Drawn for Granite State Magazine by A. C. Gow, 'og
CAPT. SAMUEL MOREV
Inventor of the Steamboat

Capt. ^amuEl Monv
Who Built a Steamboat Fourteen Years Before Fulton
By Gabriel Farrell, Jr.
Coming at this time, when the minds of many are filled with the
admiration and applause felt for Robert Fulton as the inventor of the
steamboat, the following account of a more humble, yet more deserving,
inventor contains greater interest to all who have the love of the Granite
State in their hearts. While we are willing that New York's mechanic —
some higher title if you please — should receive a large meed of praise for
his successful application of steam power in propelling his boat, the
"Clermoilt," we do deplore the wholesale credit that his followers shower
upon him without qualification. In the words of another, "Had he com
prehended the value of his own invention, and had he found such a
wealthy and powerful patron as Fulton found in Chancellor Livingston,
Samuel Morey and not Robert Fulton would be hailed as the father of
steam navigatibn." — Editor'.

m

I T THIS time, when New York is enthusiastic over the
invention of the steamboat and is doing its utmost to
pay tribtite to Robert Fulton, whom history credits
with that important invention, other experimenters in that
line, aspiring to the honor of being the original inventor,
come to our knowledge. From the little town of Orford^
New Hampshire, comes such a claim, and it is one which
appears to be sufficiently authenticated upon investigation.
It is claimed that Capt. Samuel Morey ran the first
Steamboat upon the Connecticut River, at this point, in the
year 1793, which is fourteen years before the launching of
the "Clermont." Whatever may be the value of this
claim, the career of Captain Morey, as one of New Hamp
shire's pioneer settlers, and as a man of wonderful invent
ive genius far beyond his time, is an interesting narrative.
The first settlers in the town of Orford were John
Mann and his wife, who started from Hebron, Conn., Octo-
1

I CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
ber i6, 1765. They made the journey in eight days, the
young wife on horseback, and her husband much of the
way on foot. About three months later, these pioneers of a
new settlement were followed by another family from
Hebron, consisting of Col. Israel Morey, his wife and sev
eral children. This journey of about two hundred miles was made in
the dead of winter — January, 1766 — with an ox team, the
wife carrying in her arms an infant six months old. What
a journey was that to be made at such a season, much of
it through a pathless forest, an unbroken wilderness.
From Charlestown to Orford, sixty miles, it is said that
there were no roads, only a footpath with marked trees for
guide posts.
The family settled in Orford, and during the Revolu
tion the father was made general and commanded a body
of brave men upon the frontier. He was a man of great
mental force and soon became of much influence in that
vicinity. Among the children of this hardy and cour
ageous pioneer was a boy four years of age, named Samuel.
From what can be learned of the every day walks of
the son Samuel, he seems to have inherited his father's
general characteristics and developed into a man of equal
force, of massive brain and mind, coupled with a splendid
talent for mechanical ideas and pursuits. The earlier days
of his life were passed within the limits of the township
of Orford, but for a few years previous to his death, in
1843, he lived in Fairlee, Vt., just across the waters of the
Connecticut, upon which he made his early experiments.
Morey possessed arge tracts of land upon both sides
of the Connecticut. Fifteen hundred acres of it lay around
Fairlee pond. This tract was covered with large pines of
primitive growth, towering to the sky and as yet untouched
by the ax of man. He gave bis attention largely to lum
bering, and during the winter he employed many men and
oxen, drawing this timber to the Connecticut River.

Drawn for Granite State Ma(,azine by A. C. Gow, '09
ORFORD AND THE CONNKCTICUT RIVER

A'--r

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 3
A considerable portion of this territory was inaccessi
ble except to men. Teams were entirely out of the ques
tion, so in order to secure the timber from the remote, lofty
sections, Morey constructed large log slides. Down these
the great pines were shot during the winter, ever increasing
in speed until they finally landed at their destination, the
shore of the pond. A canal was cut from the pond to the
Connecticut River, for the transfer of these logs. Por
tions of this slide can still be seen on some of the hillsides
and traces of the canal are still visible to visitors.
Aside from his lumbering business. Captain Morey
was interested in irrigation, and in the pioneer interests of
the day. When the series of locks on the Connecticut
River were built from Windsor, Conn., to Olcott Falls, he
had charge of some of these, notably those at Bellows
Falls, Vt., which were the result of his skillful planning
and engineering. About 1780 he began to devote considerable of his time
to matters of steam, heat and light, continuing until 1820
or later, making many experiments, some successful and
others not. As a result he invented quite early in his
career an apparatus by which the steam escaping from a
teakettle was made to do service in turning a spit, the
appliance receiving the local name of "steam spit."
While these experiments were in progress Morey cor
responded quite frequently with Professor Silliman of Yale
College, contributing several articles upon the subjects
uppermost in his thoughts, to the "Journal of Science and
Arts." One article in particular, which appeared in the
first volume of that journal, describes an apparatus for
producing light and heat from steam and tar, and of this
Professor Silliman says:
"The inventor, not unskilled in chemistry, and aware
of the attraction of oxygen for carbon, conceived it practi
cal to convert the constituents of water into fuel by means
of its affinity."

