Butte record., 1854-10-14

- " "No W ldioC uSI, Uc Sfitu ne
would. When ask-d # he would bind
nself 10 have every stick Of the frig-
ale out of the way, within three years,
he said he would bind himself to accom-
plish it within six months. W bster
mad found his man. A contract was
INN diateIy made.
Mr.. Gowen was already equipped
with his invaluable submarine arm1r-
The removing apparatus remained for
hlm to construct On rejecting, he
decided to blow the frieate to pi ceS,
and lift and remove the fragments in
detail. Toe case, on full inquiry. and
lnyest tigation, proved o be one f pecu-
liar difficulty. The sand had accu-nu-
lated upon the wreck It was fifteen
feet over her Moreover, the English
engineers had hurt the job, and made it
much more difficulty, by using vast
quantities of powder at random among
the Engines and iron work. They had
twisted and tangled up the machinery
badly. Above the fifteen feet accuma-
lated sand, was a depth of 26 ieet of
water 10 work through
Mr.. Gowen devised metal eases, which
we believe he afterwards patented, to
contain his charges If powder, and
which, Of course, had to be placed un-
der the frigates bottom, and through
that fifteen feet OF sand. hese cases
were Of Cast iro 6 feet long, Il inch
8 diameter, and held charge Of 250
pounds OF P WIDER. A. the conicie end
was a large thread Ike that sbouta post
augur cas- on the cas-, and to be used
IN boring into the sand as with an au-
CUR. This lower end was east in chill.
and was SO hard and stroug, that it
stood IN one instance the te,t Of being
bored thr -ngl McAdam street in Bal
timore, six teet into tire earth. Me-
G.wen look ou; with him "a of these
iron poader C. cylinders He u~e,i only
twelve If them 'They uade tooth
picAs Of the Missouri's hull His di-
veFs descended in their armnr, pointed
the cylinders prop rly--these We're
tnrn d by snafts worked fron above, and
when arrived under the vessel, bottom,
were fired by an eclectrlc battery.
The great quantity IT 43 900 pounds
OF powder was con sumed in the wo k
Or this lull two thirds were used in
b owing IF the iron cenirias and arms
from the shafts. She was side wheel
ste mer, aud had upon each of the out
board shafts, 96 iron arms which weigh
ed 800 pounds piece. To brc4k ~
this compile ted mass Of powerful iron
work, and get 1t detached AMI reduced
50 as to be lifted, WIS really the part of
tae jpb it vas, that ths English engin-
rers had fooled with and injured. But
Mr. GpSen knocked shafts. arms, cen
tres, braces and bolts, right and lett
j wn there II iect b. low his hand, ami
teok up and carried away the great
steamer to the ultermost stick and the
LIST visible spike. Nothing was left for
the sand to form a bar upon, and in fvt
months from the day Mr.. Gowan began
wnrk he fully eompltted and performed
his contract.
He raised about 1000 tons of iron
and some 500 tons Of oysters that had
grown to the iron. 1t is interesting to
know that the oysters that grew next to
copper or upon copper. were poisonous
Three men in Gibraltar died from hay-
ing eaten them. The iron, of course.
was converted into plumbago. by the
acton of the sea water. In the heavy
pieces this action extended into the
depth Of an inch. Many pieces were
cut cut entirely BY the salt, s,ve few
threads of resisting metal, running length
wise, and looking like the large fbres ol
cocoa nut husks The iron was mostly
worthless
The management of Mr. Gowen's
sub arlne arnor was SO perfect, that
not an incident happened to one of his
divers in all this great work, and with
out any inconvenience the men could
remain under water for the space of
tweivr hours Can anything better H.
lustrate the Yankee resource, the Yam
kee energy, the Yankee confidence, than
this hastily sketched history of the re-
moval Of the Missouri We think not
The gentleman who, without diplomas,
can thus teach lessons in the great art
of submarine engineering, to the graft
tuGe of the ROYAL Wooluick College, is