New Orleans (steamboat)

The New Orleans was the first steamboat on the western waters of the United States. Its 1811-1812 voyage from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to New Orleans, Louisiana on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers ushered in the era of commercial steamboat navigation on the western rivers.

Background

Robert Fulton

Robert Livingston

The New Orleans was a joint venture of Robert Fulton (1765-1815), Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), and Nicholas Roosevelt (1767-1854). Fulton had successfully commercialized the steamboat on the Hudson River with his Clermont in 1807 and Livingston was a wealthy New York politician and inventor. Fulton became familiar with the Ohio River while at Pittsburgh in 1786, and Livingston helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase while minister to France from 1800 to 1804; it was during this time that the two met.^[1] Both men realized the great potential for steamboat traffic on the western waters; accordingly, within twelve days of the completion of the Clermont's first voyage, they began to plan for the introduction of a steamboat on the western rivers.^[1]

They consulted Nicholas Roosevelt, an expert on all aspects of the steamboat and the inventor of the sidewheel method of steamboat propulsion, an innovation crucial for achieving practical speeds. At the time, Roosevelt manufactured copper and steam engines at the Soho Works on the Passaic River at Belleville, New Jersey, one of the best metal foundries in the nation.^[2] He had worked on a sternwheel steamboat for Livingston from 1798 to 1800 but stopped when he lost his government contracts for supplying copper for warships.^[2] In 1798, Roosevelt had unsuccessfully tried to convince Livingston to use sidewheels, but Livingston insisted on a sternwheel. However, after exhausting other options, sidewheels were the method Fulton and Livingston eventually used in the Clermont.^[2] Livingston and Fulton were in Roosevelt's debt, also because many of Fulton's highly-skilled workmen had been originally trained and employed by Roosevelt.

Preparation and construction

Roosevelt arrived in Pittsburgh in April^[1] or May^[3] 1809 with his young wife Lydia Latrobe Roosevelt, the daughter of his business partner Benjamin H. Latrobe, architect of the U.S. Capitol. According to a notation by Fulton, Roosevelt was paid $600 for an exploratory Mississippi expedition on June 28, 1809.^[1] Having built a flatboat, he soon commenced exploring the intended route for the steamboat to come. He carried letters of introduction to all the important people along the route (Cincinnati, Louisville, and Natchez, then insignificant towns, were the only places of any importance), but none, least of all the pilots and boatmen, believed he could ever navigate the western waters with a steamboat.^[3] During this test voyage, Roosevelt recorded depths and measured currents for later reference. He also found coal along the banks of the Ohio River, opening up new mines that would be a useful fuel source when the steamboat passed by later.^[3] Reaching New Orleans, Louisiana on December 1, he returned to New York by sea, arriving on January 15, 1810.

Roosevelt gave a favorable report to Fulton and Livingston, and the construction of the New Orleans immediately commenced in earnest. Designed by Fulton, the boat was built on the banks of the Monongahela River by a shipbuilder and mechanics brought from New York, and the majority of the machinery for the boat was built at New York and hauled to Pittsburgh by land because Pittsburgh did not have an establishment of sufficient capacity to do such work at the time.^[1][4] The single cylinder low pressure steeple engine and the copper boiler were placed in the hold of the boat.^[1] That the New Orleans was a side-wheeler rather than a stern-wheeler is supported by contemporary accounts, including the Louisiana Gazette and Advertiser noting on January 13, 1812 that she was detained by the breaking of "one'" of her wheels, and an account of the ship's sinking in 1814 containing a reference to the "wheel on the larboard side."^[1] The pinewood used for planking was obtained from nearby forests and sent down the Monongahela.^[4] The boat included a mast and sails because Fulton thought the combination of steam and sails might be useful.

The most accurate estimates put the New Orleans at 148 feet 6 inches long, 32 feet 6 inches wide, and 12 feet deep, with a tonnage of 371.^[1] This made it considerably larger than the barges, then the largest craft on the rivers, which rarely exceeded 100 feet in length.^[1] The total cost of the construction was about $38,000, a considerable sum.^[4] The boat was first launched on the Monongahela, unfinished, in March 1811, but took many months to complete.^[1]

Maiden voyage

The route of the New Orleans

The New Orleans was taken on a successful trial trip around Pittsburgh on October 15, 1811, and finally set sail for New Orleans on October 20.^[1] Roosevelt was the captain, and his pregnant wife and young daughter accompanied as passengers. The crew consisted of the engineer Nicholas Baker, the pilot Andrew Jack, six hands, two female servants for Mrs. Roosevelt, a waiter, a cook, and a Newfoundland dog named Tiger.^[4] The people of Pittsburgh turned out en masse to witness the departure of the steamboat.^[5] The first night, Roosevelt and his wife were too excited to sleep, and so watched the shore, covered in almost unbroken forest, as it passed by.^[5] The pilot was reassured about the chances of success by the boat's ease of steering and uniformly quick speed.^[5] The next morning, October 21, the New Orleans was cheered by the villagers of Beavertown, Pennsylvania, who had seen the boat approaching down a straight stretch of the river.^[5][6]

