Today Is August 17

Today is the anniversary of the first steamboat service being inaugurated.

Illustration from an 1870 book

The first steam-powered ship was a paddle steamer named Pyroscaphe built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy. It was powered by a Newcomen steam engine. At its first demonstration, Pyroscaphe traveled upstream on the River Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed.

The first reliably-working steamboat was a paddle steamer built by John Fitch in 1787. A successful trial run of his steamboat. Perseverance, was made on the Delaware River.

Fitch began operating a regular commercial service the following year along the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. The Perseverance was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads.

Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat left New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River on August 17, 1807, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world. Fulton's steamboat could travel from New York City to Albany in 32 hours and was the first steam-powered passenger marine vehicle that could make money.

The first passenger-carrying steamboat in Europe was the Comet, designed by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell, which was launched in 1812 on the River Clyde. The steamboat, named after a celebrated comet of that time, was of 30 tons burthen, with an engine of three horsepower. Bell initially advertised a three times a week passenger service travelling between Glasgow, Greenock and Helensburgh. Soon afterwards the journey was extended to Oban and Fort-William, the entire voyage taking four days.