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diff --git a/31179-8.txt b/31179-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..414a775 --- /dev/null +++ b/31179-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2349 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and +Catamaran, by Howard I. Chapelle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship and Catamaran + +Author: Howard I. Chapelle + +Release Date: February 4, 2010 [EBook #31179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FULTON'S "STEAM BATTERY": *** + + + + +Produced by Colin Bell, Louise Pattison, Joseph Cooper and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Notes: + +This is Paper 39 from the Smithsonian Institution United States National +Museum Bulletin 240, comprising Papers 34-44, which will also be +available as a complete e-book. + +The front material, introduction and relevant index entries from the +Bulletin are included in each single-paper e-book. + +Note that several Figures in this paper consist of two images separated +from each other in the original layout, with separate labels. These +separate labels are preserved in this text only version. + +Typographical errors have been corrected as follows: + + P152: "the _Simon & Jude_, later called _Invention I_" (was "latter"). + P159: "Its importance is that it..." (was "is that is"). + Index: "Emmet, ----, 144" (was Emmett).] + + + + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM + +BULLETIN 240 + + +[Illustration] + +SMITHSONIAN PRESS + + +MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY + + CONTRIBUTIONS + FROM THE + MUSEUM + OF HISTORY AND + TECHNOLOGY + + _Papers 34-44_ + _On Science and Technology_ + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION · WASHINGTON, D.C. 1966 + + + + +_Publications of the United States National Museum_ + +The scholarly and scientific publications of the United States National +Museum include two series, _Proceedings of the United States National +Museum_ and _United States National Museum Bulletin_. + +In these series, the Museum publishes original articles and monographs +dealing with the collections and work of its constituent museums--The +Museum of Natural History and the Museum of History and +Technology--setting forth newly acquired facts in the fields of +anthropology, biology, history, geology, and technology. Copies of each +publication are distributed to libraries, to cultural and scientific +organizations, and to specialists and others interested in the different +subjects. + +The _Proceedings_, begun in 1878, are intended for the publication, in +separate form, of shorter papers from the Museum of Natural History. +These are gathered in volumes, octavo in size, with the publication date +of each paper recorded in the table of contents of the volume. + +In the _Bulletin_ series, the first of which was issued in 1875, appear +longer, separate publications consisting of monographs (occasionally in +several parts) and volumes in which are collected works on related +subjects. _Bulletins_ are either octavo or quarto in size, depending on +the needs of the presentation. Since 1902 papers relating to the +botanical collections of the Museum of Natural History have been +published in the _Bulletin_ series under the heading _Contributions from +the United States National Herbarium_, and since 1959, in _Bulletins_ +titled "Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology," have +been gathered shorter papers relating to the collections and research of +that Museum. + +The present collection of Contributions, Papers 34-44, comprises +Bulletin 240. Each of these papers has been previously published in +separate form. The year of publication is shown on the last page of each +paper. + + FRANK A. TAYLOR + _Director, United States National Museum_ + + + + + CONTRIBUTIONS FROM + THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY: + + PAPER 39 + + FULTON'S "STEAM BATTERY": + BLOCKSHIP AND CATAMARAN + + _Howard I. Chapelle_ + + + + +SURVIVING DESIGNS FOR FLOATING BATTERIES 145 + +CONTROVERSIAL DESCRIPTIONS 147 + +COPENHAGEN PLANS 150 + +HISTORY OF DOUBLE-HULL CRAFT 152 + +SAIL AND INBOARD PLANS 157 + +RECONSTRUCTING THE PLANS 161 + +APPENDIX 167 + +[FOOTNOTES] + +[INDEX] + +[Illustration: Figure 1.--SCALE MODEL of Fulton's _Steam Battery_ in +the Museum of History and Technology. (Smithsonian photo P-63390-F.)] + + + + +_Howard I. Chapelle_ + +FULTON'S "STEAM BATTERY": BLOCKSHIP and CATAMARAN + +_Robert Fulton's "Steam Battery," a catamaran-type blockship, was built +during the War of 1812. Until recently, not enough material has been +available to permit a reasonably accurate reconstruction of what is +generally acknowledged to be the first steam man-of-war._ + +_With the discovery, in the Danish Royal Archives at Copenhagen, of +plans of this vessel, it is now possible to prepare a reconstruction and +to build a model._ + +_This article summarizes the history of the vessel, describes the plans +and the reconstruction, and also evaluates its design with particular +attention to the double-hull construction._ + +THE AUTHOR: _Howard I. Chapelle is curator of transportation in the +Smithsonian Institution's Museum of History and Technology._ + + +The identity of the first steam man-of-war has been known for many +years, and a great deal has been written and published on the history of +this American vessel. Until recently, the only available drawing of the +ship has been a patent drawing made for Robert Fulton. This does not +comply with contemporary descriptions of the steamer and the drawing or +plan is out of proportion with the known dimensions. The lack of plans +has heretofore made it impossible to illustrate the vessel with any +degree of precision, or to build a scale model. + +The discovery in 1960 of some of the plans of this historic ship in the +Danish Royal Archives at Copenhagen now makes possible a reasonably +accurate reconstruction of the vessel and also clarifies some of the +incomplete and often confusing descriptions by contemporary writers. + +Of the numerous published accounts of the ship that are available, the +most complete is David B. Tyler's "Fulton's Steam Frigate."[1] A +contemporary description of the vessel by the British Minister to +Washington, 1820-23, Stratford Canning, was published by Arthur J. +May.[2] In _Naval and Mail Steamers of the United States_, by Charles B. +Stuart,[3] and _The Steam Navy of the United States_, by Frank M. +Bennett,[4] the history of the ship and some descriptive facts are +given. Stuart, in an appendix, gives in full the report of the +Supervisory Committee (set up to administer the building contract). +Tyler and Stuart, and the Committee Report are the principal sources +from which the following summary of the ship's history is drawn. + +[Text of Illustration: Plate N^o. 1. + +"DEMOLOGOS" + +Figure 1^st. _Transverse section A her Boiler. B the steam Engine. C the +water wheel. E E her wooden walls 5 feet thick, diminishing to below the +waterline as at F.F draught of water 9 feet D D her gun deck_ + +_Scale 1/12 inch=1 foot_ + +Waterline + +_Scale 1/24 inch=1 foot_ + +Figure II^d. _This shews her gun deck, 140 feet long 24 feet wide, +mounting 20 guns. A the Water wheel_ + +Figure III^d + +_Side View_ + +_Scale 1/24 inch=1 foot_ + +ROBERT FULTON + +_November 1813._ + +_S M^c Elroy del._ + +_"Stuart's Naval & Mail Steamers U.S."_ + +_Sarony & Major. Eng. N.Y._] + +[Illustration: Figure 2.--"DEMOLOGOS," A WOOD ENGRAVING based on the +sketch which Robert Fulton showed to President Madison in 1813. This +wood engraving appears as plate 1 in Charles B. Stuart's _Naval and Mail +Steamers of the United States_, and illustrates the section on Naval +Steamers, from which the account "The Demologos; or, Fulton the First," +is here reproduced (pp. 167-171). Stuart obtained the sketch, assumed to +have been made for Fulton's patent on the design of the _Steam Battery_, +from the files of the U.S. Navy Department.] + +On December 24, 1813, Robert Fulton invited a group of +friends--prominent merchants, professional men and naval officers--to +his home in New York City and there presented a proposal for a project +of great local interest. At that time the War of 1812 was in its second +year and the economic effect of the British naval blockade was being +felt severely. The blockade cut off seaborne trade and posed a constant +threat of attack upon New York and other important ports, particularly +Baltimore. To defend the ports, it had been proposed to build mobile +floating batteries or heavily built and armed hulks with small sailing +rigs, but the high cost of these and their doubtful value in helping to +break the blockade, compared to the value and action of a very heavy, +large frigate, or a 74-gun ship, caused authorities to hesitate to +proceed with the construction of any blockships or floating batteries. + +Fulton's proposal concerned a floating battery propelled by steam +power. He believed that steam propulsion not only would give it +effective maneuverability with no loss of gunpower, but also would allow +a successful attack upon the Royal Navy blockading ships during periods +of protracted calm, when sailing men-of-war were nearly helpless. The +blockaders then could be attacked and picked off, one by one, by the +heavily armed steamboat. + +Among those present at the meeting was Major General Henry Dearborn, a +leading citizen and soldier who was later to become noted in American +political history. The first step taken during this meeting was the +founding of the Coast and Harbor Defense Company with Dearborn as +president, Fulton as engineer, and Thomas Morris as secretary. Next, a +committee was established to raise funds from Federal, State, and New +York City governments as well as from individual contributors to build +the battery. The members of this committee consisted of General +Dearborn, Commodore Stephen Decatur, U.S.N.; General Morgan Lewis; +Commodore Jacob Jones; U.S.N.; Noah Brown, shipbuilder; Samuel L. +Mitchill; Henry Rutgers; and Thomas Morris. + +The committee proved cumbersome and was reduced to General Lewis, Issac +Bronson, Henry Rutgers, Nathan Sanford, Thomas Morris, Oliver Wolcott, +and John Jacob Astor. Known as the Coast Defense Society and with the +name of _Pyremon_ given the ship in prospectus, they attempted, +unsuccessfully, to raise funds privately. + +The estimated sums to build a battery 130 feet long, with a 50-foot +beam, capable of a speed of 5 mph, and carrying 24 long guns (18-pdr.), +was $110,000. Fulton, still the chief engineer, in an effort to interest +the Federal Government, built a model of the proposed vessel and +submitted it to some prominent naval officers--Commodore Stephen +Decatur, Jacob Jones, James Biddle, Samuel Evans, Oliver Perry, Samuel +Warrington, and Jacob Lewis. All gave their support to the Society in a +written statement and this recommendation proved helpful to the project +in Congress and in the Navy Department. In the process of passing a bill +which went to the Senate Naval Affairs Committee calling for $250,000 +for the construction of the floating battery, the sum was raised to +$1,500,000 for the construction of "one or more" floating batteries and +passed on March 9, 1814. + +To supervise the start of construction, the Coast Defense Society +appointed a committee consisting of Dearborn, Wolcott, Morris, Mitchill, +and Rutgers, with Fulton as engineer, and a model and drawing of the +proposed vessel was submitted to the Patent Office. The Secretary of the +Navy, although supporting the project, delayed action until he had +weighed the importance of the batteries in relation to other war needs, +for at this time the naval shipbuilding program on the Great Lakes was +considered of prime importance. He also raised some technical questions +concerning the design of the batteries, which Fulton answered with a +description of the vessel as 138 feet on deck, 120 feet on the keel, 55 +feet beam (each hull to have a 20-foot beam and the "race" between to be +15 feet wide), draft 8 or 9 feet loaded, and the intended speed was to +be 4-1/2 to 5 mph. The ship was to carry 24 long guns (32-pdr.), the +engine was to be 130 hp, and the total cost, $200,000. In his letters to +the Secretary