Year: 1877

Views of an Experienced ShfpbuiIder


Iron vs.. Wood for War Vessels.


In an interview with Mr.. Nathaniel
Mckay, the experienced ship builder
who has just returned from an extensive
visit to the ship and navy yards and
docks of Europe, the following views
were expressed respecting the late disas
ter to the Huron. Mr.. Mckay says the
loss of the vessel cannot be attributed to
anything except bad reckoning. " As to
the efficiency of the vessel and her con-
struction," he remarked: there can be
no question. 1 saw the vessel while
building, and saw her when she first came
to the Philadelphia navy yard have
also seen the specifications, and l have q
copy of them. They are all in accordance
with the rules of naval architecture.
The class of vessels of which the Huron
was one were. built very strong and sub
stantial. The frames were made very
heavy, and also the plating. Although
never in faver of building iron vessels
for the navy for cruisers, yet I consider
the Huron as good as any that can be
built of her class. She was intended 70
carry light batteries, and would have
been q good vessel for the purpose Ior
which she was built if they could have
kept her afloat. Bpt the moment she
Grounded on any bank or shOai she
would be worthless. In Europe they
cover sll their iron hulls with wood to
the water line. They build iron ships for
navy purposes as cruisers in Europe be-
cause they have no live-Oak timber, such
as we have. If the Huron had been
live-oak ship, she would have thumped
in the sand for weeks, perhaps for months;
but this would not have saved the lives
of those on board, for the sea would still
have washed over her. These were ex-
perimen al ships, ordered by con
gress to ascertain whether the iron ship
would last as long as a wooden
one, and we now have the result
of the first, which ! have no doubt
will be the case with the others if they
should touch bottom, under almost any
circumstances. They are built to stand
the sea, and that is all they can possibly
bear. Under any other circumstances
they would be Immediately disabled.
The British government is now building
steel corvettes in GLASGOW and covering
them with wood (fOur-inch teak on the
outside of the iron plating. The United
States government can not afford to build
their crusiers of iron. Farragut said he
would rather fight in wooden ship than
an iron one. In regard TO the Amerique
the French iron steamer-as compared
with the Huron, it must be remembered
that the former was about four hundred
and fifty feet long and fifty feet wide,
giving her very large surface, and laid
in a bed of sand off Long Branch, which
was az soft as possible could be made for
her. In the case of the Huron she was
little short vessel, one hundred and
seventy-fve long, thirty-two wide and
sixteen deep. She was going at the rate
of ten knots per hour when she struck,
and the momentum of the vessel, with
the force of the propeller and the sail;
and the sea, dashed her on the shore
with a velocity probably ten times the
weight of the ship, which the hull could
not Withstand, and she must necessarily
have become a total wreck. In regard t


Mr.. John Reach's statement, which


read in the Herald this morning, I know


when the specifications were made 70


the ships they were made very heavy, il


order to see whether they would last a


long as live oak ship, five o


which were under course of construction


Many people find fault and critic;se tn


the construction of ship when the,


have not the least knowledge of the hull


the engine, the sails or the rigging


NJ Y. Herald.