“I have arranged for you to be appointed to the post of superintendent of the Potomac Canal Company,” General George Washington told James Rumsey. “Thank you, sir, you know that I will do my very best, but I must have time to work on my steam engine,” James replied.
2 “This station will provide you with the income necessary to prosecute your mechanical interests,” Washington reassured him. “Again, sir, I thank you,” James smiled as he shook the general’s hand.
3 Even so, it wasn’t long until Rumsey was complaining to his wife about the distraction which the job had proven to be. “There is no time for my engine,” he told her. “I spend all of my time now begging for money and supplies,” he explained. “James, we have to live,” Mary reminded him. “If this is successful, we would never have to worry about money again!” he insisted.
4 Then, in November, a rival inventor from Connecticut visited General Washington at Mount Vernon. His name was John Fitch, and he told Washington that he had a plan for a steam engine of his own.
5 “General, I am here to ask you for a certificate to recommend my engine to the public,” Fitch told him. “I have already granted Mr. James Rumsey a certificate for steam navigation,” Washington replied. “I am sorry to hear that,” Fitch snarled.
6 Washington wrote to his friend as soon as Fitch had left his home. “I urge you to give your mechanical boat to the public as soon as you can conveniently do so,” he told him. “I perceive that there is a real danger that some mechanical genius will hit upon your plan (or something very much like it) and disturb your prospects of benefiting from this discovery,” he went on to explain.
7 Then, without naming the individual in question, he told James that he had just turned down a request for a certificate related to the same enterprise. Rumsey resigned from the Canal Company a few months later.
8 In the meantime, Joseph Barnes (Rumsey’s brother-in-law) had constructed a boat for James to use in trying out his steam engine. Moreover, a local blacksmith named Jacob Haynes made a boiler for the inventor to use. Nevertheless, many of the necessary parts had to be obtained from Baltimore at great expense (which served to delay the completion of the project). Thus, in spite of his job, James had managed to make significant progress toward the building of his engine.
9 In 1786, he finally tested his new boat against the currents of the Potomac. However, although the boat made some headway in the trial, so much steam escaped that it was clear to everyone that modifications were needed.
10 James and his team quickly made several improvements and tried again. And, although the boat once again lurched forward against the current, the momentum simply could not be sustained.
11 “We must contain this steam!” James shouted. “The heat was so great that it melted the solder on the joints,” Barnes pointed out. James nodded.
12 As usual, sufficient money to fund the venture proved hard to come by and delayed progress. Nevertheless, James persisted, and his engine and boat were ready for another trial at the end of 1787.
13 People from all over the region stood along the banks of the river to witness the event. “He will soon appear to the world as a genius or a buffoon,” one woman observed. Her friends giggled and shook their heads (they obviously regarded the latter verdict as the most likely outcome). A short distance away, General Horatio Gates waited with the others for the trial to begin.
14 James had previously invited several of the ladies present to ride on the boat. “It is time to take your seats ladies!” he announced. Then, as the boat was about to be launched out into the water, a little girl lurched forward. “I want to go with my mother!” she shouted. Rumsey smiled and lifted her on to the boat.
15 Then the boat was shoved out into the river, and James engaged the engine. They slowly moved out into the middle of the Potomac and began to move upstream against the current. “My God, she is moving!” General Gates shouted.
16 A few young boys ran along the bank and followed the boat up river. They were, however, soon unable to keep up with the steamboat. So, James turned the vessel around and chugged back down the river, and then turned around again and allowed the vessel to make its way back up stream. In fact, the trial continued for about two hours. When it was over, no one was calling James Rumsey a buffoon.
17 News of Rumsey’s success spread rapidly through the colonies, and James aided its dissemination by publishing a pamphlet on the subject early the following year. “Mr. Rumsey has appropriated my idea for steam navigation,” John Fitch declared.
18 “Mr. Fitch confided the idea to me over a year ago,” Andrew Ellicott confirmed. Although the testimony of the famous surveyor bolstered Fitch’s claim, Rumsey was soon to have some even more prestigious endorsements for his work.
19 In the meantime, one of John Howland’s descendants had been attending a convention in Philadelphia that was assigned the task of drafting a constitution for the new republic. Nathaniel Gorham of Massachusetts was one of thirty-eight men who signed the finished document in the fall of 1787. James Rumsey, however, remained focused on producing a viable steamboat.
20 In the spring of 1788, Rumsey himself traveled to Philadelphia and presented his ideas to the American Philosophical Society. Among the people who expressed an interest in those ideas (and a willingness to support their advancement) was the most famous American inventor of the day, Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In fact, Franklin was so impressed with the Virginian’s ideas that he helped to organize the Rumseyan Society to finance a trip to England to obtain sufficient backing for the project.
21 “That is where the money and skill exist to perfect this project,” James explained to Mary. “I must go there to secure our future,” he told her.
22 However, when James arrived in London, he found himself facing the same apathy which had haunted him in America. He had a difficult time securing the interest and money that would be necessary to bring his plans to fruition. As a consequence, he spent most of the next four years there soliciting and trying to keep investors.
23 In 1789, Rumsey traveled to Paris to secure a patent in France. While there, he called on the United States’ ambassador to the country, Thomas Jefferson. “I will be happy to help you in any way that I can,” the ambassador assured him. However, although Jefferson introduced him to many wealthy French nobles, none of them proved willing to risk backing an “excentrique” American.
24 Finally, after years of struggling, James was able to secure enough funding to begin construction of a steamboat in England. Thus, as 1792 was drawing to a close, The Columbian Maid was nearing completion and would soon be ready for a trial run.
25 On the twentieth of December, he was summoned to appear before the mechanical committee of the Society of Arts to speak about one of his proposals for water wheels. “That was a fine talk, Mr. Rumsey,” one of the gentlemen commented when he had finished. “Now you must help us draft a pamphlet to explain your proposal to the rest of the world,” another added.
26 Suddenly, James raised his hand to his temple and said, “What a horrible pain!” Then he collapsed before them. “Take him to a room in the hotel,” ordered a doctor who happened to be present. “He is quite insensible,” the man reported after he had finished examining James.
27 Rumsey died a few hours later without ever having regained consciousness or securing his title as the inventor of the steamboat. His friends paid for his burial at St. Margaret’s in Westminster.
28 His family and friends in America were shocked when they received the news from London. James’ wife and children were left destitute, and others would eventually reap the rewards of his discoveries and patents.
29 Now these are the generations of James Rumsey:
30 James was the father of Susannah, James and Clarissa.
31 Susannah Rumsey married Adam Frailey and had two daughters: Mary Ann and Julia.
32 Mary Ann Frailey married James Thompson Harney, and they had children together.
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