USA > Virginia > City of Norfolk > City of Norfolk > History of Norfolk County, Virginia and representative citizens, V.1 > Part 63
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In September. 1818. Capt. Arthur Sin- clair was ordered to the Navy Yard to superintend the construction of the "Del- aware." under Captain Cassin. Captain Sinclair was soon after addressed as command- ing naval officer afloat at Norfolk, and held a command separate from the yard for several years later. The receiving ship was a part of his command, and all recruiting was done un- der his direction. We find about this period, and for some years after, considerable quanti- ties of timber, plank, knees, masts and mast- pieces, and also of cordage furnished from Gos- port to the navy yards in other parts of the country.
In the latter part of 1818, the old wooden buildings used as marine barracks were pulled down and a brick building put up in their place. The line-of-battle ship "New York" was also commenced in this year.
In October, 1820, the "Delaware" was launched and housed over, not being required for service immediately.
In June, 1821, Captain Cassin was re- lieved by Capt. Lewis Warrington. During the summer of that vear Captain Warrington was directed to fill-in the old timber-basin. This was a shallow basin. originally formed by a creek or cove, and included the spot where ship-house "B" was afterward built ; its banks were protected by wharf-logs, with a wharf across the entrance, provided with slips for
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HISTORY OF. NORFOLK COUNTY
boats to enter. A ship-house was authorized to be built over the "New York;" this was after- ward lettered "A." A pair of masting-sheers was also authorized.
In August. 1821, a school for midshipmen was established under the charge of Chaplain David P. Adams, on board the "Guerriere" frigate, then in ordinary at Norfolk.
Improvements to the Navy Yard buildings, repairs to the wharves, filling in and leveling the grounds were carried on from year to year under the current appropriations. In Novem- ber, 1823. the Secretary of the Navy reported to Congress the following as the improvements at Gosport up to that date, the most of which have been previously noticed in these pages, viz. : A brick wall around the yard; a com- fortable dwelling for the commandant; a large and convenient smiths' shop of brick : two large brick warehouses; a few frame buildings used as joiners' shop, coopers' shops, etc. ; very con- venient houses and quarters for the marines : a building slip; a substantial ship-house : and a pair of masting-sheers.
In December, 1824. Captain Warrington was relieved from the command of the yard by Master-Commandant James Renshaw.
The title of master-commandant was changed to that of commander; and sailing- master, to master, by Act of Congress ap- proved March 3, 1837.
On July 31, 1822, United States ship "North Carolina." 74 guns, Capt. C. W. Mor- gan, sailed directly from Hampton Roads along the wharves to the Navy Yard under full sail. On January 1, 1838, the same thing was done by the United States 120-gun ship "Pennsyl- vania." Her commanding officer was Sam- uel Barron.
On the 25th of May. 1824, the Senate of the United States passed a resolution calling upon the Secretary of the Navy for informa- tion upon the following points :
Ist. The expediency, usefulness, economy and necessity of a dry dock of sufficient capac- ity for receiving, examining and repairing ships of the line.
2nd. The best location for a dry dock.
3rd. The probable expense of the con- struction of one of the size mentioned, in a solid and durable manner, with the needful . appendages for an advantageous use of it.
Hon. Mr. Southard, then Secretary of the Navy. in his answer to the resolution, under date of January 3, 1825, urged in very strong terms the necessity not only of one, but of at least two dry docks for the navy, at its then present size. He called attention to the fact that not one existed in the country, although the arguments to prove the propriety of build- ing one or more had several times been offered since the organization of the Navy Department in 1798; that twice appropriations had been made by Congress for the construction of docks (on the 25th of February, 1799, and on the 3rd of March, 1813), but the amounts ap- propriated were so small as to be entirely in- adequate to the purpose. He stated that the only method of examining and repairing the hulls of heavy ships below the water-line, then available, was that of heaving down, an ex- ceedingly slow, expensive, laborious and dan- gerous operation, and very unsatisfactory in its results : while, with a dry dock, work might be performed in a few hours, and at trifing expense, which would take weeks by the pro- cess then in use.
In regard to the location he quoted the opinion of the navy commissioners that there should be one in the eastern part of the Union and one in the waters of the Chesapeake. For the site of the first of these he proposed Charlestown, Massachusetts, and for the sec- ond, Gosport. The following paragraphs are copied from the Secretary's letter :
"At Gosport there is also a valuable yard, with improvements; but there is not within its limits so good a position for a dock as upon the adjoining land, which may be bought for a small sum, and add much to the convenience and utility of the establishment already there.
