Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-09-22
BUILDING PERRY'S FLEET.
Story Told by Noah Brown. One of tn,
Contractors.


Story Told by Noai, Brown. One of the
Contractors.
In view of the fact that Perry's vic
tory OF Lake Erie in the war of 1912
will probably be fully illustrated at the
October ceremonies At the Worlds fair,
information as to how that feet was
built may prove OF interest. A. w.
Brown, the last representative of the
Brown family which built that feet, is
at the Palmer house. He furnishes the
statement of Noah Brown, his great
uncle. as regards the work.
The Brown brothers. Noah and Adam,
engaged in the ship-building business
at New York in 1904 with Furman
Cheeseman. As to the Perry feet,
Noah Brown says:
I'm we 1918 were called upon by the
United States government to go and
build Perry's fleet. I started from New
York, February II, and with a small
gang arrived in ten days at the town of
Erie. The weather then was stormy
and the snow deep. More hands ar
rived the last of April. and we began
to drive business with considerable
speed. and the navy agent of Philadel-
phia sent on men. and they began to ar
rive in the middle of May. In all there
had collected about eco men. and then
we We're short of iron. nakum and
pitch: but there was a British schooner
off N the ice. We proceeded to her
and got out about twenty barrels OF
pork and quantity of rigging and ca
bles. We made oabum OF them anG
burned the schooner and got her iron. II
helped us with the gunboats. and rode
all around to the neighhoring towns
and bought of all the merchants every
bar OF iron I could find. The govern
ment was to send iron, pitch and akum.
mt the roads We're so bad that had al
most finished the feet before any ar
rived Al Erie.
My men several times raised and de-
clared they would work no longer if
they could not have better fare. sat
isfed them by giving them liberty to
go and buy all the cattle and other pro-
visions they could find. Several We're
gone four or FIVE days. and when they
came back their report satisfied them
al. 50 had little trouble afterward.
The enemy often appeared before
our harnor. and several times came to
an anchor within three miles OF rs.
Cur men drew arms and volunteered to
protect the ship-yard. but the enemy
did not venture to land. and we We're
as willing they should not land as they:
so we had no use for our arms.
I'VE had completed our vessels by the
middle of June. as follows: Three gun
boats armed and fitted for sea: two
briggs and one sharp schooner for dis
patch vessel and 4 lookout. as she could
outsail anything that was in the En-
Clish fleet
Eve built also z block house. 80 feet
square. of heavy timber: likewise a
guard house of 40 by 30 feet a cook
house of 100 by 30 feet and loft above
to accommodate 200 men. q blacksmith
shop so feet long by 1G feet deep and a
house for fifty men tn sleep in. an office
for myself and Commodore Perry Is
feet square, likewise four camels about
20 ton each. II boats for the use of the
feet. and we mounted ali the guns for
the feet. and repaired FIVE old vessels
that belonged to their fleet and ali their
gun carriages"
Mr.. Brown says that after completing
the work at Erie he was sent to Lake
Champlain to build Commodore Nc
Donough's feet there Of one ship and
nine gunboats- In this way he be-
came connected with the two victories
OF the inland seas in the war of 1919
which are familiar to every school boy
and girl.
Continuing. Mr.. Brown said: IN Feb
ruarv, Is1a. we received orders to pro-
coed 70 Saclle:ts Harbor to build two
l., chi,S 70 Of 1.r
caliber-100-pounders on the lower deck,
and thirty-two Founders on the upper
deck-lihewise three large-sized frig-
ates.
Peace coming on. we did not COM
plete our contract, bat we got the large
ships we'll along. We proceeded on tc
the harbor with about 1900 men, and
when we We're stopped we had been to
work only about six weeks, and if we
a not been stopped in SIX weeks
longer both large ships would have
been completed and in the lake. We
returned to New York, and had not the
pleasure Of seeing the largest ship afoat
in the inland waters of our state that
ever was built. These ships We're ESQ
feet on the upper deck and 200 feet
straight
In 1914 we built block house, forty
feet square. on Mill Rock. in He'll Gate.
East river: likewise. the second block
house 1T Williamsburg. Long Island
opposite the city of New York. We
built a block house on Rockaway Beach,
south side of Long Island. and fur
nished all the materials to complete
these three block houses We also built
a steam frigate.
Under the direction OF Robert Full
ton, webuilt vessel called the Mute.
bomb-proof. and to be propelled by ma
chinery under water. Since the wal
we have built only one revenue cutter !
and one light vessel for the govern
ment--Chicago Tribune