4 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
He succeeded in producing hydrogen carburetted gas,
which, issuing from a pipe and being ignited, gave a blaze
from thesize of a candle to many hundred times larger, vary
ing at pleasure, showing by his simple apparatus that the
burning of water was no hoax, but a reality. Among
many valuable papers in the possession of Mr. Leonard
Willard, a great grandson of the captain, now residing
in Orford, is an old paper fully describing this method of
producing light by the use of water and tar. The appara
tus described and the results obtained are very similar to
those now common on automobile searchlights, in which
calcium carbide and water are utilized.
Among these papers are many interesting business
letters and documents of Captain Morey, besides a large
number of family letters that give interesting descriptions
of events of those early days. In possession of various
members of the family are patents granted to the inventor
signed by presidents from Washington to Jackson.
The first of these, dated on January 29, 1793, bears,
in addition to the large, handsome flourish of the
father of his country, the bold signature of Thomas
Jefferson, then secretary of state. The invention was for
a turning spit to be operated by steam. The next bears the
signature of John Adams (1799) for an improvement of
Morey's new water engine. One dated Washington, Novem
ber 13, 1800, is signed by Adams and Lee. In 1815, July
14, Morey took out two patents signed by James Madison,
president, and James Monroe, secretary of state, for tide
and water wheels. December 11, 1817, J. Q. Adams, sec
retary of state, and William West, attorney-general, signed
a patent for an apparatus for securing heat by burning
water, called the American Waterburner.
On April i, 1826, Morey took a patent for a gas or
vapor engine, signed by J. Q, Adams, with Henry Clay as
secretary of state. The last of these, in 1823, was signed
by Andrew Jackson. The one intended to cover his

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY O
steamboat is in the rooms of the Historical Society of New
Hampshire, and was issued in 1795.
Early in his experimental career. Captain Morey was per
suaded that the power of steam could be applied to propel
ling boats by means of paddle-wheels. He therefore set him
self to the task of inventing a boat to be thus propelled by
steam. He made the boat, built the steam engine, put in the
necessary machinery and made his first trip with complete
success, running several miles from Orford up the Connecti
cut River and returning at the rate of four miles per hour.
This was as early as 1793, at least fourteen years before
Fulton's trial trip in the "Clermont" up the Hudson, and
nine years before his first trial boat constructed in France.
It is doubtful whether Fulton had turned his thoughts
to the subject of steamboats before this time. This very
year, 1793, is the first mention of this subject in connec
tion with Fulton that is known. Dr. Renwick, in his life
of Fulton, mentions that he laid a scheme relating to
steam navigation before Earl Stanhope, in a letter dated
September 30, 1793. Another writer says, "Robert Fulton
had thought of steam as a motive power for vessels as
early as 1793." But it is very certain from all accounts
that he devoted his energies to other subjects and to other
plans until 1793 and later.
There is what appears to be conclusive evidence that
Captain Morey, encouraged by Professor Silliman of Yale,
went to New York with the model of his boat, and had
frequent interviews with Fulton and Chancellor Living
ston, before they had invented and put in operation the
"Clermont." Morey was cordially received by them and
treated with great respect and attention. While at New
York they suggested to him some improvements in the
construction of his boat, and it is even stated that they
offered him for his invention seven thousand dollars if he
would return home and make the alterations suggested, so
as to operate favorably. These operations he made with
entire success, and again repaired to New York, but his

6 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
metropolitan friends treated him with such coldness and
indifference as to clearly indicate that they desired no
further intercourse with him. It is stated by adherents of
Morey that Fulton and Livingston, seeing the model of
Morey and thus acquiring his ideas, had accomplished their
purpose and now were through with the backwoodsman.
If these statements, made upon what appears to be compe
tent authority, are true, his treatment by Fulton and Liv
ingston was anything but creditable to them.
Yet the proof appears quite positive and from a
variety of sources that he made frequent trips up the Con
necticut in his little boat at that time. But as he was so
far from leading scientific men and the best mechanical
skill,the result was that Fulton, aided by the wealth of others
and the influence of friends, finally succeeded in building,
shortly after the captain's visit, a large boat upon the very
principle of Morey's, namely, paddle-wheels. This has
given him the credit of bringing into successful operation
this important invention, while the real inventor being a
man in obscure life and living far back from the great
metropolis has passed into such obscurity as to be wholly
unknown to fame.
It is only justice to Mr. Fulton to say that he was the
first man, that is, in connection with Chancellor Livingston
and by the aid of Livingston's money, to make a practical
business success of the steamboat. He did build a boat
which was successfully propelled by steam by means of
paddle-wheels, and he is, perhaps, properly called the father
of Amercan steamboat navigation. But he cannot truth
fully claim credit as the first man to operate a steamboat.
The original model of Morey's engine, and the one
that is thought to have been shown to Fulton at this time,
is in the possession of the Vermont Historical Society.
The engine is in good working order, although the copper
boiler, of ingenious structure, has suffered explosion. The
model is a rotary engine, balanced on a disk one and one-
eighth inches in diameter. The disk is attached to a tube