. "The Chesapeake and its waters form a first object in every plan relating to the nation- , al defense, and somewhere upon them must be
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placed an important portion of our naval means. Whether our principal depot ought to be there the resolution does not direct us to in- quire. But let that question be decided as it may, Gosport must be retained as a repairing and refitting station, to which resort can be had in cases of need. Lying behind the strong defenses of Old Point Comfort and the Rip Raps, it can never be mnimportant as a naval position. It has a numerous surrounding pop- ulation, deep waters' susceptibility of defense, accessibility at all times, freedom from frost, great facilities in obtaining supplies of mater- ials and stands at once in the most important and connecting points in that great line of in- ternal intercourse and navigation to which the public attention has at all times been so strongly directed."
The estimated cost of construction of two docks. based mainly upon an estimate for one at Boston by Col. Loammi Baldwin, then one of the first civil engineers of the country, * was $700,000.
No immediate action was taken by Con- gress upon the report of the Secretary of the Navy, but Mr. Southard, on the 21st of March. 1825, directed the navy agent at Norfolk to as- certain the prices at which the land adjoining the yard to the southward and extending in that direction to the river, could be purchased. Un- der the date of April 14th Mr. King, the naval agent, reported that the aggregate cost of the several parcels of land would be $44,500.
Mr. Southard regarded this sum as alto- gether too great and directed Mr. King to pro- ceed no further in his negotiations.
On the 25th of May. 1825, Commodore James Barron relieved Captain Renshaw as commandant of the yard.
On the 28th of November Commodore Bar- ron, in answer to a complaint of the Secretary of the Navy that too long a time was required
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to repair and fit out ships. informed the Secre- tary that the delays were immediately owing to want of proper workshops, storehouses and a dock, and proposed a plan for the improve- ment of the yard. which involved the purchase - of more land ( the yard being altogether too confined for the purpose for which it was re- quired). the erection of suitable buildings and shops, and of a floating dry dock. He fur- nished a plan and estimates for the last. He especially urged the inexpediency of erecting wooden wharves and docks in waters infested with the Teredo navalis, which destroyed the structures at the water's edge and left the sub- i structure to form actual obstructions in the channel.
The question of purchasing additional ground seems thus to have been reopened. and under date of February 26, 1826, Mr. King, the navy agent, suggests to the Navy Department the plan of applying to the County Court to ap- point a jury to appraise the lands required by the government. This suggestion was ap- proved by the Secretary. but seems to have been a very slow process.
On the 22nd of May, 1826, a resolution of Congress of the following purport was ap- proved, viz. :
The President to cause an examination and accurate survey to be made by skillful engi- neers of a site for a dry dock at the navy yards at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Charlestown, Massachusetts, Brooklyn, New York, and Gos- port, Virginia, respectively ; and that such en- gineers be required to state the dimensions nec- essary for such docks, the advantages of each of the above-named establishments and the objections that apply to either, with a detailed estimate of the expense of a suitable site, and of constructing a dock at each of said places ; and the President be requested to communicate the same to Congress in the first week of the next session.
On the 26th of July Colonel Baldwin (the civil engineer before mentioned) was appointed by the Department to make the required sur- veys. The first spot selected at Gosport as the
*Colonel Baldwin was one of a family of en- gineers, all more or less distinguished in their pro- fession. He had visited many of the dry docks of Europe, and was particularly qualified for the work which he afterward performed of building the docks at Gosport and Charlestown.
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
site of the dock was at the northern side of the entrance of the creek, now forming a timber- dock; this site was chosen as being the best in the yard as it then existed.
During the sante year ( 1826) the frigate "St. Lawrence" was laid down and a ship- house built. afterward lettered "B."
On the 3rd of March. 1827, Congress passed an Act entitled "An Act for the gradual improvement of the Navy of the United States," by which there was appropriated the sum of $500,000 per annum for six years, to be applied to the purposes specified in the Act.
By section 4 of the Act the President was .authorized to cause to be constructed two dry docks on the most approved plan for the use of the United States Navy; one of the said docks to be erected at some point to the south and the other to the north of the Potomac River.
By section 6 the President was authorized to cause the navy vards of the United States to be thoroughly examined and plans to be pre- pared for the improvement of the same and the preservation of the public property therein ; from which plans, after they should be sanc- tioned by the President, no deviation should be made but by his special order.
