Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-05-19
THE MONITOR.
Ericsson's Historic Ironelad and It's Trip
to Hampton Roads.


to Hampton Roads.
The Monitor had been formally COM
missioned on Feb 90, 1869, under COM
mand Of Lieutenant John l.. Worden,
u. S. N. Twelve officers and 45 enlist
ed men comprised her personnel. Chief
Engineer A. @. sinners, the superin-
t.. ldent Of construction, went to sea in
the vessel to observe her performance
and give the officers the benefit Of his
knowledge He was, as stated by Colo
mel w. G. Church in his Life of John
Ericsson, - "the only man ON board who
thoroughly understood the characteris-
tics of the vessel. F"
The voyage to Hampton Roads was
sventful, and almost ended the career
Of the Monitor, and with it the fate of
ironclads for an indefinite time Rough
weather was encountered, and water
broke over the smoke and blower trunks,
nearly putting out the fires and stopping
the pumps from lack Of steam for four
or five hours on one occasion. Loss by
laundering was imminent at this time,
because Of tho great quantity OF water
that got into the vessel under the base
of the turret and through the hawse
pipes. The blowers stopped because the
belts got wet aud the engine and fire
rooms filled with noxous gas from the
fires and had to be abandoned. In try
ing to remedy this trouble the chief en-
gineer, Mr. Newton, and his assistants
were overcome by the gas and were car
ried to the top of the turret, where they
revived, though they were thought dead
when dragged out of the engine room.
Trouble and danger also resulted from
the wheel ropes jumping off the steer
ing wheel and becoming jammed.
After two days of toll and peril the
Monitor escaped from the dangers of
the sea into the presence of new enc
my. Late in the afternoon of March 8
she passed in at tho capes of Chesapeake,
and from the sound of shotted guns
knew that her time for action had come
thus early in her career. The Merrimac
was abroad that very afternoon, and
wreck and destruction fouled her wake.
A rude improvised ironclad herself she
marked new era in naval warfare, and
before her lay "A large fleet Of supposedly
formidable ships of war as helpless as a
flock Of sheep assailed by wolf.
Night fell before the Monitor came
up to the seemingly doomed Union fleet
in Hampton Roads The Merrimac had
glutted her thirst for blood for the day
and was at anchor and at rest, but in
her silence In presence of the ships that
she meant to attack in tho morning she
stood for all that men understand by
the dominion of tho seas Lighted by
the burning wreck Of tho frigate Con-
gress, the Monitor moved up toward
Newport News and anchored near the
stranded Minnesota upon which vessel,
it was certain, tho first blow of tho
morrow would fall.
From either u historical or u theat-
rical point of view tho stage settings
were now complete. With the night tho
curtain had fallen upon tho last of
long series Of glorious deeds, performed
under an order of seamanship or sea
tactics that had already long passed its
meridian, but which for romance and
ohiyalry exoelled any that had preceded
it, and, it must be admitted, eXcelled
that which was now to rudely supplant
it. A now typo of sea warrior and
new typo of warship were about to APP
pear upon the waters. Tho engineer S
machine of John Ericsson was to face
tho fabric that represented the engineer
ing ingenuity of the American south,
and the result of the encounter would
infiict fright upon the romance of the
sea and transform tho masted navies of
tho world into useless relics in day
Il. M. Bennett, u. $. N, in CASTER
Magazine.