| Show r f- f N Need d of ff Fur Ft Traders ad I ted a to tb Invention jbf of 01 the w Steamboat t and d' d S Submarine ine I- I S. f 4 r 4 J i t Jl l T j b i i J y i I s I I fri J JI I S 'S t l' l l. l k L J J IN i i. i r I k i y I I F I l' l rt t f I. I x 1 i ii i c 4 f Y oj fr l IJ lj I j l. l r 11 r t r r J ft t jr 1 I 4 c i f I i r 1 Vl V- V l 1 G fr I M Wi L B TI to C c. c r I 4 I 1 PI Plan PIan n of Fulton's submarine the Nautilus drawn by himself A and B Body S-Body Body of boat C and D keel D keel EE EE En- En 1 nes ginet and pumps F F Observation tower G- G G bulkhead H H- H Propeller H-Propeller Propeller I Vertical I rudder L Li L- L 1 i Horizontal rudder M M M control for horizontal horizon RI rudder N N Transmission N gear sear for propeller r O O In In Indicator I P Torpedo P-Torpedo or powder barrel Q Q Hull Hull of vessel Papers in Possession of the Missouri Historical Society p Show That Robert Fulton Fulton Fulton Ful Ful- Ful- Ful ton Whose Ambition W Was s sto L to Be e an ap Art Artist st H Had d His Thoughts Turned to I Invention ven- ven tion hop by Seeing His Employer Em Em- Try to Dev Devise ise a ah h Means l of Sending Boats Up Jp p the Ohio River by I Other Than Muscle Power In the he possession of or the Missouri I Society are papers which Weh t how that the intention of U the e submarine sub sub- marine and steamboat by Robert Fe Ful- Ful Ion tuu had their inspiration in the desire oi ul the tIle fur traders to devise a means I th u muscle power to io take their boats up the Ohio RIVer RITer from St. St Louis Prior to to his success with the Clermont Cler- Cler mont Fulton had been working on un a submersible tests had bad proved to be practicable lie Ho had bad been with the French rench Government t for It its purchase but had made Jit little le i progress and was vas about to offer his Ills Intention to Great Britain when sud suddenly suddenly denly he ho solved the problem of the fur for traders This caused the submarine submarine rine to be forgotten until half bait a century century cen cen- tury tory later the be idea of an underwater boat was WIlS taken up by others It is a n remarkable fact that at the same blacksmiths blacksmith's 8 forge There CRob ert Fulton ulton served his apprenticeship hind had worked Benjamin BenjaminI I West who uh became the greatest American American Amerlean Am Am- erlean painter of his time and the President of tJ the e British Royal Academy The story is told here with nUb crent crent- in their proper order by William Vie Tin cent who collected and prepared pre pie pared in book hook r form rm for private distribution distri letters Jetters and papers of the merchant mer chant forbears of the Gratz family Si Simon SI mon and Henry when the tile St. St Louis fur trade was mis at its height were cre the leading fur traders of Lancaster Pa Pi then in an outpost of the Western for fur trade for Pennsylvania Mr r. r then goes goeR on OD to say I OSEPH SIMON SIllON was also in partnership partnership part part- J JOSEPH ip In the leading hardware store at Lancaster with a young man I named Darned William Henry As hardware merchants Interested in the fur trad trade Simon and Henry manufactured rl rifles s stor for tor Western use with the demand for fort t them em always active While Simon looked looted after anc the tho marketing young I Henry lenry managed the forge where th tha I a barrels bands of the guns were prepared Rittenhouse and Franklin had set I the Intelligent young men around Philadelphia to experimenting In n nearly everything Henry Hoary a acry cry very In Intelligent In- In young oung man acquainted with both luth oth l Franklin and Rittenhouse understood un un- un tho difficulties of or getting b back ck from froni the Mississippi pl upstream m ob ot the Ohio with furs Curs and other West Vest cin products Hence ho began work to make an engine which would drive a boat upstream At first trial on the Conestoga River the engine capsized the boat and it sank to the bottom Henry never lo lost t hope of or making it work upstream but something always Ys occurred so that It went the wrong way nay to the bottom or otherwise While ho he heas was as working at the tho forge ith lh bl his engine and guns Henry who w wa was a a. good draughtsman grew fond of ot Ia a lad of or seventeen or eighteen who frequented the forge showing unusual skill in iii in drawing probably forge charcoal So finally after other things had be been n tried William Henry Induced the he youth to paint a historical pl plc- plc lure ture The Death of ot Socrates fl from m the frontispiece of a volume of ot Rollin As the he slave shave who hands the poison polson to Socrates was naked to the waist one oneo o of the blacksmiths at the e forge who may have had his sh shirt rt off ocr in the way of or business obliged the young artist b. b by posing as a Greek Greck sla slave sla e He appears appears appears ap ap- ap- ap pears accordingly gly in the Death of ot SQ So Socrates rates which the say was tho the first historical picture by Benjamin West est painted for a black black- smith That is it was p painted I it at Simon Henrys Henry's forge The youthful artist was in fact Benjamin West and nd when he went to England he became President of the British Royal Acad Acad- emy In process of ot time he lie was succeeded by another boy o hanging around the forge and watching the work of or gu gun making and engine making This boy also began to learn to draw and nd finally finally fin fin- ally aIly he became a regular pupil ot oh William Henry learning m mechanics and mechanical l drawing He Ho caught the contagion of ot the steamboat idea but It was slow in working out and I Iy I i I El 0 00 oci ROBERT FULTON I Iother while it ft was working a number of oC I other Inventors including Fitch and andI Rumsey became famo famous s for Cor a time because because because be be- I cause of r their failures I boy was Robert Fulton born near Lancaster where the house a till tm stands It was only after the Revolution tion lion that he began attempting Inventions Inventions Inventions of or his own The war and th tho part taken talen by the British fleet in the capture of American cities gave ga him the idea of or