of the Navy, Fulton stated that Adam and Noah Brown would +build the hull for $69,800 and that he would build the engine, machinery +and boilers for $78,000, a total of $147,800. He intended to have the +boilers, valves, fastenings, and air pumps of brass or copper, which +would raise the machinery costs 59 percent above that of stationary +engines and boilers then in use. + +On May 23, 1814, the Secretary of the Navy authorized the Coast Defense +Society and its committee to act as Navy agents and to enter into the +contracts required to build a vessel, and to draw on the Navy +storekeepers or Navy Yard commandants for such stores or articles on +hand needed for construction. The contracts were prepared and the +committee now was officially empowered to act for the Society, with +Rutgers, Wolcott, Morris, Dearborn, Mitchill, and Fulton. On June 4, +Dearborn asked the Navy Department for $25,000 advance, for work had +started. On the 6th, he informed the Secretary that he had been ordered +to assume command of the defenses of Boston and that Rutgers had been +appointed chairman of the construction committee in his place. + +It is apparent that the Navy Department was pressed for funds, due to +the very extensive shipbuilding programs on Lakes Erie, Ontario, and +Champlain in addition to the seagoing vessels being built in some of the +coastal ports. This was certainly one cause for the Secretary of the +Navy's reluctance to carry out the requirements of the bill passed by +Congress immediately after its signature and, also, this reluctance +caused the supervisory committee much embarrassment in its +administration of the contract. + +Another factor which caused difficulty in the administration of the +contract was the position of Adam and Noah Brown. The brothers were +deeply involved in the shipbuilding program on the Lakes, in which they +were associated at times with Henry Eckford. The Browns constructed a +blockhouse, shops, and quarters at Erie; in addition to Perry's two +brigs and five of his schooners, they also built some of the Lake +Ontario vessels and, later, the _Saratoga_ on Lake Champlain. In their +New York yard, whose operation continued throughout the war, they built +some large letter-of-marques: the _General Armstrong_, _Prince de +Neufchatel_, _Zebra_, _Paul Jones_, and some smaller vessels. They also +cut down the 2-decked, merchant ship _China_ into a single flush-deck +letter-of-marque, renamed _Yorktown_; and they had a contract to build +the sloop-of-war _Peacock_. It is remarkable that the Browns could +undertake and complete so much work between 1813 and 1815 and still be +able to build the steam battery in a very short time. + +With the contracts in order, the Browns began building. The keels of the +battery were laid June 20, 1814. It is apparent that the Browns prepared +the original hull plans, undoubtedly before the building authority was +obtained. The vessel required only about four months to build; she was +launched October 29, 1814, at 9 a.m. This was an excellent performance, +considering the size of the vessel, the amount of timber required and +handled in her massive construction, and the other work being done by +the builders. During the ship's construction, sightseers were a nuisance +and finally guards had to be obtained. During the building of the steam +battery, work had to be practically stopped on the sloop-of-war +_Peacock_ at one period after she had been partially planked. + +There were difficulties in obtaining metalwork for the vessel during her +construction, due to the blockade and the demand for such material for +other shipbuilding at New York. On November 21, 1814, the ship was towed +from the Browns' yard on the East River by Fulton's _Car of Neptune_ and +_Fulton_, each lashed to the sides of the battery, and taken to Fulton's +works on the North River. There Fulton supervised in person the +completion of the vessel and construction of her machinery. Undoubtedly +only a little of his time was required in inspection of the Browns' work +on the battery, for the shipbuilders had been closely associated with +Fulton throughout the life of the project and were fully capable as ship +designers. The work on the machinery was another matter, however, for +men capable of working metal were scarce and few workmen could read +plans. Fulton had some of the work done outside of his own plant, +particularly the brass and copper work (mostly by John Youle's foundry). +As a result, Fulton was required to move from plant to plant, keeping +each job under almost constant observation and personally supervising +the workmen. The equipment then available for building a large engine +was inadequate in many ways. The large steam cylinder presented a +problem: it had to be recast several times and some of the other parts +gave trouble, either in casting or in machining and fitting. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.--SCALE MODEL of _Steam Battery_, showing double +hull, in the Museum of History and Technology. (Smithsonian photo +P-63390-D.)] + +Guns for the battery were another problem. Only 3 long guns (32-pdr.), +were available at the Navy Yard. The Secretary of the Navy promised some +captured guns then at Philadelphia. Because of the blockade, these had +to come overland to New York. The captured guns thus obtained were +probably English, part of the cargo of the British ship _John of +Lancaster_ captured by the frigate _President_ early in the war. +Apparently 24 guns were obtained this way; only 2 were obtained from the +Navy Yard. In July the Supervising Committee carried out some +experimental damage studies, in which a 32-pdr. was fired at a target +representing a section of the topsides of the battery. Drawings of the +result were sent to the Secretary of the Navy. + +Further problems arose over the delays of the government in making +payments: the banks discounted the Treasury notes, so the Committee +members had to advance $5,000 out of their own pockets. There was fear +that British agents might damage the vessel, and although the project +was undoubtedly known to the British, no evidence of any act of sabotage +was ever found. Captain David Porter was assigned to the command of the +battery in November, and it was upon his request that the vessel was +later rigged with sails. + +With the _Steam Battery_ approaching completion, the Secretary of the +Navy became more enthusiastic and the construction of other batteries of +this type was again proposed. Captain Stiles, a Baltimore merchant, +offered to build a steam battery, the hull to cost $50,000; the entire +cost of the vessel, $150,000, was raised in Baltimore and the frames of +a battery erected. Another battery was projected at Philadelphia and the +Secretary of the Navy wanted one or more built at Sackett's Harbor, but +naval officers and Fulton objected. A bill put before Congress to +authorize another half million to build steam batteries passed the first +reading January 9, 1815, went to the House February 22, 1815, but the +end of the war prevented any further action on it. + +On February 24, 1815, Fulton died. He had been to Trenton, New Jersey, +to attend a hearing on the steamboat monopoly and, on the way back, the +ferry on North River was caught in the ice. Fulton and his lawyer, +Emmet, had to walk over the ice to get ashore. On the way, Emmet fell +through and Fulton got wet and chilled while helping him. After two or +three days in bed Fulton went to his foundry to inspect the battery's +machinery causing a relapse from which he died. This resulted in some +delay in completing the machinery and stopped work on the _Mute_, an +80-foot, manually propelled, torpedo boat that Fulton was having built +in the Browns' yard. + +It was decided to suspend work on the Baltimore battery after an +expenditure of $61,500, but the New York battery was to be completed to +prove the project was practical. The final payment of $50,000 was made +four months after it was requested. + +Charles Stoudinger, Fulton's foreman or superintendent, was able to +complete and install the ship's machinery. On June 10, 1815, the vessel +was given a short trial run in the harbor with Stoudinger and the Navy +inspector, Captain Smith, on board. This trial revealed the need of some +mechanical alterations; sails were not used, and it was found she could +stem the strong tide and a fresh headwind. The vessel also was visited +by the officers of French men-of-war at anchor in the harbor. + +On July 4, 1815, she was given another trial. She left Fulton's works at +Corlear's Hook at 9 a.m., ran out to Sandy Hook Lighthouse, bore west +and returned, a total of 53 miles under steam, reaching her slip at 5:20 +p.m. She was found to steer "like a pilot boat." This prolonged trial +revealed that the stokehold was not sufficiently ventilated and more +deck openings were required. The windsails used in existing hatches were +inadequate. The paddle wheel was too low and had to be raised 18 inches, +and there were still some desirable modifications to be made in the +machinery. + +On September 11, 1815, she was again given a trial run. All alterations +had been made, including the addition of hatches and raising the paddle +wheel, and her battery was on board with all stores, supplies, and +equipment. She had 26 long guns (32-pdr.), mounted on pivoted carriages, +and now drew 10 feet 4 inches. On this day she left her slip at 8:38 +a.m. and went through the Narrows into the Lower Bay, where she +maneuvered around the new frigate _Java_ at anchor there. The battery +then was given a thorough trial under steam and sail and, with the ship +underway, her guns were fired to see if concussion would damage the +machinery. The vessel was found to be a practical one, capable of +meeting the government's requirements in all respects; her speed was +5-1/2 knots. However, the stokehold temperature had reached 116° +Fahrenheit! She returned to her slip at 7:00 p.m. + +On December 28, 1815, the Committee in a written report to the +Secretary of the Navy,[5] gave a description of the vessel and praised +her performance. At this time a set of plans was made by "Mr. Morgan," +of whom no other reference has appeared, and sent to the Navy +Department. These cannot now be found. The Committee recommended the +battery be commissioned and used for training purposes. This suggestion +was not followed. + +The ship remained in her slip during the winter, and in June 1816 she +was turned over to the Navy and delivered to Captain Samuel Evans, +commandant of the New York Navy Yard. Captain Joseph Bainbridge was +assigned to her command. However, she was not commissioned and soon +after her delivery she was housed over and placed "in ordinary," that +is, laid up. The final settlement showed that the Committee, as Navy +agents, had paid out $286,162.12 with $872.00 unpaid, as well as a claim +for $3,364.00 by Adam and Noah Brown, making a total of $290,398.12. + +The following year, on June 18, 1817, she was unroofed and put into +service with a small crew. With President James Monroe on board, she +left the Navy Yard about noon for a short trip to the Narrows and then +to Staten Island and returned in the evening. The next day she was again +placed "in ordinary." + +Four years later, in 1821, when her guns and machinery were removed, it +was found that she was rapidly becoming rotten. She was then utilized as +a receiving ship. At 2:30 p.m. on June 4, 1829, she blew up, killing 24 +men and 1 woman, with 19 persons listed as injured. Among those killed +was one officer, Lt. S. M. Brackenridge. Two lieutenants and a Sailing +Master were hurt, four midshipmen were severely injured, and five +persons were listed as missing. The explosion of 2-1/2 barrels of +condemned gunpowder was sufficient, due to her rotten condition, to +destroy the ship completely. A Court of Inquiry blamed a 60-year-old +gunner, who supposedly entered a magazine with a candle to get powder +for the evening gun. It was stated to the court that about 300 pounds of +powder in casks and in cartridges was on board the ship at the time.