 Captain Edward Tripp, who had introduced steamboating to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1813 with the building of the steamboat "Chesapeake", was the first Baltimore hull inspector and was appointed by a federal district judge to perform the safety inspection on the few vessels in Baltimore.Captain Tripp performed these duties between 1838 and 1852.At that time, the law provided a US$5.00 fee for each inspection to be paid by the vessels owner.