Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-14
VETERAN WARSHIPS
Bids Opened for Four Old
Time Monitors.
WERE BUILT IN 1862
MORE THAN THEIR APPRAISED
VALUE OFFERED.
No Bid Made for the Canonicus, Which
Was Valued at More Than
the Others.

Bids were opened at the Navy Depart
n,ent today for the purchase Of four moni-
tors built and used by the navy during the
civil war, Nahant, Jason, Montauk and
Lehigh. The bidding was spirited, there be-
ing six firms competing for their possession.
These vessels were appraised at $4,000
e: ch but the lowest bid for any one Of
them was s1O,010 while the highest was
S1o,O59. The average was above $1,000.
The highest bids were Frank Samuel.
MGntauk, s12,o59; L. E. Lunt, Jason and
Nahant, $11 1868 each; r. T.. Potter, Lehigh,
$12051.
The bids in detail were as follows: r. c.
Hoffman & Co., Baltimore, Jason, $4,000;
Lehigh, 81 ,O10; Montauk and Nahant, $ll,-
200 each
ii. A. Hitners' Sons, Philadelphia, Lehigh
and Montauk 81 $50 each.
Frank Samuel Philadelphia, Jason, SILL
759; Lehigh, $1,000; Montauk, s12,O59; Ma
hant, $11 $50
70 II. Wilson & Co., Philadelphia, Mon
tauk, 81 400; Lehigh, ST. 45o; Jason, $1,000;
Nahant. 81 $50.
L. E. Hunt, Melrose, Mass. Jason and
Nahant $11 $50 each; Montauk, and Lee
r. T. Potter, Fall River, Mass, Lehigh,
2051; Jason, S11,O0o 1910
J. J. O'Connor, Boston, Nahant, $10,67s;
Montauk, 81, 64T
No bid was offered for the Canopicus,
which was appraised at $4,000.
OutIived Their Usefulness.
These vessels have long outlived their
usefulness and are practically worthless
for naval purposes. For many years after
the civil war they were anchored near the
mouth of the James river, but for several
years past they have been anchored in the
mud at the navy yard, League Island, Pa
The sale will virtually mark the eXtlnc-
ton of the large fleet of ships known In
the navy as Single turreted monitors"
The Navy Department recently decided
that the old craft are no longer of pract-
cal use and Secretary Moody ordered them
sold for junk. The five ships are the rem
nant of a fleet of nineteen begun with the
construction in 1852 of the famous Monitor
according to the design of John Ericsson.
The Monitor startled the world with the
contest in Hampton Roads with the Mer-
rimac. and besides physically arresting its
formidable antagonist at the outset of
projected raid of the northern coast 1t gave
a wonderful moral superiority to the United
States navy and inflicted an injury to the
naval prestige of the confederacy from
which it never recovered.
Saw Active Service.
All of the five monitors saw service in
the civil war. and the marks of shot and
shell are plainly discernible on each of the
old ironclads. The Montauk and Nahant
were among the monitors sent to Charles
ton under Rear Admiral Dupont in 1Sb5,
when an attempt was made to capture Fort
Sumter by a naval attack exclusively.
1t was on the Montauk that Mrs. Surratt
was kept for a time after the assassination
of President Lincoln.
The monitors are single turreted, and
each is of 1875 tons displacement Their
armament consists of two guns, one of
fifteen-inch and one of eleven-inch caliber,
These
guns are placed in turret armored with
plates of laminated iron. and were dis
charged through oblong port holes while
the turret revoIved. Each vessel carried
officers
During the Spanish-American war the
ships were manned and prepared for coast
defense in case of an emergency.