Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1862-07-04
THE RRBUEEDENG OF THE mER.
RIHlaG.
Hov she gas .uaae a Formidable Egoas-
fng RafFerg.


We have seen a gentleman, says the Boston
Post, resident in Norfolk during the last year,
who saw the Merrimac very frequently while she
was building, and examined her closely after
her fight with the Monitor. be gives US the fol-
lowing interesting account of this vessel and her
history;
She was raised last. July, without much eff
fort. d. & J Baker, Cape Cod men, residents
Of Norfolk, took tbs contract for raising her, and
received $4,000 for thejob. Messrs. Baker were
forced to accept the work and perform it, using
for it their wrecking apparatus.
After she was raised she lay for about 0 month
in the great dry dock before the rebel authorities
could make up their minds what to do with her.
Then they determined to turn her into a floating
battery. They cut her down to within three feet
of light water mark-that is to say, nearly to
her lower deck.
The deck was then raised and laid over the
whole length of hull, flush. On this deck,
amidships of the length, the battery was then
built. 1t must be understood that this battery
occupied all the space, except sixty feet abaft.
sides fell in at an angle of forty-6ye degrees, and
the two parts of this roof-hke structure met on
top within eight feet. There was, therefore, over
all the battery q deck eight feet wide, from
which the roof sloped toward the sides Of the
ship.
The sides were composed first Of ten inch live
oak timber, laid up and down, close together,
bolted to proper knees to secure it to the hull,
which also was strengthened to receive the tim
bers. This first layer was also made strong by
fore and aft beams, inside, and was caulked
tightly. Over this was laid fore and aft, or
across the first layer, a layer of four inch oak
plank, securely bolted on and also csulked tight.
This, in turn, was covered with strips Of iron,
four inches wide and an inch and q half thick,
laid up and down across the plank, and
another layer over this of the same kind Of iron,
laid fore and aft. This again, was covered with
a layer of iron bars, eight inches wide and four
inches thick, running up and down. She had,
therefore, on her battery, a thickness of fourteen
inches of solid oak and seven inches of iron.
The iron was made at the Tredegar Works at
Richmond, and very carefully fitted for its place.
There was about eight hundred tuns weight on
the ship. The three layers were not bolted sep
arstely, but holes drilled in each corresponding
to holes in the others; and through these holes
inch and a half bolts passed clean through the
wood work. These bolts were foTelocked inside,
and outside they were partially countersunk,
and driven down so as to make the side smooth.
The battery presented outside, therefore, on
each side, a steep roof, sloping at an. angie OF
forty-fve degrees, which would shed or glance
off a shot striking it.
The narrow deck above the b~attery--eight
feet wide-consisted Of a bomb-proof grating
made of four inch bar iron. 1t was surrounded
by a temporary hand railing.
The battery sides were completely covered
with a thick layer Of turpentine and tallow, to
make the shot glance more readily.
The lower deck, at the extremites, where
not covered by her battery, was covered with
inch boiler iron to resist bombs falling on it
Unjust be remembered that this deck was sixty
feet long aft and sixty feet forward of the bat
terry. When she was first put ahoat this deck
was about level with the water. To put it down
three feet under water, and thus completely pro-
tect it, as well as the joints where the bat
terry Joined the hull, from shot, kentledge
was piled on the deck loose, but smoothly, and
inside the hull, till she was brought dewn to the
determined bearings, which were marked with a
red line on the side of the battery.
When thus ready for action, the Marrimac
presented to view nothing but the hOuse-roof-
like battery and a slight wooden scaffOlding laid
forward over the submerged deck, for the men
TO work on in securing the anchors, which rest
ed a little further aft than catheads are usually
placed.
The submerged hull was unprotected. except
a strip of sheet iron, tapping over from the deck,
about four inches down. When she returned
from her action with the Monitor, this part of
her, for the whole length, was iToned with inch
and a half iron for three feet further under
water.
Her sides were cut down so low that the pro-
peler had no protection at all, except a slight
wooden rim, sufficient to support her stern post,
to hang her Tudder.
Her rudder was hung, of course, outside the
propeller. Her steering apparatus ran along
the submerged decks to the battery. II is evil
dent that the stern was her weak point. A yes.
sci running into her after-part might, even if it
had done nothing worse, have disarranged her
steering gear, and thus rendered her helpless.
Her propeller, too, was very much exposed to
butts from an enemy.
The Prov, intended to run into an enemy, was
of cast iron. It was in the shape of a shoe, fit.
ted over 4 Unsecured to the stem and to the tim
bers near it. In her conclusion with the Cum
berland this PROV was torn off and our inform
ant, who saw her when she went into dock the
next day, says the whole stem was split, and the
wood ends-the ends of the pianking-were all
bare, so that the apron or interior Of the stem
was laid bare. They had to put a new plank in,
and when the boat was repaired and strengthen
ed they put on her a wrought iron Prov, with a
steel edge. This PROV ran aft twelve feet, and
was bolted to the hull.
AFTER THE Plight WITH THE MONITOR.
When she get into Norfolk the night after her
fight with the Monitor she had eight feet water
in her hold, and they were obliged to put her in
to dock at once. They had not even time
enough to take iron kentledge from her deck
which had been used to bear her down; and
though they kept water in the dock to bear her
up as much as possible, the strain on her hull
was too great, and shook her SO that she was
never strong afterwards. This was one reason
why they never after ventured out into the
Roads with her.
HER ARMAMENT
Her armament consisted of four s~eYen-inch
guns on each side, very long, and made for her
ct the Tredegar Works, Richmond. Besides
this she carried one gun forward and one aft,
which were much heayier-ten inch guns, our
informant thinks. The ends of her battery were
rounded, so as to avoid corners, and the bow
and stern guns had three small round ports to
each, from either of which the gun could be
fred, as it sat on a circle carriage, like the bar
bette guns of a fort. None of the ports had
shutters in the fight, but afterwards she was
provided with shutters to all, which, it is said,
cost six hundred dollars each, and were to be
worked from the outside. They could scarcely
have been used in action, but were probably In
tended to keep out the water in rough weather.
The smallness Of the portfolios and the great
angle Of her battery side made it impossible to
fire, except straight ahead. The guns could not
be aimed either straight ahead or astern of the
beam nor could they De elevated. Inc shOt
would not keep above the water for more than
half a mile, for this reason, the ship setting low
in the water.
The guns were placed on a raised deck near
the roef, which made narrow quarters, . as the
sides sloped so much.
Norfolk was greatly excited over her depart
ure. Some thought she never would come back,
and others that she would sink or capture cur
whole fleet.
When she struck the Cumberland she was so
much injured that they kept the pumps going all
night, and were obliged to ram clothes, bags and
other stuff into the bows to keep out the water.
They would have returned the same night, but
knowing that the Minnesota was aground, and
knowing nothing of the little Monitor, they
waited to destroy the Minnesota next morning
with incendiary shells.
The only shot that seriously hurt her was one