The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-05-03
The steam Frigates--Mr. stevens COnteni.
plated new steam Shlp-0f.War.

dent, for what it is worth At the same time we are
perfectly ready TO give an enswer to it from the
" other side of tho house" as soon AZ one reaches
U.S.
Il Repiew, touching the nature Of NJ, Robert l..
Sfeve"s' P'oYosfd IRON SieomerJW Mirbor Defence,
AMI some other h'"gs IN 'edtion 10 the jpa de-
YrsrtD,cnf.
II we Americans distinguished for any one
thing above another, /, Is for the love OF experiments.
And, doubt II another country can be found which
has suffered or paid more dearly for them than we
have.
As understand Mr.. Stevens plan, it is TO build a
boat formed OF boiler sheet ron four thick nescs in
depth, and strongly secured which, he alleges has
been proven by experiments made before his two
brothers and some government officers, Che has not
told US whom) was found resist the forcs of can
non pan, ana even one OF his own shels Although
lbeheve II Is an admitted fact that thirtytwo pound
ball, at point baa shot, Is capable of penetrating "a
solid piece OF oak timber four feet in thickness
Now, II does not require much reelection 10 per
celve, inat 30 lar az the government IL concerned,
the project must, as has happened in other no.
liable cases, prove very Improbable experiment, if
not miserable failure. But, az far as MIR Steyens
interest Is involved, II will likely prove better job
than either horse racing or railroad, or steamboat
spcculations, which have Tor sometime been at a
heavy discount
This idea of an iron bomb proof boat does not,
however, seem To have originated with Mr.. Stevens
at least probably fifty men has heard Col Bomford,
OF the Ordnance Oilice, datc on the same plan as
his own, and as hc has for many years had the con-
troll OF thst Department. and has often involved and
the Government IN expensive and visionary schemes
either to promote the interest of favorites or to
have his own notions carried out in the name of an
other, and IN Mr. Stevens and himself, as he says
were boys together, II has 30 hnmened, Mr. = and
brothers have never, we know of, failed in get
ting any favor the Colonel could bestow or aid them
to.
1t may be possible, Mr. Stevens may have added
something to the details of the PLAN but we have
reason to believe he has merely with some other
additions and suggestions agreed TO father what the
other conceived, IN order To have the $s,MO(W APP
pr6piated, to enable him to have boat built rs il
would not he competent Tor the colonel OF ord
nance, to apply IN his own name for contract for
such purpose.
Let US examine the boat Mr.. Stevens briefly de-
scribcs in his letter to Government from the gene
raj and vaguc terms of which are left to infer,
that, he himself, had not fully arranged his plan in
| his own mind He says he will make his boat of
sheet boiler iron. If 30, how thick does he intend
TO have each of the four plates, he is ~ fasten to-
| gether! To answer his purpose, they cannot, we
suppose, be less than quarter of inch each. This
would give the whole thickness of exactly one
| inch. We do not say, that even this thickness
would actually either he bomb or ball proof, but
less than this thickness, would probably even "a
tsfy Mr. Stevens tor 81 vague is his description that
much has to be left TO uncertain conjecture Ad-
| nit the four sheets 10 be in the whole one inch
| thick and each square inch in surface will form
| cubic inch, and one square foot, one hundred and
forty -four cubic inches. A cubic inch Of solid iron
| weighs O. 81 lbs A cubic foot weighs 236 pounds
1
weigh about 10 lbs IT is over that, but for the sake
| of following our calculation IN round numbers, we
will call it 40 lbs. Now let us see what weight an
entire boat built will amount to ; in order to do
which, we must fix upon her dimensions Here
again Mr. Stevens has left us entirely in the dark
but if she to be sufficiently large have engines
Of probably not less than 800 or 400 horse power to
| drive her submarine screw, itself an unconcluded
experiment, and 10 contain 100 men, as ne says is
| the few required" to manage her; and she cannot
be less than l75 feet long, ~ to Al feet beam, and 20
to Is feet hold Of from 100 10 1900 tons or, if
you please one hall, one fourth the size, yet
| calculation would answer n kind of standard for
ench. And in the estimate we shall make of her
weight, we must also suppose her deck must also be
Of four sheets of the thickness Of boiler iron
q shell falling deck, would Otherwise tumble.
