Fitch's first boat-engine had a steam-cylinder 12 inches in diameter. A second engine was now built (1788) with a cylinder 18 inches in diameter, and a new boat. The first vessel was 45 feet long and 12 feet wide; the new boat was 60 feet long and of but 8 feet breadth of beam. The first boat (Fig. 69) had paddles worked at the sides, with the motion given the Indian paddle in propelling a canoe; in the second boat (Fig. 70) they were similarly worked, but were placed at the stern. There were three of these paddles. The boat was finally finished in July, 1788, and made a trip to Burlington, 20 miles from Philadelphia. When just reaching their destination, their boiler gave out, and they made their return-trip to Philadelphia floating with the tide. Subsequently, the boat made a number of excursions on the Delaware River, making three or four miles an hour. [Illustration: FIG. 70.--John Fitch, 1788.] Another of Fitch's boats, in April, 1790, made seven miles an hour. Fitch, writing of this boat, says that "on the 16th of April we got our work completed, and tried our boat again; and, although the wind blew very fresh at the east, we reigned lord high admirals of the Delaware, and no boat on the river could hold way with us." In June of that year it was placed as a passenger-boat on a line from Philadelphia to Burlington, Bristol, Bordentown, and Trenton, occasionally leaving that route to take excursions to Wilmington and Chester. During this period, the boat probably ran between 2,000 and 3,000 miles,[67] and with no serious accident. During the winter of 1790-'91, Fitch commenced another steamboat, the "Perseverance," and gave considerable time to the prosecution of his claim for a patent from the United States. The boat was never completed, although he received his patent, after a long and spirited contest with other claimants, on the 26th of August, 1791, and Fitch lost all hope of success. He went to France in 1793, hoping to obtain the privilege of building steam-vessels there, but was again disappointed, and worked his passage home in the following year. [67] "Life of John Fitch," Westcott. [Illustration: FIG. 71.--John Fitch, 1796.] In the year 1796, Fitch was again in New York City, experimenting with a little _screw_ steamboat on the "Collect" Pond, which then covered that part of the city now occupied by the "Tombs," the city prison. This little boat was a ship's yawl fitted with a screw, like that adopted later by Woodcroft, and driven by a rudely-made engine.