Inventing ln som something thing that o ld sink the most powerful ships of an attacking fleet The devel development develop develop- p- p mc ment t from this was tie the torpedo and the submarine as more moie than a con con- tury was required t to explain the deadly character of or their work As a result however of ot the tho connection In Simon Henrys Henry's l Fulton when he first went to England Intended intended in In- tended to become a great painter under under un un- un der oer West Vest and he easily secured the b backing of oC his predecessor at nt Simon Henrys Henry's forge Benjamin West was one f C f the most famous artists of ot England and gave ave Fulton all possible help and encouragement encouragement and though his later ac access uc uc- ce cess ceSH as ns inventor of ot the steamboat re resulted resulted resulted re- re in oblivion for his pictures picture Fulton Fullon painted a number of ot which engravings arc ae still sUIl extant showing unusual talent He Ho might have ha succeeded as a Ii painter but for reasons he does not explain in his letters he gave up painting and attempting to be be- come a miscellaneous inventor as his old teacher William Henry had been As he had no rio or hardware store behind him this was a hazardous hazard hazard- ous experiment but ho he was soon makIng making making mak mak- ing himself known in European Cab Cab- mets He had left Lanc Lancaster for Philadelphia in 1782 1752 when seventeen years old In 1785 with West's West's help he was already able ble to m make ke his bis living liying liv liy- liy- liy ing lug in London as nn an artist but in five or six years he had begun using his talents as an artist arlist to make drawings of revolutionary inventions He sketched his first filst steamboat In 1793 but hut went to work on a digging machine ma ma- chine a rope-making rope machine and other othe inventions until the wars of ot the French h Re o Revolutionary period turned his mind to the submarine and the torpedo After Arter being in Paris for or some time ho proposed to organize the Nautilus Company and exterminate tho the BritIsh Brit Ish navy if it assured first of ot sufficient reward and nc incidentally of protection by a commission in the French navy from being hanged if it captured The Tho French Admiralty thought well wel enough of r th the thi invention to promise a sum sufficient fent reward for its us use but refused le re- re- re fused the commission an and showed the conviction that successful sUb I Itts ts might could would or 01 should be hanged as as' as pirates I Fulton seems to ha have begun on the submarine in 1797 but he withdrew I for the time b being ln-g- ln when l en in 1798 he was left om officially laUy subject for hanging In his proposals ls of ot December 1797 1791 I to the French Directory he had sal said he he- was flattered with with much hope ot 01 I being able to o annihilate the British naV navy Strong in his conviction that this this this' would result from Crom the use of hi his I Nautilus as he named his first submarine tub sub 1 marine boat he refused to accept outlawry outlawry outlawry out out- lawry as a pirate and went on urging I the French Government to test his In In- In In-I In A commission appointed tu I examine the boat reported that the lh I arm arni c conceived by Citizen Fulton ts is J i i terrible means of destruction bc because it acts l in Iii 1 silence and in a manner almost ai al most inevitable Ine Fulton never neer found round opportunity to test it against British ships which would not remain in reach at anchor i as the they had been doing but he showed that ho he could sink and aud remain under underwater underwater underwater water several hours bours and blow u up hulks or anything else left stationary for the test His boat was raised and lowered by having w water ter ballast nearly nearly near near- ly equal to Its weight so that it was only necessary to pump a small ad- ad weight of or water in or out Un Under er water it was driven by a screw worked b by the muscles of or its crew Compressed Compres ed air ail oxygen and olber I scientific devices now In use were either elthel tested or proposed Nevertheless with Napoleon in power power pow pow- er Fulton could make no satisfactory arrangement with the French ties The fhe British Cabinet recognized the Vos possibilities of oC the a as highly dangerous It began s secret cret negotiations to induce Fulton to re return return return re- re turn to England Before Detore doing so l ho o began his experiments on the Seine with his steamboat It was only as ho he succeeded with the steamboat that ho homade homade made wade the submarine po possible sible as the terrible means of d destruction it was expected to become becom In the meantime he was at work inthe Inthe in inthe the United States for Cor navigation na upstream upstream upstream up up- up stream on Western w waters tors After Alter the success of Qt the Clermont in 1807 1501 the Fulton submarine was tor forgotten gotten during more or than half haIr a century in which the steamboat was making St st. Louis a n great city The memory of Jt f the Nautilus was revived during the Fulton centennial in 1907 but It Is La Is' Is only recently that tho the romance of ot both submarine and steamboat has been made part of or the history of or the Western fur trade as it revived after the tue French and Indian War when the first in m St. St Louis were still sUlI new West may have been beell a natural bern hern genius in painting but only th association with William WilHam Henrys Henry's forge serving the demands of or the tho Western fur trade accounts for l Ful Fulton l- l ton ns as a fairly good painter and finally as the mo most t remarkable successful suc bUC- American inventor between the times Umes of or Franklin and Morse As Asfor Asfor Astor for tor Simon Henry lenry partners in jn fur Cur trading hardware and a variety of nf great dreams and projects for br the fu tu- ture including the I steamboat both bolh died before success had come but both lived Jived long enough to be able to to see that their own temporary failure would make sure the greatest permanent permanent permanent perma perma- nent successes of ot others other p |
