Fulton and Bell afterwards showed the power of steamboats in navigating the rivers of America and Britain.
After various experiments, it was proposed to unite England and America by steam.

Dr.Lardner, however, delivered a lecture before the Royal Institution in 1838, "proving" that steamers could never cross the Atlantic, because they could not carry sufficient coal to raise steam enough during the voyage.

But this theory was also tested by experience in the same year, when the Sirius, of London, left Cork for New York, and made the passage in nineteen days.

Four days after the departure of the Sirius, the Great Western left Bristol for New York, and made the passage in thirteen days five hours.[1] The problem was solved; and great ocean steamers have ever since passed in continuous streams between the shores of England and America.
In an age of progress, one invention merely paves the way for another.
The first steamers were impelled by means of paddle wheels; but these are now almost entirely superseded by the screw.

And this, too, is an invention almost of yesterday.