The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-07
POLLUTION OF THE STEEL SHIP
,ouV II. ROACH WRITES STORY OF
THAT GREAT ACHIEVEMENT.

shin was UnknOwn-IrOn Plated
wooden FOrtresses of the Dutch.
T,o First Iron GunbOat-HOw the
Doocbes Built the First FuIl-Rig-
nod Iron Ship, The Starbuck-The
noIDbtn and Her Success-She
sailed Around the World and
cIinched the Argument in Favor
of steel ships.
New York, May 5.-In the twenty-seven
,s,rs I've been shipbuilding on the Della
go the first steel warship, the first iron
sairinr ship and the first steel steamship
Il IN The United States have been built in
Il am wards and the first compound marine
Il srgina ever erected in this country was al
Il - constructed here. 1t seems hard to real
t. that such a thing as a steel ship was
unknown a quarter of a century ago;
where as wooden ships plated with iron
were attempted as long ago as 1886, by the
mitch when they built the FINS Belli in
Mthe River Scheldt, hoping to annihilate
Nthe Spaniards.
q Tbe Dolphin, the first steel warship the
limited states ever owned, was also the
frst steel propeller built in this country.
Yet the Dolphin-now in admirable trim
although she made a single voyage of 3d.
05o miles. the longest on record, without an
hours delay for repairs of any kind, was
& NOT even authorized by Congress until
March is, SO, but little over sixteen years
#ago ii is owing TO our mastery of steel
working in the past twenty years that the
& steel snip is now the accepted type of all
#narine architecture.
s. The practical difference between the iron
#pates in use on ships for many years pre-
Mvous, and the steel plates now universal
Nlv adopted, are so vital as to be under
stood even by a non-expert. Yet there are
#doubtess few save those who have made
The subject a special study since boyhood,
with abundant opportunities of working
#out practical problems, who realize the
Hromance in the history of the metal ship.
#There is no more splendid example of
#man's triumph over the forces of nature.
THE idea of an iron ship, a structure re-
N0uiring the greatest buoyancy, made out
|pf metal of the greatest gravity, would
Shave been considered by the ancients a
Contradiction in terms. Yet they were fine
KNorkers in metals and very successful
Nhipbuilders after their own ideas.
kn IriOn Plated Wooden Fortress.
81 When the Dutch conceived the idea of
Building a floating wooden fortress and
Eshen plating it over with iron they made
"a brilliant but unsuccessful start in the
&lght direction. The FINS Belh had no
u cam TO move her, and became unman-
hgeable BY and by there was a steam war
khip built the Fulton, or Demologos in
ISL but she had no iron plates, and her
geek was sheathed with nothing more for
1hidable than heavy scaRtling. Yet the
4iea Of sheathing was still in evidence.
when Ericsson invented the propeller in
2S51 it was inevitable that there would be
q screw warship, and the Princeton was
launched in 80. Then in 1912 John Stevens
punt his floating fort, sheathed it with
4roh and put heavy guns aboard, going
pack to the idea of the Dutch, but nothing
practical came of it.
The civil war naturally stimulated ship
pudding to renewed activity. John Roach,
ply father, had already one of the best
equipped foundries and engine works in
&c country. l can speak from my own
fhoWledSe for I had served my appren-
eesh'p under him in the Aetna Iron
&NoGhs and later in the Morgan Iron
oiks, and as a boy, even, had carried
rs dinner basket to him when he was a
8orkman in the old Allaire Works. in
rev York all of which he afterward own
When he purchased what has since
zen koach's shipyard, at Chester. Pa. in
p l took an executive position there
10 since his death, in 1887, have had
&halge of the works.
First Iron Gunboat.
In the SIXTIES, in this yard. there had
Feh built for the United States govern
4eht the monitors Lehigh, Sangamon and
INKS at least one of which was again
due ready for harbor defense last sum-
- -When 1t was feared<that Cervera's
#SSteIious fleet was about TO attack our
- II IS of more value in the evolution
'He modern steel ship. that the Wat
rec the first iron gunboat, had been
4uu' IN this yard in 1868. While this was
o'nE on along the Delaware, my father
puAt engines in New York for the
eau sound steamers, Bristol and Provi-
"A nee, Tor the iron ram Dunderberg, built
M "eho for our government, but not
9.'ed IN war time, and afterwards sold
X inc French, who rechristened her the
Fochambeau
ny ehsagement in Hampton Roads be-
- Eicsson's monitor and the Merit
""l not only drawn the attention of
80 ana other foreign governments 10
A movements made in iron warships1
me United States, but resulted also in
government ordering the construction
4 UIs IRON Canonicus and Mahopac, and
V'"er 'ninety-day boats 1t was
49,, '"~llN tndC the TOncfdd was the
Il HtsInp of the future France indeed,
Io'i' mad built the monitor Devastation
- me Gioire in 1858, while Great Britain
Il III 1898 authorized the building of the
oHclad Warrior. But nobody knew
4 4al an Ironclad was good for until
'Vssons monitor demonstrated it. The
Il Seu wooden steamships which the Con-
"Ia'es protected with railroad iron and
.alns' on the Southern rivers, gave
'ei l.ah genius another strong hint. But
Z len me war came to an end but little
i'aa been accomplished. The mon
el'n building were gradually finished
Il no new ironclads were ordered until
~ mat year we built for the govern
ING Alert and the Huron, the first
Scoops Of war ever constructed. They
4 Vi LAG net tons. Another step for |
- followed quickly when the contracts |
Il ,He great double turreted monitors,
i soo ,oAomoh, 2O25 tons, and Puritan,
60. yoas were awarded US in IS. These |
siS' each a pioneer on its own lines, |
III 1Nler my very eyes, and their great |
'"d engines are as familiar to me |
4, IN, .' rooms in my own home. For,
-" oorn in Monroe street, In New |
IA