Lymington, in the succeeding year, was again commissioned by his patron to try the experiment on a greater scale; a double vessel, sixty feet long, was to be fitted with an engine and revolving paddles, suited to the supposed exigencies of the case. The engine and machinery were constructed at Carron, and, in the course of six months, the vessel was ready to beput in motion. In December, 1789, it was taken into the Forth, and Clyde Canal, and in the presence of a vast number of spectators, the machinery was put in motion. his second trial promised to be every way as prosperous as the first. It happened, unluckily however, that the revolving paddles had not been made of sufficient strength ; and when they were brought into full action, several of the float-boards were carried away, and a very vexatious stop was that day put to the voyage. The damage was repaired, and, on the 25th of December, the steam-boat was put in motion, and carried along the canal at the rate of seven miles an hour, without any untoward accident, although it appeared evident that the weight of the engine was an over burden for the vessel, (her planking being only three-quarters of an inch thick,) and that under such a strain it would have been imprudent to have ventured to sea. The experiment, however, was again repeated, on the two following days ; and having thus satisfied himself of the practicability of his scheme, he gave orders for unshipping the apparatus, and laying it up in the storehouses of the Carron Company.
"It may naturally occasion surprise and disappointment," continues his son, "that I should have to terminate here this account of my father's experiments on steam navigation; that he did not follow up these prosperous and decisive trials of efficacy, with the same spirit andperseverance, which had been so conspicuous in many other instances, must for ever be matter of regret to his family, as it was to himself in the latter years of his life." The fact, however, was, that he had to complain of the enormous expense in which he had been involved; "and I may be permitted to add," continues his son, " that by this time my father, in the prosecution of his various schemes of a purely public nature, and without the slightest chance or expectation of reimbursement, had expended upwards of thirty thousand pounds." And, being by this time ardently engaged in agricultural pursuits, his attention was more easily turned from the objects of his former speculations, than those acquainted with his character would have been prepared to anticipate. Be that as it may, it cannot be disputed, that in point of fact, he had fully established the practicability vessels of any size by means of wheels or revolving paddles, and of adtpting to these the powers of the steam-engine, although in the subordinate details of execution, great room remained for minor improvements. " Of my father's peculiar and undoubted merits as an inventor, I have," continues his son, with a pardonable partiality, " endeavoured to give a fair and unvarnished account ; and of the reality of that invention, as carried into actual practice in the year 1788, and 1789, no demonstration more unequivocal can be desired than that, with his few but satisfactory experiments, the prosecution of this momentous discovery remained suspended for many years in a state of inactivity and neglect, till, at a period comparatively recent, it was revived in America, and in this country, by persons who can be proved to have derived their first lights from Dalswinton and at Carron. But I have felt no other desire than to record the facts immediately connected with my father's opemtions, and to establish the priority of his claims to the credit of having and carried into practical execution, an improvement in the nautical art, by far the most important of which the present age has to botuit; and the ultimate effects of which, on, the future intercourse of mankind, the most sanguine imagination would attempt in vain to predict." But few experiments of importance appear to have been
tried, after those of Mr. Miller, until the celebrated American engineer, Robert Fulton, constructed a steam boat, which was launched at New York, in 1807, and began to run as a passage boat between that city and Albany. The engine was obtained from Bolton and Watt, whose workmen accompanied it, and fixed it in the vessel. Upon the occasion of its being launched, and removed to the opposite shore of Jersey, Colden says, "nothing could exceed the surprise and admiration of all who witnessed the experiment. The minds of the most incredulous were changed in a few minutes; before the boat had made the progress of a quarter of a mile, the greatest unbeliever must have been converted. The man who, while he looked on the expensive machine, thanked his stars that he had more wisdom than to waste his money in such idle schemes, changed the expression of his features as the boat moved from the wharf, and gained her speed; his complacent smile gradually stiffened into an expression of wonder : the jeers of the ignorant, who had neither sense nor feeling enough to repress their contemptuous ridicule and rude jokes, wero silenced for the moment by a vulgar astonishment, which deprived them of the powers of utterance, till the triumph of genius extorted from the credulous multitude, which crowded the shores, shouts and acclamations of congratulations of applause. This far-famed vessel, which was the Clermont, soon after sailed for Albany, and on her first voyage arrived at her destination without any accident. She excited the astonishment of the inhabitants of the shores of the Hudson, many of whom had never heard even of an engine, much less of a steam-boat. She was described by some, who had indistinctly seen her passing in the night, as a monster moving on the waters, defying the winds and tide, and breathing flame and smoke. She bad the most terrific appearance from other vessels, which were navigating the river when she was making her passage. The first steam-boats, as others yet do, used dry pine wood for fuel, which sends forth a column of flame, many feet above the flue ; and whenever the fire is stirred, a galaxy of sparks fly oily which in the night have a brilliant and beautiful appearance. This uncommon light first attracted the attention of the crews of other vessels. Notwithstanding the wind and tide were adverse to its approach, they saw with astonishment that it was rapidly advancing towards them ; and when it came so near, as that the noise of the machinery and the paddles was heard, the crews in some instances shrank beneath their decks from the terrific sight ; and others left their vessels to go on shore, while others prostrated themselves, and besought Providence to protect them from the approach of the horrible monster which was marching on the tides, and lighting its path by the fires which it vomited." This first voyage, of about 150 miles, was performed in 32 hours, which gives a speed of nearly five miles an hour. The return to New York was effected in the same space of time ; but, iu both going and returning, the wind, a light breeze, was a-head, and the whole voyage performed by the engine and wheels. In the course of it, the voyagers overtook many sloops and schooners beating to windward, and parted with them as if they had been at anchor. Admirable as this early experiment unquestionably was, the speed was but little more than one-third of that now attained. Perhaps the cause of this difference of effect will be in some measure accounted for, by the following particulars of the construction of the Clermont; namely, length of boat, 133 feet ; depth, 7 feet ; breadth, 18 feet. The boiler, 20 feet long, 7 deep, and 8 broad. The steam cylinder 2 feet in diameter, length of stroke 4 feet. The diameter of the propelling wheels 15 feet, breadth 4 feet, and dipping 2 feet into the water. Burden 160 tons.