The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-10-05
IRONCLAD MANASSAS.
STORY OF THE FIRST CONFED-
ERATE
Armored acknowledgment a Tow
Boat,


the ironclad is Captain ]. ]. Peetz Of
2SO Bermuda street, Algiers, and he
held the rank of first lieutenant in Girl
volts artillery during the late unpleas-
antness between the states. says the
New Orleans Picayune. Captain Peetz
is getting well along in years, but he IS
as sturdy as the average man of forty
five, and his mind is as clear to-day as
if he had just been graduated from coli
lege.
Captain Peetz drew the plans and SUI
perintended the construction of the iron
armor of the Manassas, the ram which
played such havoc with the federal war
vessels in the lower Mississippi. He is
never happier than when telling of the
work he had in seeing that his ideas
were carried out, and his fund of reni-
niscence is remarkable.
Much has been said and written
said Captain Peetz the other day, about
the first ironclad, the Manassas, and
the recent reunion of the United Con
federate veterans in New Orleans
awakened lot of interest in her. She
was a twin screw propeller towboat
called the Enoch Train, and was origl-
nally brought out from Boston by the
firm of Hyde Mackle. Mr.. Mackle is
still a resident of New Orleans. He is
now about eighty-five years old. The
Enoch Train was used by this firm Ill
towing vessels to and from the mouth of
the river. She was in this service
when the Confederate government took
iof3 of 1af-
ing her to fit her for the purpose of war.
after Lincoln's election it was gene
rally accepted that there would be war
and having had experience in seafarins
and the construction of vessels in tn
Crimean war, on board the English line
of battleship Orion, of ninety-nine guns,
/ began the study of a vessel that would
be effective and dangerous to an enc
my. While stationed on this English
battleship, blockading Cronstandt on
the Baltic, the small Russian gunboats
frequently sailed out, and having guns
of longer range, could be where our
guns could not reach them, and place
shots clear through our wooden vessels.
often wondered if this could not be
prevented If something was there to
make the balls glance off, or if our ves-
sells set lower in the water with a COW
cred, inclined top, instead of having a
high free-board or height out of the wa
ter.
THE Crimean war came to an end.
I gave up the study until the approach
Of the war of the states. was in Mo-
bile at lifetime, and after much thought
I made model and tried to awaken in
terest in it among the people in that
city, but William L. Yancey, the great
secessionist, came to Mobile and made
a number of speeches, claiming that we
did not need any ships. He said that
cotton was king. and that England
would have to have cotton and would
open our ports to get it.. His views
We're sadly mistaken, as 1t afterward
proved,
After a few months, when the need
of ships was apparent, the building of
two Of them was started in Mobile.
They were the Morgan and the Gaines,
both planned on the old style / sub
mittd my model for inspection, but, set
ting no encouragement, came over to
Algiers. ! was personally acquainted
with John Hughes, the dry dock owner.
and showed him my model He inme-
diateiy became interested iii it, and see
ing its utility soon got the confederate
government to adopt it as the plan for
the ram Manassas.
THE boat turned into the ram was
reconstructed by putting on an extra
bow made solid and extending out a
few feet, with an iron prov for ram
ming purposes. A shield or roof was
put over the deck in the shape of tur-
tie back. The frames were eight inches
thick, molding away; that is, solid
against each other crossways from for
ward aft, and the planking on top Of
this was four inches thick. outside OF
this she was covered with single layer
of fiat street car iron, such as was used
at that times to run the street cars on,
not rails such as are used now. On the
water line all around she had solid
sponsor four feet thick to protect her
from being rammed. She carried two
sixty eight Founders, one over the stem
and the other over the stern post. She
had a protecting stein below the water
line, extending out two feet, for the pur-
pose of ramming. When the ram was
all ready, Captain Alexander Frazer, a
graduate of Annapolis, was placed in
command, and / was taken on board as
quartermaster. "
I'VE left the city for Fort Jackson,
and remained there eight days, and
then went down the river to within a
few miles Of the enenay's fleet, then Iy-
ing in Southwest pass. Being very low
in the water, with a short smokestack,
we were hidden from their view by the
high marsh grass, but by raising our
Jacobs ladder we could plainly observe
their movements. We lay there several
days. waiting for dark night, so as to
take them by surprise. We left our
rnoorings one night between eleven and
twelve o'clock, and started toward
them, going at half speed. Being low
pressure, the boat made no noise, and
We came to within thirty or forty feet
of the first vessel of the enemy's ships.
I was at the wheel, and orders were
given to port the helm, which ! imme-
diately complied with, thus bringing us
in line to ram the vessel ahead. We
struck her a g1ancing blow on the port
bow, and raked a portion of her sheet
metal off, but did not injure her enough
to sink her, as was intended. We
backed out to prepare again, but the