[3] + +She was not replaced until the coast-defense steamer _Fulton_ was built +in 1837-38, though in 1822 the Navy purchased for $16,000 a "steam +galliot" of 100 tons, the _Sea Gull_, to be used as a dispatch boat for +the West Indian squadron engaged in suppressing piracy during 1823. In +1825 she was laid up at Philadelphia, and in 1840 she was sold for +$4,750. + +It is a curious fact that the battery did not receive an official name, +as did the sailing blockship on the ways at New Orleans, which at the +end of the War of 1812 was officially listed as the _Tchifonta_. Nor was +the battery given a number, as were the gunboats. In official +correspondence and lists, the steam battery is referred to as the +"Fulton Steam Frigate," or as the "Steam Battery," but in later years +she was referred to as the "Fulton" or "Fulton the First." Perhaps the +explanation is that as she was the only one of her kind she was not +numbered, and as she was not considered fit for coastal or extended +ocean voyages, she was not given a name. + + +Surviving Designs for Floating Batteries + +The designs of American blockships that have survived are those of the +_Tchifonta_,[6] 145 feet long, 43-foot moulded beam, 8-foot 6-inch depth +in hold, and about 152 feet 9 inches on deck. She was to carry a battery +of 22 long guns (32-pdr.), on the main deck 12 carronades (42-pdr.), on +forecastle and quarter decks. She was to have been rigged to rather +lofty and very square topgallant sails, and would have been capable of +sailing fairly well, though of rather shoal draft, drawing only about 8 +feet 6 inches when ready for service. She was sold on the stocks at the +end of the war and her later history is not known. + +Another and earlier design for a blockship, or floating battery, was +prepared by Christian Bergh for Captain Charles Stewart in 1806. This +was a sailing vessel for the defense of the port of New York, planned to +mount 40 guns (32-pdr.), on her two lower decks and 14 carronades +(42-pdr.), on her spar deck. She was to be 103 feet 6 inches between +perpendiculars, a 44-foot moulded beam, 10-foot depth of hold, and +drawing about 9 feet when ready for service. She was intended to be +ship-rigged, but was never built.[7] A few small sloop-rigged block +vessels also were built during Jefferson's administration. The +sloop-of-war _Saratoga_, built on Lake Champlain by the Browns, in 1813, +was practically a blockship. A plan for a proposed "Guard Ship," or +"Floating Battery," was made by James Marsh at Charleston, South +Carolina, in 1814. This was an unrigged battery, 200 feet extreme +length, 50-foot moulded beam, 9-foot depth of hold, to mount 32 guns +(42-pdr.), on a flush deck, with a covering deck above.[8] + +[Illustration: Figure 4.--DESIGN FOR AN UNRIGGED FLOATING BATTERY +proposed by James Marsh, Charleston, South Carolina, March 14, 1814.] + +Through the courtesy of the trustees of the National Maritime Museum, +Greenwich, England, the Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, Denmark, and the +Statens Sjöhistoriska Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, the author has been +able to illustrate in this article the designs of some of the early +floating batteries. + +In the last quarter of the 18th century and later, the Danes had built +sail-propelled floating batteries or blockships, which were employed in +the defense of Copenhagen. The British built at least one sail-propelled +battery, the _Spanker_, in 1794. This was a scow of very angular form +with overhanging gun-deck, bomb-ketch-rigged, and about 120 feet overall +42-foot 4 inches moulded beam and 8-foot depth of hold. She is said to +have been a failure due to her unseaworthy proportions and form; the +overhanging gun deck and sides were objected to in particular. She is +called a "Stationary Battery" in her plans, which are in the Admiralty +Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. + + +Controversial Descriptions + +The contemporary descriptions of the Fulton _Steam Battery_ do not +agree. This was in part due to differences between the dimensions given +out by Fulton during the negotiations with the Federal Government, and +after the ship's construction was authorized. From the context of +various statements concerning the projected vessel, such as that of the +naval officers, the changes in the intended dimensions of the ship can +be seen. For example, the officers state the model and plan shown them +would produce a battery carrying 24 guns (24- and 32-pdrs.), and a letter +from Fulton to Jones,[9] shows she was to be 138 feet on deck and +55-foot beam. The final reported dimensions, given by the Supervisory +Committee,[10] are 156 feet length, 56 feet beam, and 20 feet depth. + +In addition there are a few foreign accounts which give dimensions and +descriptions. The most complete was probably that of Jean Baptiste +Marestier, a French naval constructor who visited the United States soon +after the end of the War of 1812 and published a report on American +steamboats in 1824.[11] The _Steam Battery_ is barely mentioned though a +drawing of one of her boilers is given. Marestier made another report on +the American Navy, however. Extensive searches have been made for this +in Paris over the last 14 years, but this paper has not been found in +any of the French archives. References to the original text indicate +that the naval report dealt very extensively with the _Steam Battery_. +Some of his comments on the battery appeared in _Procès-verbaux des +Séances de l'Académie des Sciences_.[12] Marestier considered the powers +of the battery to have been overrated due to fanciful accounts of some +laymen writers. He was aware of the shortcomings of the double hull in a +steam vessel at the then-possible speeds, but he apparently thought two +engines, one in each hull and each with its boilers would be better than +Fulton's arrangement of boilers in one hull and engine in the other. He +noted that the paddle wheel turned 16-18 rpm and that steam pressure +sustained a column of mercury 25 to 35 centimeters. The safety valve was +set at 50 centimeters. Fuel consumption was 3-5/8 cords of pine wood per +hour. + +In view of the access Marestier is known to have had to American naval +constructors, shipbuilders, and engineers, it is highly probable that he +not only obtained the building plan of the ship but also some of the +earlier project plans from the builders and from Fulton's +superintendent, Stoudinger. It is, therefore, a great misfortune that +his lengthy report on the _Battery_ cannot be produced. + +A French naval officer who investigated the ship, M. Montgéry, also +wrote a description, published in "Notice sur la Vie et les Travaux de +Robert Fulton."[13] + +[Illustration: Figure 5.--FLOATING BATTERY _Spanker_ built, in England +by William Barnard, at Deptford on the Thames, and launched June 14, +1794. Rigged as a bomb ketch, its length is 111 feet 7 inches in the +keel, extreme beam 42 feet 4 inches, depth of hold 8 feet. Upper deck +plan also shown.] + +It should be noted in regard to what Montgéry wrote about the +_Battery_, that in 1821 it had been considered desirable to disarm the +ship. The engineer in charge, William Purcell, had reported that as +there were not proper scuppers, dirt and water had entered the hull and +had collected under the engine and boilers, causing damage to the hull, +and also that with guns removed, the _Battery_ would float too high for +the paddle wheel to propel the vessel; so it had been decided to remove +all machinery as well as the armament. + +Montgéry's description, published in 1822, was taken from his report to +the Minister of Marine and Colonies. It noted the battery was made of +two hulls separated by a channel, or "race," 15-1/2 feet wide, running +the full length of the vessel. The two hulls were joined by a deck just +above the waterline, as well as by an upper deck, and also connected at +their keels by means of 12 oak beams each 1 foot square. The vessel was +152 feet long, 57 feet beam, and 20 feet deep. Sides were 4 feet 10 +inches thick, and the ends of the hull were rounded and alike. There +were two rudders at each end, one on each hull, alongside the race. The +eight paddle blades, each 14-1/2 feet by 3 feet, turned in either +direction by stopping the engine piston at half-stroke and reversing the +flow of steam. Rigged with two lateen sails and two jibs, the ship +sailed either end first. The engine of 120 hp was in one hull and two +boilers were in the other. Other sources, Marestier, and Colden in +_Procès-verbaux des Séances de l'Académie des Sciences_,[14] gave +additional information (some of it incorrect): the engine was inclined, +with a 4-foot-diameter cylinder, 5-foot stroke, direct-connected to the +paddle wheel, which was turned at 18 rpm. The boilers were 8 × 22 feet +with the fireboxes in inside cylinders, each about 5 feet in diameter, +and extending about half the length of the boiler from the fire doors. +Two fire tubes, each about 3 feet in diameter, returned the gases from +the inside end of the fireboxes to the stacks at the firing end. Except +at the fire-door end, the firebox was completely surrounded by water. +The boiler pressure of about 6 psi was not maintained, varying somewhat +with each stroke of the engine. + +Water level in the boilers was indicated by try cocks. The safety valve +was controlled by a counterbalanced lever. A jet of salt water was +injected into the exhaust trunk to form a vacuum by condensation. An air +pump transferred condensate and sea water into a tank from which it +passed overboard. Only about a tenth of this water was returned to the +boilers. + +Montgéry stated also that only the lower or gun deck was to be armed. No +bulwarks were on the spar deck, only iron stanchions to which were +fastened a breastwork of wet cotton bales when the _Steam Battery_ was +in action. + +The _Battery_ was designed to carry 30 guns (32-pdr.), with 3 guns in +each end and 12 on each side, but no guns in the wake of paddle wheel +and machinery. Hatches to give air to the stokehold were located +amidships. The _Battery_ was to have been supplemented at the ends of +each hull by a Columbiad "submarine gun" (100-pdr.), Fulton's invention, +but these were not fitted. Provision was to be made in the fireboxes for +heating shot, and a force pump with a cylinder 33 inches in diameter was +employed to throw a stream of cold water, about 60-80 gallons per +minute, for a distance of about two hundred feet. This could be done +only when the paddle wheel was not in operation. The paddle wheel was +housed, the top fitted with stairs to the spar deck. The gun deck, over +the race, was used in part for staterooms, of which the bulkheads were +permanent. Hammocks for the complement of 500 men were to be slung on +the rest of the gun deck. The ship drew 10 feet 4 inches, with the port +sills about 5-1/2 feet above the loadline. Burning wood, the vessel +could carry about 4 days' supply of fuel; burning coal, she carried 12 +days' supply. + +Montgéry said that the vessel would be vulnerable to bombshells and hot +shot, and that furthermore she could be boarded. The displacement of the +ship, at service draft, was 1,450 tons, a figure Montgéry obtained from +a copy of the original plan given him by Noah Brown. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.--FRENCH SKETCH, in Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, of +inboard profile and arrangement of Fulton's _Steam Battery_, showing +details of the Fulton engine, probably taken from one of his preliminary +designs.] + +In 1935, Lieutenant Ralph R. Gurley, USN, attempted a reconstruction in +sketches of the vessel published in his article "The U.S.S. _Fulton_ the +First" in the _U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings_.