STEAM-NAVIGATION. 235
upon Rumsey's rude arrangements, but which have not
done much more than his toward the introduction of
"Hydraulic or Jet Propulsion," as it is now called.
In 1787 he obtained a patent from the State of Virginia
for steam-navigation. He wrote a treatise "On the Appli-
cation of Steam," which was printed at Philadelphia, where
a Rumsey society was organized for the encouragement of
attempts at steam-navigation.
Rumsey died of apoplexy, while explaining some of his schemes before a London society a short time later, Decem- ber 28, 1793, at the age of fifty years. A boat, then in process of construction from his plans, was afterward tried on the Thames, in 1793, and steamed at the rate of four miles an hour. The State of Kentucky, in 1839, presented. his son with a gold medal, commemorative of his father's services "in giving to the world the benefit of the steam- boat."
JOHN FITCH was an unfortunate and eccentric, but very ingenious, Connecticut mechanic. After roaming about until forty years of age, he finally settled on the banks of the Delaware, where he built his first steamboat.
In April, 1785, as Fitch himself states, at Neshamony, Bucks County, Pa., he suddenly conceived the idea that a carriage might be driven by steam. After considering the subject a few days, his attention was led to the plan of using steam to propel vessels, and from that time to the day of his death he was a persistent advocate of the intro- duction of the steamboat. At this time, Fitch says, "I did not know that there was a steam-engine on the earth; and he was somewhat disappointed when his friend, the Rev. Mr. Irwin, of Neshamony, showed him a sketch of one in "Martin's Philosophy."
Fitch's first model was at once built, and was soon after tried on a small stream near Davisville. The machinery was made of brass, and the boat was impelled by paddle- wheels. A rough model of his steamboat was shown to
