52 Robert Fulton's Clermont

James Watt’s steam engine (1769) ushered in a new age. The engine could do the work of hundreds of men and dozens of horses. So all was well on land. But not on sea. On sea, it was almost as in the time of Columbus. It was sails pulling ropes, and the sails catching wind.

But in 1783, all this changed. A French nobleman created a steam-driven paddle wheel vessel. It was strong enough to buck a stiff river current. This nobleman pioneered the way. He welded the steam engine to the paddle wheel. The news caught the imagination of Robert Fulton.

On August 17, 1807, the banks of the Hudson River were lined with people. They had read about Fulton’s new ship. It was the Clermont. This ship had no sails. Instead it had two paddles, wheels, one on each side. There were many doubters.

Smoke was already billowing from the stack. Then, at the appointed hour, the ship’s loud horn sounded. The nose of the 142-foot ship parted from the dock. The swift current of the Hudson caught the prow. The boat turned sideways. People held their breaths. Would the ship turn and be swept downstream? Fulton, an engineer, knew what to do. He gave full power to the water wheels. The handle of the tiller was held firm. The ship’s prow steadily fought the current. Soon on it pointed northward. Northward toward Albany. The crowd went wild.

The wheels were turning. The wheels were flying. The ship went 150 miles up the Hudson from New York City. It took only 32 hours. This was then the first commercially successful steamboat. Robert Fulton had ushered in a new era in the history of transportation.

詹姆斯·瓦特的蒸汽機（1769 年）開創了一個新時代。這種引擎可以完成數百名男子和數十匹馬的工作。在陸地上一切都很好，但在海上卻不行。在海上，情況幾乎與哥倫布時代相同，仍然是帆拉動繩索，帆捕捉風力。

但在 1783 年，一切都改變了。一位法國貴族製造了一艘蒸汽驅動的槳輪船。它足夠強大，可以抵抗湍急的河流。這位貴族開創了道路。他將蒸汽機焊接到槳輪上。這個消息引起了羅伯特·富爾頓的想像。

1807 年 8 月 17 日，哈德遜河的河岸擠滿了人。他們讀過富爾頓的新船。這艘船名叫克萊蒙特號。這艘船沒有帆，而是有兩個槳輪，分別在船的兩側。許多人持懷疑態度。

煙霧已經從煙囪中滾滾冒出。然後，在預定的時間，船隻響亮的汽笛鳴響。142 英尺長的船頭離開碼頭。哈德遜河的急流抓住了船首，船隻側轉。人們屏住呼吸。船會轉向並被沖到下游嗎？富爾頓是一名工程師，他知道該怎麼做。他將水輪全速運轉。舵柄被牢牢握住。船首穩定地抵抗水流。不久，它指向北方，朝奧爾巴尼前進。人群沸騰了。

槳輪在轉動，槳輪在飛馳。這艘船從紐約市沿哈德遜河向上航行了 150 英里，只用了 32 小時。這是第一艘商業上成功的蒸汽船。羅伯特·富爾頓開創了交通史上的新時代。