were not devoted exclusively to painting, for Fulton had
developed an interest in mechanics, secured a patent for an improvement
in canal locks, invented a "plunging" boat, a kind of submarine, a
machine for spinning flax, one for making ropes, one for sawing marble,
and many others of minor importance. Finally abandoning art altogether,
he went to Paris, where he spent seven years with the family of Joel
Barlow, conducting with him a number of experiments; one series of which
has developed into the modern submarine torpedo. He succeeded in
interesting the French government in his submarine experiments and
constructed a boat equipped with a small engine, with which, in the
harbor of Brest, he seems actually to have made some progress under
water, remaining under on one occasion for more than four hours. But the
French government finally withdrew its support, and finding the British
government also indifferent, Fulton sailed for New York in December,
1806.

Here, he succeeded in interesting the United States government, which
granted him $5,000 to continue his submarine experiments, but interest
in them soon waned, and Fulton turned his whole attention to the subject
of steam navigation. He had been experimenting in this direction for a
number of years, and, in conjunction with Chancellor Livingston, of New
Jersey, had secured from the legislature of New York the exclusive right
and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be propelled
by the force of fire or steam on all the waters within the territory of
New York for a period of twenty years, provided he would, by the end of
1807, produce a boat that would attain a speed of four miles an hour.
Fulton went to work at once, the experiments being paid for by
Livingston, and after various calculations, discarded the use of paddles
or oars, of ducks' feet which open as they are pushed out and close as
they are drawn in, and also the idea of forcing water out of the stern
of the vessel. He finally decided on the paddle-wheel, and, in August,
1807, the first American steamboat appeared on the East River. A great
concourse witnessed the first trial, incredulous at first, but converted
into enthusiastic believers before the boat had gone a quarter of a
mile.

She was christened the "Clermont," and soon afterwards made a trip up
the Hudson to Albany, to the astonishment of the people living along the
banks of that mighty river. The distance of 150 miles, against