The true Democrat., 1854-11-08
A Live Yankee.---Itaising Of the Steam
 Frigate Missouri at Gibraltar.

The United States steam trigate Missouri was burned and sank at Gibraltar harbor, on 23d of August, 1S4S. She careened as she went down, and laying upon her beam ends, presented one of her shafts upwards, very near the sur face of the water This mass of iron was nine teen inches in diameter, and Ot course offered a dangerous obstruction to the navigation of the bay. The existence moreover of so vast body as the sunken trigate to the bottom of harbor, in which the tides ebbed and flowed, and strong currents continually shifting the sand was not to be tolerated in all English port so important to the commercial and war marlue of Britain as was Gibraltar. The British government accor- dngly presented the case to ours at Washington and requested us to move the obstruction. We agreed to do 50. The British secretary con- ceiving the job to be a rery bad one, kindly re- commended to our government as very suitable engineers for the work, Messrs Lovi and Mar shall. These gentlemen had acquired great reputation in England, by raising the lme-of- battle ship, the Royal Gsorye, which sank so suddenly at Spithead, and carried down with her hundreds upon hundreds of men and wo- men. Our navy department employed these engineers to raise the NiSsou'7 They went to Gibraltar, and worked and strained, faithfully, and for three long years, at the noble hulk un- der water-and then reported to the depart ment at Washington that the Missouri could not be raised by human means. They aban- doned the enterprise, and returned to England
 The necessities of the case induced Mr. Web ster to take hold of the matter, and find man who woulu free Gibraltar Harbor of that ob- struction. He lighted on John E. Gowen, of Boston. This gentleman's documentary title to the character of a submarine engineer of emi- hence was altogether in the certificate of his birth as Yankee, to be found in his fathers family Bible. He had no parchments, nor sheep-skin, ass-kin, or other skin diplomas, to show to MT. Webster-but when asked by the great Secretary if he could remove the wreck of the frgate as she lay there, in fortv-one feet of water he said that he could. When asked if he could enter into S5O,OOO bonds for the performance of a contract to raise her, he sad he would When asked if he would bind him. self to have every stick of the frigate out of the way. within three years, he said he would bind himself to accomplish it within six msnths.- Webster had found his man. A contract was immediately made.
 MT. Gowen was already equipped with his invaluable submarine armor. The removing apparatus remained for him to construct. On reflection he decided to blow the frigate to pieces, and lift and remove the fragments in de- tail.
 The case, on full inquiry and investigation proved to be one of peculiar difficulty. The sand had accumulated upon the wreck. t aoas fifteen feet over her. Moreover the English en- gneers had hurt the job. and made it much more difficult, by using vast quantities of pow der at random among the engines and iron work. They had twisted and tangled up the machinery badly Above the fifteen feet of ac cum dated sand was depth of twenty-six fee of water, to work through. Mir. Gowen de vised metal cases which we believe he after ward patented, to contain his charges of pow der, and which, of course, had to be placed under the frigate's bottom, and through that fiji teen feet of sand. These cases were of cast iron, six feet long, fourteen inches in diameter and held charge of 25O pounds of powder !. At the conical end was wide thread, like tha