The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-03-21

A DESCRIPTION FROM THE PEN OF LIEUT..
E4e5 -,. WoRDeN. fs.s@
/" THE MONITOR

THE MONITOR.
From the chicago Times, llth. -
After the rebel contrivance, the Merri.
mac, had dined upon the two Federal sail.
ing frigates. supped upon the land batteries,
and enjoyed comfortable nights repose,
she moved down towards the Minnesota and
St. Lawrence in entire confidence that they
had been reserved for leisure breakfast.
What must have been her surprise when,
Just 10 the act of making the repast, the
little Monitor steamed forward and objected
to the consummation, and how her surprise
must have heightened into amazement when
the same little craft deliberately proceeded
to close quarters with her. 1s
The Monitor is the grandest achievement
in naval warfare. She has realized the
highest anticipations of her protector, and
these were by no means moderate. Her
commander has no more than realized the
anticipations of those who know him best,
to whom It is of course cause of joy that
the government will feel repaid for the con.
fidence it gave him. We append brief
description OF the vessel by Lieut.. Worden
himself 10 private letter to his brother,
one Of the publishers of this paper:
New YORK, Jan. %, 1862.
DEAR BROTHER She is supposed
to be shot proof. Her hull floats l8 inches
above the water, and is covered with five
thicknesses of wrOught-irOn plates, each l
inch thick, to a point 81 feet below water line.
Her deck is covered with l.inch wrought iron.
A wrought iron turret. 2l3 feet outside diam.
eter, feet high and inches thick, is placed
near the centre of buoyancy. In this turret are
mounted two ll.inch Dalghren guns. The tur.
nj and 10 vuith
facility by steam, its movements being con.
trelled by the commanding officer inside. As
she goes into action, there is nothing above
her deck but the turret and shot.prOOf pilot
house, and, when she is anchored outside
fort or lttery, the latter is lowered below
the deck. In that position, if she is boarded
by the enemy, they cannot get below nor into
the turret, aud her decks can be swept by her
own guns loaded with canister. She is pro.
PEELED by steam, and is expected to go eight
knots the hour, and carries eight days coal ut
that speed is fat bottOmed, and draws ten
feet water. She is not intended for cruiser
only to go from port to port on our own
coast. Great hopes of her success are enter
tanned by her constructor and others, and, If
she answers their expectations, she will be
very serviceable vessel, aud will have some
rough work to do
Length of upper vessel. liz feet;
Length of lower vessel, ia feet;
Breadth of upper vessel, Al feet inches;
Depth OF upper vessel, feet;
Breadth of lower vessel at top, sc feet;
Breadth of lower vessel at bottom. Is feet
Depth of lower vessel, 6 feet inches.
As you may imagine, her apartments are
neither spacious, light, nor airy, and we do
not expect much comfort in her; but, if her
capabilities turn out as we hope for, l shall be
well satisfied to rough it. 1t seems that Com.
mOdOre Smith, of the Bureau of Yards and
Docks, has had the supervision of her con.
struction, and is greatly interested in her sue.
cess. 1 had letter from him, which is quite
complimentary in its tone, stating that he had
named me for the command, whereupcn eX.
amined the vessel and accepted at once, get
ting my orders by return mail. apprehend
that it is the intention of the Department, if
she proves successful, to build twenty iron.
clad gunbOats recently authorized by Congress
on her plan. with notifications suggested by
experience
The Monitor was furnished with pecu-
liar description of projectiles for use by the
two DahIgrens with which she is armed.
They consisted OF 400 wrought iron shot,
ench bail costing $40 and weighing l84
pounds. These balls were made by forg.
ing square blocks of iron at the Novelty
Works, West Point, New York, and then
turning them at the lathe. The cost of the
400 amounts to $l8,800, and their total
weight is $4,000 pounds. Cast iron shot
are liable to break in pieces when fred
against thick iron plates. "These wrought
iron shot," the Scientific american of a late
date remarked, "are tor smashing through
the sides of such secession floating batteries
as the Merrimac at Norfolk" This was
certainly a very correct prediction as to
their destination.