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.
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