[15] This +reconstruction was based on the Patent Office drawing prepared for +Fulton, and published by Stuart and Bennett, and the foregoing French +sources. The Patent Office drawing showed the engine was an inclined +cylinder and Lt. Gurley shows this in his sketch; in his text (p. 323) +he says, "The engine was an inclined, single-cylinder affair with a +4-foot base and a 5-foot stroke." Gurley's attempt to reconstruct the +_Steam Battery_ is the only one known to the author. + + +Copenhagen Plans + +In 1960, Kjeld Rasmussen, naval architect of the Danish Greenland +Company, was requested by the author to inspect in the Danish Royal +Archives at Copenhagen a folio of American ship plans, the index of +which had listed some Civil War river monitors. Mr. Rasmussen found the +monitor plans had been withdrawn but discovered that three plans of +Fulton's _Steam Battery_ existed, as well as plans of the first +_Princeton_, a screw sloop-of-war. + +Copies of the _Steam Battery's_ plans were obtained at Copenhagen in +September 1960 through the courtesy of the archivist, and were found to +consist of the lines, copied in 1817, an inboard profile and +arrangement, and a sail and rigging plan. From these the reconstruction +for a scale model was drawn and is presented here with reproductions of +the original drawings upon which the reconstruction is based. + +It is apparent that Montgéry's description is generally accurate. The +vessel is a catamaran, made of two hulls, double-ended and exactly +alike. The outboard sides are "moulded," with round bilges, the inboard +sides are straight and flat, as though a hull had been split along the +middle line and then planked up flat where split. The hulls are +separated by the race, in which the paddle wheel is placed at +mid-length. The topsides are made elliptical at the ends, and the +midsection shows a marked tumble-home over the thick topside planking +but less on the moulded lines. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.] + +The lines plan agreed rather closely to Montgéry's description of the +hull. After careful fairing it was found the lines drawing would produce +a vessel 153 feet 2 inches overall outside the stems, or about 151 feet +over the planked rabbets, with a moulded beam of 56 feet and extreme +beam of 58 feet. The moulded depth was 22 feet 9 inches and the width of +the race was 14 feet 10 inches, plank to plank. The room and space of +framing shown was 2 feet. The designed draft appears to be 13 feet and +this would bring the port sills 5 feet 6 inches above the loadline and +the underside of the gun-deck beams about 2 feet 9 inches above the +loadline. + +The lines plan is a Danish copy, probably of the building plan by Noah +Brown, and may be based on the plan Montgéry obtained from Brown. The +spar deck has the iron stanchions (Gurley translated these as +"chandeliers") which are set inboard 4 feet from the plank-sheer. This +gives room for cotton bales, outboard the stanchions, to form a +barricade. As will be seen by comparing the original Danish drawing with +the model drawing, the construction indicates that the iron stanchions +should be carried around the ends of the hull in the same manner as +along the sides, since the lower ends of the iron stanchions pass +through the spar deck and are secured to the inside of the inner ceiling +of the gun deck. The rudders are as shown in the Danish drawing, and it +is supposed that they were operated ferryboat fashion, one at each end +of the vessel. Hence, each pair of rudders was toggled together by a +cross-yoke. This was probably operated by a tiller (possibly the +cross-yokes and tillers were of iron) pivoted under the beams of the gun +deck close to the ends of the ship. Tiller ropes led from a tackle under +the gun-deck through trunks to the spar deck, where the wheels were +placed. This allowed proper sweep to the tillers and operation of each +pair of rudders. The paddle wheel was apparently of iron, with wooden +blades, and agrees with Montgéry's description. In the plan for the +model it is shown raised 18 inches above the original design position, +to agree with trial requirements. + +[Illustration: Figure 7.--ORIGINAL LINES OF ROBERT FULTON'S _Steam +Battery_, a Danish copy dated September 12, 1817; found in Rigsarkivet, +Copenhagen.] + +It should be observed that the close CL-to-CL frame spacing created a +hull having frames touching one another, at least to above the turn of +the bilge, so the vessel was almost solid timber, before being planked +and ceiled, from keel to about the loadline. The sides are not only +heavily planked but, after the frames were ceiled with extraordinarily +heavy, square timbering, a supplementary solid, vertical framing was +introduced inboard and another ceiling added. The sides scale about 5 +feet from outside the plank to the inboard face of the inner ceiling at +the level of the gunports. + +The hulls were tied together athwartship by the deck beams of the gun +deck and spar deck, except in the wake of the paddle wheel. Knees were +placed along the sides of the race at alternate gun-deck beams. In +addition, the 12 1-foot-square timbers, crossing the race at the rabbets +of the hulls, (mentioned by Montgéry) are shown. These must have created +extraordinary resistance, even at the low speed of this steamer. The +deck details shown are the results of reconstruction of the inboard +works. + + +History of Double-Hull Craft + +The use of catamaran hulls, or "double-hulls," has been periodically +popular with ship designers since the time of Charles II of England. The +earliest of such vessels known in the present day were four sloops or +shallops designed 1673-1687 by Sir William Petty, who was an inventor in +the field of naval architecture and received some attention from Charles +II and from the Royal Society. + +The first Petty experiment, the _Simon & Jude_, later called _Invention +I_, was launched October 28, 1662. She was designed with two hulls +cylindrical in cross section, each 2 feet in diameter, and 20 feet long. +A platform connected the hulls, giving the boat a beam of a little over +9 feet. She had a 20-foot mast stepped on one of the crossbeams +connecting the hulls, with a single gaff sail. In sailing trials she +beat three fast boats: the King's barge, a large pleasure boat, and a +man-of-war's boat. This "double-bottom," also called a "sluiceboat" or +"cylinder," was later lengthened at the stern to make her 30 feet +overall. + +[Illustration: Figure 7.] + +The King did not support Petty, to the latter's great disappointment, +and Petty next built a larger double-bottom, _Invention II_. This +catamaran was lapstrake construction. Not much is known of this boat +except that she beat the regular Irish packet boat, running between +Holyhead and Dublin, in a race each way, winning a £20 wager. She was +launched in July 1663; what became of her was not recorded. + +A third and still larger boat, the _Experiment_, launched December 22, +1664, appears to have been a large sloop. This vessel sailed by way of +the Thames in April 1665 and went to Oporto, Portugal. She left Portugal +October 20, 1665, for home, but apparently went down with all hands in a +severe storm. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.--DANISH COPY OF ORIGINAL SAIL PLAN of Robert +Fulton's _Steam Battery_, dated September 12, 1817, in Rigsarkivet, +Copenhagen.] + +[Illustration: Figure 9.--LINES OF FULTON'S _Steam Battery_, as +reconstructed for a model in the Museum of History and Technology.] + +[Illustration: Figure 10.--A RECONSTRUCTION OF INBOARD WORKS of the +_Steam Battery_, for construction of the model in the Museum of History +and Technology.] + +For 18 years Petty did no more with the type, but finally, in July +1684, he laid down a still larger sloop with two decks and a mast +standing 55 feet above her upper deck. She was named _St. Michael the +Archangel_ and is probably the design in Pepys' _Book of Miscellaneous +Illustrations_ in Magdalene College, Cambridge, England. This vessel +proved unmanageable and was a complete failure. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.--MODEL LINES REDRAWN to outside of plank to +show hydrodynamic form of the _Steam Battery_.] + +Though the double canoes of the Pacific Islands were probably known to +some in Europe in 1662, there is no evidence that Petty based his +designs on such craft. He appears to have produced his designs +spontaneously from independent observations and resulting theories. +Before Petty concluded his experiments, a number of double-hull craft +had been produced by others; however, some "double" craft, such as +"double shallops" may have been "double-enders," as shown by a +"double-moses boat" of the 18th century and later.[16] + +The use of two canoes, joined by a platform or by poles was common in +colonial times; in Maryland and Virginia, dugouts so joined were used to +transport tobacco down the tidal creeks to vessels' loading. Such craft +were also used as ferries. M. V. Brewington's _Chesapeake Bay Log +Canoes_[17] and Paul Wilstack's _Potomac Landings_[18] illustrate canoes +used in this manner. A catamaran galley, two round-bottom hulls, flat on +the inboard side (a hull split along the centerline and the inboard +faces planked up), 113 feet long and each hull a 7-foot moulded beam, +6-foot 6 inches moulded depth, and placed 13 feet apart, was proposed by +Sir Sidney Smith, R.N., in the 1790's, and built by the British +Admiralty. Named _Taurus_, she is shown by the Admiralty draught to have +been a double-ender, with cabins amidships on the platform, an iron +rudder at each end (between the hulls) steered with tillers (to unship), +and with a ramp at one end. The plans are undated, signed by Captain Sir +Sidney Smith, and a field-carriage gun is shown at the ramp end of the +boat. This, and the heavy rocker in the keels, suggests the _Taurus_ was +intended for a landing boat. No sailing rig is indicated, but tholes for +12 oars or sweeps on each side are shown. The oarsmen apparently sat on +deck, or on low seats, with stretchers in hatches between each pair of +tholes (Admiralty Collection of Draughts, The National Maritime Museum, +Greenwich, England). + +[Illustration: Figure 12.--GENERAL PLAN of the _Taurus_, a catamaran +galley gunboat proposed by Sir Sidney Smith, R.N., to the British +Admiralty in the early years of the French Revolution. From the +Admiralty Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.] + +Another experimenter with the double-hull type of vessel was a wealthy +Scot named Patrick Miller who was particularly interested in manual +propulsion of vessels, employing geared capstans to operate paddle +wheels. In a letter dated June 9, 1790, Miller offered Gustav III of +Sweden a design for a double-hulled 144-gun ship-of-the-line (rating as +a 130-gun ship) propelled by manually operated capstans connected to a +paddle wheel between the hulls. She was rigged to sail, with five masts +and was to be 246 feet long, 63 feet beam, and 17 feet draft; the hulls +were 16 feet apart. + +This project was submitted by the King to Fredrik Henrik af Chapman, the +great Swedish naval architect, who made an adverse report. Chapman +pointed out in great detail that the weight of the armament, the +necessary hull structure, the stores, crew, ammunition, spars, sails, +rigging and gear, would greatly exceed Miller's designed displacement. +He also pointed out the prime fault of catamarans under sail--slow +turning in stays. He suggested that the speed under sail would be +disappointing. He doubted that a double-hull ship of such size could be +built strong enough to stand a heavy sea. He remarked that English +records showed that a small vessel of the catamaran type had been built +between 1680 and 1700 which had sailed well (this may have been one of +Petty's boats), and that "36 years ago" he had seen 8 miles from London, +a similar boat that had been newly built by Lord Baltimore and was about +50 feet long; this was a failure and was discarded after one trial. +Therefore, said Chapman, the Miller project was not new but rather an +old idea. Chapman's final remark is perhaps the best illustration of his +opinion of the catamaran, "Despite all this, two-hull vessels are +completely sound when the theory can be properly applied; that is in +vessels of very light weight, and of small size, with crews of one or +two men." + +A "model" of such a double-hull ship--the _Experiment_, built at Leith, +Scotland, in 1786 by J. Laurie--was sent to Sweden by Miller. She was +105 feet long, 31 feet beam, and cost £3000. This vessel arrived in the +summer of 1790 and King Gustav in a letter dated July 26 ordered Col. +Michael Anckerswärd to welcome the vessel at Stockholm. The King +presented Miller with a gold snuffbox and a painting was made of the +vessel. The _Experiment_ had five paddle wheels in tandem between her +hulls, operated by geared capstans on deck. These gave her a speed of 5 +knots but caused the crew to suffer from exhaustion in a short time. The +vessel was badly strained in a storm and was finally abandoned at St. +Petersburg, Russia.