Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-06-06
Rebuild Famous Old Brig
Which Won for U. S. Su-
premacy on Great Lakes.
BY BOYD F. 0URLEY

ERIE, Pa, June f.-When the Nj
agara, war brig, sails into Putin Bay
in September to fire a salute over the
unmarked graves of the naval heroes
of 1913. she will be more than a ghost
of century that has gone.
1t will be the same Niagara that
turned the tide of battle when Perry
won his famous victory and estab-
lished the rule of the Stats and
Stripes south of the Great Lakes.
The oak keel that was hewed from
primeval forests with crude tools has
withstood the ravages of time. Much
of the planking remains. But, as the
rebuilders assert, the keel is the
foundation of the ship, and as long as
it remains what new timbers are sup
piled may we'll be called mere re-
pairs.
After over ninety years the Mag
ara was recovered from Misery Bay,
where it was sunk when malaria and
fevers had so devastated its crew as
to make it seem useless to maintain
it as a receiving ship after the war
had closed. 1t was covered with six
| u.
the winter when the work was ham,
pered by ice.
The state of preservation was re-
markable. The keel, 102 feet In
length, was intact. Sixty feet of the
port side to the top of the rail re-
NAMED. Most of the starboard side
was gone.
There was no official record of tho
plans, for the Niagara was built when
the nation was interested more In
ships than in reports and red-tape.
Beyond the fact that she was a
! square rugged brig, with 1l0-foot
water line. a thirty-foot beam, carry
ing eighteen thirty-two pound car
ronades" and two long twelve pound
ers, the work of restoration has been
guided by a study of old DOCKS anu
prints. This task fell to Lieutenant
w. L. Morrison. of the Pennsylvania
naval forces. In working out the de-
tails he consulted every book on boats
written from 1850 to 1920.
| The carronades were mounted on
slides instead of wheels, designed to
throw heavy balls a short distance.
Sea fighting had then reached none
of the refinement of modern warfare,
with its long range of miles and its
scientific destruction of human life,
Yet the brig Niagara established
American rule on the great lakes and
fixed the boundaries for the United
States
The Niagara, as 1t Is being re-
stored. is no imposing sight. Today
| - would ccar caIv brighten a motor
| boat
In but one respect will the re-
stored Niagara differ from its proto-
type. The original sails were of fax
and its ropes of hemp. Flax and
hemp have long passed out of mod
ern life.
But the old carronades, the twelve
Founders, the fancy prov, the scan1
quarters for the men. the two masts
with their square rigging will make
her look exactly like the vessel thai
caught the sight of those who
watched and waited at Putin bay
century ago.
It is estimated that about thirc
of the original timbers will be in th'
Niagara when she is restored.
Enough remained to show tina
Thomas Eckford, the naval construc
tor who built her. was genius Who's
ideas of sailing boats have been bu
little bettered in 100 years" say
Lieutenant Morrison. The mode
could hardly be improved, and it i
likely that she could have given an,
Of the fancy yachts of today a stiff
race"