(From the New York
Tribune)
THE MERRIMAC.
The Merrimac was originally one of the five war steamers
authorized to be constructed by congress during the session of 1844-5. They were to be first steam sloops of war,
and were built as follows. The Merrimac
at Charlestown; Wasbash, Com. Dupont’s flag ship, which did such good service
at Port Royal, at Philadelphia; the Minnesota at Washington; the Roanoke at
Norfolk, and the Niagara at Brooklyn. – The Minnesota and the Roanoke were
lying in Hampton Roads. These five
vessels were equal to any steam war vessels in the world, except iron clad
vessels. The spar deck of the Merrimac
was 281 feet long and 52 feet broad in her original condition and she drew 23 feet
of water. She rated about 4,000 tons
burden. Her frame was of [live] oak,
filled in solid, and caulked 14 feet out from the kelson. Forward the ship had 10 live oak breast
hooks, fastened through and through with copper under the water and iron above;
aft she had seven breast hooks.
The engine was of 800 horse power, with a 2 bladed propeller
14 feet in diameter, so fitted as to be raised to the deck and lowered to its
beaming at pleasure, enabling the vessel to be used with our without steam
power. She rated as a 40 gun frigate,
but could carry as much as a 90 gun ship of the old style. – She carried 24 9
inch shell guns, with 2 pivot guns of 8 tons, each throwing 100 pound shells,
mounted fore and aft.
The Merrimac was the first of the five to be completed,
being launched in 1856. She was soon
after put in commission, and continued in the service until April 1861, when
she was lying at the Norfolk Navy Yard, in need of some slight repairs. But for the imbecility of those in charge,
she might have been removed before the rebellion actually broke out in
Norfolk. Under the management of Com.
Macauley, however, she and the ship of the line Pennsylvania where scuttled and
sunk, while at the same time the Navy Yard and its 2,500 cannon were abandoned
to the rebels.
Since then the Merrimac has been raised, placed upon the dry
dock, and covered with an entire slanting roof or railroad iron. This additional weight nearly broke her down
upon the dry dock, and they found almost as much difficulty in launching her as
was found in launching the Great Eastern.
Owing to a mistake in calculation, on being launched she was found to
sink four feet deeper than before, so as to take in water. So she was again taken out, being hogged in
the operation and otherwise so strained that the Southern newspapers pronounced
her a failure, and it is more than probably that with no opposition she would
never dare to go to sea. She is probably
a very good moveable floating battery.
Above the water’s edge she is said to present nothing but her roof of
railroad iron, with a smoke stack rising a few feet above it. From the accounts which we have of the fight,
her rate of speed is very moderate. She
mounted 10 100-pound Armstrong guns, which are reported to have mashed through
iron mail as thick as that of the Warrior and Black Prince, but which do not
appear to have made any impression on the Monitor.
THE YORKTOWN, OR THE
PATRICK HENRY
The Yorktown, called by the rebels the Patrick Henry, is a
steamer of 1,400 tons, which was built by Wm H. Webb for the line between New
York and Richmond, in 1859. She has two
decks and is built of oak, with copper and iron fastenings. She has two marine beam engines, of 350 horse
power, and four water-tight compartments.
Her dimensions are, length 251 feet, breadth 34 feet, depth 18
feet. She is described by a reporter who
went up on the Express, under a flag of truce, on Thursday last, as mounting
six rifled guns, one of which is an Armstrong gun, and is being much more formidable
than her consort, the Jamestown.
THE JAMESTOWN
The Jamestown was formerly the consort of the Yorktown in
the Richmond line. She was built in 1852
by J. A. Westervelt, and her dimensions are slightly smaller than those of the
Yorktown. She draws but eight feet of
water three feet less than the Yorktown.
She has a vertical beam engine, of 260 horse power. The same reporter saw her also last Thursday,
and says that she was worked with double engines, and had a sharp iron prow at
her bow projecting some three feet at the water line, intended to run down
wooden vessels, and that she carries 2 23 pound rifled cannon, Parrot style,
fore and aft, the guns being furnished with telescopic sights. The vessel looked trim, and the officers wore
a profusion of gold lace, while the marines and sailors were smart and active
in appearance.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 15, 1862, p. 2
