Upon leaving the family of Mr. West, Fulton commenced a tour for the purpose of examining the treasures of art contained in the residences of the English nobility, and remained for two years in Devonshire.  There he became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, to whom England is indebted for the introduction of the canal system within her limits; and it is said that he was induced by this nobleman to abandon the profession of an artist, and enter upon that of a civil engineer.  This nobleman being devoted to mechanical investigations, proved a very congenial acquaintance to Fulton.  He was engaged at the time on a scheme of steam navigation by a propeller, modeled after the foot of a water fowl.  His plan did not commend itself to Fulton’s judgment, and he addressed him a letter, setting forth its defects, and advancing some of the views upon which he acted himself in after life.  Here he also met with Watt, who had just produced the steam-engine, which Fulton studied enthusiastically.  His own inventive genius was not idle, and while living in Devonshire, he produced an improved mill for sawing marble, which won him the thanks and medal of the British Society for the Promotion of the Arts and Commerce; a machine for spinning flax and making ropes; and an excavator for scooping out the channels of canals and aqueducts, all of which were patented.  He published a number of communications on the subject of canals in one of the leading London journals, and a treatise upon the same subject.  Having obtained a patent in England for canal improvements, he went to France in 1797, with the design of introducing them in that country.

Upon reaching Paris, he took up his residence with Mr. Joel Barlow, and thus was laid the foundation of a friendship between these two gentlemen which lasted during their lives.  He remained in Paris seven years, residing during that time with Mr. Barlow, and devoting himself to the study of modern languages, and engineering and its kindred sciences.

His work was continuous and severe in Paris.  He invented and painted the first panorama ever exhibited in that city, which he sold for the purpose of raising money for his experiments in steam navigation; he also designed a series of splendid colored illustrations for The Columbiad, the famous poem of his friend Mr. Barlow.  Besides these, he invented a number of improvements in canals, aqueducts, inclined planes, boats, and guns, which yielded him considerable credit, but very little profit.

In 1801, he invented a submarine boat which he called the “Nautilus,” which is thus described by M. de St. Aubin, a member of the Tribunate: 

“The diving-boat, in the construction of which he is now employed, will be capacious enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to enable him to plunge one hundred feet under water, if necessary.  He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable eight men to remain under water eight hours.  When the boat is above water, it has two sails, and looks just like a common boat; when it is to dive, the mast and sails are struck.