The true inventor
of the steamship,
a victim of circumstances and
a tragic figure in US history

FITCH, JOHN. (1743-98). American inventor who probably developed the first American steamboat. Very rare Autograph Document Signed, “John Fitch.” One full page, oblong octavo. No place, February 9, 1793. Very fine condition. The document reads:

“Sir we have received of Mr. Stevenson [sic] of Iron Work as per account rendered in this authorizing altogether 436 and this day have received 33 more in all amounting to 469 which is £23.9.0 out of which he has been paid £9.15.0 which leaves a balance in his favour of thirteen pounds fourteen shillings which please to pay to the bearer 9 February 1793. John Fitch, John Nicolson, Esquire. 36.53 — received thirty-five dollars and 53 cents, February 9 — Peter Stephenson.”

To most Americans, Robert Fulton is remembered as the inventor of the steamboat. Yet, it was the work of John Fitch that paved the way for Fulton’s technical and commercial success. Fitch, who was largely self-educated, first conceived of possible maritime use of the steam-engine in the spring of 1785. Working on a trial-and-error basis, Fitch completed his first model later that year, presenting it before the American Philosophical Society. Two years later, Fitch gave his first successful demonstration of his invention on the Delaware River before a crowd that included the members of the Constitutional Convention. Then, in 1790, Fitch launched his third boat. This vessel, a packet ship that operated on the Delaware for an entire summer, proved to be a commercial failure, and his backers soon lost interest.

In addition to continued financial difficulties, Fitch was also involved in a lengthy legal battle over the patent rights to the steamship with another early pioneer in the field, James Rumsey. For six years, the two men presented arguments before numerous groups (including the Continental Congress, the American Philosophical Society, and various state legislatures). It was this acrimonious dispute, drawing in virtually every politician and scientist in the middle states at some point, which made clear the pressing need for a federal patent system and paved the way for the Federal Patent Act of 1790. Both men were finally awarded federal patents on the same day, August 26, 1791, an outcome that left both men mutually unsatisfied. Worse yet, Fitch’s patent would later be lost in a fire!

In 1792, Fitch, hoping to interest foreign investors in his designs and acheive commercial success, traveled to Europe. His first stop was France, which he fled due to the Revolution. Leaving his patent with the American Consul at L’Orient for safekeeping, Fitch found his trust betrayed. In his absence, his plans were lent to Robert Fulton, who would obtain his own patent for a steamship in 1807. After an equally unsuccessful visit to England, Fitch returned to the United States in 1794. He was no better off then when he had left. After four more years without commercial success or public recognition, Fitch finally gave up on what he referred to in his autobiography as the “damn wicked world.” Poor and despondent, he ended his life by overdoing on opium in Beardstown, Kentucky in the summer of 1798. Dying a pauper, Fitch was buried in an unmarked grave, which remained so until 1910, when a simple plaque, like that for other veterans, was installed. Nothing was said of his invention, turned profitable decades later by man who became know as the “father of steam navigation,” Robert Fulton.

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$5,000