t success, so Miller had a 60-foot boat built of the
double-hull design and fitted with an engine built by Symington. She
reached a speed of 7 mph on the Forth and Clyde Canal. However, Miller
lost interest when he found that the Symington engine was unreliable and
that Great Britain showed very little public support for such projects.

Fulton was acquainted with Symington's work and probably had heard of
Miller's vessels. At any rate, he employed the double-hull principle in
his steam ferryboats, the first of which was the _Jersey_, a 188-ton
vessel built by Charles Browne, which began service July 2, 1812. The
next year he had a sister ship built, the _York_. These vessels were
based on his patent drawing of 1809. In 1814 he had another vessel of
this type built, the _Nassau_. It was, therefore, logical that he should
apply this design to the _Steam Battery_. The double-hull design had
worked well in these ferries, and the design would give protection from
shot to the paddle wheel. The _Battery_ would have the ability to run
forward or astern so as not to be exposed to a raking fire from the
enemy while maneuvering in action. The application of this "ferryboat"
principle to the _Battery_ reduced the need for extreme maneuverability,
the catamaran's weakest point, even at low speed.

The resistance factors in the design are of relatively small importance,
for the speed possible under steam in this period was very low. However,
the plans show an apparently efficient hull form for the power
available, aside from the drag of the beams across the race in the
vicinity of the keel. The displacement was adequate. The height of the
gun-deck above the water at the race made the _Battery_ unsuitable for
rough-water operation, but there is no evidence that Fulton or the
sponsors of the vessel considered the _Battery_ as a coastwise or
seagoing steamer. However, the clearance of the gun deck above the water
and the dip of the paddle wheel would have made the additional weight of
an upper- or spar-deck battery prohibitive even had experience in action
proven it desirable.

Sail and Inboard Plans

[Illustration: Figure 13.--LINES OF _Taurus_. From the Admiralty
Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.]

The sail and rigging plan is likewise a Danish copy and shows the
two-masted lateen rig employed. The hull is shown with bulwarks and
gunports on the spar deck but no other evidence that the _Battery_ was
f