The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-11-26

Many of the sailors had friends among tho lost
One said; " That tho Huron was soaworthy
unit Tor the naval service. In tho first place,
shq was not obcdient TO her holm. In the Sec
ond plnce. her sails wcrc OF no use. Sho was
schooncr rugged, hut the smokcstacks and other
obstructons ON dock prevented the sails from
being laced to booms. Shc might better hnvo
had no sails ut ALL Az for Rynn's not sailing
without orders. he may have had orders and he
may not. He was going to CubatO takc n survey
l bolicvc. In such duty IL is common for COM
manders to snil at thcir own discretion lIo
may have lost his reckoning Able oftic"rs
sometimes meet with this misfortune llo may
have anchored, ana the cables parted. The ma
chlncry may have broken down. There are
dozen ways " accounting for this disgster. but
there Il no getting round the fact that the vessel
WIS unfit for naval service and that but for tho
cOrruptnc-s Of RubcsOn II never would haNO
formed part of tho Unitod States navy"
Mr.. William II. Mchh. the veteran ship build
ing of the Huron. He thought, however. TINT
too many oggshells had been set nilnai in tho
past icw ycais. wooden ship. striking as the
Huron is supposed to have struck. would hate
hrl tog ther longer But iron ships, without
solid backing Of good oak timber, were not III
"a soon "a thcy struck. MIR. Webb illusiratcd
this point by a homry comparison. Take n
wooden tub'r mn iron pot " snid he "nud nj
them with material so that their weight il
equal. Then drop thom from height upon
some hard substance. and note the result Tho
"'i' .,i '.w i"i Nit it w. "'inntIi. gi'1 u nny
other hand. will bo hrokon-you can soe day-
l!sht through it, mover saw the Huron aud
ihcrcforn cannot speak uuthoritntivcy. hnt
believe 1t Il customary 10 build iron vessels i'm
compartments | think her wreck is due To Tho
loss " the reckoning by her officers though
out Of Fortress Monroe | cannot understand
striking sand bank. which becomes IA hard
ns rock when saturnted with water, in the midst
Of n tempest such as was described hy the
newspapers this morning, she must have been
Mr. Roach. n son Of John Roach the builder
oi the Huron, said that no one could regret tho
disaster moro deeply than hc, since two dear
But this talk about poor materials" hc con.
tinued, md about bad lines. and too little
beam for her length. and all that sort Of thing,
am not positive. am in the Now York offlte.
and our, ,shipyard Il in Chester. Pa. think she
and SPECIFICATIONS. namely. the Ranger, the
Alert, the Alliance: and the Huron. Her lines
wore beautiful. and the material used in her
constructionl was the worry best that could be
procured, The newspapers are wont 10 blame
shipbulders for disasters of This kind. This is
unjust unjust; especially IN the case Of the Huron
which was built Tor the Government. The Bu-
rcau OF Steam En4inee drew up the plans and
specifications for her engines and boilers, and
his n % N No So or rSet iS io9w o2
screw went into the vessel that was not distinct.
ly stipulated in the contract, Then as to the
material. While we are building Government
vessels an inspector of the Bureau Of Construc-
tion is always In our yard TO see that the plans
iron ship. rs has been shown by tho experiences
OF the past few years. ia better than u wooden
one, ana will stand n greater strain. | SEQ ono
9i the newspapers this morning says that II a
bullet struck one Of our iron war ships the
splinters would fly right and left This l. ride
uous. II il wool that splinters. hot iron. II
has been said also that the Huron's breadth Of
beam WAS out of all proportion to her length.
THIS Is also wrong. She was a short vessel, ,
and was very handsomely proportionel."
Mr.. samuel Seahury. Master in the navy said
last evening: The Huron was one ~ the
smaller class ~ gunhoats. She was rigged IA n
three -masted schooner, with "A spare. ward for
the forennst to he used only with 1rce wind.
In my opinion she was not fully rugged. She
could not Dee called sailing vcssnl. She was
like an ordinary three. .masted schooner in rig.
with tho exception that her sails were So mr.
ranged "a 70 hc shortened or taken in 10y brazil
ing, instead ot 10y lowering. as ordinarily. She
had no lower booms. except on the spank"r.
know nothing about hcr steam power: she was
supposed to be- a full-powcred steamer. would
not bc inclined to trust avesScl Of that rig under
san alone. in an emergency. She had not sufll-
cient sail power To enable her to claw of a lee
shore IN 4 gale Of wind, j have understood
from officers who have sailed in her that as a
sailing vessel she WINS not surccss. She was
unable 10 work on wind. and did not have
sufficient sails to give her any speed when free.