ABSTRACT
A pale moon lit Lake Champlain as Phoenix paddled her way through a northeastern gale en route to Quebec. Richard Sherman was not the regular master of Phoenix, but tonight the 21-year-old held command while his father Jahaziel Sherman stayed home to recover from an illness. Phoenix continued to burn all the way to the waterline, and her smoking hull eventually ran aground near Colchester Reef. Built in the formative years of marine steam engine application, the construction, operation, and sinking of Phoenix represent an innovative but little-known stage in the adaptation of steam propulsion in America. Historical accounts have tended to concentrate on the progress of steam propulsion up to the popular success of Fulton and Livingston in 1807, but little attention has been paid to the practical development of steamboats that followed in their wake. The chapter also presents an overview of key concepts discussed in this book.