[19] + +[Illustration: Figure 12.] + +Miller later turned to the idea of employing steam instead of manual +power and built a 25-foot double-hulled pleasure boat of iron fitted +with a steam engine built by William Symington. Also named _Experiment_, +she was an apparent success, so Miller had a 60-foot boat built of the +double-hull design and fitted with an engine built by Symington. She +reached a speed of 7 mph on the Forth and Clyde Canal. However, Miller +lost interest when he found that the Symington engine was unreliable and +that Great Britain showed very little public support for such projects. + +Fulton was acquainted with Symington's work and probably had heard of +Miller's vessels. At any rate, he employed the double-hull principle in +his steam ferryboats, the first of which was the _Jersey_, a 188-ton +vessel built by Charles Browne, which began service July 2, 1812. The +next year he had a sister ship built, the _York_. These vessels were +based on his patent drawing of 1809. In 1814 he had another vessel of +this type built, the _Nassau_. It was, therefore, logical that he should +apply this design to the _Steam Battery_. The double-hull design had +worked well in these ferries, and the design would give protection from +shot to the paddle wheel. The _Battery_ would have the ability to run +forward or astern so as not to be exposed to a raking fire from the +enemy while maneuvering in action. The application of this "ferryboat" +principle to the _Battery_ reduced the need for extreme maneuverability, +the catamaran's weakest point, even at low speed. + +The resistance factors in the design are of relatively small importance, +for the speed possible under steam in this period was very low. However, +the plans show an apparently efficient hull form for the power +available, aside from the drag of the beams across the race in the +vicinity of the keel. The displacement was adequate. The height of the +gun-deck above the water at the race made the _Battery_ unsuitable for +rough-water operation, but there is no evidence that Fulton or the +sponsors of the vessel considered the _Battery_ as a coastwise or +seagoing steamer. However, the clearance of the gun deck above the water +and the dip of the paddle wheel would have made the additional weight of +an upper- or spar-deck battery prohibitive even had experience in action +proven it desirable. + + +Sail and Inboard Plans + +[Illustration: Figure 13.--LINES OF _Taurus_. From the Admiralty +Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.] + +The sail and rigging plan is likewise a Danish copy and shows the +two-masted lateen rig employed. The hull is shown with bulwarks and +gunports on the spar deck but no other evidence that the _Battery_ was +finished in this manner has been found. The rig resembles that of some +of Josiah Fox's designs for Jeffersonian gunboats--double-enders +designed to sail in either direction but without the jibs. The topmasts +do not appear to be more than signal poles and apparently were not +fitted with sails; however, some European lateeners did have triangular +topsails over a lateen and it is possible the _Battery_ may have carried +such sails. Considering the stability and displacement of the _Battery_, +the rig is very small and not sufficiently effective. Shrouds were not +required; the masts were supported by runners that were shifted when the +yards were reversed, and in tacking. Apparently the jibstays also could +be slacked off so that the lateen yards would not have to be dipped +under them. + +[Illustration: Figure 14.--RUDDER DETAIL of _Taurus_. From the Admiralty +Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.] + +The inboard profile is on tracing paper and the notes are in French. +This drawing is of a simplified hull form having flat-bottom hulls with +chines. It is possible that this is a tracing of a preliminary drawing +obtained by Marestier or Montgéry, but no documentation can be found. +Its importance is that it shows in some detail the engine and boilers, +as well as the wheelbox, and another drawing of the paddle wheel, more +or less duplicating the wheel shown in the Danish plan. No details of +the deck arrangements are shown in any of the plans, except for the dome +skylight over the fireroom in the boiler hull. + +Both the lines plan and the inboard drawing show construction +midsections and hull connections. These plans show that the engine was +not inclined, but rather was vertical, contrary to Fulton's patent +drawing. The piston rod and the crosshead obviously passed through its +gun deck in a large hatch. Also it is plain that there must have been +large hatches afore and abaft the wheelbox to make the stepped wheelbox +construction desirable. There also must have been a hatch in the gun +deck under the domed skylight. It is improbable that the engine and +skylight hatches were used for ladderways, passing scuttles, or +companionways. + +The boilers are shown in the inboard profile about as described and +drawn by Marestier but with two stacks on each boiler, one to each flue; +Marestier's sketch in his report on American steamships shows the flues +of each boiler trunked into a single stack. The battery had two boilers +and the stacks are at the boilers' fire-door end. The steam lines came +off the crown of the boilers and probably passed through the ends of the +wheelbox to the engine; a trunk for the steam lines would undoubtedly +have been necessary. + +[Illustration: Figure 15.--SKETCH OF 130-GUN SHIP proposed by Patrick +Miller to King Gustav III of Sweden in 1790. In Statens Sjöhistoriska +Museum, Stockholm.] + +[Illustration: Figure 16.--PATRICK MILLER'S manually propelled +(paddle-wheel) catamaran ship _Experiment_, built at Leith, Scotland, +1786. Scale drawing in Statens Sjöhistoriska Museum, Stockholm.] + +The engine is shown to have had counterbalanced side levers, one on +each side, and a single flywheel on the outboard side. The cylinder is +over the condenser or "cistern," connected by the steam line and valve +box on the side. The cylinder crosshead is shown in the inboard profile +to have reached the underside of the beams of the upper deck. The +crosshead was connected by two connecting rods to the side levers. These +levers operated the paddle wheel by connecting rods to cranks on the +paddle-wheel shaft. There is another pair of connecting rods from the +side levers to the crosshead of the air pump. All connecting rods are on +one arm of the side levers, the other end having only a counterbalance +weight beyond the fulcrum bearing. The flywheel has a shaft fitted with +two gears, and is driven through idler gears from gears on the +paddle-wheel shaft; it turns at about twice the speed of the paddle +wheel. No other pumps or fittings are shown in the engine hull, although +manual pumps were probably fitted to fill and empty the boilers. Piping +is not shown. + +[Illustration: Figure 17.--PAINTING OF THE _Experiment_ in the Statens +Sjöhistoriska Museum, Stockholm.] + +The four rudders, toggled in pairs, are shown in both the lines and +inboard drawings, but the shape is different in the two plans. Operation +must have been by a tiller under the gun-deck beams. The outer end of +the tiller may have been pivoted on the toggle bar and the inboard end +fitted, as previously described, with steering cable or chain tackles. +This seems to be the only practical interpretation of the evidence. + + +Reconstructing the Plans + +In the model it was necessary to reconstruct the deck arrangements +without enough contemporary description. The outboard appearance and +hull form, rig, and arrangement of armament require no reconstruction, +for all that is of importance is shown in the lines and rig drawings, or +in the inboard profile. The masts are shown to have been stepped over +the race on the gun deck. The iron stanchions are shown in the lines +drawing and in the construction section. However, their position at the +ends of the _Battery_ are apparently incorrectly shown in the original +lines plan. The construction section shows these stanchions to have been +stepped on the inside face of the inner ceiling and, as the ceiling +structure was carried completely around the ship, the stanchions in the +ends must have been placed inboard, as along the sides. The bowsprit was +above deck and would probably be secured in the knighthead timbers at +the ends of the hull, as well as by the heel bitts shown in the Danish +lines drawing. With the riding bitts shown inboard of the heel bitts at +each end of the vessel, it is obvious that she would work her ground +tackle at both ends and would therefore require two capstans; the +wheelbox would prevent effective use of a single one. The capstans might +be doubleheaded, as in some large frigates and ships-of-the-line. + +[Illustration: Figure 18.--SAIL PLAN OF FULTON'S _Steam Battery_ as +reconstructed for model in the Museum of History and Technology.] + +As to the remaining deck fixtures, hatches and fittings, these must be +entirely a matter of speculation. Ladderways, passing scuttles, hatches, +trunks, galley, heads and cabins were obviously required in a fighting +ship and can only be located on the theory that, when completed, the +_Battery_ was a practical vessel. + +It has been stated that the officers' cabins were over the race; the +logical place for the heads, galley, wardroom and mess also would be +over the race, giving the remaining part of the gun deck for the +necessary hatches, ladderways, trunks, etc., in the two hulls, space +required for armament, and to sling the hammocks of a watch below. As +the vessel was never fully manned, apparently, the space for hammocks is +not a serious problem in a reconstruction. If the vessel had been manned +as proposed by 500 men, hammocks for over 200 would have been required, +which would give very crowded quarters in view of the limited space +available. + +Though no specific requirements were stated in the reports of the +trials, it seems reasonable to suppose that additional hatches were cut +in the decks to improve the fireroom ventilation. In the reconstruction +drawings, these hatchways as well as the other deck openings and deck +fittings--such as bilge pumps, companionways, skylights, binnacles, +wheels and wheel-rope trunks, cable trunks, steampipe casings, and stack +fiddleys--have been located in an effort to meet the imagined +requirements of the working of a ship of this unusual form. + +[Illustration: Figure 19.--MODEL OF _Steam Battery_ in the Museum of +History and Technology. (Smithsonian photo 63990-E.)] + +[Illustration: Figure 20.--LINES OF STEAMER _Congo_, built in 1815-1816 +for the British Admiralty and converted to a sailing survey vessel. From +Admiralty Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.] + +There are some unanswered questions that arose in the preparation of +the reconstruction drawings. As has been shown, the original inboard +arrangement plan found in Copenhagen shows four smokestacks, while +Marestier's sketch of the vessel's boilers shows trunked flues +indicating that two stacks were used. It is possible that the boilers +were first fitted so that four stacks were required; alterations made as +a result of steaming trials may well have included the introduction of +trunked flues and the final use of two stacks in line fore-and-aft. This +would have required a rearrangement of the fiddley hatches amidships. + +Another troublesome question was the doubtful arrangement of the four +companionways on the spar deck. Perhaps only two were fitted, one on +each side of the officers' staterooms while the ladderways at the crew's +end of the ship were simple ladder hatches. + +The decision to use four bilge pumps is based upon the lack of drag in +the keel of the hulls, which would prevent accumulation of bilge water +at one end of the hull. The use of four single-barrel pumps instead of +four double-barrel pumps may be questioned, for chain pumps requiring +two barrels would have been practical. + +Allowance for stores was made by use of platforms in the hold. It is +known from statements made to the Court of Inquiry, that the magazines +were amidships and that a part of these was close to the boilers. Fuel +and water would be in the lower hold under the platforms; hatches and +ladderways are arranged to permit fueling the ship. + +A few prints or drawings of the ship, aside from the patent drawing, +have been found. There are two prints that show the launch of the +vessel. One, a print of 1815, is in possession of the Mariners' Museum, +Newport News, Va., and is reproduced in Alexander Crosby Brown's _Twin +Ships, Notes on the Chronological History of the Use of Multiple Hulled +Vessels_.