Lot 488: ROBERT FULTON (1765-1815)

DRAWING OF A DETONATOR AND MUZZLE FOR AN UNDERWATER CANNON

20 1/2 by 28in. (52.1 by 71.1cm)

pen and ink with watercolor on paper

NOTE

Painted circa 1806.
Robert Fulton, the artist-inventor, was in Europe from 1800 to 1806 working on naval and submarine warfare designs for the French and English governments. He returned to the United States in the fall of 1806, where he continued to dabble in improvements in his naval designs even while working on the steamboat. His "torpedo" bombs were tested in New York Harbor and he published a pamphlet, "Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions," in 1810. With government support, he continued his experiments and with the outbreak of the War of 1812, he concentrated on his "submarine gun," a precursor of modern torpedo techniques.

This drawing was probably executed shortly after his return to American in 1806, and shows details of flintlock detonators for submarine bombs and underwater guns.

Solom Alofsen, a Dutch-born Jersey City engineer, was an associate of Fulton's in the inventor's last years. In 1855, he presented to The New Jersey Historical Society a colletion of Fulton's drawings and designs that he had inherited through his professional association with him.