On the 29th of March, 1827, Mr. King, the navy agent, reported that the lands from Jef- ferson street. along the line of Third street to the county road, and thence down to the water, could be purchased for $7,825. He was au- thorized to make the purchase, and also of such other lands adjoining the yard on the south as should be deemed necessary, and was directed to consult with Commodores Bainbridge, Mor- ris and Chauncey, who then constituted the Board of Navy Commissioners charged, under authority of the Act above alluded to, with the examination of the yards and the forination of plans for their improvement.
The lands finally purchased included all the ground south of Lincoln street and east of Third street to the creek, and several parcels of land lying to the southward of the creek. and now included within the walls of the yard,
being town lots Nos. 120 to 151, both inclu- sive, and the parcels of land marked from I to 7.
The following is a list of the purchases made, the date of the conveyances, the prices paid. respectively, and the names of the ven- dor's :
LOTS
DATE
COST
NAMES OF VENDORS
Nos. 120.121.124.[June 9, 1826
$1,000
Mordecai Cooke et ux.
125.
Nos. 122. 123 ..
.. Nov. 23, 1826.
1.200
Enoch Choare et ux.
Nos. 127, 127 ...
Mar. 26, 1829
446
Mary A. Fowler.
Nos. 128, to 135 Nov. 17. 1827
1,700
Arthur Emmerson et ux.
inclusive. l
Nos. 136, 137 .... June 30, 1826,
450
John Andrews, Catherine Wil-
Nos. 138. 139.
Mar. 24, 1827
400
Ann Drewry and Mary Kidd.
Nos. 142, 113 .. .. Nov. 29, 1>26
750
Thomas Edwards et ux.
Nos. 144, 145 .... June 2. 18271
3,400
Martha Herbert.
Nos. 146, 147 .... May 4. 1927;
475
Thomas Edwards et ux.
Nos. 148, 149 ....
Mar. 19, 1829
300
John Collins, et ux.
Nos. 150, 151 .. .. April 13, 1827;
250
John Wilson et ux.
No. 1.
June 2, 1820
2.500
Thomas Edwards et ux.
No. 2.
May 8. 1827
5,500
Anu Galt.
No. 3.
May 28. 1827
1.000
Sophia Bradford.
No. 4.
May 28, 1827!
2,000
'William Bingley et ux.
No. 5.
May 28, 1827:
800
Arthur Emmerson et ux.
No. 6.
Mar. 31, 1826;
501
Margaret Livingston.
No. 7
April 8, 1828
500
Sophia Bradford.
In taking possession of the newly acquired property the government also took possession of as much of Second, Nelson, Jefferson and Fayette streets as were included in it though, as will be shown further on, these were not purchased tintil some years later. It may be here said that the streets above mentioned were never actually made or used as such. A coun- ty road ran along the south side of the creek to the river, where a bridge crossed from a point near the southern end of the present mast-house and house-joiners' shops.
The Board of Navy Commissioners, of which Commodore Bainbridge was president. during the winter of 1827-28 made an elabor- ate plan for the improvement of the yard, based on a thorough survey of the yard and the adja- cent waters by Colonel Baldwin. The position before chosen for a dry dock was abandoned and sites for three docks were selected on the addition to the southward of the creek. The report of the commissioners was dated April 1, 1828. and was approved by the President, John Quincy Adams, on the 24th of the fol- lowing November.
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kinson and others.
Nos. 140, 141 .... June. 8. 1×27!
+50
William B. Lamb et ux.
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CONSTRUCTION OF THE STONE DRY DOCK.
The work upon the dry dock was com- menced in November, 1827. Colonel Baldwin was appointed engineer in charge of the con- struction of this as well as of that authorized at Boston : and Capt. W. P. S. Sanger was ap- pointed resident engineer at Gosport. Captain Sanger continued the immediate charge of the work under Colonel Baldwin until its com- pletion.
The northernmost of the three sites selected for docks was chosen for the one about to be built. The site as laid down projected about 130 feet outside of the shore-line or into about IO feet of water. The average surface of the ground inside the shore-line was 6 feet above high-water mark.
A strong. water-tight coffer-dam was built as a preliminary step to beginning the excava- tion ; this consisted of two rows of piles 121/2 feet apart, directly in front of the dock, and 8 feet apart at the sides. Each row consisted first of ribbon-piles. 14 inches square and 45 feet long, driven eight feet apart, to which were bolted ribbons of 12 by 14-inch yellow-pine timber, one at the head of the piles, one 61/2 feet and one 1012 feet lower: inside of the ribbons. i. c., toward the interior of the dam. were driven sheet-piles 13 inches square. and tongued and grooved. The rows were then secured to each other by tie-beams laid across and secured to the heads of the ribbon piles; and by 2-inch iron bolts through the lower rib- bons, one between each two of the ribbon- piles. The intervening space between the rows was then filled with clay from the excavation. The dam was found to be perfectly tight and secure and never gave any trouble while in use.
Joining on to tlie coffer-dam, on either side. was constructed a cob-wharf ; that to the south- ward extended only some forty yards when it turned in to the shore: but that to the north- ward extending along the proposed line of the quay-wall to the entrance of the proposed tim- ber-dock, where it joined a cribwork built along
the line designated for the south wall of the latter.
The excavation for the dock was now pushed steadily forward, and the earth removed was used to fill in from the shore-line to the cob-wharf above mentioned. and to level other portions of the yard. The soil for a depth of from five to 12 feet was a yellow sand; next a stratum of fine compact blue clay, with here and there upon its upper surface irregular strata of blue sand, and of shells mixed with clay. The blue clay extended at the entrance of the dock about 30 feet below the bottom of the pit, and at the head diminished to 15 feet, where a bed of gravel was reached, so hard that an augur would not penetrate it. The pit was, when the excavation was finished, 40 feet deep, 340 feet long and 100 feet wide at the battom, the sides sloping so as to make it about 60 feet wider and as much longer at the top. A chalybeate spring was met in the excavation, the flow of which was so strong as to force the water through the pores of the piles which were driven. An auger-hole being bored in the head of a pile the water would flow out of it freely. The summit of this spring was some six feet below the level of the low-water mark.
The pit having been prepared, foundation or bearing-piles were driven in rows three feet apart from center to center, but somewhat closer along the central line of the pit. These piles were about 30 feet long at the entrance and gradually diminished in length to 15 feet at the head. being driven down to the stratum of gravel above referred to, into which it was impossible to make them enter more than a few inches. A row of sheet-piles was next driven across the head and along either side of the pit, a row across the front entrance, one under where the grooves for the floating-gate were to be, one under the turning-posts of the gates, and one under the gallery. These rows of sheet-piles act both as stop-waters and as additional supports to the foundation.
The heads of the bearing-piles were cut off level and upon them were placed transversely with the axis of the dock yellow-pine beams
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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
12 inches thick either way and secured to the piles by treenails. The spaces between the beams and to the level of their uppermost sur- faces were then filled with broken stone, after which a close floor of 4-inch yellow-pine plank was laid, and upon this and directly over the lower was placed a second course of timber 12 inches thick by 16, laid edgewise; the inter- mediate spaces between these were filled with brick laid in cement: after this another floor similar to the first was put down.
All the dimension stone of this dock is of granite from different Massachusetts quarries. and nearly all of it dressed in the quarries from the plans, and so well was this work done that it is estimated that not SIoo was spent in alter- ing stone. The rubble-backing to the sidewalls was obtained principally from the quarries at Port Deposit. Maryland. A small portion, however, came from the Falls of the James River, near Richmond.
The chamber of the dock, or the portion ordinarily used for docking ships. is 253 feet long and 851/2 feet wide at the coping. The extreme length of the dock, which can be made available by placing the floating-gate outside the entrance and not using the turning-gates. is 320 feet. The United States ship "Severn.' measuring 324 feet over all, was docked by blocking her up to raise her above the miter-sills. The floor of the cham- ber is 227 feet long and 30 feet wide. The increase in the width of the cham- ber from the floor to the coping is pro- duced by offsets in the side-walls, forming the' altars. The side-walls are 35 feet thick at the bottom and but 7 at the coping. The floor is laid in two courses of cut granite in the form of an inverted arch, to resist the upward pres- sure of the water ; the lower course is tapering in form, one foot thick at the entrance of the chamber and two feet three inches at the head. thus giving rise of one foot three inches : the second course is of uniform thickness, i. c., three feet.
