The Voyage of the Steamboat "New Orleans": the Dawn of a New Age
Posted: Saturday, December 03, 2011
by Jack H. Schick
Lydia Latrobe (1791-1878), met her future husband when she was brought to America from England after her widowed, estranged father, Benjamin, finally made his fortune and remarried. She was nine years old. The man she would marry was a renowned machinist and entrepreneur who her father had contracted to build the large steam pumps that were needed for the water delivery system he’d been commissioned to build for the city of Philadelphia. Though the venture overran estimates tremendously and caused severe financial problems for both men, Latrobe and Nicholas Roosevelt became fast friends.
The couple did not adhere to the agreement, having secret communications from the start. They managed a liaison at her home in Wilmington, Delaware, when her parents were in Washington. But, toward the end of 1805, the couple had a disagreement and Lydia broke off the relationship. Benjamin Latrobe was furious over the behind the back deceit, but by 1807, when he moved his family to Washington where he had been contracted to redesign the president’s home, Latrobe and Roosevelt’s friendship had "repaired itself."
Lydia soon blossomed into a beautiful young woman and received several proposals of marriage, which she declined. She was still in love with Nicholas. When her father touted the attributes of one suitor, Lydia responded, “He is not to be compared with Mr. Roosevelt.” Nicholas continued to carry the torch for Lydia, too. When he came to visit the Latrobe’s in September of 1808, the two were left alone for a short period and the dormant spark burst into flame. Roosevelt proposed and Lydia accepted.
The Latrobe’s could no longer deny the obvious deep devotion and passion that existed between the two. The age gap did not bother them as much as it had. They now had the example of their friends James and Dolly Madison. The, soon-to-be president was 17 years older than his wife and they seemed to be a well suited couple. They approved the betrothal.
On November 15, 1808, Nicholas and Lydia were married. The union was to become an important spoke in the turning wheel that would lead to the expansion of the United States to encompass a huge portion of the North American continent and span from sea to shining sea. Lydia emerged as one of the true heroines of her era. She became a superb illustration of the strength, endurance, perseverance and intelligence with which the American woman was endowed.
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Nicholas Roosevelt (1767-1854), built the best steam engines in the United States. In 1797 he was contacted by Robert Livingston, one of the most powerful men in the country (member of the Declaration of Independence framing committee, writer of the New York State constitution, administer of the oath of office to George Washington, and future negotiator of the Louisiana Purchase). Livingston asked Roosevelt to build the engine for a steam powered boat he designed. A dependable steamboat did not yet exist, but Livingston believed he had a realistic design that would not catch fire, fall apart or explode, as so many fore-runners had.
Roosevelt accepted, but had serious disagreements with Livingston’s propulsion system. As a teenager, Roosevelt built a toy boat with two side mounted paddle wheels driven by whalebone, hickory springs and a tight cord. His mechanical brain convinced him that Livingston’s design of two submerged horizontal paddle wheels would not work. Roosevelt recommended his own design, to no avail.
A test run of the boat in October proved him right. A rear mounted paddle wheel, suggested by Livingston’s brother-in-law and partner in the project, John Stevens, was tried next. Though more successful propelling the boat, the vessel was shaken so violently it fell apart. The entire project was dropped.
In 1803, while in Paris negotiating for the Louisiana Purchase, Livingston met Robert Fulton. They formed a partnership and conducted steamboat experiments on the Seine River. Livingston suggested they try Roosevelt’s idea and built side mounted paddle wheels. The two soon had the first viable steam powered boat, the Clermont, which was named for Livingston’s estate on the Hudson River.
Four years later, to dissuade Roosevelt from filing a patent on his design, Fulton and Livingston invited him to become a partner in their venture to put steamboats on the Ohio/Mississippi River system. Roosevelt had recently suffered severe financial distress when a contract to install copper bottoms on six new battle frigates awarded him by the Adams administration was cancelled when Jefferson took office. He jumped at the chance, regardless of the fact Livingston had stolen his design.
