heel_

Figure III^d

_Side View_

_Scale 1/24 inch=1 foot_

ROBERT FULTON

_November 1813._

_S M^c Elroy del._

_"Stuart's Naval & Mail Steamers U.S."_

_Sarony & Major. Eng. N.Y._]

[Illustration: Figure 2.--"DEMOLOGOS," A WOOD ENGRAVING based on the
sketch which Robert Fulton showed to President Madison in 1813. This
wood engraving appears as plate 1 in Charles B. Stuart's _Naval and Mail
Steamers of the United States_, and illustrates the section on Naval
Steamers, from which the account "The Demologos; or, Fulton the First,"
is here reproduced (pp. 167-171). Stuart obtained the sketch, assumed to
have been made for Fulton's patent on the design of the _Steam Battery_,
from the files of the U.S. Navy Department.]

On December 24, 1813, Robert Fulton invited a group of
friends--prominent merchants, professional men and naval officers--to
his home in New York City and there presented a proposal for a project
of great local interest. At that time the War of 1812 was in its second
year and the economic effect of the British naval blockade was being
felt severely. The blockade cut off seaborne trade and posed a constant
threat of attack upon New York and other important ports, particularly
Baltimore. To defend the ports, it had been proposed to build mobile
floating batteries or heavily built and armed hulks with small sailing
rigs, but the high cost of these and their doubtful value in helping to
break the blockade, compared to the value and action of a very heavy,
large frigate, or a 74-gun ship, caused authorities to hesitate to
proceed with the construction of any blockships or floating batteries.

Fulton's proposal concerned a floating battery propelled by steam
power. He believed that steam propulsion not only would give it
effective maneuverability with no loss of gunpower, but also would allow
a successful attack upon the Royal Navy blockading ships during periods
of protracted calm, when sailing men-of-war were nearly helpless. The
blockaders then could be attacked and picked off, one by one, by the
heavily armed steamboat.

Among those present at the meeting was Major General Henry Dearborn, a
leading citizen and soldier who was later to become noted in American
political history. The first step taken during this meeting was the
founding of the Coast and Harbor Defense Company with Dearborn as
president, Fulton as engineer, and Thomas Morris as secretary. Next, a
committee was established to ra