The optimists had prophesied correctly: the steamboat had come to stay. So soon as Fulton had shown the way, and during the eight years which ensued between the completion of the _Clermont_ in 1807 and Fulton’s death in 1815, no fewer than seventeen craft of various kinds were built by him, including the first steam frigate, and the first steam ferry-boats. Among the number of this fleet were the _The Car of Neptune_, launched in 1808, the _Paragon_ in 1811, the _Fire Fly_ of 1812, and the _Richmond_ of 1814. Fulton had, from the first, as we saw when he wrote to Napoleon’s Commissioners, the idea of opening up the Mississippi and other North American rivers by means of steamships, and no sooner had he got the _Clermont_ to work satisfactorily than he wrote: “Whatever may be the fate of steamboats for the Hudson, everything is completely proved for the Mississippi, and the object is immense.” When one considers that it was Fulton who introduced practical steam navigation, not only to the Hudson but to the other great rivers of North America, and that the _Clermont_ was the historic embodiment of his thoughts, it seems a pity that no one has been able to trace the whereabouts of this epoch-making craft. She has vanished; and was either broken up or disguised beyond recognition. We mentioned at an earlier stage the names of John and R. L. Stevens, who had interested themselves in steamboat experiments. Just about the time that the _Clermont_ was ready for her life’s work these two men had built another steamship, called the _Phœnix_. Originally intended for the Hudson River, since now the _Clermont’s_ success had obtained for Livingston and Fulton the monopoly of the steam navigation thereon, the two Stevenses decided to send their craft to the Delaware River. They therefore took her round to Philadelphia by sea in June, 1809, one of the owners being in command. She arrived quite safely, and for several years plied profitably on the Delaware. This is important as being the first occasion in history when the steamship took to the sea, for it was not until the _James Watt_ achieved her distinction in 1811 that a British ship had shown her full confidence in steam. Impelled by the impetus which had been given by Fulton and Stevens, the North American continent, with its vast extent of waterways, quickly realised the possibilities of the steamboat, so that in the next decade this novel type of craft became familiar in many parts. [Illustration: FULTON’S PLANS OF A LATER STEAMBOAT THAN THE _CLERMONT-NORTH RIVER_, SHOWING APPLICATION OF THE SQUARE SIDE-CONNECTING-ROD ENGINE. _From the Original in the possession of the New Jersey Historical Society._] [Illustration: THE “COMET.” _From the Model in the Victoria and Albert Museum._] [Illustration: ENGINE OF THE “COMET.” _In the Victoria and Albert Museum._]