The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-05-23

4 MERITED TRIBUTE
Concerning the Late Cornelius S. Bush
--"The Last of the MonitOr,s Builders

Concerning the Late Cornelius S. Bushnell
1.-THE Last of the Monitors Builders
The Troy, N Y, Times in late issue
says, under the heading THE Last Of
the Monitors Builders" as follows:
To Cornelius Scranton Bushnell,
whose death occurred yesterday at New
York, the loyal people of the Union
owed great debt. Mr.. Bushnell was
one of the four men who in 1852 con-
structed the Monitor and thereby pre-
vented the destruction of American
shipping by the powerful Merrimac. At
the opening of the war Mr.. Bushnell
was engaged in the carrying trade on
Long Island sound and owned a ship
yard at New Haven. From the first he
took great interest in the building up Of
the navy and attempted several ex-
periments in the construction of armor
plate. 1t was at that time that he was
advised to consult John Ericsson, a
Scandinavian engineer then practically
unknown. Ericsson showed Mr.. Bush
nell his model of the Monitor, which he
had designed some time before, but
which had met with little favor from
the navy officials. The plan of building
an ironclad vessel with a draught of
eleven feet and hull which would be
almost submerged was such a radical
departure from all existing naval types
that it is not at all surprising that
naval officers placed no confidence in
it. The only wonder is that Ericsson
was able to find any one to believe in
his ideas and lend him financial back
ing.
Mr.. Bushnell was one of the three
men that came to the aid of the in
ventor and at the same time to the help
of the nation. The other two We're John
A. Griswold and John F. Winslow of
this city, whose connection with the
building of the Monitor is well known
to all Trojans. Messrs. Griswold, Wins
low and Bushnell believed in the value
of Ericsson's invention, but although
they had great confidence that the YES
sci when completed would prove of
service to the Union cause, they never
theless realized that the undertaking
was at best only an experiment and a
costly one. If it failed their losses
would be considerable, but all these
the prospect of failure to discourage
their plans.
The Monitor was built, and it's career
is matter Of history. 1t not only
checked the victorious career of the
Merrimac and sent that rebel terror
scurrying back to Norfolk, but it also
served notice on the foreign powers to
keep their hands off the American quar-
rel At the time the Monitor made it's
appearance, it seemed quite probable
that England and France would be in
duced to lend their aid to the Confeder-
acy. Those nations may not have been
actually frightened by the little Yankee
craft, but no doubt the Monitor was
factor in inducing them to remain in an
attitude of neutrality.
The patriotic action of Messrs. Girls
void, Winslow and Bushnell and the
genius of Ericsson also had another i'm
portant result. The Monitor certainly
revoIutionized naval construction. The
great battleships of to-day may not
bear much resemblance in appeara nee
to the victor of the famous duel in
Hampton Roads, but if the history of
navy building since 1862 is closely stud
led it will be found that Ericsson's prin-
cip1es of construction were adopted by
all designers as fundamental, and while