USA > Virginia > City of Portsmouth > City of Portsmouth > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 34
USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > A record of events in Norfolk County, Virginia, from April 19th, 1861, to May 10th, 1862, with a history of the soldiers and sailors of Norfolk County, Norfolk City and Portsmouth, who served in the Confederate States army or navy > Part 34
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[Signed]
WM. P. WILLIAMSON, Chief Engineer. JOHN M. BROOKE, Lieutenant.
JOHN L. PORTER, Naval Constructor.
When it is considered that Mr. Brooke had not seen the Merri- mac nor the Navy Yard since the beginning of hostilities, that the Naval Constructor was the only member of the board who knew that what was left of the vessel would carry a shield large enough to cover ten guns, or how much it would cost to make the altera-
333
THE "VIRGINIA" (MERRIMAC.)
tions in her hull, and that Chief Engineer Williamson was an ex- pert upon the cost of machinery, it would be reasonable to sup- pose that the constructor and engineer prepared the report, and that the other member of the board signed it through confidence in their judgment. In fact Secretary Mallory took this view of it at the time. On the 18th of July, 1861, he submitted a report to the Confederate Congress, in which he said : "The cost of this work is estimated by the constructor and engineer in charge at $172,523, and as time is of the first consequence in this enter- prise, I have not hesitated to commence the work, and to ask Congress for the necessary appropriation." Mr. Mallory totally ignored " the board," and took into consideration only the views of the constructor and engineer. He seems, at that time, not to have considered Mr. Brooke at all, not even in connection with the cost of her ordnance.
The report of the board speaks of having considered the vari- ons plans and propositions for constructing an iron-clad, &c. Messrs. Williamson and Porter say this had reference to whether they would recommend the building of a new vessel after Mr. Porter's model or apply his plan to the Merrimac. "The plans to be adopted in the arrangement of her shield for glancing shots, mounting guns, arranging the hull and plating," were not submit- ted simultaneously with the report, as it was necessary for Mr. Porter to return to the Gosport Navy Yard and make an accurate measurement of the vessel, so that he could calculate her displace- ment and prepare the plans. Engineer Williamson also went to the Navy Yard to superintend the preparation of the machinery, and Mr. Brooke remained in Richmond. Mr. Porter measured the vessel without assistance from any one, except a laborer to hold the end of the tape line.
Having completed his measurements, and calculated for every- thing which was to go in her, he found that he would have suffi- cient displacement and about fifty tons to spare, upon a depth of twenty-one feet, of which nineteen feet would be of her original hınll and the remaining two feet would be the distance he proposed submerging the eaves of her shield, but when he drew a line at the height of nineteen feet from the bottom of her keel, he found it out one foot into her propeller, and this would have decreased the size of her propeller and diminished her speed, besides con- suming time in additional work. He therefore raised the line one foot at the stern and cut her down on a straight line running from a height of nineteen feet forward to twenty feet aft, so that, when completed, she drew twenty-one feet forward and twenty-two feet aft. This additional displacement increased her buoyancy about two hundred tous and had to be overcome by pig iron, or kent- lege, which was placed on her deck ends and in her spirit room to bring her eaves to the proper depth below the water line.
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
Mr. Porter drew the plans for converting her into an iron-clad, and put on her the identical shield which was on his model, and also on his Pittsburg iron-clad of 1846, with the exception that he lengthened it out to nearly one hundred and eighty feet, so as to eover all of her deck where there was sufficient width for the shield, and, as he had a width of fifty-one feet on the Merrimae, he lowered the angle of inclination of her shield to thirty-five de- grees. The great width of the ship enabled him to do this and still have room under the shield to work the guns. This width also made it necessary to have separate guns for each side. Find- ing too, that he had displacement enough to support a heavier armor, he recommended that she be plated with four inches of iron instead of three inches, as originally intended. This recom- mendation was approved by Secretary Mallory, and was carried out in her construction. The arrangment of her shield, inside and out, was identical with the plan proposed in the vessel the model of which he carried to Richmond, and which the board was called to consider. The original drawings of both vessels are in the pos- session of the author, and they are identical, except that one was arranged for six guns and the other for ten. The port holes were about four feet high, with straight sides and circular at the top and bottom. She had no boat davits. Her boats rested in chocks on her sides and were hauled out of the water.
Mr. Porter completed his drawings on the 10th of July, with- out having consulted any one, took them to Richmond the next morning, and submitted them to Secretary Mallory, who immedi- ately approved them, without re-convening the board or calling in the advice or opinion of anyone, and wrote with his own hand, the following order, which he handed to Mr. Porter for delivery to Commodore Forrest, commanding the Gosport Navy Yard :
NAVY DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, VA., July 11th, 1861.
