History of the steam engine This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour, and traveled more than during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. In 1802 William Symington built a practical steamboat, and in 1807 Robert Fulton used a Watt steam engine to power the first commercially successful steamboat. Oliver Evans in his turn was in favour of "strong steam" which he applied to boat engines and to stationary uses. He was a pioneer of cylindrical boilers; however Evans' boilers did suffer several serious
Submarine it was believed to have sunk both its intended target, and probably "H. L. Hunley", the submarine that deployed it. Discussions between the English clergyman and inventor George Garrett and the Swedish industrialist Thorsten Nordenfelt led to the first practical steam-powered submarines, armed with torpedoes and ready for military use. The first was "Nordenfelt I", a 56-tonne, vessel similar to Garrett's ill-fated "Resurgam" (1879), with a range of , armed with a single torpedo, in 1885. A reliable means of propulsion for the submerged vessel was only made possible in the 1880s with the advent of the necessary electric battery