The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-23
BELOW THE OCEAN BOTTOM.
WHERE ONE OF THE MAPS REPRE-
SENTED PART OF 4 JETTY.

Cumberland sound Jetty at That
Point Is Five Feet Above the
Ocean BOttoIn-A Long Technical
Examination on Engineering
POints-Gave. Instances Where
Chief Clerks Have COMMITTED Ar
ticIes of Merchandise Into Labor.
Insisted That Capt. Carter Did Not
Depart From the Cumberland
Sound Contract of 1896.
The second day for the defense in the
Carter court martial was day OF scien-
tifc and technical explanations leading up
to results attained the object being 10
show that the methods pursued by the
prosecution in making surveys of the
work and maps from the surveys we're
incorrect, and that the results were mis-
leading.
The court room was again well filed,
and, in spite of the technical details gone
into, there seemed to be much interest in
the proceedings The court room was a
point of attraction for tourists, there be-
ing many of them at the hotel just now
On invitation from Gen. Otis, Judge En-
Dry Speer of the United States Court sat
for time with the officers of the court.
One of the maps introduced by the pros
ecution showed, or pretended to show, the
anomaly of the mean crest of a portion
of the south jetty at Cumberland sound
being two or three feet below the bottom
of the ocean. Mr.. Wisner showed from
the survey made by himself and Mr..
Kastl, that the crest at that point was
actually five feet above the bottom of he
sea.
Mr.. B. F. Finney, the chemist, was the
first witness on the stand He returned
to answer a question asked the day he
fore by Maj. w. S. Stanton as to the rel
alive weights in water of a cubic foot CT
the highest Florida rock introduced by
the prosecution and a cubic foot of gran
tie. Mr.. Fnney said the light rock would
weigh in water thirty-five pounds to the
cubic foot, while granite would weigh 100
pounds to the cubic foot. Mr.. Finney
| was then asked several questions about
| specific gravity by both sides, Col. Barr
| asking. him several times if in getting the
| specific gravity of a stone which he re-
duced to a powder, he got rid of all the
air Mr.. Finney said for all practical pur-
poses 1t was a fact that all of the air in
the stone was removed.
The examination of Mr.. George Y. Wis
ner by Mr.. Blair was then resumed. Trac-
ngs and drawings of the works in Savan-
nah harbor and Cumberland sound were
shown, and with regard to these Mr.. Wis
ner answered many technical engineering
questions.
Mr.. Wisner was examined at length by
Mr.. Blair as to the results of survey
of the Tybee breakwater made by him
on Jan. 6, 1897. Mr.. Wisner had made nu-
merous cross profles of the breakwater
having taken at many points along it
some thirteen soundings His demonstra-
| ton went to show the fallacy in the maps
| of the work presented by the prosecution,
| since In some of those furnished he said
he had found points where two deep
| soundings and only one shallow one had
| been made. The resultant of that, he said,
| would be a point very much below the
| real mean hight of the jetty. He showed
how, according to his survey, the break
| water had a greater mean hight than the
prosecution had stated through testimony
| brought out.
The effect of the stoppage of the work
on the breakwater, Mr.. Wisner said, would
necessarily be very damaging. 1t was a.
| able to be damaged from the action of the
sea, and particularly from storms. The
true crest of a jetty, and not its so-called
| average crest is of real value, from cn
engineering standpoint. The maps of Ty-
bee breakwater and Cockspur Island train
ing wall. from which the witness had been
| explaining, were offered In evidence.
Charts showing profles and sections of
the south tetty at Cumberland sound were
next exhibited on the blackboard. These
| charts showed the result of a survey of
a portion of that jetty made by Messrs.
| Wisner and Alexander E. Kastl, as con-
trasted with the result of a survey made
under direction of Capt. Gillette. BY ac-
tual soundings, Mr.. Wisner said, the diff
| ference between the average crest of the
| jetty, as shown by the original chart, and
| the actual crest, as found by him, was
seven feet to ten or twelve feet higher.
| This explanation, as the others, was al
most wholly technical, its object being
to show that Incorrect methods had been
used in making the charts which were SUD-
mitted by the prosecution
| MIR. Wisner testified that a more ad
vantageous channel for shipping would
have been secured by cutting off the point
at the quarantine station, and leaving the
| harbor line where it was contemplated
under Capt. Carters project.
A green brush fascine just constructed,
such as have been put into the work, was
exhibited in court. 1t was of good live
brush, MIR. Wisner said, tightly bound,
and complied in every respect with the
! specifications. II was an excellent fas-
cine for use in the work on this coast. he
said. The other fascines, which had been
exhibited in the court room, had dried up,
the leaves and twigs had fallen from
them and they had become loose. They
might have been good fascines when
! green. The fascines In the military fascine
mat on the barge across the river, had be.
come loose, he said.
Mr.. Blair went over MIR. Gieselers esti-
mate of the cost to the contractors of such
mattresses al were used in the work, ana
in almost every item Mr.. Wisner said the
estimates were entirely too low. Mr.. Wis
ner estimated the cost to the contractors
of constructing mattresses at So to %
cents per square yard for Savannah har-
Dor and about 10 cents more, or 81 q
square yard, at Cumberland sound.
Mr. Wisnsr was then turned over to Col.
Barr. who began 70 examine him as to his
| experience in brush mattress construction.
! He was at one time employed by Gen.