that the mode of placing the main mast far forward, and the mizzen mast so far aft, as to leave a convenient space between the two, which shall not be incommoded by ropes, booms, or yards, and afford room for spreading an awning for the comfort and convenience of passengers is the same exactly in the said _Hope_ Steamboat as in the boats built by him for Livingston and Fulton. That this mode of placing masts so far apart, to the best of his knowledge, is not known in any other kind of vessel, and would not answer for a vessel intended to work with wind only, without the aid of steam, but in union with steam has been proved by three years’ experience on the _North River_ Steamboat to succeed perfectly well. This deponent further says that the form and make of the said _Hope_ and _Perseverance_ steamboats, their wheels, wheel guards, manner of steering, mode of placing the masts and rigging, mode of arranging the awning, arrangements of the Cabins and kitchen, suspending their row-boats from the sides instead of from the stern, as is usual, are in his opinion in all these combinations and arrangement, exact copies from the _Car of Neptune_ Steamboat, _and more like her than she is like the_ North River _Steamboat_ which was first built, and further this deponent saith not.”[21] [20] _Sic_: probably means “their length was rather more than six times their beam.” [21] “Steamboats on the Hudson,” in the “Master, Mate, and Pilot,” October 1909. The _Hope_ and _Perseverance_ ran throughout the season of 1811 with passengers and freight, between New York and Albany, and met with as much of the public patronage as did the other boats. The courts, however, decided that Captain Bunker and his supporters were acting illegally, and gave the drastic order that their steamers should be confiscated and handed over to Livingston and Fulton, who did not run them but had them broken up. Writing in 1838, in regard to his early experiments, to the Secretary of the Treasury at Washington, Captain Bunker described an incident which unfortunately for American steamship records does not stand alone. The Captain was undoubtedly fortunate that matters were no worse.