, 1864-01-09

peneiTe changes the vessel had to bo taken
!. into the dry dock Of the Norfolk Navy lard,
and tho stern and keel altered to suit tho new
screw. ="
Bureau Of Construction, but without effect.
The efforts of Mcesrs: Mallory md Yulee,
who openly cxertcd On this occasion all thelt
! political Influence, even to the extent OF me
| naces, prevailed, and the Pensacola was de-
liyered into the hands Of Dickerson to Do
with her as he plcased
Owing to the Ignorance and inexper1enca
Of tie contractors in designing steam ma
chintry, the drawings were sos1owly furnish
| ed nrd tie blI nders n them were 60 numcr'
ous and involved so many alterations, that,
Notwithstanding the great faci]ities OF tue
Washington Navy. Yard in tools, materials
and mechanics for this special kind Of work,
It was not until January 3, 1862, that the lflal
trip was made; the long period Of two yeare
and nine months having been consumed IN
the completion Of the machinery, or about
three times longer thnn should have been;
During this period there were long inter:
va1s In which neither drawings nor directions
contractors hal abandoned the work, which
was consequently suspended, notwithstand
that the Bureau of CONSTRUCTION repeatedly
wrote them, complaining Of the unnecessary
delay, and urging them to proper luldiment
Of their contract, but in vain; and itprobab!y
never would have been completed; and,
like the Detroit engine, never offered Tor
trial, had they not employed Mr. Edward
FarTon, formerly an engineer In the navy, 70
take II in hnnd and finish It.; and to him Is
due whatever merit there may be In getting
these engines to work at MI.
The cost Of tho Pcnsacola's machinery vas
sSo8, 8,4C0, its weight is $40 tons, and, together
with its coal, It occupies Il feet more Of the
length Of the vessel than was guaranteed, and
in lint increased space there are carried only
go tons Of coal, or sufficient for barely SIX
days moderate steaming, instead Of eleven
days, Us should have been.
At the time the contract for the Pcnsa-
co1a's machinery was given, others were
awarded for the Lancaster's and Hartford'e,
vessels Of the same class and type, and sub
stantial]y of the same size. The machinery
Of tho Lancaster cost S137, 500, and weighed
2461z tons. That Of the Hartford cost $114,
acO, and weighed zoo tons. These vessels
have maximum speed Of 9115 knots, and car
# in the space originally allotted coal enough
for eleven days moderate stcauling. They
were promptly. completed, and have ever
since been in constant use, always ready and
reliable; while tie only steaming done by 'he
Pensacola was from the Washington navy
with difficulty, and with her miserable ma
| chine1y in SO unreliable condition as to
bring forth report from her chief engineer
10 the Admiral that hc could not count on it,
services In getting up tho river.
Since that time ehe has lain at anchor II
! front Of New Orleans as hulk or floating
! battery, and has been entirely useless as
steaner notwithstanding the pressing need
of her services on the blockade, and the ef
forts other Chief Engineer.
SECOND TRIAL OF THE PENSACOLA.
4 few months since Dickcrson assured tht
Navy Department that the Pensacola's mn
| cbfuerv Wus the finest in the world, and tila
! Yn1- fr<t $7Fn
| ity Of her engineers, against Whom-as theJ
| arc naval cnsinecr5-le rages in his speech
He promised that If the Department Wouli
place the machinery in his hands, he woult
send out those who would soon demonstrate
Its perfection, and the Department took hin
ut his word.
The vessel was handed over to his agents
With instructions that every facility which
The large squadron Mt New Orleans and thu
1nnc1linc shops Of that city could afford
should be placed at Lis disposal.
No expense was spared, for the services o
the vessel was urgently needed, and If even {
mediocre performance could be obtained, Il
wonld be d great benefit.
| The work went on and WaR ut last reported
ready for trial. Much time had been con
sumcd, great deal of money expended, large
! promises made. The result appears in tht
report Of the fleet engineer Of the squadron
| VIM. II. Shock, who was ordered By tho Ad
mIral to attend and report Cd the trial, whicl
was made wholly by Dickerson's agent with
ont interference from the naval engineers
From that report, dated New Orleans, Sep
tember 11th,, 1868, The following extracts art
taken:
.tIn obedience to your order {the Admi
| rnI's) was present during the late trial o.
tic machinery OF the Pensacola on the Sth
for The purpose of making ~ report Of tht
| results.