The Mississippi Steamboat Navigation Company was formed. In the spring of 1809, Roosevelt and his young wife left New York for Pennsylvania to investigate the feasibility of running a steamboat from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. If it was possible, the entire central part of the continent would be opened for commerce and development.
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By 1809, Pittsburgh was an industrial, rapidly growing inland port city of close to 5,000 people. As described by a resident: “[It was] enveloped in thick clouds of smoke, which even affect respiration; the appearance of houses is dark and gloomy, from the general use of coal, particularly in numerous manufacturies, which send into the air immense columns of smoke [that] descends in fine dust which blackens every object; even snow can scarcely be called white in Pittsburgh.”
One of Pittsburgh’s main industries was boatbuilding. Oceangoing vessels were built there and sailed down the rivers to the sea. However, due to the deep hull requirements river travel was not practical and the industry had dropped off by the time the Roosevelt’s arrived. Riverboats were the mainstay of the transportation industry.
Two types of vessels were used--flatboats and keel boats. Flatboats were the most common. At any given time as many as 2,000 of them might be found between Pittsburgh and New Orleans. They were one way boats. Cargo was delivered and the flatboats disassembled for lumber or firewood. They ranged in size from 20 to 100 feet long and 12 to 20 feet wide. Keel boats were smaller, two way vessels. Crews rowed downstream. On the up-river trip they were either poled or crewmen walked the shoreline pulling it with ropes. Both types of boat were supplemented with sails.
Roosevelt’s mission was to voyage downriver to determine if steamboat travel was practical. They found no existing flatboat that was satisfactory, so they built one. Lydia, who was in the early stages of her first pregnancy, used the skills she’d inherited from her architect father and designed the interior of the boat with all the “necessary comforts.”
The Roosevelt’s marriage was unusual for the time. They were good companions and equal partners in all matters. Lydia was far from the common woman. She was eighteen, had been raised in privilege, and yet was ready to set out on a journey that would test the hardiest person. She was going because she wouldn’t dream of leaving her husband or missing out on the adventure.
On the journey, Roosevelt constantly measured depths, plotted currents and noted river hazards. They introduced themselves in nearly every settlement along the way. They said they would be back soon in a very different kind of vessel. Near the mouth of the Ohio, Nicholas made an important discovery--coal. He bought and opened several mines as a future source of steamboat fuel.
When the flatboat finally reached the substantial town of Natchez, the crew and Nicholas decided to take a “night on the town,” leaving Lydia, now nearly seven months pregnant, on board alone. That evening the river level dropped drastically. The boat bottomed out and suffered a hull puncture on a submerged obstacle. It would have sunk if Lydia had not baled from nine in the evening until one in the morning when the tipsy men finally returned.
They continued their journey in a large row boat, sleeping in the vessel pulled partly up on shore at night. More than once they were awakened by alligators which mistook them for a log and tried to climb onboard. They finally reached Baton Rouge in a driving rain storm. They were able to find shelter in a “wretched public house” where drunken activities kept them from sleeping. They left, “feeling thankful we had not been murdered in the night.” Lydia said.
They arrived in New Orleans on December 1, 1809. They booked passage on the first boat they could. It took a month to get to Virginia, from where they took a stagecoach to New York. The entire venture took nine months. They arrived home in mid-January 1810, just in time for the intrepid Lydia to deliver her daughter, Rosetta.
Nicholas made his report to Fulton and Livingston. From the details of the journey, it was obvious that a better transportation system on the western rivers was needed. Roosevelt was entrusted to oversee the construction of a steamboat at Pittsburgh. He and Lydia set out again in March.
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The New Orleans was 148 feet six inches long, 32 feet six inches wide and 12 feet deep. It displaced 371 tons of water. The Ohio or Mississippi had never seen such a vessel. It was “built with the best materials and in the most substantial manner,” said the Pittsburgh Gazette. Finally finished in the summer of 1811, the steamboat (as was common to all of Roosevelt’s projects), had run well over estimated costs to $38,000. The rivers were not yet high enough to begin the journey, so the ship did not launch until October 15th, when it chugged up and down the Monongahela to the delight of spectators.
