Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-04-13

TIE KEoKUK.
This vessel was designed by Mr.. c. W.
Whitney, Of New York, and was at frst
called the Whitney Battery. She was
launched last winter, and sailed for Port
Royal on the l1th of March:
The Keokuk was not only two turreted
vessel, but was also 3 ram. She was
smaller than the Ericsson Monitors, be-
ing one hundred and ffty-nine feet six
inches over all including the ram, which
was FIVE feet long. She had beam of
thirty-six feet, with depth of hold of
thirteen feet six inches, and drew nine
feet Of water. Her sides sloped inward at
an angle of thirty seven degrees, to shed
the enemy's shot
She was built of iron, and her armor ex-
tended nearly four feet below the water
| line. The horizontal deck was five feet
above the water line. Her propulsiVe
power was furnished by two prOpellers
and two engines of five hundred horse
power. The hull of the vessel was con-
| structed of half-inch rolled iron. She had
three keelsons running the whole length
Of the vessel, and two fore-and-aft bul k
heads, leaving on each side space and
/ forming an inner skin, which would prob
ably keep out the water in the event Of the
outer skin being pierced by a shot. In ad-
dition to these she had two bulkheads-OEe
forward and one aft-Which could be filed
with water, so as to settle the vessel down
while in sction. These could be filed in
fifteen minutes and pumped out in forty
| minutes In using the ram, should the
vessel be wrenched so as to cause leakage,
the compartment alluded TO was to preserve
the vessel from sinking. The vessel was
submerged one foot by the appliance Of
these water tanks.
The turrets were immoyable, the gun
revolving to the three ports pierced in
each turret. They weighed each forty
tons, and were built of q groundwork Cf
half-inch rolled plates, like the hull, Gov
cred with bars of iron four-inch thick,
standing edgeWays, placed one and quar-
| ter inches apart, the interstices being filled
with yellow pine. Over ell this we're
three plates, each fve-eighths of an inch
thiek-the whole structure bolted together
with one and one-eighth inch bolts, with
eountersunk heads, one foot apart. The
turrets, therefore, were six and 8 quarter
inches thick. Each turret had three ports,
with heavy shutters, working in two
halves-one port on each side and one
forward and aft. Each turret contained
an eleven-inch gun, carrying q one hun
dred and eighty pound shot. These guns
moved on revolving slides, which were
placed on a floor twenty inches below the
level Of the deck, thus giving greater
height to the turrets, which we're twenty
feet in diameter at the base, fourteen feet
at the top-being cone-shsped-and eight
feet eight inches high. The turrets we're
| additionally supported by bars of five by
one inch iron set edgewsys, fifteen inches
apart; and the ports were made sufficient
ly large to give the gun ten degrees verti-
cal and eight degrees lateral range.
The rudder and propeller we're guarded
by an OverhangRg structure and, a
wrought guard on the after part This
little vessel carried one hundred men all
told, and had capacity in her two maga-
zines for two hundred eleven-inch shot,
one hundred and fifty eleven-inch shell,
with shrapnel and canister, small ammu-
milton and powder in proportion. She ap-
peared admirably calculated for river
work, her light draught and easy guidance,
by means of two propellers, fitting her es-
pecially for intricate navigation.
THE COMMANDER OF THE KEoKUK.
Lieutenant Commander Alexander C.
Rhind, the commander of the Keokuk, is
a native Of the State of New York, but
was appointed from Alabama, and is now
a citizen Of Minnesota. He entered the
/ United States naval service on the Sd Of
September, 1885, He received his present
commission on the 10th of July, 1862,
He has been attached to Admiral Dupont
squadron since its organization, and is
pre-eminently a man Of fight. His cour-
age, bravery and judgment are very
marked, and if the Keokuk is really dis
abled no one will feel the blow moro deep
l. than he. His sea service amounts to
nearly sixteen years. He was unemployed
seven years, and on shoyt duty about two
years, giving him total Of over twenty
four years in the service.
! SPIRIT OF THE CHARLESTON PEOPLE.
The Charleston Mercury of the 9th, in q
somewhat bOastful article, has the follow
ing;
| "The long delayed hour seems at last to
have arrived. The attack on our city
threatened for more than q year, is now
imminent. Whatever careful preparation,
unlimited resources, all the instruments
and agents Of modern warefare, undis-
guised hate and biiterest feelings of re-
7enge can suggest have been arrsyed
against the nest of the Rebellion" for the
svowed purpose of whipping out the In
suit to their flag, which the fall of Fort
Sumter on the 18th of April, 1861, nearly
two years ago, inflicted on the Yankee
nation
" Charleston is the heartas she was the
| head and front of the offense. Through
her closely blockaded port hundred YES
sells are bearing to the hands of our young
Confederacy the means and material OF
war. To effect the absolute destruction,
therefore, of this port as an emporium Of
! trade, and at the same time to glut their
! fendish malice on the metropolis of the
pestilent State of South Carolina, is the
dearest wish of our inhuman foe. With
Gods aid, their cherished desire shall not
be gratifed.
'With the loftiest hope, the sternest
courage, and the unconquerable resolve
never TO submit or yield, we 20 forth to
the struggle conscious of and we thust
equal to the great duties which lie before
US, and by the mass our hearts are in the
trim"
The Mercury also contains several or
ders by Beauregard, preparatory to the i'm
pending conflict.
Our Sunday nights dispatches may
bring US later intelligence than the above
II SO, it will be found in full in its spprO-
pirate place.
New York TO Ohio.
In the New York Senate, on Wednesday
Of last week, Mr.. Ward moved the follow
ing resolutions: