The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-11-23
Wednesday Morning, Nov. 2S, 1864.
The United States NAVY.


DONALD MCKAY, the celebrated East Bos-
ton Shipbuilder, has written long letter to
the Boston ,AdUertiser, in relation to ourENa-
w, from which the following interesting ex-
tracts are taken. We commend it to those
fippant fault-f who are constantly assert
ing that the Navy Department has not met
the reasonable expectations Of the people, and
has done next to nothing to meet the demands
crowded upon the Government by the exist
ing rebellion. Such fault-fnders only show
how little they know both of the difficulties
the government had to encounter, and of the
vast results which have been accomplished.
After speaking Of his visits to the Naval de-
pots and dockyards of England and France,
Mr.. Mckay says:
At the breaking out of the rebellion, the ma
Wy of the United States consisted of the fol-
lowing steamers, namely The screw frigates
MerrImack, Wabash, Minnesota, Roanoke and
Colorado, OF about 1850 tons each; of the large
screw sloop Niagara, of 1852 tons; Of the first
class screw sloops Richmond, Brooklyn, San
Jacinto Hartford, Pensacola and Lancaster,
of about 1000 tons each; of the second class
sloops Pawnee, Iroquois, Wyoming, Mohican
third class sloops Narragansett and Seminole,
of abo1t $50 tons each; of the first class pad
die wheel sloops Susquehanna and POwhatan,
of about 2430 TONS the Mississippi, of 1892 tons,
and of the small paddle wheel steamers Mich
tgan and SpitGre, Of about 470 tons each, max
ing total Of 25 steamers and 49,TO0 tons.
The maximum speeds of those vessels in
smooth water, and for a short time, were as,
follows, In knots per hour, namely Niagara,
10.9; Merrimac, Wabash, Minnesota, Roanoke
and Colorado, @; Brooklyn, 0.2; San Jacinio,
8S; Hartford aud Lancaster, 95; Richmond,
rs; Pawnee, g. Iroquois, Wyoming, Mohican
and Dacotah. Ill Narragansett, and Seminole
s; ;Susquehanna and Powhatan, | Mississippi,
81; Saranac, 90; Saginaw, 81; Water Witch,
o. Michigan, 1915. The Pensacola proved
total failure, and the machinery had to be re-
moved. 0
Such was the steam navy with which the
administration began the task of vigorously
.blockading 5000 miles of the most difficult
coast in the world, against the fastest and best
steamers that the shops of England could pro-
duce built exclusively for speed and blockade
running at the particular localities !; in addition
to which theoceans of the world were to be kept
free of she steamers called confederate cruisers,
but which were in reality English pirates, be-
ing built in England. equipped with English
guns and manned by English crews, whose
purpose was not to fight our cruisers as war
YES. els. but TO plunder our sailing merchant
ships, and to keep out of the paths of our war
steamers.
The means at the command of the admins
tration for building steam navy to achieve
the herculean task just indicated, were about
two dozen machine shops, great and small, dis
tributed from Maine to Maryland, many Of
them very small and without the tools, work
men, or skill requisite for the production OF
marine machinery. The first class shops did
not exceed eight in number. But the entire
force of those shops could not be commanded
by the Navy Department for the construction
of new machinery. There were the enormous
quantity ofrepairs to the merchant steamers
OF the country to be done, and new construc
ton to be made for that service. The War
Department also drew largely on their resourc-
es for transport steamers, while the locomotive
and 'tooLmaking shops found itutterly impos-
sible to meett the demandupon them. Neither
was there sufficient raw material in the coun-
try for the large and sudden demand the iron,
copper, tin and coal had to be mined and man
factured. III 9Mb
Hundreds of steamers, hundreds of loco
motives, shops full of tools, tens of thousands
Of tons of metal were called for instantly, and
there was nothing on hand to answer the call.
War steamers cannot be built in day. In
skilled mechanics in a day; the prices of ma
chinery rose immensely, the pay OF the me-
chanics and the cost of material reached a
point far above what they were worth except
from the Fictitious cause of the suddenness of
the demand. The result was felt in the poor
materials and poorer workmanship with which
the machinery was made. Any kind of mate
rial and the most unskilled labor had to be
brought into use, and all this time the amount
IL - L.
ishing by the absorption of men into the mil
itary service.
In this pressing emergency the Department
did all that could possibly be done. 1t pur-
chased every merchant steamer that could be
converted into blockading vessel or war
cruiser, and the navy at this moment contains
every merchant steamer of any size or excel
lence that has been built in the country. 1t
set at work every steam engine factory in the
land, that could produce marine machinery.
1t considered all plans offered for armoring
vessels, and tried many. 1t instituted expsr-
iments in machinery, in ordnance, and in ar
moF-plating 1t rapidly covered the Missis-
sippi and its tributary waters with an immense
inland fleet, many of which were arm ored
and which sweeping the rebels from these
waters, have been an Indispensable element tc
oar holding the whole interior of the country
as it gives us the exclusive command of its
water highways, 1t lined the Atlantic coas
with such biockading feet as the world new
er witnessed before, AMI has practically closet
the rebellious district to the world, the few
vessels which succeedin in running the blockade
being to small to carry cargo sufficient to give
aid OF any consequence. The rebels have not
been able TO import even drugs enough to sup
ply the medical department of its army. The
coast around the port of Wilmington, which
is the only one at which blockade running j:
practicable, is peculiarly favorable for that
purpose, and is lined for miles on each side
with batteries which protect the blockade RIM
ners and keep our cruisers at a distance =
These runners are small vessels ~ l;gh,
draught, and very low decks. They arr naint.
ed lead color, and approach the coast in the
night From the moment it is possible to al
cover them until they reach the protection Of
the batteries is time of minutes, not OF hours
and they owe to that their occasional success
We're the circumstances such that they cOuld
not reach the port until after chase of a few
hours, their escapes would be very rare. Near
lv all that have been chased in this manner a
sea have been caught; 1t is not the speed c
the blockade runners, but the conditions G
the blockading service, that gives them an oc
casional success. Their fastest and newes
steamers, built principally for speed, hav
been captured by our sloops in fair chase, an
the speed of the Wanted Alabama is noS
known 10 have been greatly exceeded by tina
OF the Kearsarge.
The first vessels constructed by the Depart
ment were % screw gunboats Of 5O4 tons eac
with a speed Of ten (10) knots and draugh
of nine (0) feet. They were intended espe
cialy for blOckading the months of the small