Section of a marine steam engine condenser and outrigger. Scottish engineer William Symington built the world's first practical steamboat , the Charlotte Dundas, in 1802. In 1807, Robert Fulton built the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the North River Steamboat. Following Fulton's success, steamboat technology developed rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. Steamboats initially had a short range and were not particularly seaworthy due to their weight, lack of horsepower, and tendency to break down, but they were employed along rivers and canals, and for short journeys along the coast. The first successful transatlantic crossing by a steamship occurred in 1819 when the Savannah (hybrid sailing ship/sidewheel steamer) sailed from Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England. The first steamship to make regular transatlantic crossings was the sidewheel steamer Great Western in 1838. As the 19th century progressed, marine steam engines |