First Practical Steamboat

In 1801 William Symington developed and designed a new steam engine and was built by John Allan. Lord Dundas being a primary sponsor of the project was honored by the naming of the boat as the Charlotte Dundas after Lord Dundas' daughter. The first sailing was on a canal in Glasgow, Jan. 4, 1803. Symington was never paid for his work on the Charlotte. It wasn't until 1807 when Robert Fulton and Livingston built the first commercial steamboat in New York that the industry truly developed.