[20] A poor copy of this print appears on page 13 of Bennett's +_Steam Navy of the United States_, and another and inaccurate sketch is +shown on page 8. These pictures were of no use in the reconstruction as +they show no details that are not in the Copenhagen plans. The patent +drawing does not show deck details and in fact does not represent the +vessel as built in any respect other than in being a catamaran with +paddle wheel amidships between the hulls. + +The _Steam Battery_ did not have any particular influence on the design +of men-of-war that followed her. In the first place, steampower was not +viewed with favor by naval officers generally. This was without doubt +due to prejudice, but engines in 1820-30 were still unreliable when +required to run for long periods, as experienced by the early +ocean-going steamers. The great weight of the early steam engines and +their size in relation to power were important, and also important were +practical objections that prevented the design of efficient naval ocean +steamers until about 1840; even then, the paddle wheels made them very +vulnerable in action. Until the introduction of the screw propellor it +was not possible to design a really effective ocean-going naval steamer; +hence until about 1840-45, sail remained predominant in naval vessels +for ocean service, and steamers were accepted only in coast defense and +towing services, or as dispatch vessels. + +No immediate use of the double hull in naval vessels of the maritime +powers resulted from the construction of the _Steam Battery_. The +flat-bottom chine-built design employed by Fulton in _North River_, +_Raritan_, and other early steamboats was utilized in the design for a +projected steamer by the British Admiralty in 1815-16. This vessel was +about 76 feet overall, 16-foot beam, and 8-foot 10 inches depth in hold. +Her design was for a flat-bottom, chine-built hull with no fore-and-aft +camber in the bottom, a sharp entrance, and a square-tuck stern with +slight overhang above the cross-seam. Her side frames were straight and +vertical amidships, but curved as the bow and stern were approached. She +was to be a side-paddle-wheel steamer, and her hull was diagonally +braced; the wheel and engine were to be about amidships where she was +dead flat for about 14 feet. However, the engine and boilers were not +installed; the engine was utilized ashore for pumping, and the vessel +was completed in the Deptford Yard as a sailing ship. Under the name +_Congo_ she was employed in the African coast survey. Her plan is in the +Admiralty Collection of Draughts, at the National Maritime Museum, +Greenwich, England. + +The double hull continued to be employed in both steam and team +ferryboats in the United States and in England and France. A few river +and lake steamers were also built with this design of hull. Continued +efforts to obtain fast sailing by use of the double hull produced a +number of sailing catamarans; of these the Herreshoff catamarans of the +1870's showed high speed when reaching in a fresh breeze. + +Designs for double-hulled steamers appeared during the last half of the +19th century; in 1874 the _Castalia_, a large, double-hull, iron, +cross-channel steamer, was built by the Thames Iron-works Company at +Blackwall, England. She was 290 feet long, and each hull had a beam of +17 feet. The paddle wheel was placed between the hulls and, ready for +sea, she drew 6-1/2 feet. She ran the 22 miles between Dover and Calais +in 1 hour and 50 minutes, a speed much slower than that of the +paddle-wheel, cross-channel steamers having one hull. Another +double-hull steamer was built for this service by Hawthorn, Leslie and +Company, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Scotland, in 1877. First named _Express_, +she was renamed _Calais-Douvres_ when she went into service in May 1878. +Her length was 302 feet, her extreme beam 62 feet, and each hull had a +beam of 18 feet, 3 inches. She drew 6-foot 7-1/2 inches ready for sea +and the paddle wheel was between the hulls. On her trials she made 14 +knots and burned coal excessively. Sold to France in 1880, she was taken +out of service in 1889. Though popular, she was not faster than the +single-hull steamers in this service and had been a comparatively +expensive vessel to build and operate. + +The many attempts to produce a very fast double-hull steamer and large +sailing vessels have led to disappointment for their designers and +sponsors. In the history of naval architecture, since Petty's time, +there have been a number of periods when the new-old idea of the double +hull has become popular. Craft of this type have been commonly well +publicized but, on the whole, their basic designs have followed the same +principles over and over again and have not produced the sought-for +increase in speed and handiness. + +In very recent years there has been a revival in interest in sailing +double-hull boats that is enthusiastic as to very small craft and +somewhat restrained as to large boats. A few projects are under +development for double-hull craft, power and sail, of over 90-foot +length, including an oceanographic research vessel. In general, however, +the performance of double-hull boats has shown that Chapman's estimate +of the type was reasonably correct and that there are limitations, +particularly in maneuverability in the double-hull craft that could have +been found by reference to the history of past experiments with the +type. + + +NAVAL STEAMERS. + + +THE DEMOLOGOS; OR, FULTON THE FIRST. + +At the close of the year eighteen hundred and thirteen, Robert Fulton +exhibited to the President of the United States, the original drawing +from which the engraving on Plate One is sketched, being a +representation of the proposed war-steamer or floating-battery, named by +him, the Demologos. This sketch possesses more than ordinary interest, +from the circumstance that it is, doubtless, the only record of the +_first war-steamer in the world_, designed and drawn by the immortal +Fulton, and represented by him to the Executive, as capable of carrying +a strong battery, with furnaces for red hot shot, and being propelled by +the power of steam, at the rate of _four_ miles an hour. + +It was contemplated that this vessel, besides carrying her proposed +armament on deck, should also be furnished with submarine guns, two +suspended from each bow, so as to discharge a hundred pound ball into an +enemy's ship at ten or twelve feet below her water-line. In addition to +this, her machinery was calculated for the addition of an engine which +would discharge an immense column of water upon the decks, and through +the port-holes of an enemy, making her the most formidable engine for +warfare that human ingenuity has contrived. + +The estimated cost of the vessel was three hundred and twenty thousand +dollars, nearly the sum requisite for a frigate of the first class. + +The project was zealously embraced by the Executive, and the national +legislature in March, eighteen hundred and fourteen, passed a law, +authorizing the President of the United States to cause to be built, +equipped, and employed, one or more floating batteries, for the defense +of the waters of the United States. + +The building of the vessel was committed by the Coast and Harbor Defense +Association, to a sub-committee of five gentlemen, who were recognized +by the Government as their agents for that purpose, and whose +interesting history of the Steam Frigate is copied in Note A, of the +Appendix to this volume. + +Robert Fulton, whose soul animated the enterprise, was appointed the +engineer; and on the twentieth day of June, eighteen hundred and +fourteen, the keel of this novel steamer was laid at the ship-yard of +Adam and Noah Brown, her able and active constructors, in the city of +New York, and on the twenty-ninth of the following October, or in little +more than four months, she was safely launched, in the presence of +multitudes of spectators who thronged the surrounding shores, and were +seen upon the hills which limited the beautiful prospect around the bay +of New York. + +The river and bay were filled with steamers and vessels of war, in +compliment to the occasion. In the midst of these was the enormous +floating mass, whose bulk and unwieldy form seemed to render her as +unfit for motion, as the land batteries which were saluting her. + +In a communication from Captain David Porter, U. S. Navy, to the Hon. +Secretary of the Navy, dated New York, October 29, 1814, he states,--"I +have the pleasure to inform you that the "FULTON THE FIRST," was this +morning safely launched. No one has yet ventured to suggest any +improvement that could be made in the vessel, and to use the words of +the projector, '_I would not alter her if it were in my power to do +so._' + +"She promises fair to meet our most sanguine expectations, and I do not +despair in being able to navigate in her from one extreme of our coast +to the other. Her buoyancy astonishes every one, she now draws _only +eight feet three inches water_, and her draft will only be _ten_ feet +with all her guns, machinery, stores, and crew, on board. The ease with +which she can now be towed with a single steamboat, renders it certain +that her velocity will be sufficiently great to answer every purpose, +and the manner it is intended to secure her machinery from the gunner's +shot, leaves no apprehension for its safety. I shall use every exertion +to prepare her for immediate service; her guns will soon be mounted, and +I am assured by Mr. Fulton, that her machinery will be in operation in +about six weeks." + +On the twenty-first of November, the Steam Frigate was moved from the +wharf of Messrs. Browns, in the East River, to the works of Robert +Fulton, on the North River, to receive her machinery, which operation +was performed by fastening the steamboat "Car of Neptune," to her +larboard, and the steamboat "Fulton," to her starboard side; they towed +her through the water from three and a-half to four miles per hour. + +The dimensions of the "Fulton the First" were:-- + + Length, one hundred and fifty-six feet. + + Breadth, fifty-six feet. + + Depth, twenty feet. + + Water-wheel, sixteen feet diameter. + + Length of bucket, fourteen feet. + + Dip, four feet. + + Engine, forty-eight inch cylinder, and five feet stroke. + + Boiler, length, twenty-two feet; breath, twelve feet; and depth, + eight feet. + + Tonnage, two thousand four hundred and seventy-five. + +By June, eighteen hundred and fifteen, her engine was put on board, and +she was so far completed as to afford an opportunity of trying her +machinery. On the first of June, at ten o'clock in the morning, the +"Fulton the First," propelled by her own steam and machinery, left the +wharf near the Brooklyn ferry, and proceeded majestically into the +river; though a stiff breeze from the south blew directly ahead, she +stemmed the current with perfect ease, as the tide was a strong ebb. She +sailed by the forts and saluted them with her thirty-two pound guns. Her +speed was equal to the most sanguine expectations; she exhibited a novel +and sublime spectacle to an admiring people. The intention of the +Commissioners being solely to try her enginery, no use was made of her +sails. After navigating the bay, and receiving a visit from the officers +of the French ship of war lying at her anchors, the Steam Frigate came +to at Powles' Hook ferry, about two o'clock in the afternoon, without +having experienced a single unpleasant occurrence. + +On the fourth of July, of the same year, she made a passage to the ocean +and back, and went the