The First Trip of the Clermont

a post by K-Bird

This is one of the school projects I did. I wanted to share it with you. It is a song that I wrote. It is about the first steamboat. The first working steamboat was built by Robert Fulton. Fulton used the steam engine that was invented by James Watt to build a boat that could be driven by something besides wind or oars. People made fun of Fulton, and the project took a long time. People even called his project "Fulton's Folly" which means his foolishness. He almost gave up. He kept working anyway, even though it was hard. It reminds me a little of the story of Noah and the ark, except it took Noah a lot longer to finish his boat and his boat was much bigger and people actually lived to see Fulton's boat be successful. But both of them got made fun of, and both of them had to persevere. Finally, on August 17, 1807, Fulton's steamboat took her first journey. She was named the Clermont. She traveled up the Hudson river. She was faster than all the little sailing skiffs. After that people used steamboats for many years in the United States to take people and goods up and down rivers. I hope you will enjoy my song.

Caleb's Steam Song
by Super K Bird

Building, building, building
Up a boat pushed by steam
Cough, cough, cough
Smoke is going UP
People laughed and thought
It would not work
But she made the trip
Passing sailing skiffs
Fulton did it all!
Fulton did it all!