Wilmington daily commercial., 1872-12-07
rhe peIaware Rlver shIp.Yarl..

REMARKS OF HON. WASHINGTON TOWNSEND ON THE
PROPOSITION TO BUILD FIVE U. 3. sLoOPs, BY
CONTRACT, IN PRIVATE YARDS.
LA the House OF Representatives, December 4th.I
Mr.. Townsend, of Pennsylyania. l take issue
with the gentleman from Maine Mr. Lynch
when he tells the House that there are no prl-
vate ship-yards in the country that are capable
OF building vessels of war. l want to say to him
that OF my own knowledge there are ship-yards
to-day that are executing contracts for the Pa
ciho Mail Steamship Company, and for other
companies and are building ships under the re-
quirements Of acts Of Congress that are suitable
iOr VESSELS Of war.
The ship yard Of John Roach & Co., at Ches-
ter Pennsylvania, has just launched one OF the
most magnificent iron vessels that the merchant
service OF this country ever possessed, vessel
of about two thousand tons burden, made OF
non, and 80 made that at any time can be turn
Nd into a vessel OF war at very little expense.
Lower down the river Delaware, at Wilmington.
IN the State of Delaware, the Harlan Hollings-
worth ship-building company has also just
launched similar vessel, and the ship-yards Of
both OF those places have now on the stocks
magnificent vessels. equal in size with those al
ready launched, and which will be sent forth up
un the ocean inH very short time to compete
with other nations for the commerce of the
world.
So, too, further up the river, the ship.yard OF
Cramp Sons, in Phadslphia, last summer
uilt and launched two vessels for the Pennsyl.
tania Railroad Company, as strong and well
tuilt as capable of ocean navigation, and as cas-
lly turned into war vessels any that were ever
tilt in the country 1t is mistake OF the gem
II lman from Maine Mr. Lynchl to suppose that
tire ship-yard OF any one of those three places Is
uot now fully equipped to build these vessels at
Il o shortest notice. / know, because have
gone through them all, that they have all the
Il eans aud appliances necessary for the pur-
pose that they have skilled workmen. that they
nave admirable machinery. and that the country
ouse around them furnishes the very best IRON
(. ruNN fla VNfTNh
and in everv way adapted for ahy vessels that
cal be set ahoat on the ocean for commerce or
iOr war.
Mr.. scofeld here asked whether the iron
~ d IN the Reading II H. colliers was not OF a
Jur quality, costing "a cents pound, while
ron fit for these sloOps would cost l019 and
also whether all merchant ships are not built
VITA machinery above the water line, too expos
81 for Use vessels of war
Ir. Townsend continued In answer to the
'utleman, will say that there is no iron manu-
cured in the world that has greater tensile
ngth and that can resist greater pressure than
tie iron manufactured at Ooatesvllle, chester
ciuuty, Pennsylvania And will say in addition
lat the iron manufactured there was used by
ne Government all through the war for boiler
I'D machinery aud all the other nppurtenancet
iron ships in the Navy, showing conclusivelI
8 opinion OF the Constructors Of vessels Tor
10 Government service al to its Adaptabllity Tor
g urposes to which il was applied.
liiis iron has been tested again and again, {
Al which is used at present IN the Chester anC
Wilmington yards, and believe also 10 th'
ilAdelphia yard, though cannot speak 81
lively about that as some of my colleague
m, is OF the very best character aud has beer
nihjt cted to the most trying experiments.
", therefore, that with the skilled labor tina
e have with the capital we possess, with th'
t0peiintendence Of the very best constructor
and shipwrights in the country, men who are &C
,4stoined to building steam enginesand steam
Sl ps We ought to give these yards an oppor
unity to manifest their ability to build some o
Sc vessels and in addition 10 that, ma
r, tlat they can be built at these private yards
not more cheaply, at least as eheapy as the
u bo built In the yards Of the government
ln ,he latter, the daily hours of labor are bu
G. ,lt while in these private yards the rule is to
h urs day. Thus we get twenty per cent. NOR
l,bJr at these private yards than we do at thos
al tho government for the same amount G
WngRg