distance, which, in going and returning, is +fifty-three miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes, without the aid of +sails; the wind and tide were partly in her favor and partly against +her, the balance rather in her favor. + +In September, she made another trial trip to the ocean, and having at +this time the weight of her whole armament on board, she went at an +average of five and a half miles an hour, with and against the tide. +When stemming the tide, which ran at the rate of three miles an hour, +she advanced at the rate of two and a-half miles an hour. This +performance was not more than equal to Robert Fulton's expectations, but +it exceeded what he had premised to the Government, which was that she +should be propelled by steam at the rate of from three to four miles an +hour. + +The English were not uninformed as to the preparations which were +making for them, nor inattentive to their progress. It is certain that +the Steam Frigate lost none of her terrors in the reports or +imaginations of the enemy. In a treatise on steam vessels, published in +Scotland at that time, the author states that he has taken great care to +procure _full_ and _accurate_ information of the Steam Frigate launched +in New York, and which he describes in the following words:-- + +"Length on deck, _three hundred feet_; breadth, _two hundred feet_; +thickness of her sides, _thirteen feet_ of alternate oak plank and cork +wood--carries forty-four guns, four of which are _hundred pounders_; +quarter-deck and forecastle guns, forty-four pounders; and further to +annoy an enemy attempting to board, can discharge _one hundred gallons +of boiling water in a minute_, and by mechanism, brandishes _three +hundred cutlasses_ with the utmost regularity over her gunwales; works +also an equal number of heavy iron pikes of great length, darting them +from her sides with prodigious force, and withdrawing them every quarter +of a minute"!! + +The war having terminated before the "_Fulton the First_" was entirely +completed, she was taken to the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, and moored on the +flats abreast of that station, where she remained, and was used as a +receiving-ship until the fourth of June, eighteen hundred and +twenty-nine, when she was blown up. The following letters from Commodore +Isaac Chauncey (then Commandant of the New York Navy Yard) to the +Honorable Secretary of the Navy, informing him of the distressing event, +concludes this brief history of the _first steam vessel of war ever +built_. + + * * * * * + +U. S. NAVY YARD, NEW YORK, +_June 5th, 1829_. + +SIR: + +It becomes my painful duty to report to you a most unfortunate +occurrence which took place yesterday, at about half past two o'clock, +P. M., in the accidental blowing up of the Receiving Ship Fulton, which +killed twenty-four men and a woman, and wounded nineteen; there are also +five missing. Amongst the killed I am sorry to number Lieutenant S. M. +Brackenridge, a very fine, promising officer, and amongst the wounded +are, Lieutenants Charles F. Platt, and A. M. Mull, and Sailing-Master +Clough, the former dangerously, and the two last severely; there are +also four Midshipmen severely wounded. How this unfortunate accident +occurred I am not yet able to inform you, nor have I time to state more +particularly; I will, as soon as possible, give a detailed account of +the affair. + +I have the honor to be, Sir, + Very respectfully, + J. CHAUNCEY. + +HON. JOHN BRANCH, + _Secretary of the Navy, Washington._ + +U.S. NAVY YARD, NEW YORK, +_June 8th, 1829_. + +Sir: + +I had been on board the "Fulton" all the morning, inspecting the ship +and men, particularly the sick and invalids, which had increased +considerably from other ships, and whom I had intended to ask the +Department permission to discharge, as being of little use to the +service. I had left the ship but a few moments before the explosion took +place, and was in my office at the time. The report did not appear to me +louder than a thirty-two pounder, although the destruction of the ship +was complete and entire, owing to her very decayed state, for there was +not on board, at the time, more than two and a-half barrels of damaged +powder, which was kept in the magazine for the purpose of firing the +morning and evening gun. It appears to me that the explosion could not +have taken place from accident, as the magazine was as well, or better +secured, than the magazines of most of our ships, yet it would be +difficult to assign a motive to those in the magazine for so horrible an +act, as voluntarily to destroy themselves and those on board. If the +explosion was not the effect of design, I am at a loss to account for +the catastrophe. + +I have the honor to be, Sir, + Very respectfully, + J. CHAUNCEY. + +HON. JOHN BRANCH, + _Secretary of the Navy, Washington_. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +NOTE A. + +STEAM FRIGATE. + +_Report of HENRY RUTGERS, SAMUEL L. MITCHEL, and THOMAS MORRIS, the +Commissioners superintending the construction of a steam vessel of war, +to the Secretary of the Navy._ + +NEW YORK, _December 28th, 1815_. + +SIR: + +The war which was terminated by the treaty of Ghent, afforded, during +its short continuance, a glorious display of the valor of the United +States by land and by sea--it made them much better known to foreign +nations, and, what is of much greater importance, it contributed to make +them better acquainted with themselves--it excited new enterprises--it +educed latent talents--it stimulated to exertions unknown to our people +before. + +A long extent of coast was exposed to an enemy, powerful above every +other on the ocean. His commanders threatened to lay waste our country +with fire and sword, and, actually, in various instances, carried their +menaces into execution. It became necessary, for our defense, to resist, +by every practicable method, such a formidable foe. + +It was conceived, by a most ingenious and enterprising citizen, that +the power of Steam could be employed to propel a floating battery, +carrying heavy guns, to the destruction of any hostile force that should +hover on the shores, or enter the ports of our Atlantic frontier. The +perfect and admirable success of his project for moving boats containing +travelers and baggage by the same elastic agent, opened the way to its +employment for carrying warriors and the apparatus for fighting. + +The plan was submitted to the consideration of the executive of an +enlightened government. Congress, influenced by the most liberal and +patriotic spirit, appropriated money for the experiment, and the Navy +Department, then conducted by the honorable William Jones, appointed +commissioners to superintend the construction of a convenient vessel +under the direction of ROBERT FULTON, the inventor, as engineer, and +Messrs. Adam and Noah Brown, as naval constructors. The enterprise, from +its commencement, and during a considerable part of its preparatory +operations, was aided by the zealous co-operation of Major General +Dearborn, then holding his head-quarters at the city of New York, as the +officer commanding the third military district. The loss of his valuable +counsel in conducting a work which he had maturely considered, and which +he strongly recommended, was the consequence of his removal to another +section of the Union, where his professional talents were specially +required. + +The keels of this steam-frigate were laid on the twentieth day of June, +eighteen hundred and fourteen. The strictest blockade the enemy could +enforce interrupted the coasting trade, and greatly enhanced the price +of timber. The vigilance with which he guarded our coast against +intercourse with foreign nations, rendered difficult the importation of +copper and iron. The same impediment attended the supplies of coal +heretofore brought to New York from Richmond and Liverpool. Lead, in +like manner, was procured under additional disadvantages. These attempts +of the enemy to frustrate the design, were vain and impotent. All the +obstacles were surmounted. Scarcity of the necessary woods and metals +were overcome by strenuous exertions; and all the blockading squadron +could achieve, was not a disappointment in the undertaking, but merely +an increase of the expense. + +So, in respect to tradesmen and laborers, there was an extraordinary +difficulty. Shipwrights had repaired to the lakes, for repelling the +enemy, in such numbers, that, comparatively speaking, few were left on +the seaboard. A large portion of the men who had been engaged in daily +work, had enlisted as soldiers, and had marched under the banners of the +nation to the defense of its rights--yet amidst the scarcity of hands, a +sufficient number were procured for the purpose which the Commissioners +had in charge. An increase of wages was the chief impediment, and this +they were enabled practically to overcome. + +By the exemplary combination of diligence and skill, on the part of the +Engineer and Constructors, the business was so accelerated, that the +vessel was launched on the twenty-ninth day of October, amidst the +plaudits of an unusual number of citizens. + +Measures were immediately taken to complete her equipment; the boiler, +the engine, and the machinery were put on board with all possible +expedition. Their weight and size far surpassed any thing that had been +witnessed before among us. + +The stores of artillery in New York not furnishing the number and kind +of cannon which she was destined to carry, it became necessary to +transport guns from Philadelphia. A prize, taken from the enemy, put +some fit and excellent pieces at the disposal of the Navy Department. To +avoid the danger of capture by the enemy's cruisers, these were carted +over the miry roads of New Jersey. Twenty heavy cannon were thus +conveyed by the strength of horses. Carriages of the most approved model +were constructed, and every thing done to bring her into prompt action, +as an efficient instrument of war. + +About this time, an officer, pre-eminent for bravery and discipline, +was commissioned by the government to her command. Prior to this event, +it had been intended by the Commissioners to finish her conformably to +the plan originally submitted to the Executive. She is a structure +resting upon two boats and keels, separated from end to end by a canal +fifteen feet wide, and sixty-six long. One boat contained the caldrons +of copper to prepare her steam. The vast cylinder of iron, with its +piston, levers, and wheels, occupied a part of its fellow; the great +water-wheel revolved in the space between them; the main or gun-deck +supported her armament, and was protected by a bulwark four feet ten +inches thick, of solid timber. This was pierced by thirty port-holes, to +enable as many thirty-two pounders to fire red hot balls; her upper or +spar deck was plain, and she was to be propelled by her enginery alone. + +It was the opinion of Captain Porter and Mr. Fulton, that the upper deck +ought to be surrounded with a bulwark and stanchions--that two stout +masts should be erected to support latteen sails--that there should be +bowsprits for jibs, and that she should be rigged in a corresponding +style. Under authorities so great, and with the expectation of being +able to raise the blockade of New London, by destroying, taking, or +routing the enemy's ships, all these additions were adopted and +incorporated with the vessel. + +It must here be observed, that during the exhaustion of the treasury, +and the temporary depression of public credit, the Commissioners were +exceedingly embarrassed--their payments were made in treasury notes, +which they were positively instructed to negotiate at par. On several +occasions even these were so long withheld, that the persons who had +advanced materials and labor were importunate for payment, and silently +discontented. To a certain extent, the Commissioners pledged their +private credit. Notwithstanding all this, the men, at one time, actually +broke off. The work was retarded, and her completion unavoidably +deferred, to the great disappointment of the Commissioners, until winter +rendered it impossible for her to act. + +Under all this pressure, they, nevertheless, persevered in the important +object confided