New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-07-27
i1R "D0IDLE.ENDER ALGONQUIN
univ Her Engine Must Go to the
"sorap-Heap."
ROLD CHALL F. n @ Z

are such as TO justify asking the co6pera.
too Of the public press in the effort making to e1.
.,s By 80 iDialble demonstration the true condition
our naval engines The letter states all the material
hsts spd needs DO preface:
unG V. FOX, Assisoat Secretary Of ne Nrry
Ns. The engine Of the double-euder Algonquin il
,ov ready for service and the circumstances under
sbicd IL wss built and the facts that have occurred
since II finished, would TO require than some
special attention should he paid to the trial which by
he contract, must be mede OF its qualities.
As you rene Dber. i endeavored to convince the
Navy Department in 1902 that the new style Of ma.
shinery which was adopted for the new Navy was de.
fotive IN every particular viz: In the boiler. the
CINE and the condenser; but was unable to command
enough attention 10 receive reply to my letters
Aherwa-d Mr. Forbes. for whom had made some
engines which had proved themselves the best In the
world actuated by desire TO give the Government the
benefit of those plans which he had found service
able in his own great business and by the Of which
he lad been enabled 10 drive the English steamers cut
OF Chinese waters proposed TO you with approval
that should be permitted to alter the plans of the
CINE of one OF the nuserous double enders' then
brding so as TO make il similar 10 his engines in
tap particulars supposng that the good results
would follow as In his own case; II being understood
You objected TO this plan but proposed TO Mr.. Forbes
that vou would give bin cIntract for an entire
engine az the current rate 1852 0O). which he
Of once accepted, without knowing inqurlng
bow much money was to be lost on the contract
When the papers came TO be executed, you i'm
posed extraordinary terms on Mr.. Foi bes-frst. by
whereas all other contracts only withheld one NTH
and secondly by requiring stipulation that H. on
the completion OF the machinery. ana careful tlai
thereof BY such persons as ay be directed by the Sec
rotary the Navy il shall be found by them that its
performance. either in amount Of power developed or in
the cost pro rata OF tuai power IN coal Is less than
those of the machinery described II. G. Of tho other
dOubleenders) Mr.. Forbes viii remove It, and replace
it at his own cost with the machinery similar 10 the
others BY this clause you reserved the power ap
point person you chose decide the question, and
bound Mr.. Forbes TO abide the decision, however un-
,s.~ks kpt r1ag 81
Of his entire confidence that no mi Justice would be
Immediately after thi. contract was signed and be.
fore the plans Of the engine we're matGred Mr. Usher
wood assured different persons, who reported II ~
that be meant TO pat the engine OF tn AlsOqun into
The -heap;" and that declaration he has made
constantly from time 10 time since. reported
this fact to Mr. Forbes: but he still expressed his faith
that you would insure him fair trial Notwithstanding
the Chief Of the Bureau Of Steam Engineering
When the engine was completed. the department
ordered 10 be al ae dock for 90 hours instead Of
the trial at sea required by tue contraca ch"nge as
sented to BY Mr. Forbes and proper TO be made, be-
cause all the other vessels Of this class had been 30
tried On her trial Of sc hours at the dock the Agon
GUN exhibited her great superiority over the other
her log with the logs of the others will show. l have
before the log OF the Pautuxet which was built by
TIE same bulers and tried q. tho same dock rs tie
Algonquin. and which was considered b. the depart
meat good any of her oassyour engineer having
reported that there was no room for Improvement"
refer you it as STANDARD Of comparison Ia tie follow
Ing particulars
water. Those of the Pautuxet worked over 50 much
that the salt water donkey pump had 70 be run 20 re
supply them frequently minutes in one hour than
tue Algonquin required IN &c hours-.he Algonquin
only using the salt feed less than 30 minutes IN the
whole trial. and thet only to supply losses by three
occidental steam leaks since closed.