Flag Officer F. Forrest :
SIR-Yon will proceed with all practicable dispatch to make the changes in the Merrimac, and to build, equip and fit her in all respects, according to the designs and plans of the Constructor and Engineer, Messrs. Porter and Williamson. As time is of the utmost importance in this matter, you will see that the work progresses without delay to completion.
S. R. MALLORY, Secretary Confederate States Navy.
Did Mr. Mallory, at the time he issned that order to begin work on the vessel, have any doubts as to whose plans he had approved and was ordering to be carried out? Mr. Porter returned imme- diately to the Gosport Navy Yard, appointed Mr. James Meads
335
THE "VIRGINIA" (MERRIMAC.)
Master Ship carpenter,and commenced work on the vessel in the dry-dock. The burned part was cut away, and a deck built from one end to the other. Inside the shield the deck was covered with plank, on beams, but outside the shield, at both ends, it was built of solid timber, and covered over with iron one-inch thick. Figure 3 represents the shape of a cross section amidship.
Gun Deck.
Water
Line
Berth Deck.
FIGURE 3-Scale 1 inch 15 feet.
The ship had only two decks, gun and berth decks, and her boilers and engine remained in their original positions. She was fitted with four inch, hammered iron, port shutters on her four quarter ports, but had no shutters to her other ports. They were made in two pieces and closed like a pair of shears. She made her first fight, however, before they were put on her. Her rud- der chains were let into the outside after deck flush under the iron, and passed up through the shield in pipes until they came above the water line and were then conducted on rollers to the steering wheel. The ship was 262 feet and 9 inches long from her stein to the after side of the stern post, and from the stem to the forward part of the shield was 29 feet, 6 inches. From the tiller to the after part of the shield was 55 feet, and the length of the shield was 178 feet, 3 inches. The neat length on the gun deck, under the shield, was 167 feet, 7 inches. The rafters of the shield were of yellow pine fourteen inches thick, and were bolted together and were placed at an inclination of thirty-five degrees. Outside of this, a course of four-inch pine planks was fastened, fore and aft, and outside of this there was a course of four-inch oak plank placed up and down. All three of these courses of timber were caulked. Upon the outside of the oak planks was placed a course of rolled iron bars, eight inches wide and two inches thick, running fore and aft, and upon this was another course of similar iron, running up and down, the whole securely
336
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
bolted, through and through, and held with nuts on the inside. The length of the sides was twenty-four feet, and the perpendicu- lar thickness was twenty-two inches of wood and four inches of iron, but horizontally, it was about four feet. The deck, or top- of the shield, was fourteen feet wide and was protected by an iron grating made of two inch square iron with meshes two inches square. The pitch of the gun deek was seven feet. There were three hatchways in the top grating, with pivot shutters. In the original drawings of the ship it was contemplated to build a pilot house at the forward part of the shield, to be covered like the shield, but Mr. Porter subsequently had two cast iron conical shaped pilot houses made and put one at each end. These were cast hollow in the middle and abont twelve inches thick, with four loop holes for observations. They were not used by Commodore Buchanan during the engagement in Hampton Roads. He stood in one of the hatchways above referred to and communicated his orders to the wheelsman from that position. As the work pro- gressed, Secretary Mallory became very urgent for its speedy conclusion, and on the 19th of August, a little more than a month after it was begun, he wrote the following order :
CONFEDERATE STATES NAVY DEPARTMENT. RICHMOND, August 19th, 1861. Flag Officer F. Forrest, Commanding Navy Yard, Gosport :
Sir .- The great importance of the service expected of the Mer- rimac, and the urgent necessity of her speedy completion, in- duces me to call upon you to push forward the work with the ut- most dispatch. Chief Engineer Williamson and Constructor Porter, severally in charge of the two branches of this great work, and for which they will be held personally responsible, will receive therefore every possible facility at the expense and delay of every other work on hand if necessary.