to them. But their exertions were further retarded by +the premature and unexpected death of the Engineer. The world was +deprived of his invaluable labors before he had completed this favorite +undertaking. They will not inquire, wherefore, in the dispensations of +Divine Providence, he was not permitted to realize his grand conception. +_His discoveries, however, survive for the benefit of mankind_, and will +extend to unborn generations. + +At length all matters were ready for a trial of the machinery to urge +such a bulky vessel through the water. This essay was made on the first +day of June, eighteen hundred and fifteen. She proved herself capable of +opposing the wind, and of stemming the tide, of crossing currents, and +of being steered among vessels riding at anchor, though the weather was +boisterous and the water rough. Her performance demonstrated that the +project was successful--no doubt remained that a floating battery, +composed of heavy artillery, could be moved by steam. The Commissioners +returned from the exercise of the day, satisfied that the vessel would +answer the intended purpose, and consoled themselves that their care had +been bestowed upon a worthy object. + +But it was discovered, that various alterations were necessary. Guided +by the light of experience, they caused some errors to be corrected, and +some defects to be supplied. She was prepared for a second voyage with +all practicable speed. + +On the fourth of July she was again put in action. She performed a trip +to the ocean, eastward of Sandy Hook, and back again, a distance of +fifty-three miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes. A part of this +time she had the tide against her, and had no assistance whatever from +sails. Of the gentlemen who formed the company invited to witness the +experiment, not one entertained a doubt of her fitness for the intended +purpose. + +Additional expedients were, notwithstanding, necessary to be sought for +quickening and directing her motion. These were devised and executed +with all possible care. + +Suitable arrangements having been made, a third trial of her powers was +attempted on the eleventh day of September, with the weight of +twenty-six of her long and ponderous guns, and a considerable quantity +of ammunition and stores on board; her draft of water was short of +eleven feet. She changed her course by inverting the motion of the +wheel, without the necessity of putting about. She fired salutes as she +passed the forts, and she overcame the resistance of the wind and tide +in her progress down the bay. She performed beautiful man[oe]uvres +around the United States' Frigate JAVA, then at anchor near the +light-house. She moved with remarkable celerity, and she was perfectly +obedient to her double helm. It was observed that the explosion of +powder produced very little concussion. The machinery was not affected +by it in the smallest degree. Her progress, during the firing, was +steady and uninterrupted. On the most accurate calculations, derived +from heaving the log, her average velocity was five and a-half miles per +hour. Notwithstanding the resistance of currents, she was found to make +headway at the rate of two miles an hour against the ebb of the East +River, running three and a-half knots. The day's exercise was +satisfactory to the respectable company who attended, beyond their +utmost expectations. It was universally agreed that we now possessed a +new auxiliary against every maratime invader. The City of New York, +exposed as it is, was considered as having the means of rendering itself +invulnerable. The Delaware, Chesapeake, Long Island Sound, and every +other bay and harbor in the nation, may be protected by the same +tremendous power. + +Among the inconveniences observable during the experiment, was the heat +endured by the men who attended the fires. To enable a correct judgment +to be formed on this point, one of the Commissioners (Dr. Mitchel) +descended and examined, by a thermometer, the temperature of the hold, +between the two boilers. The quicksilver, exposed to the radiant heat of +the burning fuel, rose to one hundred and sixteen degrees of +Fahrenheit's scale. Though exposed thus to its intensity, he experienced +no indisposition afterwards. The analogy of potteries, forges, +glass-houses, kitchens, and other places, where laborers are habitually +exposed to high heats, is familiar to persons of business and of +reflection. In all such occupations, the men, by proper relays, perform +their services perfectly well. + +The Government, however, will understand that the hold of the present +vessel could be rendered cooler by other apertures for the admission of +air, and that on building another steam frigate, the comfort of the +firemen might be provided for, as in the ordinary steamboats. + +The Commissioners congratulate the Government and the nation on the +event of this noble project. Honorable alike, to its author and its +patrons, it constitutes an era in warfare and the arts. The arrival of +peace, indeed, has disappointed the expectations of conducting her to +battle. That last and conclusive act of showing her superiority in +combat, has not been in the power of the Commissioners to make. + +If a continuance of tranquillity should be our lot, and this steam +vessel of war be not required for the public defense, the nation may +rejoice that the fact we have ascertained is of incalculably greater +value than the expenditure--and that if the present structure should +perish, we have the information never to perish, how, on a future +emergency, others may be built. The requisite variations will be +dictated by circumstances. + +Owing to the cessation of hostilities, it has been deemed inexpedient to +finish and equip her as for immediate and active employ. In a few weeks +every thing that is incomplete could receive the proper adjustment. + +After so much has been done, and with such encouraging results, it +becomes the Commissioners to recommend that the steam frigate be +officered and manned for discipline and practice. A discreet commander, +with a selected crew, could acquire experience in the mode of navigating +this peculiar vessel. The supplies of fuel, the tending of the fire, the +replenishing of the expended water, the management of the mechanism, the +heating of shot, the exercise of the guns, and various matters, can only +become familiar by use. It is highly important that a portion of seamen +and marines should be versed in the order and economy of the steam +frigate. They will augment, diffuse, and perpetuate knowledge. When, in +process of time, another war shall call for more structures of this +kind, men, regularly trained to her tactics, may be dispatched to the +several stations where they may be wanted. If, on any such disposition, +the Government should desire a good and faithful agent, the +Commissioners recommend Captain Obed Smith to notice, as a person who +has ably performed the duties of inspector from the beginning to the end +of the concern. + +Annexed to the report, you will find, Sir, several statements +explanatory of the subject. A separate report of our colleague, the +honorable Oliver Wolcott, whose removal from New York precluded him from +attending to the latter part of the business, with his accustomed zeal +and fidelity, is herewith presented. A drawing of her form and +appearance, by Mr. Morgan, as being like to give satisfaction to the +department, is also subjoined, as are likewise an inventory of her +furniture and effects, and an account of the timber and metals +consolidated in her fabric. + +It is hoped these communications will evince the pains taken by the +Commissioners, to execute the honorable and responsible trust reposed in +them by the Government. + + SAMUEL L. MITCHEL. + THOMAS MORRIS. + HENRY RUTGERS. + + * * * * * + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1964 + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office +Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 70 cents + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] _The American Neptune_ (1946), vol. 6, pp. 253-274. + +[2] _The American Neptune_ (1944), vol. 4, pp. 327-329. + +[3] New York, 1853, pp. 13-17. + +[4] Pittsburgh, 1896, pp. 8-16. + +[5] See pages 172 through 176 for this report, which is reproduced from +CHARLES B. STUART, _Naval and Mail Steamers of the United States_ (New +York, 1853), app., pp. 155-159. + +[6] National Archives, Navy Records Plans, 80-7-14; and HOWARD I. +CHAPELLE, _History of the American Sailing Navy_ (New York: W. W. Norton +& Co., 1949), pp. 293-295. + +[7] National Archives, Navy Records Plans, 80-7-9; and CHAPELLE, +_History of the American Sailing Navy_, pp. 226, 228. + +[8] National Archives, Navy Records Plans, 80-7-15. + +[9] National Archives, Naval Records Collection, Miscellaneous Letters, +1819, II. + +[10] See p. 169, reproduced from CHARLES B. STUART, _Naval and Mail +Steamers of the United States_ (New York, 1853), p. 15. + +[11] JEAN BAPTISTE MARESTIER, _Mémoire sur les bateaux à vapeur des +États-Unis d'Amérique, avec un appendice sur diverses machines relatives +à la Marine_ (Paris: L'imprimerie Royal, 1824). + +[12] 1820-1823, vol. 7, p. 437. + +[13] _Annales de l'industrie nationale et étrangère, ou Mercure +Technologique_ (Paris, 1822), pp. 760-762. + +[14] January 27, 1823, vol. 7, pp. 436-438. + +[15] January-March 1935, vol. 61, pp. 322-328. + +[16] HOWARD I. CHAPELLE, _American Small Sailing Craft_ (New York: W. W. +Norton & Co., Inc., 1951), pp. 29, 31. + +[17] Newport News, Va.: The Mariners' Museum, 1937, p. 23. + +[18] Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs Merrill, 1932, p. 291. + +[19] HENRY WILLIAM EDWARD, _The Double Bottom or Twin Hulled Ship of Sir +William Petty_ (Oxford: The Roxburghe Club, 1931). + +[20] Publication No. 5 (Newport News: The Mariners' Museum, 1939), p. +22. + + +INDEX + + +Anckerswärd, Col. Michael, 157 + +Astor, John Jacob, 141 + + +Baltimore, Lord. _See_ Calvert. + +Bennett, Frank M., 139, 150, 165 + +Bergh, Christian, 145 + +Biddle, James, 141 + +Brackenridge, S. M., 145 + +Brewington, M. V., 155 + +Brown, Adam and Noah, 141, 142, 145 + +Brown, Alexander Crosby, 165 + +Brown, Noah, 141, 150, 151 + +Browne, Charles, 157 + +Browns' yard, 142, 144 + + +Calvert, George, Lord Baltimore, 156 + +Canning, Stratford, 139 + +Chapman, Fredrik Henrik af, 156, 166 + +Charles II of England, 152, 153 + +Coast and Harbor Defense Company, 141 + +Coast Defense Society, 141, 142 + +Colden, C. D., 149 + + +Danish Greenland Company, 150 + +Danish Royal Archives, 139, 150 + +Dearborn, Henry, 141, 142 + +Decatur, Stephen, 141 + +Deptford Yard (England), 165 + + +Eckford, Henry, 142 + +Emmet, ----, 144 + +Evans, Samuel, 141, 145 + + +Fox, Josiah, 157 + +Fulton, Robert, 139, 141, 142, 144, 147, 149, 150, 157, 159, 165 + + +Gurley, Ralph R. (USN), 150, 151 + +Gustav III of Sweden, 156, 157 + + +Hawthorn, Leslie, and Company (Scotland), 166 + + +Jefferson, Thomas, 145 + +Jones, Jacob, 141 + +Jones, William, 147 + + +Laurie, J., 157 + +Lewis, Jacob, 141 + +Lewis, Morgan, 141 + + +Marestier, Jean Baptiste, 147, 149, 159, 162 + +Mariners' Museum, 165 + +Marsh, James, 145 + +May, Arthur J., 139 + +Miller, Patrick, 156, 157 + +Mitchill, Samuel L., 141, 142 + +Monroe, James, 145 + +Montgéry, M., 147, 149, 159 + +Morgan, "Mr.", 144 + +Morris, Thomas, 141, 142 + + +National Maritime Museum (England), 147, 156, 165 + + +Pepys, Samuel, 155 + +Perry, Oliver, 141 + +Petty, Sir William, 152, 153, 155, 166 + +Porter, David, 144 + +Purcell, William, 147 + + +Rasmussen, Kjeld, 150 + +Rigsarkivet (Denmark), 147 + +Royal Society of London, 152 + +Rutgers, Henry, 141, 142 + + +Smith, ---- (Captain, USN), 144 + +Smith, Sir Sidney (RN), 155 + +Statens Sjöhistoriska Museum (Sweden), 147 + +Stewart, Charles, 145 + +Stiles, George, 144 + +Stoudinger, Charles, 144 + +Stuart, Charles B., 139, 150 + +Symington, William, 157 + + +Thames Iron-works Company (England), 165 + +Tyler, David B., 139 + + +Warrington, Samuel, 141 + +Wilstack, Paul, 155 + +Wolcott, Oliver, 141, 142 + + +Youle, John, foundry, 142 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fulton's "Steam Battery": Blockship +and Catamaran, by Howard I. 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