The Cleveland leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1865-1865, 1865-09-01
THE NEW REYENUE GUTTER,
TRIAL TRIP OF THE JOHN sHER-
NAN,
APIessant snd s~atIsfactorv Excursion

APIeasant snd Satisfactory Excursion
Though the new revenue cutter, John
Sherman, is not yet wholly completed, that
is, ready for service, it was decided to put
her on a trial trip yesterday. The de-
termination was, perhaps, partly made in
consideration of the fact that Hon. John
Sherman, whose name the beautiful craft
bears, was in the city, and would lend his
presence 10 the company which should be
invited to make the pleasure excursion.
1t was announced that the steamer would
leave at two O'Clock, but it was an hour
later, Just three o'clock, when it steamed out
into the lake. MI. Kirby, Of the firm Of
Peck Il co.. the builders of the cutters,
Oficiated Is captain, and Mr.. Andrew
Fletcher, of the firm of Fletcher, Harrison
L Co., North River Iron Works, superin-
tending the movement of the engines was
aboard.
A large number of invitations had been
sent out, and q company ranging from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred ladies
and gentlemen, consisting of some of our
first citizens, were aboard. Senator Sher-
man, with his wife and niece, was present,
together with Captain Gilbert Knapp, Cf
the navy, Captain Wallace, Professor in the
Naval Academy at Annapolis, and Chief
Engineer NJ. H. Plankett, who was cap
tured in the Harriet Lane.
The enjoyment of the guests seemed 10
have been specially consulted, SO far as the
ordering of the westher and lake was con-
| cerned. Though almost intolerably hot on
board, q refreshing breeze, created by the
movement of the boat, prevailed, and made
all on board the envy of landsmen and the
favorites of fortune. The lake was smooth,
and of a deep green color. The cutter clipt
the water like 8 knife, without motion.
The most easily affected stOmachs retained
their virtue and contents an them. We
saw no violent movements or spasms of
diaphrsgms. Not q lace-bonneted beauty
on board lost her romantic charm of pres-
ence by-vomitingl
On leaving the harbor the cutter bore
IS going anywhere was concerned. She
soon passed the tug Levi johnson, whose
enterprising captain had started ahead with
q load to see the cutter fly at full speed.
She, or he, (for how can a he be q she y
continued on for about three. quarters of an
hour, when she put about and headed for
the river, with the intention, we suspec''
of having a race with the screw steamer
Pacific, of the Cleveland and Buffalo line,
as, indeed, the sequel showed. While
she is approaching the pier, we will
give a brief account of the cutter,
as she now is, ~appending a fuller statement
when she is completed and makes her
final trip at the instance of the Treasury
Department, for the transaction of the bust
ness and the oversight of the concerns of
which, primarily, she was built.
The contract for building st this point
two of the six revenue cutters ordered to be
built on the lakes, was let to Peck and Kir-
by, the we'll known ~ship-builders of this
city, and bears date of February 10, 1865.
Work was not commenced on them until a
month later. Considering all the circum-
stances, they have been rushed through,
but the work has not therefore been at all
slighted. The craft are to-day the pride of
the art, and challenge comparison with any
specimens of lake-marine architecture.
The best material has been used, and it has
been used by the best workmen whom
money, if not love, could command, and in
the most approved manner known to the
ship building profession. Each of the cut
Eers, theJ onh bnerman anu VIM. FIU Fes-
sender, have the following dimensions:
Length of keel $50 feet.
Breadth of beam 20 "
Depth of hold II
The engine is a m iracle and paragon of
mechanism. It csme from the North River
Works, of Fletcher, Harrison / Co., and is
No. AZ, and that in the F~essenden, No. AZ,
ofthis style of engine furnished for western
lake boats. The engine in each is 4s inch
diameter and 9-foot stroke. The boiler is
s-feet she'll and 80 feet long. The blowing
engine is l2-inch bore and II inch stroke.
A pony boiler 6 feet long and of 36-inch
diameter, drives q Sewell pump and the
blower, and makes steam for heating the
cabin and ward room. The wheels are IS
feet diameter and 8 feet face. The engine
is acknowledged to DO the finest piece of
mechanism ever seen here. 1t should be a
magnificent affair, since it costs SIS, 900.
Peck & Co. contracted TO build the cutters
for $780, 900 each, the Government to sup
ply the armament and furnish the rooms.
The total cost of each will not fall short of
$175, 900.
By this time the Sherman had neared the
port, just as the Pacific was steaming put.
The former put her wheel to starboard, and
cut q splendid circle, thereby allowing the
Pacific to get the start. She was about a
quarter of q mile ahead, when the cutter
had got faced sboutand put on forty pounds
of steam. She few through the water like
a bird through the sir, and quickly passed
the Pacific, which had shut off steam, de-
clining the race. She few down the lake
some four or five miles, when her wheel
was again put to stsrboard and she cut an
other immense circle, facing about once
moro in the rear of the propeller, which by
this time had limbered up and was scoot-
ing down the watery plain like q Flora
Temple "incsrnated" in oak and iron.
The cutter put IN tWenty-eight pounds of
steam, and in about ten minutes cancelled
the quarter-mile distance intervening, and,
passing, slid ahead and cut athWart the
path of the Pacific. The excitement was
intense. Everybody aboard shared the
ambition of the cutter, had a personal in
terest at stake, felt himself to be a man of
consequence Who cared whether she
should bust her b'iler2 they could sink in
q good csussI This was Rome, this was
the triumphal entry, nay, this was the Gre
clan games, and the result, the everlasting
Asmall thing to go to the bottom,
wound in the flag of victoryi And SO every
one went in on his nerve and dignity, and
that he had beat the Pacific.
We do not wish to dispsrage in the least
he Pacific. She was heavily loaded, but
made praiseworthy speed, Notwithstanding.
only mean to say that the John sher-
nan is extra and, with his twin brother
Pitt Fessenden, promises to carr ? the
room over the lakes.
The propeller Canlstso was coming up,