Description
- 25 Steamboats
- U.S. #2405-09
- Issue Date: March 3, 1989
When James Watt improved the steam engine in 1769, it led to the first steamboat being developed in France 14 years later. The real turning point for steam-powered boats came in 1807, when Robert Fulton built the North River Steamboat, later renamed the Clermont. It was a long, low vessel powered by a Watt engine, and its extraordinary commercial success was a historic event. The Postal Service honors the development of the commercial steamboat with a booklet pane of five different steamboats.