did. They made all sorts of claims to the government through their

representatives, and made life a burden to the Secretary by showing, or endeavoring to show, him that wages were higher everywhere else in the localities where these vessels were built than they were in Philadelphia.

“In fact, every one of the other builders ultimately received higher prices than we did, and later on some were awarded additional sums by act of Congress, notwithstanding that the drawings, specifications, plans, and designs for the alterations were made by me without pay! without even thanks!

“Subsequently the Department decided not to alter all alike, and about one-half of them were finished without the turrets, and the big guns were taken out, thereby relieving their builders of the necessity of making them deeper. The decks were finished, and they were designated as a sort of torpedo boat for harbor defence. These vessels, as altered according to my recommendations, would have been efficient factors in the operations in the southern waters if the war had not ended before they were finished.

“The ‘Sub-Department’ in New York, with all its investitures and appointments, was abandoned, and the Navy Department took up the monitor matter from that time onward. But the mischief had been done. The service had been debauched and the Treasury robbed of millions, which an intelligent policy from the start might have saved.

“During the alterations on the ‘Yazoo,’ the Chester light-draught monitor was sent to our place to be altered. Notwithstanding she had been finished with the reduced weights recommended by Mr. Stimers, she still continued defective, and was sent to our yard to be altered according to my new plan.

“As it was necessary to raise the turret in order to raise the deck, and as we were compelled to haul the vessel out of the water, we took the guns out of the turret and proceeded to remove it also. Hoisting out the guns was an easy accomplishment, but the removal of the turret was a difficult problem.

“At first sight, cutting out the rivets and bolts, taking apart and rebuilding it, appeared the most feasible. This, however, was an expensive transaction. After careful investigation, we concluded that it could be hauled off the ship on to the dock on sliding-ways if the work was done with the greatest rapidity with the best men at it. The removal of guns and turret to the dock was successfully accomplished.

“On account of the great cost due to occupying a dry-dock long enough to make the change, it was determined to haul her out on sliding-ways, reversing the process of launching, and that without using a coffer-dam for laying the ground-ways.

“The vessel was hauled out by the use of six 12-inch falls, two of which were attached to end of upper ways, two to a chain that passed around the stem extending to amidships, the ends lashed to the ship just above high-water mark, and the other two to holes in the bow made for the purpose.

“When the six large ‘crabs’ were started with all of the men that could be put on them, they never stopped until the vessel was entirely out of the water, taking a day and a night for the operation.

“This was by all odds the heaviest vessel ever hauled out on ways in this country, and, in view of the simplicity of its preparations and the limited cost, was one of the great achievements of the time occupied by the Civil War. But little or no notice was taken of it by the papers, as battles lost and won were the sensation of the day.

“While the craze for constructing monitors had possession of the country, the government built nothing else in the way of armored vessels.

“Mr. Lenthall and Mr. Isherwood, who was on Mr. Lenthall’s staff at that time, had no power to antagonize the monitor craze successfully, and a large one of wood was ordered to be built in each navy-yard, to be designed by the constructor of that particular yard as far as the hulls were concerned. But little money of the vast expenditures of the navy during the war was devoted to other iron-clad constructions than that of the monitor class.

“The ‘Miantonomah,’ which was one of these vessels built in one of the navy-yards and designed by the constructor at the navy-yard in which she was built, was sent to Russia under command of Commodore John Rodgers with Assistant Secretary Fox, as Special Envoy to convey to the Emperor certain congratulations. The idea was that the government of Russia would construct a number of large monitors. The trip, so far as that was concerned, was a failure. Commodore Rodgers, who went in command, was formerly in command of one of the original monitors which had been engaged in the contests before Charleston, and also in the Savannah sounds in the Civil War, and he was one of the strongest of the captains in favor of that type. As a rule, the captains and other officers were all adverse to them.

“While the Navy Department and Naval Committee of Congress were favorable to the monitor type, Messrs. Lenthall and Isherwood were against it; but they were very backward in doing or in recommending anything else, and permitted themselves to be overlooked. In view of this negligence on their part, it was argued that it was better to try to do something, even if it turned out wrong, than to do nothing at all.”

ORIGIN OF FAST CRUISERS.

“On account of the heavy loss of our ships captured by the Confederate cruisers, and our failures to capture any of them with the exception of the ‘Alabama,’ which was accidentally discovered and destroyed by the ‘Kearsarge,’ our Navy Department conceived it necessary to have constructed a number of very fast cruisers, faster than any known afloat.

“The Department delegated Messrs. Stimers and Allen, when in the height of their power in their ‘Sub-Department’ in New York, to design and have them constructed.

“Not being naval architects, and not having any naval architect of competent knowledge in connection with their ‘Sub-Department,’ but having an exalted idea of their own abilities not only as naval architects and engineers, and everything else in that direction, they designed some ships of a peculiarly fantastic model, and engines of equally fanciful character which they called, for short, the ‘grasshopper engine.’