through and that, in fact the whole concern, sides,
bottom, stem stern, aud deck, we Will suppose
to be OF equal thickness, and as we are
| wholly unacquained with the curves Mr.. Stevens is
to give his vessel will for the sake of easier cacti-
lations, cast the boat into regular parraelagram of
off one for curves we shall then have in our
| figure q parraleagram of l32 IL long, ~ 81 hold
and 80 feet beam. The two sides Of this vessel will
| contain about $3.50 square feet. The ends would
! contain about 1885 square feet, and the deck and
bottom about 1867 IL square feet, or a total Of
square feet for all sides OF the vessel of 1852 ~
square feet, some fractions more or less. deemng il
unnecessary for our purpose at present To be more
| exact Now if we, in round numbers estimate each
souare foot of this inch thick TO wei ,h ut least
| Gpounds we shall find toa! weight of his vessel to
4 IN IN
| Which would have TO be added the weight of engines
| r.lixhan gun and Mr. Scvens's shells, nc, an ag-
/ sregate weight that would sink this iron box or
| bomb proof boat TO the bottom quicker than one Of
| lis own shells would descend. Mr.. =, may say
| he intends To distribute his material in such way
thai it shall only have one inch iron nterposed at
| the exposed points, such az the bow and Sides
above the water line, leaving her stern ike the
| Heels of Achilles, the only part vulnerable. But
! With such Immense mass OF iron for her deck
and upper sides, bow, &c, and thin bottom, what
| sort OF a top heavy concern would she be ! In her
| case sue would be something like a vessel bottom
UPWARD the top strongest, and the BOTTOM which in
| all other eases IL made strongest, in this instance
| becomes by far the weakest. And suppose Mr.
Stevens TO sail down the bay OF New York with his
| iron box free from barnaces and port windows,
to meet an English frgatc also mounted with pal khan
| gums and with Shells which the English are known
To posse superior to Stcvenss, and which, explode
by contact ut the moment OF touch while Stevens
Wanted shells consist of fuse in metallic tube
that ~ gnitcd III passing out OF the canon, and may
explode beyond short of the object aimed at and
matter OF calculation, and Id cxlipgused IN the
water.
| We believe Col Bomford and Mr. Stevens expect
IN such encounter TO rely upon single Paishan
gun, of large size, placedin the bow OF the vessel,
| and covered with n bomb .rooi she'd Now as long
a. they can keep their boats head To the enemy, and
the other vessel would agree not TO change her POI
sitlon TO gain their weather side, they might
BE- able do damage provided the other vessel
was sure at every lire TO receive shell from them
but suppose two English steamers TO engage her al
the same time and while one engaged her in front
| another worked round to her eide or stern, and
gave her shells in her weakest points, and where
means existed of repelIing the assault, how then is
she to whip them both Do not Col. B md MIR.
Stevens know there il such thing ,vcorrse fr-
ing" and that by this shell can be dropped
almost perpendicularly deck of vessel, and by
exploding sweep off men, and often dirmanc guns,
or throw them from their carriages. Or is his boat
TO be conirved that neither man or gun is to ap
pear above hia box and window IL TO exist, ex-
cept hole To poke the muzzle of his gun out at g.
Suppose his engine to get out of order, his gun to
become manageable, how is he to retreat! like
crab stern foremost or turn his vulnerable tail to
the fire OF the enemy Seriously, the more we con-
cider this visionary scheme the more udicrous il
nppears. But" says Col Bomtord. @ in case our
boat became disabled we could run her into shall
low water ont of the reach of the cnemy's fire."
And then, we dare say, the enemy could leacably
proceed ~ master Of the channel to accomplish his
purpose But even suppoe~ Stevens plan 10 possrss