S. R. MALLORY, Secretary Confederate States Navy.
In order to protect her rudder and propellor from being run into, Mr. Porter built a heavy, solid deck, or fan tail, extending over them, and it would have been necessary to have broken through this before either of them could have been reached by a colliding vessel. He had a cast iron prow, or beak, made, which weighed about 1,500 pounds. This he fastened on lier stem and bolted through it, but the ship struek the Cumberland a glancing blow and it was broken off. When the beak was put on her Mr. Porter was apprehensive that, as the ship was not built originally with a view to making a ram of her, it would not be safe to do so, but Captain Buchanan decided to take the risk, and sunk the Cumberland without materially injuring his own
337
THE "VIRGINIA" (MERRIMAC.)
vessel. As a safeguard to protect the hull, a course of iron one inch thick was fastened all around her, three feet down from the knuckle. Her armament consisted of two 7-inch rifle guns, on pivot, one at each end, with a range out of three port holes, and eight smooth bore 9-inch Dahlgren guns of her original battery. The 7-inch rifle guns were made at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond under the supervision of Lieutenant Brooke. The ar- mor plate was rolled there also. The gun carriages were made in the Navy Yard. In the engagements on the 8th and 9th of March two of her broadside guns were injured by having pieces knocked out at their muzzles, and they were replaced by two 6- inch rifle guns made at the Tredegar Works. Some of the offi- cers of the vessel have informed the author that they were of the opinion that the two 6-inch rifle guns were on board during her first engagement, but others, and members of the crew, with whom he has conversed coincide with his account. Naval Con- structor Porter's notes say the recommendation of the board was carried ont, as to her battery, and that the eight broadside guns were 9-inch Dahlgrens. The reports of the commanders of the Federal vessels engaged in the battle of March Sth, 1862, mention the 7-inch rifle and 9-inch smooth bore guns, but make no men- tion of any 6-inch rifles. Captain Van Brunt of the Minnesota speaks of the mainmast of that vessel having been struck by a 6-inch rifle shell from the battery at Seawell's Point.
The work on the Merrimac was hastened with all possible dis- patch, and the workmen employed on her evinced a very patriotic spirit. She was a novel kind of a vessel, and they felt a pride in her as the invention of a Portsmouth man, and a desire to see how she would perform the duty expected of her, and, in order to expedite the work, the blacksmiths, machinists and bolt drivers , signed a voluntary proposition to work until 8 o'clock every night without extra pay. The following names were signed to the paper :
Jas. A. Farmer, M. S.,Samuel Hodges,
John Askew, Wiley Howard,
Wm. T. Butt,
Jos. Rickets,
Sam'l. Davenport,
Thos. Bloxom,
II. Reynolds,
John Davis,
Anthony Butt, Southey Rew,
Alex. Davis,
Thos. Bourke,
Wm. Reynolds,
Joshua Dailey,
Elias Bridges, John B. Rooke,
E. H. Brown, John Rhea,
Lewis Ewell,
Win. Gray, Thos. Gny,
Thos. L. Rooke,
Lawson Etheredge,
Harvey Barnes,
Miles Foreman,
Smith Guy,
Frederick Bowen,
Thos. Franklin,
Anderson Gwinn,
Geo. G. Bear,
Jas. Fleming,
Hillery Hopkins,
John Cain,
Wilson Guy,
John Green,
Wm. Hoffler,
Michael Connor,
John Curran,
Geo. Collier,
Thos. Dunn,
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NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
Lawrence Herbert,
James Moran,
H. Tatem,
Henry Hopkins,
Patrick Parks,
Walter Thornton,
Opie Jordan,
Jas. Pattison,
John West,
Wm. Jones,
Wm. Perry,
Jas. Wakefield,
Thos. Kirby,
Thos. Powell,
E. Woodward,
Jesse Kay,
Wm. Pebworth,
David Wilkins,
Jas. Larkin,
Chas. Snead,
Jas. Wilbern,
Lemnel Leary,
Patrick Shanasy,
Walter Wilkins,
Wm. Leary,
Wm. Shepherd,
Jas. Watson, Jr.,
Hugh Minter,
John Stokes,
Jos. West,
Jas. Mitchell,
Chas. Sturtevant,
John Wilder,
John Moody,
Wm. Shipp,
Edward Walker.
Julius Moran, Calder Sherwood,
Various were the comments by visitors and others at the Navy Yard while the ship was in process of construction, and the pre- vailing opinion seemed to be that she was top heavy and would turn bottom up, and many spoke of Mr. Porter as a visionary. He says that, among the officers stationed at the yard or ordered to the ship, only one, Captain Fairfax, gave him any encourage- ment, and when she was completed, and he reported to Captain S. S. Lee, executive officer of the yard, that he would turn the water into the doek the next day and float her. Captain Lee asked him, seriously : "Mr. Porter, do you really think she will float ?" and the next morning, when the water was actually turned into the dock, the officers present, who were ordered to her, stood upon the edge of the doek to see whether or not she was going to sink. Mr. Porter says Lieutenant Catesby Jones, who was or- dered to her as executive officer a short time before she was com- pleted, was among those who expressed a want of faith in her ability to float.
