Introduction

Many have heard the oft-repeated tale: in 1803, American engineer Robert Fulton approached Napoleon Bonaparte to present his invention of the steamship and his forward-looking proposal to build a fleet powered by steam. Napoleon, reportedly thinking Fulton a fraud, responded:After Napoleon’s rejection, Fulton turned to Britain and sold the patent rights to the Royal Navy. Two years later, in 1805, the combined French and Spanish fleets suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the British Navy in the Battle of Trafalgar—the largest naval battle of the nineteenth century—and Napoleon abandoned his plans to invade Britain for good.