Robert Fulton
The first successful trial run of a steamboat had been made several years earlier in the United States by inventor John Fitch, on the Delaware River on August 22, 1787. Attendees included delegates from the Constitutional Convention, who were observing while taking a break from their summer-long sessions at Independence Hall. The steamboat was propelled by a bank of oars on either side of the boat. The following year Fitch launched a boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled in a manner similar to the motion of a swimming duck's feet. With this boat he carried up to thirty passengers for hire on numerous round-trip voyages on the Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey.
Marine propulsion
The first commercial success accrued to Robert Fulton's "North River Steamboat" (often called "Clermont") in US in 1807, followed in Europe by the of 1812. Steam propulsion progressed considerably over the rest of the 19th century. Notable developments include the steam surface condenser, which eliminated the use of sea water in the ship's boilers. This, along with improvements in boiler technology, permitted higher steam pressures, and thus the use of higher efficiency multiple expansion (compound) engines. As the means of transmitting the engine's power, paddle wheels gave way to more efficient screw propellers.