After her engagements on the Sth and 9th of March, 1862, she returned to the Navy Yard and Mr. Porter put her in the dry- dock and made a thorough examination of her. There were about a hundred indentations in her armor where she was struck, and of these about twenty were from the guns of the Monitor. These could be told from the others by their larger size. Six of the outer plates were eracked and were replaced by new ones. None of the plates in the under course were broken, nor were any of her timbers injured. No repairs were necessary to be done to them. The broken plates were occasioned by shots from the Monitor. There were numerous shot holes through her smoke staek, which, however, was not carried away. Iler iron beak, or prow, was broken off. This was originally made wedge shaped, projected about two feet from the ship, and was slanting on top. A new beak was made to replace this. It was made of steel and wrought iron, extended baek about thirteen feet from the stem, and was securely bolted. The two damaged broadside guns were
339
THE "VIRGINIA" (MERRIMAC.)
replaced by two 6-inch rifle guns, steel pointed solid shot were made for her guns, and her sides, for three feet below her knuckle, were covered with an additional course of two-inch iron plates placed up and down, and the top end clasped over the knuckle, to prevent the starting of the ends of the side armor on the shield from the effects of shot. This additional weight was neutralized by removing a portion of the pig iron which had been placed on her originally, so that her depth of water remained the same as when she made her trip to Hampton Roads on the 8th of March.
Various statements have been published, both from Confeder- ate and Federal sources, as to the injury done the vessel in her engagements in Hampton Roads, but the above embraces all the injury she actually sustained. There was an almost imperceptible leak in her bow where her prow was broken in ramming the Cum- berland, but it really amounted to nothing. Captain S. S. Lee, in his testimony before the Congressional committee appointed to investigate the Navy Department, page 231, says : "She was not severely damaged at all. She was not materially injured." The repairs were made by Constructor Porter under Captain Lee's su- pervision, and Mr. Porter's notes say that none of her wooden backing was broken, that none of her second course of iron was broken or removed, that none of her first course of iron was knocked off, and only six of those plates were broken.
A most inaccurate account of the Virginia was written by Lieutenant Catesby Jones and published in the Southern Histori- cal Society Papers, Nos. 2-3, Vol. XI, pp. 65-76. It is unfortu- nate that so many errors should go forth to the world as history. Among other mistakes, he says :
First .- " Her rudder and propellor were unprotected." The facts are that the fan tail of solid timber which was built ont over them made them safer than any other portion of the vessel, out- side her shield, and a blow which would have cut through to her propellor would have crushed in the side of the ship.
Second .- He says "there were many vexatious delays attend- ing the fitting of the ship. Many of them arose from the want of skilled labor," &c. The mechanics of Portsmouth and Norfolk will hardly accept that as correct.
Third .- He says he, "by special order, selected her battery." How could he have done this when her rifle guns were made at the Tredegar Works in Richmond under the supervision of Lieu- tenant Brooke, and her broadside guns were at the Navy Yard? Iler battery had been selected by the board which recommended her conversion into an iron-clad, and was specified in their report of June 25th, 1861, which was approved by Secretary Mallory.
Fourth .- He says "The lower part of her shield forward was immersed only a few inches instead of two feet, as was intended." It was two feet under water, covered with kentlege, which was also under water.
3.40
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
Fifth. He says " had the fire of the Minnesota, Cumberland and Congress been concentrated on the water line we would have been seriously hurt." The vessel was as strong at the water line an she was anywhere else. Her shield ran down into the water in distance of three feet and a half below the water line.
Sixth. He says " the loss of our prow and anchor, and con- sumption of conl, water, &c., had Tightened us so that the lower part of the forward end of the shield was awash." Had he been correct in this the bor of the ship would have been out of the water, and to have tightened her to that extent would have re- quired the removal of two hundred and seventy five tons of na- torial from her in the twenty four hours she was in Hampton Roads. Every inch, in depth, of displacement on her shield Was equid to twenty three tons, and every inch of her hull, below her shield, was equivalent to thirty tous.
Captain John Taylor Wood, who served gallantly on her as a Lieutenant and afterwards made an enviable record for himself by his deeds of daring in the Confederate Navy, was the author of an equally inaccurate description of the ship. I was published in the Century Magazine of March. 1885.
