His connection seems rather to have been that of a business partner or backer. Preparations for a trial of their boat in the Seine were interrupted by the collapse of the contrivance, which broke in two and sunk in the river. Fulton succeeded, however, in raising the wreck, and, having repaired the hull, proceeded to demonstrate his theory. The trial was pronounced a success and the partners agreed to construct a larger boat on the Hudson River. For this enterprise Livingston was to supply the funds. The engine was ordered from Messrs. Boulton and Watt, of Birmingham. It was built from specifications furnished by Fulton, but so greatly was the work delayed that it arrived in New York subsequently to the inventors' return in 1806. A bill was passed by the Legislature, similar to one previously obtained b}' Livingston, renewing an exclusive privilege granted him before his departure for France. This act gave the associates the sole right to navigate the waters of New York State by steam for twenty years, an allowance of two years being made for the completion of the first steamboat. The actual outlay for the boat exceeded the estimated cost, and it was found necessary to raise money by subscription. Among the subscribers was Robert Lenox, who, according to one account, put down a hundred dollars, but would not allow his name to be

122 The Hudson River

used because he did not wish to have it connected with such a preposterous scheme. The vessel was built at the shipyard of Charles Brown, on the East River, and not, as some writers have claimed, in the North Bay, near the Livingston manorhouse of Clermont, at Tivoli. Xor can we find any warrant for the tradition that the plans for the boat were made at Clermont, though very possibly they may have been altered or perfected there.