Product Description

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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2320314 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 441 pages

About the Author
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.

Customer Reviews

A fascinating true tale of intrigue and confusion
Historical accounts and claims of Robert Fulton himself attribute the invention of the steamboat to himself; but in fact he didn't invent it, says retired professional engineer Jack Shagena in his survey Who Really Invented The Steamboat?: Fulton's Clermont Coup. Various individuals contributed to its invention, and there's a more credible candidate who more justly earns the title of its inventor. Who Really Invented The Steamboat isn't just the story of these inventors and Fulton's coup of the credits; it follows how the myth was fostered in textbooks for almost two hundred years, providing a fascinating true tale of intrigue and confusion.

valuable insights into society and technology
i should start by saying i thoroughly enjoyed this book! fulton definitely did not invent the steamboat. he was, however, the first to make it a commercial success.

this book clearly illustrates the difference in view between an engineer and the historian. in this case the historians got it all wrong and shagena explains why in easy to follow prose.

the book is extremely well documented. despite it's "murder mystery" title, it shows the how science, technology and society interact to bring us the products we need.

Fulton or Ramsey, Take your Pick.
In the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., there is a portrait of John Fitch, identified as "Steamboat Inventor," of Delaware, in 1790 with his 'poor Johney Fitch.' However, in 1783, Claude De Jouffroy constructed the first successful steamboat in France.

The 1978 THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE declares James Ramsey as 'the inventor of the steamboat'; in 1783 when he told George Washington of his plans. In THE BIRTH OF THE STEAMBOAT, Philip Spratt declared the 'Charlotte Dundas' built by Alexander Hart in 1802 as the world's first practical steamboat, but it was really a tugboat.

Scottish poet Robert Burns aided in the design of the 'Edinburgh' by Patrick Miller. In 1816 he build the steamboat, 'Charles-Phillippe.'

In 1807, Robert Fulton demonstrated the first comercially successful steamboat on the Hudson River. By 1824, there were fifteen steamboats running on the canals of America.

At the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition, on one side of the golden door of the Transportation Building these words were inscribed: "Of all inventions, the alphabet and printing press alone excepted, the inventions which abridge distance have done the most for civilization." That's why we still have steamboats in various locations now in 2005.