She had two masts 90 feet long, calculated for lateen-sails, the yards for which were 175 feet long, The guns, thirty in number, were to be columbiades, carrying a shot of 100 pounds; the carriage was to run on a slide, and they were the best constructed gun carriages I have ever seen. In consequence of both ends of the frigate being round, four guns from each end could be brought to bear on one object. Her machinery was protected by a wall of white oak four feet thick, and truly she was a formidable creature. While this frigate was in process of construction, Mr. 1!. bort Fulton, her projector, was at the ship-yard every day, ami it was very evident that he labored under a doubt about h< r coming up to his guaranty, for by a close mathematical calculation it was ascertained to a certainty that she would draw more water than was at first expected.
Hence the opening amidships would be too low for the water to pass off from the wheel. These difficulties would materially affect the efficiency of the frigate. This caused Mr. Fulton a great deal of mental anxiety, which visibly wore upon him, and gave him quite a haggard look.0 Notwithstanding this, he was very agreeable and sociable with the workmen, and I thought him one of the finest men I. had ever met with. The old maxim of "one beat the bush, and another catch the bird," was fully applicable with Mr. Fulton, for all who ever knew or have read of this gentleman, cannot suppress a feeling of regret at the manner in which his perseveringgenius was requited; for after he had succeeded in getting a permanent steam communication between New York and Albany, wading through innumerable troubles and mortifications, and what was worse than all the rest, he was involved in lawsuits with those who, luorldrlike, would deprive him of the honor due to him for his invaluable discovery, and by these ruinous litigations was stripped of his hard-earned property.
I weil remember his first boat, and when she started on her experimental trip to Albany. He was looked upon as certainty a crazy man. Even the boys hooted at him, and around the wharf where the boat lay, it was so densely crowded that vehicles could scarcely pass. And when the wheels besran to move, a tremendous shout went forth that made all ring again. Mr. Fulton, in his coarse working dress, was busy at work and unmoved by the insulting epithets which he could not help hearing. As for instance, a great, swarthy looking fellow forced his way through the crowd, and when near the boat exclaimed, "Whereas the fool?" Even this last insult did not disturb his equanimity, nor discompose him * He did not live to see the completion of his contract; he died Feb.
15, 1815. in the least. The world knows the result of this so-called foolish, incipient attempt at steam navigation. In one of my school books I remember the following saying: " The evil that men do lives after them, but the Good is oft interred with their bones." How very seldom do we hear the name of Robert Fulton, although it is registered among the great men of America. 1 know of no monument or cenotaph erected to his memory.0 He gave to the world a system of communication which has brought the nations of the earth in close proximity. The advantages of steam over sail ships are beyond calculation, and this was accomplished through the indubitable and persevering, yet unremunerated energy of Robert Fulton.
In 1838, an attempt was made by his friends, (I believe in legislature of New York.) to obtain a grant as a compensation for services rendered the State. Ogden Hoffman, Esq., was employed as an advocate on behalf of the claimants. The following is an extract of his excellent plea in behalf of the object. " This House, and the world, have been told that Robert Fulton was not the inventor of steam navigation. " England asserts that it is to a Scotchman that the honor of this discoverv is due, and that it was the Clvde and the Thames that first witnessed the triumphs of this wonderful invention. France, through her National Institute, declares that it was the Seine.
Even Spain, degraded and enslaved, roused by the voice of emulation, has looked forth from her cloistered halls of superstition, and declared that in the age of Charles, in the presence of her court and nobles, the experiment was successfully tried. " But America, proudly seated upon the enduring monument which Fulton has reared, smiles at these rival claims, * One street, leading from Broadway to where his boats lay, was called Fulton street. and secure in her own, looks down serenely upon the billows of strife which break at the base of her throne. But it has been denied in this debate that any other credit than that of ojood luck, is clue to Fulton for his invention. Gentlemen would have us to suppose that good luck is the parent of all we admire in science or in arms.