“Having the power to design these vessels and contract for them, they invited me to inspect the plans and build two of them.

“On looking over these designs, I began to criticise them, and recommended modifications.

“I was wound up suddenly by the observation that, as they intended to give us two ships and give us what they considered a fair price for them, we must build them exactly as they were designed.

“As the price they offered was high, and feeling that we would practically have our own way with them, provided we adhered to the general type of design, and having no responsibility, we thought that we had better take them and make a handsome sum out of them than to stand out on trifles and fight for glory alone.

“I had commenced at the beginning of the war with criticising the monitors, and our concern got nothing, and the grass might have been growing in our yard if we adhered to that course. So the price was fixed for these ships, and we were about going on, when the fatal contretemps of the launching of the Boston light-draught monitor occurred. The ‘fast cruiser’ contracts of Stimers and Allen were set aside, and a large sum of money saved to the government. The ring was broken. They who had had unlimited power heretofore suddenly found themselves without the power to contract for a dingy.

“This was really a great disappointment to us and several other contractors, because the price they fixed for the cruisers was liberal, and, as they would not listen to suggestions, they were naturally expected to take the responsibility.

“After the matter of the fast cruisers was taken out of the hands of the ‘Sub-Department of the navy’ after the sinking of the Boston monitor, the Navy Department ordered each of the four navy-yards to design one on a scheme of general dimensions, and giving the engines out by contract to the various engine-builders, the engines, with two exceptions, being designed by Mr. Isherwood. The machinery for the ‘Madawaska’ was designed by Ericsson!

“At the same time, to encourage private enterprise, one was given to us, hull and machinery of our own design. We awarded the engines to Merrick & Sons, who built them on their own designs. All of these vessels were constructed of wood. Our ship was called the ‘Chattanooga,’ and that built at the Philadelphia Navy-Yard was called the ‘Neshaminy.’

“The engines designed by Mr. Isherwood were geared, the propellers making two and one-half revolutions to the engine’s one. When these engines were designed, gearing was supposed to be an indispensable necessity in screw-engine practice.

“The engines designed for the ‘Madawaska’ by Ericsson were of the same design as that of the ‘Dictator,’ and would be considered of fantastic character at the present time; that, however, might be said of most marine engines of that period.

“Much was expected of the ‘Madawaska’s’ engines by Mr. Ericsson’s friends, but after a trial of twenty minutes it was stopped, as the crank-pin and main-bearing brasses ran out into the crank-pit before they had attained their required performance.

“The engines were subsequently taken out and compound engines of poor design were put in by parties who had never built a compound engine before. The performance of these engines was but little better than that of the original.

“Having been eminently successful in the introduction of compound engines in this country, by the construction of four compound engines for the American Line and one set for the ‘George W. Clyde’ of our own design, we made application to the government to substitute the design of compound engines in place of the first set of ‘Madawaska,’ but our offer was not accepted, unfortunately for the government.

“All of these vessels were of good model, and all built according to the latest improvements of the great ship-builders and contractors, and the devices in the way of rigging, spars, and other outfit, besides the model and general arrangements were from the stand-point and designs of the naval constructor and ship-builder at the yard where they were built. No ships in modern times have been superior to them in design, construction, and ship-building technique. The engines, however, were not up to the standard, and, no matter what else may be said of them, they were much too small.

“Some time after these vessels were laid up, an effort was made by private parties in New York to utilize them in a trans-Atlantic line to carry the mail, and a proposition was made to the government covering certain conditions under which they could be operated. The proposition meeting a favorable consideration, an exhaustive examination of the engines was made by Mr. Norman Wheeler, of New York. He found that the gearing of the driving-wheels and pinion had been worn down five-eighths of an inch during their trials; the project was abandoned, and the ships gradually disappeared.

“It has been stated that the ‘Wampanoag’ made her designed speed from New York to Charleston in one trial.

“The British government was very much interested in this scheme of building fast cruisers for our navy. Captain Bye-the-sea, who was Naval Attaché of Great Britain, was ordered to investigate the matter here. He decided to obtain the plans and drawings of the ‘Chattanooga,’ and applied to the Secretary of the Navy for his approval. The Secretary sent a letter to us stating that, so far as he was concerned, he had no objection. So we furnished Captain Bye-the-sea with the drawings of the ‘Chattanooga’ in return for some valuable information that he had, which we expected to utilize in some construction of our Navy Department. We did not, however, realize anything in that direction.

“The ‘Inconstant,’ built by the British government, was practically the same model as that of the ‘Chattanooga,’ but with another deck added to her, which gave her an entirely different appearance, and which made her look a good deal heavier above the water than the ‘Chattanooga’ did, particularly as far as the stern was concerned.

“The ‘Wampanoag,’ one of the ships built at one of the navy-yards, made what was designated as one quick trip from New York to Charleston; but in doing so the teeth of the gearing were worn to the extent of five-eighths of an inch, practically ruining her usefulness for any future service. The vessel was laid up and never sent to sea again.

