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By 1786, Fulton had definitely devoted himself to canal engineering, or, as he says himself in the Report of the Board of Commissioners of the Western Canal, published at Albany and dated February 22, 1814:

I passed three years at various canals in England to obtain practical knowledge on the manner of constructing them and to make myself familiar with their advantages.

With Fulton’s work on canals, his designs for inclined planes to take the place of locks, his financial difficulties and his acquaintance with the Earl of Stanhope, the present story has no concern, except as such work is the intermediate step in Fulton’s career between art and mechanical navigation.

That Fulton was sorely pressed as to money in these days, the following extract from a long letter addressed to Lord Stanhope, and given in full in Dickenson’s “Robert Fulton,” clearly proves:

Works of this kind Require much time, Patience and application. And till they are Brought About, Penury frequently Presses hard on the Projector; And this My Lord is so much my Case at this Moment, That I am now Sitting Reduced to half a Crown, Without knowing Where to obtain a shilling for some months. This my Lord is an awkward sensation to a feeling Mind, which would devote every minuet to Increase the Comforts of Mankind. And Who on Looking Round Sees thousands nursed in the Lap of fortune, grown to maturity, And now Spending their time In the endless Maze of Idle dissipation. Thus Circumstanced My Lord, would it be an Intrusion on your goodness and Philanthropy to Request the Loan of 20 guineas Which I will Return as Soon as possible. And the favour shall ever be greetfully Acknowledged By your lordship’s