Fulton, Robert

Fulton, Robert (1765–1815), inventor.Best known for his development of the first commercially successful steamboat in 1807, Fulton also made important contributions in portrait painting, canal engineering, and naval warfare. Born in Pennsylvania, he lived most of his adult life in Europe. His first naval project was the submarine Nautilus, manually driven underwater and tested successfully in French waters in 1800. Shifting to mine warfare, Fulton successfully blew up two brigs with floating mines in tests off Dover, England, in 1805 and New York in 1807. His grand vision was to promote freedom of the seas and free trade, using naval weapons to prevent war. He offered these weapons alternately to Napoleon and the British with little success. Returning to America, Fulton continued developing steamboats and naval weapons until his death. His American‐developed weapons concepts stressed harbor defense, and included the moored mine, the sub marine gun, use of the steamboat for troop transport in the War of 1812, and the construction of the first steam warship in history, USS Fulton the First. His Nautilus was the first cigar‐shaped submarine, and he was the first to conceive of the moored mine. Fulton's emphasis on the submarine, on mines, and on the deterrent effect have particular relevance for the modern era.

Bibliography

Alex Roland , Underwater Warfare in the Age of Sail, 1978.
Wallace S. Hutcheon, Jr. , Robert Fulton: Pioneer of Undersea Warfare, 1981.
Cynthia Owen Philip , Robert Fulton: A Biography, 1985.

Wallace S. Hutcheon, Jr.