Drawn for Granite State Magazine by A. C. Gow, *09
OLD MOREY HOMESTEAD AT ORFORD

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 7
connecting the boiler, and in it are two openings, one-
half by one-eighth inch, one connected with the boiler, as
mentioned above, the other opening in the air. This forms
the valve seat. The valve consists of a second disk, with
corresponding openings, fitting exactly upon the surface of
the first disk, and from the two openings in this upper disk
are tubes leading to the extremities of the cylinder. The
piston rod is attached to a stationary crank in the center of
the machine. The outward and inward movements of the
piston cause the revolution of the upper disk, cylinder, etc.,
upon the lower disk; thus bringing the valves or openings in
the upper disk, alternately over the steam tube and the
escape opening of the lower disk. The entire length of the
machine is 6 1-2 inches. The cylinder, which is of brass,
is I 15-16 inches in length and i 1-2 inches in diameter.
the length of stroke is i 3-16 inches. The piston, which is
of cast iron, is i 3-8 inches in diameter, with a groove on the
edge in which twine is used for packing. The piston rod
plays on friction rollers.
A letter written in 181 8, by Samuel Morey to William
A. Duer, is most interesting, and gives Morey's own
account of his experience. Mr. Duer was a prominent
member of the New York legislature. The letter was
called forth in connection with the grant of exclusive right
to navigate the waters of New York, which was bestowed
by the state on Livingston.
Among other documentary proof is a letter written
about 1850 by Mr. George A. Morey of Fairlee, Vt., a
gentleman of the highest respectability, and a nephew of
Captain Morey, who well remembered the story, as fre
quently told by Captain Morey and others who saw the
boat when first built. From this letter the following
abstract is taken:
"It is and always has been claimed here, that he was
the inventor of the steamboat instead of Fulton. Be that
as it may, Fulton saw two of his models before he took a
patent; and he (Morey) took two or three patents for the

8 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
application of steafti before Fulton took any. And thttt
Fulton took one for the application of steam to bda:tg, and
that, after he had seen both models of Morey."
The most feliable account of Mordy'S experiments and
claim to having made the first application of steam to navi
gation arid the first practical steamboat, wats made and pub
lished about 1854 by the Rev. Cyrus Mann. Rev. Mr.
Mann was the son of the original Settler and founder Of
Oi-ford. He died in 1859 at the age of sevehty-three years.
Mr. Mann was an educated man, and of the strictest iriteg-
J ity, and is reputed to have spent considerable time and
re.iearch in the investigation of the respective claims Of
Fulton, Morey and others, to the credit and honor of a
practical sitccCss in Steam navigation. The following is an
abstract from his account of it:
"The credit Of the original invention of the steamboat
is cotnmOnly awarded to Robert Fulton, but it is believed
that it belongs prifnarily and chiefly to a far more obscure
individual. So far as it is known, the first steatnboat evef
seen on the waters of Atnerica was invented by Capt.
Samuel Moirey, of Orford, N. H. The astonishing iSight
of this man ascending Connecticut River, between that
place and Fairlee, in a little boat just big enough to con
tain himself, and the rude machinery connected with the
steam boiler, and k handful of Wood for a fire, was wit
nessed by the writer in his boyhOod, and by others who yet
survive. This was as early as 1793 Or earlier, and before
Fulton's riariie had ever been mentioned in connection with
steam navigation."
These statements are further corroborated by the Rev.
Joel Mann, a brother of the Writef of the above, in his
centennial oration at OrfOrd, delivered Septembet 7, 1865.
He says: "If I am not mistaken, Fulton obtained his first idea
Of such a vessel from Moirey, and secured a patent just aS
MOrey had seCdfed, of Was preparing to secure, one for him
self. Cettain it is that the first boat moved by Steam was

