New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1880-12-08
Sale Of the Famous Stevens Battery.

The Stevens Battery has been sold at
auction, by order of the Chancellor of
New Jersey, for $65, 900. The name of
the purchaser was William Lainbeer, of
New York. The marine monster lies at
the foot of Second and Third Streets,
Hoboken, NJ. Nearly g., OOO, 900 have
been expended on this vessel since its
inception, which nearly dates back to
1843, and of the 81, 100000 left by the
will of Edwin A. Stevens to complete
the vessel less than 100000 remain.
BY provision of the will the vessel after
completion was to be presented to the
State of New Jersey. A question arose
about three years ago as to the real
ownership of the vessel, and the Court
of Chancery decided that under the will
it belonged to the State of New Jersey.
The executors of the estate then carried
an appeal to the United States Supreme
Court. When motion was made that,
as the estate had not sufficient money to
complete the battery, which occupied a
large plot of land that at present produces
nothing to the estate, it had better be
sold, the Court decided that it should be
sold. The experiments of the late
Robert l.. Stevens on the effect of the
impact of shot and shell upon iron pla-
ting led in 1882 to the perfection of a
plan of an iron-clad vessel. In 1S43,
through the assistance of his brothers, a
contract was made with the Government
to build an iron-clad vessel of high
speed and with all its machinery below
the water-line. Owing to the marked
progress in ordnance Mr.. Stevens feared
his vessel might prove too vulnerable,
and in 1854 the ship was given up and
the keel of a much larger vessel was
laid. AS with the preceding de-
sign, the course of construc-
ton suffered many interruptions.
The Government advanced funds,
and then refused to continue the work.
Successive Administrations alternately
encouraged and discouraged the en-
gineer, and he finally, emitting loose
from all official connections, went on
with the work at his own expense. The
work was conducted with the greatest
secrecy, as it was considered matter
of National Importance that no knowl-
edge of it should reach foreign powers.
The designs were for the heaviest guns,
and to be mounted on turntables and
worked the same as our monitors. When
Robert S. Stevens died in 1856, leaving
his brothers, J. c. and E. A. Stevens,
to complete the work, there only re-
NAMED the work of adding the armor
plating and guns. The Government
refused to accept the terms of Edwin
A. Stevens to complete the vessel, and
when he died the work still remained
unfinished in a basin covered by ship
house which thoroughly protects her
from the weather. She lies in the same
condition, and the estimated cost for
finishing is $3.50, 600. She is 40l feet in
length, IS feet beam, % feet draft, and
displacement of 6,OO6 tons. She has
the sharp bow and fine lines so essential
to the efficient working of screw pro-
pellers. She is built with double bot
tom, one shell inside the other, twenty
two inches apart, with seven transverse
bulkheads carried across below the boat
deck. Coal-bunker bulkheads forward
and aft, and smaller bulkheads in the
ends of the vessel, add greater strength
to the structure. The double bottom is
divided into water-tight spaces, 80 feet
apart, thus enabling the vessel to re-
ceive heavy shocks without endangering
its safety. There are ten steam boilers
of total weight of 255 tons, four en-
gines of over 1900 horse power to drive
twin-screws, and a coal-bunker capacity
of 1850 tons. The estimated speed of the
vessel is sixteen and half knots, or one
and one-half knots greater than the
British ironclad Monarch.-Special to
Chicago Tribune.