon time along the way he tested the configuration of his paddle wheels and achieved speeds of up to eight miles an hour these trials proved to fulton three things about his vessel one she could easily meet his expectations two she was built well enough to handle the force of the converted engine and three she was highly maneuverable the following week was spent making adjustments to the ship and completing the fitting out of her passenger accommodations including a large supply of wine and brandy and then came the big day august 17 1807 the steamboat north river was moored in the greenwich village at the end of the modern day west 10th street something many of my viewers would find interesting is that this is the same exact spot that the white star line would sail out of between 1875 and the turn of the 1900s around 40 passengers mostly friends and family of fulton and livingston gathered on the deck of the vessel awaiting the demonstration his friends were well polite but both anxious and fearful of what may happen the engine of the beast towered over them soon ready to fire up his friends stood silently as he gave the word for captain andrew brink to begin the ship chugged for a moment and moved a few feet before coughing and stopping insults and laughs came from the crowd on shore as fulton addressed his passengers asking them to stand by for just a half hour while he investigated and if that half hour elapsed and nothing had been improved he would cancel the voyage they were losing hope even after fulton managed to get the engines working in only a few minutes departing around 1pm smoke and sparks fell down upon the passengers in the aft end and the engine clanked as it stroked she was described as an ungainly vessel as if someone took a back country sawmill stuck it on a barge and lit it on fire but as manhattan disappeared behind them the north river grew on the passengers one passenger seems to have had hope and fulton from the start of the venture a mr baker who provided a warehouse in manhattan for the equipment storage and was confident enough in the vessel to have brought his young daughter along for the ride who sat on the stern rail for much of the voyage the first night of the voyage was passed on deck as the ship steamed up river a roof covered the bow and stern affording the only real shelter on board as she did not have true interiors the ship had not yet even been fitted out with bedding but passengers made do after 24 hours of steaming covering a hundred miles at roughly four knots the ss north river paid a surprise visit to the clermont estate livingston's country home a party was held into the night the joy and excitement of the voyage thus far was topped off by some wonderful news mr livingston officially announced to all present that his niece harriet had accepted mr fulton's hand in marriage the rest of the night was spent here at the claremont estate likely due to the discomfort that the party suffered aboard the north river the night prior captain brink who actually lived in the area returned home for the night and snuck back with his wife he convinced her to join them on the rest of the trip to albany by telling her that he was going to take her to albany on a boat powered by a tea kettle 9 a.m the north river cast off from claremont with a few additional passengers skepticism was nearly gone and the passengers celebrated as the miles steamed by a cook provided the meals and stewards served them song and dance could be heard from under the stern roof as the passenger's party even singing fulton's favorite song in all my readings about robert fulton i believe this was the happiest moment of his life the north river chugged into albany at 5 p.m much to the surprise and spectacle of the local townsfolk now we're actually standing here at jennings landing which is a park now but this is the old boat landing in albany where the claremont steamed in fulton's party would be returning with him the following day however word was traveling around town that fulton and livingston would be selling tickets to any locals who wanted to buy them sign up and join them on the way back to manhattan however due to fear and skepticism only five purchased their tickets as the ss north river steamed south along the river crowds formed on the banks but this time it was to cheer them on the vessel was now an astounding success in the eyes of the public as she stopped once more at the claremont estate where mr livingston disembarked along with several of his party the north river continued through the night and arrived back in manhattan by four in the afternoon it took the north river 32 hours to steam the 150 miles from manhattan to albany and 30 hours to steam back for the entire time the wind was against them meaning the ship moved under steam the entire time with absolutely no advantage from the wind the maiden voyage in the north river and truly the maiden voyage of steam itself was a resounding success but fulton saw plenty of work ahead further fitting out was made to the ship in the weeks following her voyage her aft deckhouse was enclosed with berths installed the engine was given a roof overhead and further adjustments were made to her machinery to improve her speed so that the ss north river would be able to consistently make 30 hour trips to or from albany three times a week now sailing from lower manhattan business for the ss north river was booming each voyage was seeing over a hundred paying customers and all along each journey the ship was met with cheers the garrison at west point would rally for them and sailing boats of young ladies would come alongside and wave their handkerchiefs while the north river may have been the darling of spectators she was the bane of other mariners captain brink who maintained his role as captain for quite some time was consistently avoiding sailing vessels that played chicken with him and a handful did succeed in ramming her including once destroying a paddle wheel the winter ice floes meant that the ss north river needed to be stored for the season but this allowed a total rehaul of the vessel even within her first year she was widened and given a deeper draft as well as given a significant upgrade to her cabins including a total of 54 bunks and designated spaces for the kitchen pantry and crew quarters now within a few years other enterprises were illegally copying fulton's design and using them against him though they were usually stopped as regulations increased and the voyages of the north river became standardized the ship was redesigned again in this final layout we see the foundations for how steamships would continue to be laid out for generations going forward such as the white star liner atlantic the after cabin was to accommodate 18 passengers exclusively ladies and children middle and forward would accommodate 36 and 24 and this forward compartment was for the gentleman meanwhile fulton and livingston turned their attention to the other rivers of america as fulton worked to build an empire of steamboats around the country sailing a second fleet out of new orleans and discussing the start of another fleet out of north carolina meanwhile on the hudson fulton and livingston had a legal monopoly of the steamboat trade and commissioned a handful of additional vessels just like the ss north river some of which acting as a ferry from manhattan to new jersey and brooklyn interestingly in 1811 fulton drew up designs for the world's first steam train and wrote to livingston for his financial approval livingston was extremely impressed by the idea and believed it was inevitable in the future but the funding was simply not there at the moment had they gone ahead with fulton's designs this would have been the world's very first steam railroad preceding the stockton and darlington railroad in britain by 14 years robert livingston died in 1813 only five years after the north river's maiden voyage and the ss north river was retired in 1814 and robert fulton died in 1815. now no one knows what became of the ss north river and it's likely that no one will ever find out for sure the most likely theory in my opinion is that as regulations were passed the north river became antiquated and could no longer be upgraded parts were scrapped off of her and her timbers were used to create a wharf at the fulton and sucker foundries in jersey city which actually built monitors during the american civil war in 1909 a fairly faithful recreation of the ss north river was built and heavily photographed which i used as a stand-in for the images in this video as there are no photographs of the original north river the replica was built for the 300th anniversary of henry hudson's expeditions up the hudson river and highlighted the advancement of technology since then a replica of his ship the half moon sailed alongside the ss north river replica sailing incorrectly under the name of claremont and to juxtapose these two vessels by parading the newest advancement in steam technology the cunard liner rms lusitania joined them and to celebrate another recent triumph all three were buzzed by the wright brothers in one of their flyers the reconstruction was based on then recently discovered plans of the original design of the ship the plans were actually authenticated by frank kirby the designer of several hudson river dayline vessels including the hendrick hudson which sailed for the hudson river dayline in the early 1900s along the same route that the ss north river took in 1807. are you interested in what a voyage aboard the hendrick hudson was like in 1905 then check out my video about the hudson river dayline taking you on that journey through first-hand materials on my channel now please be sure to subscribe turn on post notifications and leave a like or comment on this video thank you very much for listening [Music] you

Channel: Part-Time Explorer

Views: 26,361

Keywords:

Id: F6JXIOL7t0I

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 27 2021