The New Orleans departed for…New Orleans on Sunday, October 20, 1811. Lydia caused a scandal among Pittsburgh’s upper class. Not only was she taking her two year old daughter along on the “most dangerous voyage,” but she was eight months pregnant with her second child. Lydia scoffed at the criticism. She had a hand in designing the boat. She had personally inspected the timber used in its construction. Her husband was the best engine maker in the country. She had great pride in what she considered to be, to some extend, ‘her boat.’ It would take more than disapproving, elitist tongue wagging to deny her the reward of her efforts.
The steamboat was greeted with wonder and enthusiasm at every town it passed. They reached Cincinnati in a week and the next day stopped at Louisville, where, on October 30, 1811, Henry Latrobe Roosevelt was born to Lydia in her cabin onboard. They were forced to remain on the Ohio until December 8th when the river finally rose enough to make clearance over the falls below the city. It was the only real obstacle on the way to the Mississippi.
{During their stay there, Tecumseh had been unable to forge a confederacy with the tribes of the American South, William Henry Harrison had attacked and burned the multi-tribal village of Tippecanoe and destroyed the Shawnee Prophet, and the treaty Napoleon had established with Russia had begun to break down prompting him to plan an invasion}
Lydia insisted on being onboard ‘her ship’ on its run through the rapids and falls below Louisville, but sent the children downstream by carriage with her two maids. Contrary to local expectations, the New Orleans suffered only minor damage. They proceeded on to the coal mines Roosevelt had purchased, arriving there on Friday, December 13th. They loaded the vessel with the precious fuel. After passing New Madrid, they would have a sparsely inhabited 400 mile run to Natchez. If they needed wood they would have to cut it.
On the evening of December 15, 1811, the New Orleans, still on the Ohio, had stopped for the day. At 2:15 a.m. the passengers were awakened by a shock. As legend has it, Tecumseh had stomped his foot on the ground at Detroit and the earth split open. It was the first of the New Madrid quakes, the most intense series of earthquakes ever to hit the United States. The size and stability of the boat, and being on water, insulated them from the severity of the shaking, yet no one slept as the tremors continued.
They got underway as soon as it was light. The vibrations and noise of the engines kept them from feeling the impact of the nearly constant aftershocks, including the 7.0 one that hit several hours after dawn. The Roosevelt’s dog Tiger, however, did feel them. He spent the day whining, or growling as he prowled the deck. He would lay his head softly on Lydia’s lap and moan. As they continued downriver they noticed trees swaying as if in a high wind, when the air was still. Enormous sections of the riverbank broke loose and collapsed into the water. As they got closer to the epicenter, the boat was lifted and rocked by tremor induced waves. Some of the passengers suffered seasickness.
The boat’s captain, Andrew Jack, who knew the river well, found the channel changed so much he felt lost. Usually deep water was now filled with uprooted trees, shapes of islands were changed, banks had collapsed or were sunken. He could merely stay to the middle and hope. All the towns they passed showed severe quake damage. A day later, when they reached the Mississippi, they found the water level unusually high and slow moving.
The following day, when they reached New Madrid, they found the entire area in shambles. The town had dropped 15 feet to river level, the waterfront, including the cemetery was gone. What had been a plain behind the town was now a lake. The earth was opened up in hundred foot long chasms. Sand blow mounds covered the landscape.
And so it was for the rest of the Roosevelt’s journey to New Orleans: ruined towns, wrecked boats, fallen trees, debris and bodies in the river. And, it was only the first, and not the most severe, of the over 2,000 tremors that would shake the region over the next two months. Nothing ever changed life and the landscape in central North America as dramatically or as severely as did the New Madrid earthquakes…
…nothing, of course, except the successful voyage of Nicholas and Lydia Roosevelt on the steamboat New Orleans. A new age had dawned.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Again... fascinating!I had trouble staying under 2,500 words. I deleted some interesting paragraphs.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting
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