The idea of propelling boats by steam was not new. Jonathan Hulls had published a pamphlet in 1737 entitled, “A Description and Draught of a New Invented Machine for Carrying Vessels Out of or Into Any Harbour, Port or River, Against Wind or Tide or in a Calm.” This pamphlet is of great rarity, and the plate it contains, being the first pictorial representation of a boat propelled by the force of steam, merits reproduction. But in Fulton’s own country practical results had already been achieved. James Rumsey had actually moved a vessel by steam on the Potomac in 1785–88, and in 1788 and 1790 took out British patents. In February, 1793, Rumsey ran a steamboat on the Thames. Equally important was the work of John Fitch, who also constructed a boat operated by a steam engine and actually conveyed passengers on a regular schedule on the Delaware River in 1790. Fitch, like his rival inventor Rumsey, went to Europe further to develop his ideas and, in 1791, took out a French patent. All these experiments were, of course, known to Fulton and it is not impossible that they gave him his first suggestion. For the moment we are not interested in the development of steam navigation. However fascinating the story of how Fulton gradually developed a better engine than his predecessors and contemporary experimenters had succeeded in doing, and one that was completely practical, it is not to be repeated here. Our story is concerned with his work on submarines, but before leaving the subject of steamboats, it is convenient to recall that the fortuitous appointment of Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813), the famous Chancellor of the State of New York, as American Minister to France in 1801 brought to Fulton his ultimate means of success through the partnership that the two men established. Chancellor Livingston, like Fulton’s other friend, Lord Stanhope, was interested in philosophical subjects and had turned his attention to the possibility of steam navigation as early as 1798. Therefore, his arrival in France in 1801, when Fulton was struggling with the mechanical problems, was most opportune for Fulton and the art of mechanical propulsion. Though Fulton even then had almost reached the solution of the engineering difficulties, he was without the necessary funds to put his ideas in concrete form. These funds Livingston supplied, and, what to a man of Fulton’s temperament was almost as valuable, personal encouragement and guidance. It is not too much to assert that the early realization of the application of steam to navigation was due to Livingston’s acceptance of the post of Minister to France, thus bringing the two men together. [Illustration: JONATHAN HULLS’ STEAMBOAT, 1737 ]