New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1863-12-19
WANT on SPEED IN NAVAL vEs-
hsLE.

The country has been several months ag-
ta,ed by constant procuring charges ofthc in
.hoiency ol our navy" and committees oi
merchants and -hipowncrs have attempted in
vain 10 discover the reason why. in this coun-
iry, where the fastest steamships and steam
boats in fhewoIld arc produced, our naval yes
-.- should be unable 20 keep pace with such
hip. A. he Alabama, or 10 capture any block
ide-rlnnar which once passed out of reach Of
heir gum. The real reason seems 10 have been
a -closed in the course Of = Judicial invcstga-
ton Just ended IN Washington. The case
which. from It's consequence to the public. has
become one of III. greatest importAncc-wa, IN
i'eelf ,rifiiug, involving small sum Of money
aud of no public interest: but IL di,olo-ed al i'm
postAnt laoi. ~ will be- seen by the follow ing
statement:
4 Mr.. Mattingly in Washington sued u
steamboat company FOR share Of the ssvings
which had been effected on steamboat owned
By them by reason OF the application OF 4
peculiar form Of cutoff, the right h. use which
he owned and had sold To them iUr q shsr, of
IT, ssyinyr. The amount saved wa proved 10
be more than one-ihird OF the fuel, and for the
value Of ,ha, tho verdict ~ss a-kcd; but the de-
PENDANTS called Benj. !. sherwood, the En-
gine.r.in & hiri Of the United stase- Navy. who
sworc that such saving wa impossible; be-
cause he had r,ih,n t,no u.r,, ysdrs discovered
tia, the only possible sayine which could be
cig.ctcd by nsing steam e1pansiycly over using
il absolutely without expansion, is J. per cent,
and therefore d -aving ofD pcrccutis impo -ible.
IN order to give weight To the testimony, h.
syore thai his new discovery which had never
been suspected 10 be true ill about l-Co, had
BEEN adopted By the Navy Department. and
Tina, all oi our new ship were built and build
ng upon IT, The effect Of hs testimony va, to
convince the Jury that Tiers must have been
come fraud in the experiment, by which the
ihiry-iour per cent OF saving had been shown
on the steamboat in controversy, and the plain
til was in de- pair of a recovery. At this poin,
soino oi NJ. Ma,'ingly's friends thought OF
sending hers for Mr.. Dickerson, nh engineer
who has been admitted TO practice law also. and
through hnn the facts have been brought to
light. On Gross examination Nj. lshcraOOd
admitted that If II boat could 20 materially
faster when using tteam uKpansiyely than when
using ii at full stroke, his theory Was all false,
and the navy botch.' Upon this admission
MI Dickerson At once proposed To the other side
to test the truth Of this new theory on steam
boat on the Potomac-the Court and Jury TO
witncrs the experiment.; but the defendant
declined to he present. The test, however, was
made on the Collyer, and i, turned out that with
600 h. Of coal all hour she could run at the
rate OF twenty -seyen revolutions minute with
expansion, and that but twenty minute could
be- got without expansion, and With 200 h.. MI
hour.
Similar iac'a III several other ships. which Mr..
sherwood awore To be impossible, were proved
Ia be true, and upon the truth of which, if il
could be proved he admitted his theory 10 be fale
and the navy failure. No one but Mr. lsher-
wood WAS found to vindicate his views except
one Of his sllbordnates; but Mr.. Chas. Recde
oi Baltimore, a well.known engineer Of great
experience, callod l,y the defendant themselves,
admitted that il the engines OF the Navy were
made in the usual way the ships would DO much
ii,stcr and more powerful than they are.
On THU foundation Mr.. Dicker,on proceeded
10 canine and expose the conLrivances by which
the Navy Department has been brought into
this poeition; and If the statements In h.