The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-01-21

| Tue bitlKi6 engine 10 De uHe4u't W tue P'"Pui
sion and preservation Of The Ohio under such
circumstances In comparatively smooth watcr,
before the gale, il worked v ell and bore us along
finally, a. your log book will show. Besides
this ~ You could not, at Havana, repair the
damage to the broken engine, you could not 40
Otherwise than return to the United States with
the single machine, which your engineers doubt
less then considered equal to the service.
9th. "Ehe wns," said, 'inadequately sup
piled with spars and canvas to ride out the
gale when steam failed, and she was therefore,
thrown into the trough Of the sea at the mercy
of the waves"
You reply by asking me question, and with
out denying that she was thrown into We trough
Of the sea, and unable to help herself from
steam or sails. IL it admitted, therefore, that
she was unable to be kept out OF the trough OF
the sea, by the power of her spars and sails
The question you put TO me, Is in these words:
IF the frigate Congress should unfortunately
be dismasted during her present cruise, will any
one blame The Government because 1t did not
provi her with steam apparatus before ahe
left |" The answer il obvious--NO. But does
that prove that the Ohio's owners We're bnmeIes,
ndispn ching her without different sails and spars!
The frigate Congress il exclusively a sailing
vessel. and Processes to be nothing more; but
the Ohio il a steamship, and processes to be pro-
PEELED, Hs OCCASION may require, by both wind and
steam, Or either. She is rugged with four masts
and supplied with sails, and carries double en-
CINE in her midst. When her steam fails ,passen.
gers suppHsc she can rely on her canvas, and
this is considered one of the advantages such
ships have over ordinary packets. They have
two propusive and protective powers instead Of
one
Your answer to this point continues as fol-
lows 1.-THE Ohio is a steamship, and her rig is
precisely what is required for coasting vessel,
never more than five or six days at sea, and in
no danger of getting short Of fuel. II were
going to make long voyage in her when econo-
my Of fuel was an object, should rig her diff
ferently" Can the Ohio be properly called
"coaster y A coaster, in the ordinary accepta-
ton of the term, is vessel Of light draft capa-
BILE of running into almost any port. and which
in her trip rather hugs than avoids the Shore
But the Ohio is ship of several thousand tons
burthen, and in each Of her trips to and fro,
sails nearly 3,5OO miles, and traverses about
seventeen degrees of latitude and thirteen or
fourteen of longitude She risks the dangers
Of the West India navigation at all seasohs, and
hns to encounter the severe weather of our own
stormy winter coast Her draft Of water il 80
great, TINT between New York and Hayasa she
can, | believe, only enter the Delaware, the
Chesapeake, and the Savannah. Such vessel
can hardly be accurately called coaster, and
should be equipped TO encounter all sorts Of
weather incident to such climates, and, especi.
ally, such weather as our gale proved she must
sometimes meet with even MS "a coaster" III
view of the contingency of Shortness Of fuel
on long voyage, you admit that you would
'rig her differently" Now, fnilure Of fuel and
an accident to machinery which suspends its
use, are apparently equivalent, and create the
same contingency. To admit the one, seems to
admit the other.
9th 1.-THE leak and the water that proved
nearly fatal were not detected, we understand,
until the fire were almost extinguished by the
rising flood urder the furnaces"
We we're informed that the fact as as st; ted
above. But have recently understood, from
nnquestionabe authority, that you caused the
fires to be put out, in order to prevent the water
which was splasning about in the furnace room.
| from eettingshot and preventing the successful
working of those who were engaged in freeing
| the ship.
It'll "a vessel ike the Ohio was kept aAont
and brought into port (atter she had been so
straned as to break two or three Of her hog
braces) by the efficient use of four ash buckets:
or, in other words, was ba,d out during such
tempest as has rarely visited our coast, by i'm
plemeEts intended entirely for another purpose"
| With regard to the 'hog Braces you say, in
answer, that Eve were all deceived, for none
were broken" am glad to find that general err
ror pre-, allied on this subject and nm satisfied that
the fact shows the "great original strength OF
the Ohio, to which alluded in my first letter
"Relating to the ash buckets" you continue,
''they did us good service, certainly and in the
! handling ofthem none worked harder thany our
l,,t Go
large number Of passengers were faithfully and
constantly at work at the pumps, to which we
were qnite as much indebted as the ash buckets
These pumps were never out of order, except
when chokcd by coal dust then few moments
sufiiced to draw the boxes and clear them, when
they were at work again. We'll do | recolect
the music of their clatter throughout the long
days aud nights of our suffering An unwilI-
ingness to discourage you oil, who were doing
your best to free the ip from water, with the
rude implements pnt into your hands, a'one pre-
vented my informing you that had more con-
fiderce in the service Of the pumps than in your
ash buckets.
| Iregret did not say how many pumps were
in active use, and estimate what quantity Of
water they delivered, because that would have
settled the question. The ash buckets did i'm
portant duty, according to the calculation Of a
writer in the National lntelligeneer who says
that " from O'Clock on the morning Of the Oath
December to A. NJ, on the 18th, four buckets,
of at least 90 gallons each, were emptied at an
average of not less than thirty times an hour;
and, afterwards, until o'clock A. NJ, of the Goth,
at the rate Of forty-fve times the hour, making
about $4,000 gallons, exclusive Of the water
thrown out by the dinkey engine, during the few
hours Tint it was tinkered into working order,
and of what was elected by the hand pumps,
which, after much delay, were at last got to
work, and kept going for some hours Of the
| oath December"
Assuming this calculation to be accurate, or
even nearly so, if the pumps did equal service,
they of course threw out an equal quantity Of
water; so that, by simply doubling the above
estimate, we must have discharged, by. both
means, between 3 a. NJ. o' the oath and 9 A, NJ
Of the 26th, at least 37i,O00 gallons. However,
IA was not called ut any time to labor at n