Robert Fulton (Jack I)

• 1. INTRODUCTION
• Robert Fulton 1765-1815 was an inventor/artist
• He was not the inventor of steamboat but constructed a steamboat named "Clermont" and made it a commercial success with first permanent route in history on Hudson River
• Fulton was born in a stone house on a farm near Quarryville, Pennsylvania. House was destroyed by fire, but now restored to original appearance.
• As a child he was an average student in Quaker school, but he excelled at drawing, painting, and mechanics.
• 2 HIS WORK
• As an adult he was a painter, but became interested in engineering and naval warfare. So in France he built a submarine Nautilus. It was steam powered.
• After this he worked with US navy to develop torpedo.
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• Fulton then designed first steam powered warship.
• He designed and constructed a steamboat called the "Clermont." It was a commercial vessel that left NYC and traveled up the Hudson River to Albany in 32 hours.
• To build Clermont Fulton teamed with Robert Livingston, the wealthy American ambassador of France. Clermont traveled against the current of the Hudson River at about 5 mph.
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• 3 AFTER DEATH 
• Died at 49 due to pneumonia. He died at home in Manhattan.many dignitaries attended funeral, but he was buried in vault next to wife at Trinity Church yard in Manhattan cemetery.
• People hardly knew where he was buried until 1901 when marker was placed near his grave. The cenotaph marker is a column with large portrait on one side. (It is near burial spot but NOT at it)
• There  is a marble statue of him in US capitol building.
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• Also there is a bronze statue of him in Battery Park in Manhattan.
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• 4 BOTTOM LINE
• Robert Fulton was often given credit for inventing the steamboat, however he was instead the guy that put it into practice.
• Fulton didn't actually invent the steamboat, BUT he turned it into a large scale commercial success, thereby transforming the world.
• When he dies US congress went into mourning, and NYC businesses closed for a day to honor him.