Produced by Heather Clark, paksenarrion and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
book was produced from scanned images of public domain
material from the Google Print project.)
FOUR AMERICAN NAVAL HEROES
PAUL JONES OLIVER H. PERRY ADMIRAL FARRAGUT ADMIRAL DEWEY
A BOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS
BY MABEL BORTON BEEBE
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY JAMES BALDWIN
[Illustration]
WERNER SCHOOL BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON
INTRODUCTION.
Four times in the history of our country has the American navy achieved
renown and won the gratitude of the nation. These four times correspond,
of course, to the four great wars that we have had; and with the mention
of each the name of a famous hero of the sea is at once brought to mind.
What would the Revolution have been without its Paul Jones; or the War
of 1812, without its Perry? How differently might the Civil War have
ended but for its Farragut; and the Spanish War, but for its Dewey! The
story of the achievements of these four men covers a large part of our
naval history.
[Illustration: SEAL OF THE U.S. NAVY.]
Six months after the battle of Lexington the Continental Congress
decided to raise and equip a fleet to help carry on the war against
England. Before the end of the year (1775) seventeen vessels were ready
for service, and it was then that Paul Jones began his public career.
Many other ships were soon added.
[Illustration: EZEK HOPKINS.]
The building and equipping of this first navy was largely intrusted to
Ezek Hopkins, whom Congress had appointed Commander-in-Chief, but it
does not seem that he did all that was expected of him, for within less
than two years he was dismissed. He was the only person who ever held
the title of Commander-in-Chief of the navy. During the war several
other vessels were added to the fleet, and over 800 prizes were captured
from the British. But before peace was declared twenty-four of our ships
had been taken by the enemy, others had been wrecked in storms, and
nearly all the rest were disabled. There was no effort to build other
vessels, and so, for many years, our country had no navy.
[Illustration: THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION.]
In 1794, when war with the Barbary States was expected, Congress ordered
the building of six large frigates. One of these was the famous
_Constitution_, which is still in existence and about which Dr. Holmes
wrote the well-known poem called "Old Ironsides." Through all the
earlier years of our history, John Adams used his influence to
strengthen our power on the sea; and he was so far successful that he
has often been called "The Father of the American Navy." When the War of
1812 began the United States owned a great many gunboats for coast
defense, besides seventeen sea-going vessels. It was during this war
that the navy especially distinguished itself, and Oliver Hazard Perry
made his name famous.
[Illustration: A SLOOP OF WAR.]
The ships of war in those earlier times were wooden sailing vessels, and
they were very slow-goers when compared with the swift cruisers which
sail the ocean now. The largest of these vessels were called ships of
the line, because they formed the line of battle in any general fight at
sea. They usually had three decks, with guns on every deck. The upper
deck was often covered over, and on the open deck thus formed above
there was a fourth tier of guns. This open deck was called the
forecastle and quarter-deck. Some of the largest ships of the line
carried as many as 120 guns each; the smallest was built to carry 72
guns.
Next in size to these ships were the frigates. A frigate had only one
covered deck and the open forecastle and quarter-deck above it, and
therefore had but two tiers of guns. The largest frigate carried sixty
guns, besides a large pivot gun at the bow. The American frigates were
noted for their speed.
Still smaller than the frigates were the corvettes, or sloops of war, as
they are more commonly called. These had but one tier of guns, and that
was on the open deck. They were rigged like the larger vessels, with
three masts and square sails.
[Illustration: THE STEAM FRIGATE POWHATAN.]
The fourth class of vessels included the brigs of war, which had but two
masts and carried from six to twenty guns. Equal to them in size were
the schooners, which also had two masts, but were rigged fore-and-aft.
The guns which they carried were commonly much smaller than those on the
sloops and frigates.
