The New York herald., 1922-03-09
John Ericsson.

Sixty years ago to-day in Hampton
Roads was fought the duel between
JOHN ERIcssoS's Monitor-the Yam
kee cheese box on raft"-and the
Confederate armor clad warship
named by the Confederate Govern
ment the Virginia. but better known
by the name Merrimac, the name she
bore as frigate In the United States
Navy when she was sunk with other
naval vessels in 1861, at the time
the Federal Government abandoned
the Norfolk Navy Yard. The fight
between the Monitor and the Merri-
mac marked an epoch in naval war.
fare. When JOHN ERIcssoN's Moni-
tor and Confederate Lieutenant JOHN
NJ. BRooKE's Merrimac, after maui
ing each other six hours, part of the
time in actual physical contact, sui
lenly withdrew from an undecided
fight two things were definitely set
tied. One was that the career of the
Merrimac, which twenty-four hours
before had created panic in Wash
ington and in all Northern seaports,
was at an end. The other was that
the day OF wooden warships was
over.
Steam already had superseded sail
in the navy. Armor plate was yet
to come. On March 8, 1862, it won
recognition Of it's supremacy. Two
different types Of ironclad floating
batteries, each an experiment, settled
once and for all time a question
which had long engaged the atten-
ton of naval experts here and
abroad. That wooden warships were
absolutely at the mercy of an armor-
clad was proved by the sinking on
March s, 1852, Of the Cumberland and
the Congress, whose heaviest guns
proved as ineffective as peashooters
against the Merrimac. That float
ing battery with a revolving turret
was superior to Lieutenant BRooKE's
iron house roof sawed off at the caves
and mounted on a deck was demon
strated on the following day when
ERIcssoN's Monitor took hand In
the game, saved the Minnesota from
the fate OF her sister ships and sent
the Merrimac to dry dock.
To-day, on the anniversary Of that
dramatic and crucial event OF the
civil war. the debt Of gratitude the
country owes to Sweden's brilliant
SON JOHN ERICSSON is being fittingly
commemorated here in New York.
Here ERrcssoN lived from 1899; here
he accomplished his most brilliant
achievement and here he died in 1889,
in his eighty-sixth year.
The ceremonies incident to erect
ing tablets in spots in New York
identified with EHcssoN's residence
and work are by no means local in
their significance. They have ma
tional meaning. ERrcssoN did not
save the Union, but at a moment
when all but CONSERVATION reigned
among the defenders OF the Union
the product of his genius turned dis
may into confidence.
The story Of EBIcssoN's life is the
story Of an inventive prodigy. There
is but one other career associated
with this country that is at all com
parable with It. What THOMAS A.
EDIsor is to the field of electricity,
that JOHN Ericsson is to tho field OF
mechanics. Before he came to this
country his inventions had been in
Vulnerable. After HIS arrival here
he continued to produce them with
bewildering rapidity. Some Of them,
like tho substitution OF the propeller
for the sidewheel on steamers, we're
revolutionary.
But the Monitor idea when ERIcs
son adopted it was not entirely new.
The germ Of it was in the floating
battery which JONI STEVENS Of ITo-
bokcn planned during the war Of