e same period
Ericsson's propeller was fitted to a canal-boat called the "Novelty,"
plying between Manchester and London. This was presumably the first
instance of a screw-propeller employed on a vessel actually used for
commercial purposes.

Finally, in pursuance of Ericsson's plans with Captain Stockton, he left
England Nov. 1, 1839, and started for New York in the steamer "Great
Western," where he arrived November 23, after a long and stormy passage.

We now reach the final scene of Ericsson's life and professional
activities. His visit was at first intended only as temporary, and he
seems to have anticipated an early return after carrying out his plans
with reference to a ship for the United States Navy. To quote from a
letter to his friend, Mr. John O. Sargent, he says: "I visited this
country at Mr. Ogden's most earnest solicitations to introduce my
propeller on the canals and inland waters of the United States. I had at
the same time strong reasons for supposing that Stockton would be able
to start the 'big frigate' for which I had prepared such laborious plans
in England." The event was otherwise determined, however, and during the
remaining fifty years of his life he lived and wrought in the New World,
and as a citizen of his adopted country.

If the record of his twelve years of work in London was long, that for
the remaining and maturer years of his life may well be imagined as
vastly greater. During the earlier part of this period, or until the
Civil War, when all his energies were concentrated upon his work in
connection with the "Monitor" type of warship, we find the same wealth
of invention and human energy, but for the most part directed along
lines related to marine and naval construction. It was a period of
training for the fuller fruitage of his genius during the Civil War.

Shortly after his arrival, or in 1840, a prize was offered by the
Mechanics' Institute of New York for the best plan of a steam
fire-engine. With his previous experience in London, Ericsson easily
carried off the palm and was awarded the prize. He further occupied
himself with the introduction of propellers on boats engaged in the
inland navigation of the United States, with the design and construction
of the United States steam frigate "Princeton," with the development of
the compound principle in the steam-engine, then in 1851 with his
hot-air ship "Ericsson," or ship propelled by hot-air or caloric
engines, as they were the