Description
Fulton Writes his Mother Just Five Days after Informing a French Minister that his Nautilus Submarine Was Nearly Finished********Steamboat innovator Robert Fulton writes to his mother from France where he was working on his Nautilus submarine** FULTON, ROBERT. (1765-1815). American naval engineer who built the first viable steamboat, successful submarine and torpedoes. ALS. (“Robt Fulton”). 2pp. Small 4to. (Recto and verso of a single folded sheet). Paris, April 15, 1800. To his mother, Mary Smith. ********** “On the 3d of July 99 I wrote you by Mr Griffiths and sent with him 36 Guineas for you. Mr Griffiths sailed from France for Phila where I desired him to put the mony [sic] into the hands of a Member of Congress or Member of assembly from your part of the country who could forward it to Mr Hogg for you. If you have not heard of the mony [sic] I advise you to write to Mr Ross [U.S. Senator James Ross] who I believe is the member for Washington and desire him to inquire in Phila for Mr Griffiths who is a native of Baltimore and resided some years in France desiring Mr Ross to Recieve [sic] the mony [sic] for you. I am in excellent health still detained in this Country on business which is Very Important to me – but time and distance has not robed [sic] me of one sentiment of affection for you and all my Relations, please to remember me particularly to each of them, And with compliments to friends believe me your affectionate Son Robt. Fulton. Although I am in Paris you can direct your letters for me to the Fultons in London as usual.” ********** On December 13, 1797, Robert Fulton wrote to the French Directory, the executive government of the French Republic, with proposals relating to the Nautilus, a submarine of his own design that he believed could be used against the British, at war with France since 1793: “…Whereas fire Ships or other unusual means of destroying Navies are Considered Contrary to the Laws of war. And persons taken in Such enterprise are Liable to Suffer death, it will be an object of Safety if the Directory give the Nautilus Company Commissions Specifying that all persons taken in the Nautilus or Submarine expedition Shall be treated as Prisoners of War, And in Case of Violence being offered; the Government, will Retaliate on the British Prisoners in a four fold degree.” The Minister of Marine, Georges-René Pléville Le Pelley, refused Fulton’s request for commissions in the French Navy for men willing to serve aboard a submarine, because he did not think that it was “possible to grant commissions to men who made use of such means to destroy the enemy’s forces and, even so, that such commissions could be any guarantee to them. For the reprisals with which the French Government could threaten the English Cabinet would be useless, since there existed in England three times more French prisoners than English prisoners in France.” ********** Fulton was determined to have his submarine built, but the project required funding. Another letter went unanswered and on January 20, 1798, he submitted his “Third proposals relative to the mechanical Nautilus,” with minor additions as to terms of payment, holding to his demand for commissions for the crew of the Nautilus, and proposing to have it built in Paris and test it at Le Havre. On April 27, 1798, Eustache Bruix replaced Pléville Le Pelley as Minister of Marine so Fulton resubmitted his proposal to Bruix and renewed his offer to conduct the experiments at his own expense. In his cover letter, Fulton suggests to Bruix, in part, “Let us see first what would be for France the immediate effects of the Nautilus. The loss of the first English ship destroyed by extraordinary means would throw the English Government into utter embarrassment. It would realize that its whole navy could be destroyed by the same means, and by the same means it would be possible to blockade the Thames and to cut off the whole commerce of London ... How would Pitt then be able to support the allied powers? The result would be that deprived of Pitt’s guineas, the coalition would vanish and France thus delivered from its numerous enemies would be able to work without obstacle for the strengthening of its liberty and for peace... The destruction of the English Navy will ensure the independence of the seas and France, the Nation which has the most natural resources and population, will alone and without a rival hold the balance of power in Europe.” Four months later, he received a reply: no deal. ********** Displeased with his treatment by the Directory, he approached the Batavian Republic (Holland) in 1799 through their Ambassador in Paris, offering the Nautilus. Fulton went to Holland, but his offer was not accepted, but he did gain financial support for his project. ********** Back in Paris, Fulton hired Jacques Périer, an engineer and skilled mechanic, to construct the Nautilus in his boatyard in Rouen. On October 5, 1799, Fulton wrote to yet a new Minister of Marine, Marc Antoine Bourdon de Vatry, enclosing his proposal. Within a week, Bourdon de Vatry asks for a complete report, and Fulton complies with amended conditions, but still insists on the commissions for the crew of the Nautilus. ********** On November 9-10, 1799, Napoléon overthrew the French Directory and one month later he became First Consul. Fulton always had confidence in Napoléon who had personally seen the full force of the British Navy in 1798 when its fleet, under Admiral Horatio Nelson, captured or destroyed all but two vessels in the Battle of the Nile. ********** On April 10, 1800, five days before he wrote this letter to his mother about the “business which is Very Important to me,” he wrote to the new Minister of the Marine, Forfait, that the Nautilus was nearly completed, requested the commissions and added, “I have every reason to hope from Bonaparte the welcome, the encouragement that I have so long been refused by Directors and Ministers.” On April 15, 1800, the very day Fulton wrote the above letter to his mother, Forfait observed “It cannot be disguised that the Nautilus is a machine not yet in use and that it infringes in several points the laws of war. It would be dangerous, especially at this moment when so great a number of Frenchmen are in the power of the English, to express any kind of menace in the Commission. In granting it pure and simple, that is to say, in acknowledging as combatants the men serving on the Nautilus and the Nautilus vessel itself, I think that that ought not to create more fear than the menace of reprisals can give security for.” ********** On June 13, 1800, Fulton demonstrated the Nautilus on the Seine in Paris, with Forfait in attendance. Fulton and his assistant, Nathaniel Sargent, entered the submarine, moved out towards the center of the river and, to the astonishment of everyone, slowly sank beneath the water. After 20 minutes, it surfaced, then dove under for another 25 minutes, returning to its point of departure. Fulton and Sargent disembarked to thunderous applause. Forfait reported to Napoléon that “everything that could be desired was completely achieved” and there was hope that “in a month the Nautilus could be in the sea and ready to act.” It was eventually financed by the French government in 1801, but, a problem of propulsion underwater was never satisfactorily solved. Fulton abandoned his work on the submarine, turning his attention to the steamboat. ********** The integral leaf is addressed by Fulton to his mother, “Mrs. Mary Smith / To the care of Mr John Hogg / Washington Town Washington / County / Pensylvania [sic].” On watermarked laid paper. Dampstaining and seal stains at edges do not affect the clarity or strength of any of Fulton’s writing. In fine condition.
