Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1904-06-23

UNCLE SANS FIRST STEAM WARSHlP,
THE DEMOLOGOS.

In an Unfortunate Tragedy.
In these days of naval activity all
over the world. when each new scheme
In marine architecture is perfected only
TO be surpassed 10y some newer inyen-
ton, it is seldom recalled that the first
steam battleShip the world ever saw
was built by an American for America.
The story of the DemOlogos is an all
but forgotten incident in naval annals,
yet she was the wonder Of her day and
her career, before her mysterious and
tragic passing quite picturesque
enough TO warrant the retelling.
Planned by Robert Fulton, built by
order of James Madison, the Demolo-
gos appears In history In 1914. Those
were days when the good folk of the
towns along the Atlantic Syaooard
walked In fear Of attack from English
ships and slept lightly throga raa-
bled dreams. Our fleet OF p..s. tcers
had borne themselves galhu.iy ana
well at sea, but the coast lay u1pra-
. tected President Madison and his ad-
vlsers at Washington were quite as
much concerned over this as the fish
ermen Of Maine and Delaware, and
then came Fulton with his proposal Of
q floating battery.
The strang, little craft of his sugges-
ton corresponds most nearly perhaps
10 what we OF today might call an un-
protected gulboat .or coast and harbor
service but she lad freak" features.
In addition 10 the boilers that We're to
supply steam for the first time to a
fighting ship she was 10 be fitted with
furnacrs in which hcr shot might be
heated J. FOR" firing In addition 10 her
twsu.s s-siN tlirty-two Founders she was
Ia carry four guns, two forward and
TWO aft, which it was planned should
be hung over bow or stern, as the case
might be, with the idea of discharging
heavy shot into the side of an enemy
well below the water line. She was to
be fitted with pumps and pipes through
which large quantities of water might
be Spouted upon the decks and into the
ports of her adversary. "She will he
the most formidable fighting ship ever
constructed" wrote Mr.. Fulton in con
clusion.
The scoffcrs laughed. and the OBJ
jectors argued, but James Madison ap-
proved and worked to such good pur-
pose that on March II, 1914, the houses
of congress appropriated $22o,0OO TO
build the craft. Fulton was named
engineer and before June had passed
the keel had been laid in the New York
yards of Adam * Noah Brown. On
oct % she was launched the focus of
Il national celebration, with thousands
gathered along the river fronts and
upon the shipping that filled New York
bay to cheer, not the Fulton the
First, as the president had suggested
the vessel De christencd, but the De
mologos, or defender of the people"
name chosen by the designer himself,
who turned 10 the classics as well as
TO the elements for his inspirations.
She was mighty craft. The boiler,
over which the doubters shook their
heads In fear was % feet long by y
wide and deep. Her 2,I75 tons We're
TO be driven by a water wheel sixteen
feet In diameter She was 156 feet
over all, 56 feet beam, and her greatest
depth was 20 feet.
This IS how the commission intrusted
by President Madison with her con
struction described the Demologos:
"She is vessel resting upon two keels,
separated from end to end by canal
fifteen feet wide and slXtysix long.
One section contains the caldrOnS Of
copper TO prepare her steam. The vast
cylinder of iron. with its piston, levers
and wheels, occupies the other. The
great water wheel revolves in the space
between. She IS propelled by her en-
ginery alone.
The main, or gun, deck supports her
armament and is protected by bull
wark four feet ten inches thick Of sol
i'd timber This is pierced by portfolios
TO enable her 32 Founders TO fire redhOt
shot Her upper, or spar, deck is
plain"
Small wonder that England was ter
rifled. One Of the London journals
whose agent in New York had gath
cred his information through many
devious channels gave this account of
the Demologos under the line Terror
OF the Seas
Length on deck 300 feet: breadth.
200 feet: thickness Of sides, 13 feet, of
alternate oak planks and cork wood;
carries forty-twO guns, four of which
are 100 Founders, the quarter deck and
forecastle guns being I / Founders. Fur
ther 10 annoy an enemy attempting to
.I,.
Ions of boiling water minute and by
mechanism brandish 800 cutlasses with
the utmost regularity over her gun
wales: works also on an equal mum
Der OF iron bikes Of great length dash
ing them from her sides with prodi-
gious force and Withdrawing them cv-
cry quarter Of a minute"
But this marvellous and dreaded yes
sci never faced an English foe She
made her trial trips three Of them, in
the summer of 1915. establishing a
record" of ffty-thrce miles in eight
hours without her armament and Of
five and a half miles an hour when
fully fitted And then just as she
might have cut for herself place in
history with her rcdhot shot and boil
ing water and submarine" guns. peace
with England was declared.
The good Dcmologos was never put
into commission. What had Il country
at peace with all the world to do with
30 formidable a craft She Is complet-
ed, they said Mt Washington. ana she
can be got ready for service at short
notice. Send her over TO the new navy
yard at Brooklyn And so the terror
OF the seas crossed the bay ana steam
ed up the East river and was anchored
Off the fat that lay abreast Of tne sta.
ton in those days when river and har-
bOr Improvement committees were
things not yet imagined And there for
fourteen years she watched the chang
ing seasons. her protected wheel, unOi-
ed, asleep in its well, her water unboil-
ed and her shot unheated, yet not Who'll
L.. t1t.t O..