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.
Seine River Steamers
Early experiments with steam were started in 1780s on the Rhone River in France, and were perfected
with Fulton's boat on the Seine in 1803. The British had the early lead with steam, from James Watt, William Symington, and Henry Bell,
and thus it became logical that the technology transfer would
migrate across the English Channel. The "Rob Roy" did such a task in
1816, while the "Aaron Maltby" left London and sailed up the Seine to Paris in 1822. A charter was issued for a tourist day tripper steamboat company in Paris.