The lowest two altars have a rise of 15 inches each, the floor rising to the level of the
lowest altar at the head of the chamber; the next three have a rise of one foot each. These five altars are laid so as to form a continuation of the inverted arch: the next three rise three feet each: the next three, 4 feet 412 inches each; when a further rise of 4 fect 42 inches brings us to the coping. The width of the al- tars from the lowest up are as follows: The first. three feet; the next three, two feet each ; the next. four feet : the next two, 21/2 feet each ; the next, four feet; and the upper three, two feet each. The head of the chamber is semi- circular. There are five timber-slips in the head of the dock, with landings upon the broad altars. There are six flights of stone stairs in the chamber for the use of workmen, three on each side. viz. : One at the head ; one at the center : and one at the entrance. At the entrance of the chamber is the gallery, which is the lowest part of the floor and from which the water passes through gates into the dis- charging culverts. Next. outside the gallery, is the great inverted arch; the miter-sills, against which the turning gates rest when closed, abut against this arch. Vertical re- cesses in the side-walls receive the turning- gates when open. Outside of these recesses, at the entrance of the dock is another inverted arch, a groove in which, and continued up the side-walls, receives the floating-gate. The float-gate may, however. as has been mentioned above. be placed against shoulders in the face of the entrance, thus increasing the capacity of the dock.
On either side of the dock a culvert four feet high and 21/2 feet wide in the opening, and provided with a bronze gate, leads from the gallery to the reservoir across the head of the dock: the culverts are built of hard brick laid in cement, with straight side-walls and semi- circular tops and bottoms : the thickness of the walls is 144 inches.
The reservoir is 12 feet high and seven feet wide, built with straight side-walls of cut granite, a semi-circular top of brick 14 inches thick, and a brick inverted arch at the bottom of the same thickness.
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A VIEW OF THE OPENING OF THE STONE DRY DOCK OF THE U. S. NAVY YARD AT GOSPORT, JUNE 17, 1833. FOR THE RECEPTION OF THE U. S. SHIP "DELAWARE," THE FIRST LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP BUILT AT GOSPORT (NORFOLK), AND THE FIRST NATIONAL SHIP EVER DOCKED IN A DRY DOCK BELONGING TO THE UNITED STATES. 'Reproduced from an Old Print./
THE U. S. SHIP "DELAWARE, " 74, IN THE STONE DRY DOCK OF THE U. S. NAVY YARD AT GOSPORT. THE KEEL OF THIS LINE-OF-BATTLE SHIP WAS LAID IN THE SUMMER OF 1817, AND SHE WAS LAUNCHED IN 1820. HER NAME WAS CHOSEN BY LOTTERY. Reproduced from an Old Print
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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
From the south end of the reservoir ( where a well is situated. reaching to the surface). a tunnel with cross-section elliptical in form, four feet high and two feet nine inches wide in the opening and about 190 feet long. leads to the pump-well. From the pump-well a dis- charge culvert about 150 feet long leads into the creek at the southwest corner of the yard; it is about four feet square at the mouth, and supplied with a composition gate.
Water is admitted to the dock through fill- ing culverts, one on either side, 14 feet nine inches below the coping. and leading inside of the turning-gates; these culverts are also sup- plied with bronze gates.
There are two pump-wells 15 feet nine inches in diameter each. and connected to- getlier; they are built of brick; the bottoms are inverted arches two feet thick; the side- walls are 21/2 feet thick, with four projecting courses of cut stone at proper intervals to sup- port the pump-frames. On the tops of the walls are stone copings one foot deep and 18 inches wide.
There are four lift-pumps in each well, each 30 inches in diameter and of three feet stroke, made of cast iron, lined with composition staves and supplied with composition boxes and vales. The pumps are driven by pinion wheels fitted on either end of the engine shaft, work- ing in cog-wheels on the shafts of the pumps.
The engine-house was a two-story brick building, 200 feet long by 50 feet wide; but 50 feet of the lower story was used for the lifting engines : the rest of the building was at first occupied as a sawmill and as a machine- shop. The whole is now used as a machine- shop.
position rollers, and cast-iron tracks are laid upon the floor for these to travel upon.
The floating-gate, or caisson, is built of white-oak timber and yellow-pine plank, cop- per-fastened. It is 60 feet long. 30 feet high and 16 feet wide amidships. The stems and keel are each two feet thick, and project 14 inches into the grooves in the walls and arches. There is a fore-and-aft bulkhead from stem to stern and from deck to keelson, composed of solid timber, and two feet thick. Three courses of tie-beams from this bulkhead to the sides resist the pressure of the water. Four copper ship's pumps on each side and worked by brakes on deck are used for pumping out the water when it is desired to lift the gate out of the grooves.
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