Robert Fulton was one of the great inventors of the 19th century. He invented the submarine and the torpedo and conducted sea trials for both the British and French Navies. He operated the first steam-powered boat down the Seine near Paris in a effort to sell it to Napoleon, who regretted not having acted on it. But Robert Livingston, the American Ambassador to France, did not miss the chance. He convinced Fulton to bring his invention back to the United States, where they opened the Fulton Ferry Company.

In 1807, Fulton Ferry launched the Clermont, the world's first steam-powered ferry, offering regular passage between Jersey City and Albany. The trip lasted about 18 hours. In 1814, Fulton introduced the Nassau for regular crossings between Brooklyn Heights and Lower Manhattan. The streets on either shore were renamed Fulton St in his honor.

Fulton Ferryboat - Whitehall Station - 1830

For some time, the narrow crossing between Brooklyn Heights and the South Street docks had been one of the busiest waterways in the world. Hundreds of young men made a living rowing passengers and freight back and forth. Cornelius Vanderbilt began as a ferryman and made his fortune in ferries. But Fulton, with multiple patents on steam engines and ferries, an a franchise on steam traffic for all of Manhattan's waterways, was about to put them all out of business.

Ironically, the same need for transit between Brooklyn and Manhattan was to lead to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge some 55 years later. Because though Fulton's ferries could defy the wind and the currents, they could not cut through the ice. When the East River froze over in 1867, one newspaper estimated that it took less time to reach Albany, 90 miles up the Hudson, than Brooklyn just a half mile across the river.

Fulton Ferry Station - 1863

Robert Fulton was not to enjoy his success for long, however. 1815 saw another hard Winter, and this time the Hudson froze over as well. Fulton was caught on the New Jersey side, inspecting a new ferry terminal. Fulton and some of his men decided to walk across it, and one of them fell through the ice. They managed to drag him out, but not before getting completely soaked in the process. With the temperature at ten below zero, Fulton caught pneumonia and died 3 days later - on 24 February 1815.