On October 27, the boat passed Cincinnati; the residents were disappointed it didn't stop and thought they'd never see the New Orleans again. At midnight on October 28, the boat arrived in Louisville. Here, the local residents congratulated Roosevelt on his success, but told him they doubted they would ever see the boat again, because it would not be able to go upstream. To prove them wrong, he invited prominent citizens to a dinner on board the boat, and once everyone was on board, began powering upstream at a convincingly fast rate. For the next month, Roosevelt waited for the waters of the Ohio River to rise enough for the New Orleans to safely (albeit barely, with a draft of less than six inches) pass over the treacherous Falls of the Ohio. Though the portion of the trip on the Ohio had been largely peaceful and easygoing, the passage of the Mississippi was to be fraught with danger and uncertainty. The next major event was the occurrence, on December 16, of the New Madrid Earthquake, centered near New Madrid, Missouri. It was one of the strongest North American earthquakes ever recorded; seismologists estimate it was an 8 on the Richter scale. The earthquake negatively affected the journey by altering Mississippi landmarks such as river islands so much that the pilot had difficulty navigating. At some small river towns, villagers begged to be taken aboard to escape the desolation the earthquake had wrought. After barely escaping a canoe attack by the Chickasaw Indians, the New Orleans reached Natchez, Mississippi on December 30. Here, they met Zadoc Cramer, author of the Navigator, who was eager for any new information about the geography of the river. Continuing on, they reached New Orleans on January 10, 1812, and shortly thereafter began regularly plying between New Orleans and Natchez.

Impact

“	The Mississippi, as I before wrote you, is conquered.	”
—Fulton in a letter to Joel Barlow

During the preceding decades, and at an accelerated rate after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, settlers rushed into the western lands via the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. However, there was no practical way to go upstream, so trade was limited. In order to go upstream, one needed to either row laboriously at low speeds, push a boat with poles, or be pulled by men walking on shore with tow-lines.^[1] Failing that, a return by sea from New Orleans to an eastern port, and then a traversal of the Appalachian Mountains, was necessary.

The New Orleans, which achieved a downstream speed of eight to ten miles per hour and an upstream speed of three miles per hour, showed that upstream navigation was practical. In her first year of plying between New Orleans and Natchez, she averaged $2400 in receipts per trip, making the round trip about once every three weeks.^[1] Factoring in expenses, this amounted to a net gain of upwards of at least $20,000, which Zadok Cramer, author of the Navigator, described as "a revenue superior to any other establishment in the United States."^[1]

However, the public doubted that steam navigation could succeed, and it was still more expensive than other methods. As a result, the carrying of freight on flatboats and keels actually increased.^[7] In addition, the riverbed was dotted with dangerous snags, gravel and sandbars, and the falls at Louisville effectively cut navigation in two. Eventually, the riverbed was cleared, and the Louisville and Portland Canal was built.^[7]

The intention of Fulton and Livingston was to have six boats running between the Falls of the Ohio and New Orleans and five between the Falls and Pittsburgh.^[1] On April 8, 1812, Fulton and Livingston secured, with the help of his brother Edward Livingston, a New Orleans politician, the enactment of a law granting them exclusive rights to the use of steam navigation on the Louisiana Territory's rivers for a period of 18 years.^[8] This was on the condition that they charge a freight rate of no more than three quarters the rate already charged by non-steam-powered boats.^[8] After the New Orleans began navigating the lower Mississippi, they attempted to prevent other steamboats from using the river, but Livingston died in 1813 and Fulton in 1815.

Following the New Orleans, several steamboats were built at Pittsburgh in the next few years, the Comet (1813), Vesuvius (1814), and Aetna.^[7][1] By about 1817, when there were twelve steamboats on the rivers, the skeptical public was convinced that steamboat navigation would work on the western waters,^[7] and within two years there were over sixty steamboats on the western waters. There were 143 steamboats on the river in 1826, and 233 had existed up to that time.^[7]

Sinking

The New Orleans sank near Baton Rouge on July 14, 1814. This set the pattern for the average lifespan of a steamboat, about three years.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p} Dahlinger, Charles W. (October 21, 1911). "A Critical Account of the Beginning of Steamboat Navigation on the Western Rivers of the United States". Pittsburg Legal Journal 59 (42): 570–591. http://www.myoutbox.net/nr59plj.htm. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Latrobe, John H.B. (March 1871). A Lost Chapter in the History of the Steamboat. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society. http://www.myoutbox.net/nr1871b.htm. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Evans, Nelson W. (July 1907). "The First Steamboat on the Ohio". Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 16 (3): 310–315. http://www.myoutbox.net/nrevans.htm. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Morrison, John H. (1908). History of American Steam Navigation. W. F. Sametz & Co.. pp. 630. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Latrobe, John H.B. (October 1871). The First Steamship Voyage on the Western Waters. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society. pp. 32. 
6. ^ Reiss, Norman (2004). When the Good Old Days Got Better. Care Publications. pp. 304. ISBN 1932747052. 
7. ^ ^{a b c d e} Henshaw, Leslie S. (October 1911). "Early Steamboat Travel on the Ohio River". Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly 20 (4): 378–402. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "History of First Steamer". The Pittsburgh Post. October 30, 1911. http://www.myoutbox.net/nrpp1911.htm. 

Further reading

• Dohan, Mary Helen (2004). Mr. Roosevelt's Steamboat. Pelican Publishing Company. pp. 194 p.. ISBN 1589802292. 

External links

• Nicholas Roosevelt's 1811 Steamboat - a collection of primary and secondary sources