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The title of this book poses a question
that hopefully will be answered to the reader's satisfaction
in this short history. Some historians have asserted that
the steamboat was not an invention at all, but rather a
technical evolution furthered by the contributions of several
individuals, with the end result being Robert Fulton's commercially
successful steamboat in August 1807.
Others, sometimes with a genealogical or
geographic connection, have argued that James Rumsey, John
Fitch, Oliver Evans, Nathan Read, John Stevens, William
Symington (the textbook favorite), Robert Fulton, or someone
else was the rightful inventor. Many writers have plowed
many of the same historical records gleaning evidence to
support their case but frequently come to different conclusions.
Part of the problem lies in the concept of invention
itself, as it is often shrouded in myth and is not well
understood by researchers. Therefore a chapter in this work
has been dedicated to this matter.
To bring a different perspective and hopefully
avoid this pitfall, the underlying systems engineering
development process that was intrinsically involved in the
steamboat development, though definitely not understood
at the time, is used as an overlay to objectively gauge
and evaluate the efforts of William Henry, Rumsey, Fitch,
Evans, Read, Samuel Morey, Fulton, Stevens, and others.
With this vantage point the contributions of each individual
and his relative importance to steam navigation is brought
into better focus.
Jack L. Shagena, P.E., spent thirty-four
years as an engineer, program manager, and executive in
the aerospace electronics field. He has also written and
produced a video on the restored canal town of Chesapeake
City, Maryland. Several years ago a chance discovery of
a roadside marker identifying someone other than Robert
Fulton as the inventor of the steamboat led to his pursuit
of the issue, where his engineering background and passion
for history coalesced.
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