Second The engine OF che Algonquin performed the
whole trial without be ting pat Of it, and ran so
hear it move yonr engineer on duty can verify.
The Pautuxet heated up sD the journals and had TO
froon apf1v IN kqv-u nd o
the Others OF her class she dumped and pounded 20
Is 10 isr the whole boat.
Third The surface condenser Of the Algonquin sup.
Piled the boilers with fresh water whou. any material
loss % that the saturaon Of the water was only IN
creased from oneeighh fifteen sixeenths IN 70 hours
and this doue by the leskages before mentioned
and not by any fault of toe condenser whereas the
Pautuxets boilers sailed just a. II jet condenser
had been used Is the fact with all the '1er double
snders' using Sewells ccndensers. man OF which as
You know have returned from sea with hundreds OF
their tubes filed with scale and burned ont. 4
The feed water, TOO. in tie Algonquin was returned
from coodensers 10 the boilers at i degrees OF heat
whereas on the Pautuxet it was rs low AZ "a degrees
and averaged less than 100 degrees.
Fourth-rhe Algonquin TUNED her wheels sixteen
hundred revolutions than the PeutuXet In tue
same time and her wheels have wider buckets than the
Pautuxet and require more power to turn them
FVth-The Algonquin used only nine hundred ano
sixty pounds Of coal hour making more terms
whereas the Pautuxet used fifteen hundred POUNDS an
hour ma ling turns. The remen ofthe Pautuxet were
sxperiencef men, selected for their skill by Mr. Chas-
sang and the coal good. The men who fired the
Algonquin were not practiced fremen at ALL one ex-
oented aud the coal very dirty and bad as your
engineers reported on the log 30 lte ire YES neeoeo
tbet the 1aupers were Of the time closed, aud
some Of the fires more than once diedeut entirely! and
had TO be rekindled from the other furnaces Still
these remarkable differences occurred III the result
By the terms Of the contract final payment OF one
srth OF the price less So per cent Was due when the
work was completed and the bill certified by the super
intending engineer Accordingly, after the Trial, the
Intending engineer csrtlhed the usuai OIL ana IL
was duly Endorsed by Mr.. Wood. and the admiral In
Nev.York for payment When presented TO MIR. Ism
erwood ne refused to pass it, and the contractor kept
out of his money In plain violation OF tue agreement
Ia answer 70 the demand OF Mr baIuhcr' MI lsAer
wood declared that tie algonquin pas dead Ja'teIe
that her economy Of coal not so great az tbat Oh inc
other boats and therefore he bad refused TO pass the
bill III il had been true that the Algonquin uheu IoIe
coal than the others to DO tue sane "ors IL "ou ,o
that during the tia the engine failed In an! oi the par
which BY contract tD Trial was made 10 Jest
This was not test Of economy ana 50 tbe con'iae'
shows The requirements 81 the contract ior lb's pie
hminsry trial are thus stated: The uDIcation 10 70
be thorough and easy the journals free from hehte
The stationary parts free from working on motiOh On
their sieDiDgs and the whole performance o. sue.
character as 20 demonstrate the sans
reliability practical efficiency, and duruD!V OF the
eltire machinery" Tie Algonquin compiled WIN an
ttese conditions, and is The only one ~ me hoss
srsay.sfgh, which has done Every other one has
heated journals or been compelled 70 stop Decius IL
would be dangerous TO continue running az some tIic
d5riDg ,be trial Sill In tie face Of these facts she IS
officially pronounced dead failure by a man VINO
fever her run and whose entire kto"ieusc vi It
performance II derived from the oncih repo,, VI n'
oncers informing bin that IN al 'ness
perfect But she used Tuch less coal than any olneI
boatuot half that some used-and made more re'o'u
tons tsa any have known
1nls conduct on the part Of Mr. Isherwood antici'
pated and II il In with his repealeu oecu
sion that be meant TO put me engine VI ,c t
in s~sx A. lvet