Who Really Invented the Steamboat?: Fulton's Clermont Coup

Contrary to accounts found in school textbooks, Robert Fulton did not invent the steamboat. This is the first work to chronicle the entire story of the steamboat and to place Fulton’s contribution in perspective. Jack L. Shagena, a retired professional engineer, clarifies the nature of invention, examines various individuals who contributed to the steamboat’s development, and identifies a more credible candidate for the title of its inventor. He also shows how the Fulton myth evolved.

How could authoritative sources like school textbooks be wrong for almost two hundred years? Shagena skillfully lays out the evidence, unraveling the complex factors that have led to past confusion. He makes the important point that historians have erred in describing the development of steam navigation in terms of a biography of one person’s work.

By contrast, Shagena, from a scientific and engineering perspective, examines the entire spectrum of the achievements by many individuals in the science, technology, invention, product development, and marketing of steamboat travel. Within this framework, he considers the work of William Henry, James Rumsey, John Fitch, Oliver Evans, Samuel Morey, Robert Fulton, John Stevens and others, arriving at the most creditable candidate for the title of "inventor of the steamboat."

This well-researched, entertaining, and enlightening contribution to the history of science is important reading for students of history, science, technology, engineering, and development.