“The ‘Chattanooga’ did not make a successful trial. The engines were too small, and a long contest between the engine-builders and Mr. Isherwood occurred over the construction of the machinery, ending in the engine-builders making modifications, and the vessel was laid up.

“As these ships were considered at that time too expensive to equip for sea service in time of peace, they were laid up; being wooden and very much neglected, they rotted at their wharves.

“The failure of these vessels to demonstrate the propriety of building fast cruisers was due altogether to defective machinery and to defective marine engineering as it generally existed at that date in this country, and to the material of their construction being of wood.”

EVOLUTION OF MODERN MARINE ENGINE.

“At that time a large majority of the marine engineers of the United States were adherents of the paddle-wheel, walking-beam type of engine, and nothing would do but that type of engine. That was particularly the case in the city of New York.

“Philadelphia, at a very early period in the history of steam propulsion, advocated the propeller engine, and as far as the working of propeller engine was concerned, the degree of workmanship and skill in its design attained there was never excelled in Europe or America. These engines were generally small in power, and the prejudices of the people were against them, particularly as all New York ship-builders and marine engineers spoke of propeller engines with the most profound contempt.

“Now and then some one in New York would build a propeller engine of poor design which would prove disastrous, so in large enterprises the walking-beam, side-wheel type of engine prevailed and was the fashion.

“This was done to such a great extent that when the first line of steamships was established between Philadelphia and Charleston, side-wheel engines were put in them by parties who had a great deal of interest with the management of the steamship company.

“In fact, it was this craze for the walking-beam engine and side-wheels in New York which ruined us as a steamship building country, and was one of the many causes for the supremacy in ocean commerce that Great Britain ultimately attained.

“After the government had stopped the subsidy, the Collins Line, which was run at an enormous expense, was withdrawn. We were completely out of the business. The influence of Philadelphia, as we had no large ships or large steamship companies, was not listened to.

“Rather than adopt the propeller and go to Philadelphia to have the engines built, steamship owners in New York permitted the whole steamship business, together with all the foreign trade, to go to foreign countries. The British began early to establish large machine shops and to perfect the propeller engine. Though slow, they were sure.

“There was not a time in the history of steam navigation that we did not feel that we could equal or even excel the English builders of propeller steamships that were coming to this country. But, as I said before, we could not induce the New York merchants to embark in the enterprise.

“I am sure that if we had abandoned the side-wheel and commenced with the propeller at the time the British did and continued with steadfastness, we never would have lost it.

“The ships of this country were right, of the best form and model, and they were in advance of anything in Great Britain, as far as hull construction and design were concerned; but, while the ship-builders in New York were among the greatest in the world, the builders of marine engines there were the poorest in the world.

“When it was discovered that the propeller steamship was in every respect the best and had come to stay, it was too late to try to recover our trade.

“The construction of monitors and machinery during the latter end of the war was very demoralizing, and had its effect upon naval constructions long after the war was over.

“The Construction Department, which had not shown much enterprise during the war, had become very much deteriorated, and the system was inaugurated, principally by Mr. Isherwood, which exists at the present day, of dividing the executive department into many bureaus; and, to strengthen their heads and give them power, it was also provided that the appointment of these heads of bureaus should be made by the President and confirmed by the Senate, thus making the Senate a coördinate factor in their existence, and the heads of bureaus independent of the Secretary of the Navy.

“This was started, as I said before, by Mr. Isherwood, who was on Mr. Lenthall’s staff. He organized the Bureau of Steam Engineering as an independent bureau, not subordinate to the Secretary, and having its head appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Of course he was made its Engineer-in-Chief.”

That being started, other bureaus as they practically exist at present, the heads of which are independent of the Secretary, were established the same way. A great deal of friction occurred between the various branches of the Navy Department at that time, the effects of which continued for a good while. Nothing was built by the government, although the Secretary of the Navy had full power to do practically as he pleased with the appropriations. The appropriations in Congress at that time were made in bulk, and the Secretary could give vessels out by private contract or build them in the navy-yards.

Some few vessels involving antique ideas were started in the navy-yards and were principally of wood. The engines were contracted for by the various engine-builders of the United States. They were constructed practically on one general design.

On account of some irregularities and misunderstandings in the way of giving out contracts and certain favoritisms, together with the jealousies and bickerings of the various heads of the Departments and officers of the Navy, Congress became more and more exacting in their appropriations, until at last nothing was done in the Navy Department without a special appropriation for the particular purpose.

At the end of the Civil War in 1865, a large number of United States vessels under contract were uncompleted. In some cases, notably of the monitor type, work was immediately suspended upon them, and settlements were made after long and tedious delays. The Cramp concern, as already mentioned, had one vessel in hand under these conditions, the first-class fast cruiser “Chattanooga;” but the government provided for her completion, which was carried out, and her delivery concluded the relations of Mr. Cramp to the navy of the Civil War.