"Mr. Cameron Dickcrson's ascut) for tht
! last Fix Of eight weeks has had exclusive con
troll Of tie repairs and adjustment Of the ma
| chinery, and has laboFcd most assrduously.
having at his command all the facilities thai
| could be afforded lin On board Of the ship
and also such as he required from shore. III
also reset and adjusted the valve motion anl
| other portions of the machinery that wcrs
calculated to improve It's efficiency, and o,
me that she exceeded his expectation on th'
trial, from which infer that he could hay,
anticipated kut little. You will observe tha
tie expenditure for oil for the ehort pariot
under way was Ii gallons; and that th'
temperature Of the engine room ranged from
was from lao to $50 degrccs''
"The remarks &c. are copy Of the regu
lar stcam-log kept by the Engineer durint
the trial on the sth, In the columns Of which
will be seen that the maximum revolution
Of the engines were q Per minute, the mini
inches, epeed 81 ship 3}% l.aots," tic til
lasted six consecutive hours, during whic1
12,e00 rounds Of coal were consumed.
"From what hare seen, it Is my Opinion
that the machinery is unreliable from inhe
rent defects in design, and that conlbIna
not keep it IN operation twenty-fo1lr hour
consecltively without dernngrnent, unles
ct go low speed as to render the ship worth
lees as man-ofwar, to say nothing Of th
killing temperature Of engine and fire rooms
which is more than human nature can en-
| du1e-"
I ANOTHER ENGINEERING EXrLOIT.
Now It Is to build machinery like that Q
the Pensacola which Dfckerson Is urgin;
through the medium Of abusive articles Ii
newspapers. He wishes to have Navy Q
Peneaco1as, all constructed by himself, an
Just given OF vessel slowly and dellbcratcl
built BY himself, without stint Of money o
time and by tho best tools and mechanics il
the country, declines to duplicate 1t, and pre-
fers the well known and well tried machiner,
of ordinary design to such abortions, that
cffrontery and rage, impossible to be belieyc'
except by these who know the man. But th
Pensacola is not tho only naval evidence Q
his performance as an engineer. He WAS cua
b1ed By his political friends to nearly u
elcctua11y ruin another steamer, the Rich
~
engines his own absurd system Of valve
gear, which has caused her to be almost a
great failure as the Pensacola. His valve
gear was put on this vessel by the same i111u
cnce and against the same opposition ns Il
the cEsc, OF the Pensacola.
/ She has the sloTest speed ,ofany vessel il
the navy except the Pensacola and is who'll.
| unreliable on account Of continual break
downs. Such arc the engineering antecc
dents Of DickeTson, and the grounds of bi
modest request to have the engineering of th
navy placed in bis hands. When q: man I'd
dertakes to be wholesale critic, to of1e
himself as solely qualified, and to pronounc
all others in the wrong on professions
matter, 1t is rs we'll before accepting his vol
untecr statements to inquire into the compe
teucy Of the Would-be refo1mer. Such q
inquiry shows the machinery Of Dfckcrson +
differ as completely from the .maturcl pre-
chanicai philosophy differs from the absurd
tics OF an empire.
There rcmains to add, In connection wit
the great delay experienced in finishing th
PenEacola's machinery, few words in rcla
tion 10 the detention Of his partner, Sickles
sons fear to visit Washington at that time, a
| stated III his speech In truth, he apparent
never intended the vessel to be finished /
time to bc used when wanted against the II
bells AT TINT time they expected every da
to sctze washington, and they wanted In
Pensacola as prize. It was supposed sh
wonld be tolerably good vessel instead c
. the wretchcd failure ehc proved, and had sh
answered this expectation and fallen int
. their hands, she would have been inyaluabl
to them.
1t should be added, that In no way or mar
ncr did Mr. 1shcrwood haVe any connee
tion with this vessel; she failed simply bt
cause success with such thing was impos
sible. -. ....-.