Drawn for Granite State Magazine by A. C. Gow, "09
THE ENGINE MODEL

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 9
a little thing constructed by him, and its trial trip was on
this river, opposite this village. The trial was made on a
Sabbath, when the people were at meeting, to avoid notice,
when he, with a brother of mine, passed up in it to where
the bridge now is, for it was important to ascertain whether
it would go against the current as well as with it.
"My brother, Cyrus, a few years ago, collected and
published the proofs of the fact that Morey was the real
inventor of the steamboat, so far at least as steam could be
applied to the propelling of such a craft Had our ingen
ious townsman lived in Boston or New York, where his
facilities for constructing and making improvements would
have been such as he needed, he would now probably be
acknowledged as the projector of those floating palaces
which are crossing the ocean and visiting the remotest por
tions of the world."
A letter written by a prominent gentleman in St. Johns-
bury, Vt., and published in a Boston paper in 1874, says:
"I am inclined to believe that the state of New Hamp
shire and the town of Orford are entitled to the honor and
the claim of the man who first applied steam to navigation on
American waters. I remember when a boy of hearing old
settlers of Orford tell about Captain Morey's steamboat
and how it ran on the Connecticut River. Captain Morey
was a man of remarkable inventive genius, and among
other strange things, he told the good people of the town
that some day he should take a ride on the river in a steam
boat. They, of course, were faithless and only laughed at
his project. But he persevered and constructed the first
steamboat, probably, that ever rode upon river or sea. It
was a rude affair for a steamboat, but it proved successful.
"Captain Morey made his first experimental trip on
Sunday, during the hours of religious service, when the
people were at church. He chose this time so that nobody
should see him in case of failure. The people went to
meeting those days. On a quiet Sunday, not far either
way from 1790, this notable man with his rude craft,

10 CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY
steamed up the river between Fairlee and Orford, entirely
alone (this is probably a mistake), and on the following day
announced his triumph to the astonished people. Honor
to whom honor is due! Soon after this Fulton consulted
with Morey, and so did others, and ere long a steamboat
was launched on the Hudson, and steam navigation, one of
the modern wonders, became a practical fact."
But this first boat in 1793 was not the only experiment
of Captain Morey, for about 1820 another boat came into
existence on Fairlee Lake. This, the people about there
say is the original boat, but the description of it in the
possession of the Vermont Historical Society hardly corre
sponds with that of the earlier craft. The boat is described
as follows: A large boat, fully twenty feet in length,
painted white, with red streak and black gunwale, called
"Aunt Sally." It has also been thought that the engine
propelling this boat was the original, which was copied by
Fulton. The "Aunt Sally" was sunk in 1821, by enemies of
Captain Morey, it is said. Many assert that the object
of this was to destroy all evidence which might point to a
successful steamboat earlier than Fulton's. About 1874
the Vermont Historical Society sent a committee to Fairlee
to try and find the boat and to ascertain if the engine
was the original one and, if so, to preserve it as a historical
relic. Owing to insufficient apparatus, their search
amounted to naught.
That the ingenious inventor can also place a claim on
being the first to run an internal combustion motor boat is
strong in the mind of the writer. It is known that on
April I, 1826, Morey took out a patent on a gas or vapor
engine. The success or failure of this has never been
accounted for hitherto, but the recent discovery by the
writer, of a letter, among the papers in the family posses
sion, gives a description of a boat and its propelling power
used in 1829. It also shows that the captain was not to be

CAPT. SAMUEL MOREY 11
satisfied with a motor boat, but had higher aspirations — to
apply the power to a carriage. The letter is as follows:
Messrs. Rush aud Muhlenburg:
Dear Sir: — Perhaps I ought to have written sooner, but with all my
exertions, and they have been as important as they ever were with you, I
could not perfect, to my mind, the application of the "new power" to a
boat until within two weeks. It will now run as regular as any that are
driven with steam, and with very little expense. The boat is about nine
teen feet long, 5 J wide and the engine occupies only about eighteen inches
of the stern, and sometimes goes between 7 and 8 miles per hour.
The same engine may unquestionably, when in better hands, be made
to drive one, properly constructed, of twice the capacity, at least ten. Its
application to stationary purposes I perfected last winter. Throughout
the whole time I have been constantly perfecting the engine.
I expect to leave here in two or three days for home to arrange my
business for winter, and if possible to collect some money for you and
Mr. Garrett, as well as some for myself, which I could do were there any in
the country, as I have more than $3,000 of salable personal property and
good debts. But whether I get any or not, you may expect to see me next
month, if I am alive and well as usual. I have the engine already packed
up to be put with the mails on board a Packet, as soon as I can get ready
to start from home. Have been inclined to think I should send it to
Baltimore in the first instance, but shall postpone entirely anything
further. When I have the pleasure to see you I hope to learn what will
be the best course to be taken.
It remains for me to have the engine applied to a carriage on a rail.
road, and when that is done, I should think I have done my part. I can
but hope and trust the ensuing winter will see the engine well applied to
a carriage on a railroad. With sentiments of the greatest esteem and
friendship, I am dear Sirs, as ever. Yours,
SAM' MOREY.
Sept., 1829.
"It now runs as regular as any that are driven with
steam." Doesn't that sound like a gas engine.? Boat
owners will agree.

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