His steamboat "Perseverance," on the Delaware in 1787, was
eighteen feet in length and six feet beam. The name, however, was a
misnomer, as it was abandoned. These facts appear by papers on file in
the State Library at Albany. After his experiment on the Delaware,
he traveled through France and England, but not meeting with the
encouragement that he expected, became poor and returned home, working
his passage as a common sailor. In 1797 he constructed a little boat
which was propelled by steam in the old Collect Pond, New York, below
Canal Street, between Broadway and the East River.
* * *
Exactly one hundred years separate the first paddle-boat
of Papin from the first steamboat of Fulton.
_Victor Hugo._
* * *
According to records in the State Library, the steam was sufficiently
high to propel the boat once, twice, or thrice around the pond. "When
more water being introduced into the boiler or pot and steam was
generated, she was again ready to start on another expedition." The
boat was a yawl about eighteen feet in length and six feet beam.
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