Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton is one of the greatest inventors that have ever lived. Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania on November 14, 1765, Fulton was of Irish decent. His mother and father came from Kilkenny, Ireland in the early 18th century and settled in Little Britain Township in Lancaster. They were very poor, so Robert's education was not the most formal. He spent his early twenties as an artist, painting mainly portraits and landscapes. Fulton went to England in 1786, where he gained an interest in engineering and studied shipbuilding and canal navigation. In London, he was taken in by Benjamin West and his family, to whom he apprenticed. Fulton studied with West for many years, then later on relocated to Devonshire, where he worked for wealthy patrons, such as the Duke of Bridgewater and Earl Stanhope.

In 1797, Fulton began to experiment with submarine torpedoes and torpedo boats in France. In 1800, he completed the construction of his very own submarine Nautilus. The submarine was commissioned by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. It was then that Fulton met the US Ambassador, Robert Livingston, whose niece, Harriet, he later on married. Robert and Harriet had one son and three daughters.

In 1803, Fulton met up once again with Livingston to draw up an agreement to construct a steamboat to travel between New York and Albany. The boat was built on the Seine, but was not strong enough. The second boat was tested in August, 1803, but it was not fast enough in speed. In 1807, he built the Clermont (also known as the North River Steamboat), whose engine was provided by Boulton & Watt of Birmingham. The ship took its maiden trip from New York to Albany in 1807 in a record breaking thirty-two hours (for forty miles).

Fulton was the only provider for steamboat traffic for thirty years until 1824, when they took away his right to the seas because states could not legally regulate interstate trade. He became bankrupt after he was unable to compete with other companies' low prices. Fulton died on February 24, 1815 of pleurisy, and is buried in the Trinity Churchyard Cemetery in Manhattan.