effort and discouragement in the history of navigation.

After considerable delay and difficulty, the two Americans
obtained permission to export the necessary engine from Great
Britain and shipped it to New York, whither Fulton himself
proceeded to construct his steamboat. The hull was built by
Charles Brown, a New York shipbuilder, and the Boulton and Watt
machinery, set in masonry, was finally installed.

The voyage to Albany, against a stiff wind, occupied thirty-two
hours; the return trip was made in thirty. H. Freeland, one of
the spectators who stood on the banks of the Hudson when the boat
made its maiden voyage in 1807, gives the following description:

"Some imagined it to be a sea-monster whilst others did not
hesitate to express their belief that it was a sign of the
approaching judgment. What seemed strange in the vessel was the
substitution of lofty and straight smoke-pipes, rising from the
deck, instead of the gracefully tapered masts...and, in place
of the spars and rigging, the curious play of the walking-beam
and
pistons, and the slow turning and splashing of the huge and naked
paddlewheels, met the astonished gaze. The dense clouds of smoke,
as they rose, wave upon wave, added still more to the wonderment
of the rustics.... On her return trip the curiosity she
excited was scarcely less intense...fishermen became
terrified, and rode homewards, and they saw nothing but
destruction devastating their fishing grounds, whilst the wreaths
of black vapor and rushing noise of the paddle-wheels, foaming
with the stirred-up water, produced great excitement...."