He seems to have accepted Lieutenant Jones' account as to the vulnerability of the vessel at the water line, and the "impro. lected" condition of her rudder and propeller, adopts his mistake as to her drawing 23 feet of water, falls into an error about her pilot house, gives her one more deck than she had, carried away her smokestack in the action of March 9th, and says: " When the ship was in fighting trim both ends were awash." Had this been so her draft would have been only nineteen feed forward and twenty aft, and her caves would have been even with the water. In reality, however, her ends and caves were two feet below the water line.
The positions occupied by those two gentlemen, and their well known characters, add weight to their publications, houve it is unfortunate, for the correctness of history, that their articles were not given more careful study before publication.
But the Virginia proved a success, and though, while her sie "ross of failure was a matter of doubt, no name wasconnected with her authorship except Messes. Porter and Williamson ; though the Secretary in his order to Commodore Forrest, directed him to convert into an ironclad after the plans of Messes. Porter and Williamson, though in another order to Commodore Forrest. he proposed to hold those two gentlemen personally responsible for the success of their plans, though in an official report to Congress he referred to them alone in connection with the estimated cost. of the vessel, though up to that time no name but theirs had been mentioned in official orders from the Navy Departments, in the public press or in private conversation, yet, when she had demon
3.41
THE " VIRGINIA" (MERRIAMLAC.)
strated her ability to float and to resist the shots of the enemy, a new claimant appeared for the credit of having projected her. The claim was made in an anonymous communication, signed " Justice," which appeared in the columns of the Richmond En quirer and Richmond Whig of about the 25th of March, 1862, claiming for Lieutenant Brooke that credit. It was subsequently accertamed that the communications was sent to those papers by an employee in Mr. Brooke's office in the Navy Department.
On the 29th of March Mr. Porter wrote a reply, which he sul, mitted to Chief Engineer Williamson for his approval, and then forwarded to the Richmond Examiner, in which paper it was pub- lished. He said in concluding his letter :
" Of the great and skillful calulations of the displacement and weights of timber and iron involved in the planning and construe tion of this great piece of naval architecture, and of her present. weight, with everything on board, no other man than myself has, or ever had any knowledge. If he has, let him whom it, for while public opinion said she never would float, no one save myself knew to the contrary, or what she was capable of being. After the Merriman was in progress some time, Lieutenant Brooke was constantly proposing alterations in her to the Secretary of the Navy, and as constantly and firmly opposed by myself, which the Secretary knows. To Engineer Williamson, who had the exclu- sve control of the machinery, great credit is due for having to improved the propeller and engines as to improve the speed of the ship three knots per hour. I never thought for a moment, that, after the many difficulties I had to encounter in making these new and intricate arrangements for the workingof this novel kind of ship, that any one would try to rob me of my just merits, for, if there was any other man than myself who had any responsi- bility about her success or failure, I never knew it (except so far as the working of her machinery was concerned, for which Chief Engineer Williamson was alone responsible.)
JOHN L. PORTER, U. S. N. Constructor.
This letter was submitted to Chief Engineer Williamson and approved by him before it was sent to the Examiner for public, tion, and Lieutenant Brooke failed to make any reply to it or to accept the challenge contained in it, to prove bis authorship.
There seems to be some doubt as to what, Mr. Brooke really claims in connection with the vessel, but his testimony before the Congressional Investigating Committee, admitting that the board adopted Mr. Porter's shield and stating that Mr. Williamson pro posed putting the shield on the Merrimac, would indicate that he had abandoned all claim as the projector of that portion of the vessel and confined himself to the submerged projecting ends fea-
342
NORFOLK COUNTY, 1861-5.
ture, and, though the author has personal knowledge of the fact that the plan of the shield of Mr. John L. Porter's iron-clad of 1846, and that of his model of 1861, which he carried to Rich- mond, and the shield of the Merrimac were identical, and were submerged two feet at their eaves, and that he conceived the idea and developed it in the drawings and specifications of a vessel. (which drawings are to this day in his possession), fifteen years before he ever saw Lieutenant Brooke, and, that he was at the Gosport Navy Yard when he made the drawings applying that shield to the Merrimac, while Lieutenant Brooke was in Rich- mond ; that, in the conception and development of the plan, he was not aided by any ideas which may have been entertained by that gentleman, still as a historian, he has no inclination to sup- press anything which Lieutenant Brooke has been able to advance in support of his claim. The main stay of support which he has, is a report made by Secretary Mallory to the Confederate Con- gress. That report was dated March 29th, 1862, but wasnot made public until April 4th, when it appeared in the Richmond press. In that report Mr. Mallory says :
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