Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1862-03-21


made sJme interesting remlrks lie began
by reading { letter from the chief engineer
OF the Monitor, which he commented on, as
he read, as follows:
| IRoS CLAD MoxIroR,l
Hampton Roads, March 9, 1852.
/ Ny DIAN SIR fter a stormy passage, which
+, proved us to be the fleIt sea-bo Eas ever in
We fought the Merrimso for more than three hours
this forenoon, and sent her buck to Nor ok in
| sinking condition. Iron clad against iToa clad.
We maneuvered about the bay here, and went at
each other with mutual 6erceness. I C nsider
/ that both ships were wcll fought We were
/ struck twenty-five times-pillt-h0use twice, tur-
ret nine times, eide srnor, eight times, deck three
| times The only vulnerable point was the pilot
/ house. one Of your great logs @ by II irshes
/ thick) is broken in two. The shot struck Just
outside of whsrs the captain had his eye, and it
I has disabled him by destroying his left eye. and
| temporarily binding the other.
| That IS proved SINCE not to be zo. 1t was
imagined at first that his eye was lost
| The log is not quite in two but is brokea and
/ pressed inward ! inches.
| This shows the immense force Of thess
shots. This beam is 3 inches by Il, and
| of the best wrought IrOn This gives an
idea Of the difficulty of resisting these shots.
and yet we have succeeded IN the turret In
doing 81.
She tried to run Us down, and sink Us ss she
did the Cumberland, yesterday, but she got tbs
worst of it. Her bow passed over our deck, and
our sharp, upper-edged side cut through the
light iron shoe upon her stem, and we'll into her
oak. She will not try that again. She gave
| tremendous thump, but did not injure Us in the
least We are just able to find the point OF
contact.
That is gratifying, that after such a con
cussIOl IL was dificult To see Where she
struck her.
The turret is a splendid structure. 1 don't
think much Of the shield, but the pendulums are
fine things, though cannot tell you how they
would stand the saOt, as they were not hit.
The shield is an extra thickness of two
inches on the fighting side. 1t was placed
there principally on account Of the sound.
| was afraid that the force Of the shock
would knock the men down.
You were very correct in your estimate Of the
effect Of shot upon the man the inside OF the
| turret when it was struck near him. Three ren
were knocked down, Of whom was one; tho 9th
e- two had to DO carried below, but was not dis
abled at all, and the others recovered before the
| battle over.
Before the Monitor left charged the off
Ger particularly to tell the men not to be
frightened. told him to tell the men, let
every man go down on his knees, and don't
W dldEl1tu hueu tue IeDel hQOI StIlktd NVur
because it won't hurt you. They all put the
question to him, Won't the shot 60
| through "NO," said /, "lt will stay
out Then wo don't care they said-
But for this precautiOn there would have
been great CONSERVATION when the turrst
was struck. You may estimate the shock
when a shot Of 200 pounds weight, moving
at the rate of 1000 feet in a second, strikes
within a foot Of mans head.
Capt. WOrden stationed himself al the pilot
house, Greene fred the guas, and tErned the
turret until the Captain was disabled, and was
relieved by Greene, when | managed the tuTret
myself, Master Stodden having been one OF tbs
two stunned men.
proposed to the captain to let the sail
ing-master turn the turret. On one side "
| the turret there Is telescope, reflector.
the image beng bent by q prism. This
sailing master. who has nothing to do on
the Monitor, l proposed that he shOui1 bs
stationed there. Hs not only looked through
the telescope, but by means of a small wleel
he turned the turret just exacdy where he
liked. lie did that TO admiration, pointing
l. exactly on the enemy. As the Monitor
went round, it kept turning Qt NO doubt as
tonished Capt. Buchanan), SO that wherever
the Monitor was, in whatever position 1t
II
at him all the time.
Captain Ericsson, congratulate you upon
your great success. Thousands have this day
blessed you. L have heard whole crews cheer
you. Every man feels that you have saved this
place TO the Nation by furnishing Us with the
| means to whip an iron-clsd frig.te and wac,
until our arrival. having 1t al her own way with
our most powerful vessels.
l am with much esteem, very truly yours.
ALBAN Z. STIMERS.
Capt. ]. ERIcssox, No. 95 Franklin ST., n. y.
Capt. Ericsson went on to say:
| cannot permit this opportunity to pass
without saying that l look upon the success
| of the ship as entirely owing to the pre-
sence of master mind. The men were new.
their passage had been very rough, and the
master had TO put his vessel right under the
| heaviest guns that are ever worked on ship
| board. It's evident that but for the pres
ence of 4 master mind on board Of that yes
sci, that success could not have been achieved.
| Capt Worden, no doubt. acquitted himself
IN the most mastery manner. But every
thing was quite new. He felt quite nervous
before he went on board. The fact that the
bulwark Of the vessel was but one foot above
the water-line was enough to make him so.
When | was before the Naval Committee,
the objection was that in sea way the vessel
would not work. | gave it as my opinion
| that it would prove the most easy-working
in sen way, and it is an excellent sea boat.
The men are supplied with fresh air, though
there is no opening except through the tur-
ret, by means Oi blowers worked by the en-
gines, and they are perfectly comfortable.
. They can remain on the top OF the turret IN
| the sen way it is OF feet IN Circumference
quite a promenade. Though the deck is but
foot above the water-line, the top of the
| turret is nine feet above and here Is the i'm
portant point, that this vessel is IN the sea
way perhaps the safest vessel ever built. IL
takes 670, 900 lbs. to bring her down. There
can be no danger of her swamping. IL Is
very much like bottle with u cork in IL.
In relation to the point, whether tho Moni-
or is capableOf taking care OF the Merrimac,
| let me say that she would have sunk the
/ Merrimac but for the fact Of her having
| fired too high. II they bad kept OF a. q
distance Of 200 yards, and held the gun ex-
actly level, the shot would have gone clear
! through. But Mr.. Stimers bad tbs guns
elevated little, and the roof Of the Merri-
| mac is 50 strong that the balls robounded.
| Next time they encounter the Alerrimac they
will leave the Guns level, and they won't
mind If the ball strikes tho water, because
! the ricochet will take 1t where they wan:
it. The next time they 60 CUT, predict
the third round win sink ths Merrimae.
There is another great point. They had 50
wrought-iron shot which were not used
Capt Dahlgren Issued peremptoIy orders
that they should not be used, aud tne7
obeyed those orders. Now. vrouEat-iron
shot is one thing and east-iron snot IS
another. 4 wrought-iIon SHOT osnnot oreax.
Tbe sids armor OF the Merrinac is Insult
cient 20 resist it. The channel IS very mar
now. and tho Merrimac must follow il. But
the Monitor can go anywhere and take tn
very best position