After Robert Fulton's invention of the steamboat in 1807 there were many
attempts to apply steam on vessels of war. But it was a long time before
these attempts were very successful. The earliest war steamships were
driven by paddle-wheels, placed at the sides of the vessels. The
paddles, besides taking up much valuable space, were exposed to the
shots of the enemy, and in any battle were very easily crippled and made
useless. But the speed of these vessels was much greater than that of
any sailing ship, and this alone made them very desirable. For many
years steam frigates were the most formidable vessels in the navy. The
first successful steamship of war was the English frigate _Penelope_,
which was built in 1843, and carried forty-six guns. One of the earliest
and most noted American vessels of the same type was the _Powhatan_. The
first screw line of battle ship was built by the French in 1849. It was
called the _Napoleon_, and carried one hundred guns. It was so
successful that steamships soon began to take the place of sailing
vessels in all the navies of the world.
[Illustration: THE MERRIMAC AND THE MONITOR.]
Up to this time all war vessels were built of wood; but there had been
many experiments to learn whether they might not be protected by iron
plating. The first iron-clad ship was built in France in 1858; and not
long after that Great Britain added to her navy an entire fleet of
iron-clads. All these were built after the same pattern as wooden ships,
and were simply covered or protected with iron plates.
[Illustration: THE BATTLESHIP OREGON.]
The first iron-clads used in our own navy were built soon after the
beginning of the Civil War (1861), and were designed for use on the
large rivers and along the coast. They were called "turtle-backs," and
were simply large steamboats covered with thick slabs of iron and
carrying thirteen guns each. The iron slabs were joined closely together
and laid in such a manner as to inclose the decks with sloping sides and
roofs. The first great deviation from old patterns was the _Monitor_,
built by John Ericsson in 1862. She was the strangest looking craft that
had ever been seen, and has been likened to a big washtub turned upside
down and floating on the water. The _Merrimac_, which she defeated in
Hampton Roads, was a wooden frigate which the Confederates had made into
an iron-clad by covering her with railroad rails. They had also, by
giving her an iron prow, converted her into a ram. These two vessels,
the _Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_, were indirectly the cause of a great
revolution in naval warfare; they were the forerunners of all the modern
ships of war now in existence. The nations of the world saw at once that
there would be no more use for ships of the line and wooden frigates and
sloops of war.
[Illustration: THE DYNAMITE CRUISER VESUVIUS.]
The ships that have been built since that time are entirely unlike those
with which Paul Jones and Commodore Perry and Admiral Farragut won their
great victories. The largest and most formidable of the new vessels are
known as battleships, and may be briefly described as floating forts,
built of steel and armed with powerful guns. These are named after the
states, as the _Oregon_, the _Texas_, and the _Iowa_. Next to them in
importance are the great monitors, such as the _Monadnock_ and the
_Monterey_. These are slow sailers but terrible fighters, and are
intended chiefly for harbor defense. The cruisers, which rank next, are
smaller than battleships and are not so heavily armed; but they are
built for speed, and their swiftness makes up for their lack of
strength. Among the most noted of these are the _Brooklyn_, the
_Columbia_, and the _Minneapolis_. There are also smaller cruisers,
such as the _Cincinnati_ and the _Raleigh_, that are intended rather for
scout duty than for service in battle. Most of the cruisers are named
after cities. One of the strangest vessels in the navy is the dynamite
cruiser _Vesuvius_, which is armed with terrible dynamite guns. Then
there is the ram _Katahdin_. She carries no heavy guns, and her only
weapon of offense is a powerful ram. Her speed is greater than that of
most battleships, and she is protected by a covering of the heaviest
steel armor. Besides all these there are a number of smaller vessels,
such as torpedo boats and tugs.
A few old-fashioned wooden vessels--steam frigates and sailing
vessels--are still to be found in our navy yards, but these would be of
no use in a battle.
In reading of the exploits of our great naval heroes it is well to keep
in mind these wonderful changes that have taken place in the navy. Think
of the slow-going wooden frigates which sailed the seas in the time of
Paul Jones or Commodore Perry--how small and insignificant they would be
if placed side by side with the tremendous _Oregon_ or with the cruisers
which Admiral Dewey led to victory in the Bay of Manila! But if the
glory of an achievement is measured by the difficulties that are
encountered and overcome, to whom shall we award the greater honor--to
our earlier heroes, or to our later?
JAMES BALDWIN.