Today in Technology History
An event that occurred on this date in the history of technology.
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June 25
On June 25, 1798, American steamboating pioneer John Fitch signed his last will and testament. He died sometime during the next month.
Fitch was born in Connecticut in 1743. A mechanic with little training and no wealth, he operated a gun factory during the American Revolution. In 1785, he conceived of a steam-powered ship that would vastly improve commerce in the young country.
By the late 1780s, according to historian Henry Adams, Fitch had "invented engine and paddles of his own, with so much success that during a whole summer Philadelphians watched his ferry-boat plying daily against the river current. No one denied that his boat was rapidly, steadily and regularly moved against wind and tide, with as much certainty and convenience as could be expected in a first experiment.
"Yet Fitch's company failed. He could raise no more money; the public refused to use his boat or to help him build a better; they did not want it, would not believe in it, and broke his heart by their contempt."
Fitch tried to interest the French in his invention, but to no avail. Eventually, Adams continues, Fitch "wandered to Kentucky, to try his fortune on the Western waters. Disappointed there, as in Philadelphia and New York, he made a deliberate attempt to end his life by drink; but the process proving too slow, he saved twelve opium pills from the physician's prescription, and was found one morning dead . . . in an obscure Kentucky inn."
Within a decade of Fitch's death, the world was ready for steamboats. Unlike Fitch, American Robert Fulton received ample funding for his work. Although Fitch came before him, Fulton became rich and famous as the inventor of the steamship.
Related links:
Fitch wrote an autobiography, which you can read online. It was supplemented and completed by others, and an account of his suicide appears in Chapter XXI.
Click here to read more about Fitch.
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