360Robert Fulton's steamboat opens a new era of travel
On 17 August 1807, Robert Fulton's steamboat, later known as the Clermont, set off up the Hudson River from New York to Albany. It covered about 240 km in 32 hours, far faster than sailing boats against the current. It became the first commercially successful steamboat service, and steam soon transformed river and ocean travel.
Inventors had experimented with steam-powered boats since the 1780s, but none had made a lasting business of it.
The American engineer Robert Fulton, backed by the diplomat Robert Livingston, built a boat with a British-made steam engine turning paddle wheels on each side.
On 17 August 1807, the North River Steamboat, later called the Clermont, left New York City and steamed up the Hudson River to Albany, about 240 km, in 32 hours. Sailing boats often took four days.
Fulton began a regular passenger service. Steamboats soon spread along America's great rivers, opening up the interior to trade. In 1819 the steamship Savannah crossed the Atlantic using steam for part of the journey, and by the 1840s regular steamship lines linked Europe and America.
- 17 August 1807
- The Clermont sails to Albany
- 1811
- The first steamboat on the Mississippi
- 1819
- The Savannah crosses the Atlantic
- 1838
- Regular transatlantic steamship service begins
Sources: Britannica · Smithsonian.