Front:
^25
Experiment 1788
GRLEANS
1989
70113
LA
Back:
STEAMBOAT EXPERIMENT — 1788-1790
First Day of Issue: March 3, 1989
First Issue Location: New Orleans, Louisiana
In the early 1780's, an inventor named John Fitch and an
engineer named Henry Voight built a steamboat pro-
pelled by six twelve-foot vertical oars placed on either
side of the craft. She proved extremely slow, and by 1788
the two men had redesigned their vessel using three
rectangular paddles operating aft of the stern rather than
many oars positioned along the sides. They christened
their craft the Experiment, and put her into commercial
service on the Delaware, making the trip from Philadel-
phia to Burlington and Trenton, New Jersey. But she was
just too slow for commercial operations — the steamboat
trip took longer than the journey by stagecoach. Conse-
quently, the little steamer consistently lost money on her
voyages and was withdrawn from service in the summer
of 1790. Nevertheless, she was a pioneer in American
steamboating in two regards. She was the first vessel in
American waters to actually move under her own steam,
and the first commercial American steamboat.
No. 89-6
©1989 The Maximum Card Collection
A Division of Unicover Corporation • Cheyenne, WY 82008-0007
Original painting by John Swatsley
