of whom no othci reference has appeared, and sent 

 to the Nav) Department. These cannot now be 



found, rhe Committee mi nded the 1 1 



be commissioned and used for training purposes. 

 This suggestion was not followed. 



The ship remained in her slip during the winter, 

 and in June 1816 she was turned ovei to the N > 



and delivered to Captain Sai I I co indant 



of the New York Nav) Yard. Captain Joseph Bain- 

 bridge «;h assigned to hei command. However, 

 she was not commissioned and soon aftei hei deliver) 

 she was housed over and placed "in ordinary," 

 that is. laid up. The final settlement showed that 



the Committee, .is \,,\\ .events, had paid out V28li.- 

 162.12 with $872.00 unpaid, as well as ., claim foi 

 $3,361.00 l>\ Adam and Noah Brown, making a total 

 of $290,398.12. 



The following year, on June 18, 1817, she was 

 unroofed and put into service with a small crew. 

 With President James Monroe on hoard, she left the 

 Navy Yard about noon for a short trip to the Narrows 

 and then to Staten Island and returned in the evening. 

 The next ila\ sin- w.is again placed "in ordinary." 



Four years later, in 1821, when her guns and 

 machinery wen- removed, it was found thai she was 

 rapidl) becoming rotten. She was then utilized as a 

 receiving ship. At 2:30 p.m. on June -4. 1829. she 

 blew up. killing 2 1 men and I woman, with 19 persons 

 listed as injured. Among those killed was one officer, 

 I.t. S. M. Brackenridge. Two lieutenants and a 

 Sailing Master were hurt, four midshipmen were 

 severer) injured, and five persons were listed as 

 missing. The explosion of 2 1 . barrels of condemned 

 gunpowder was siiIIh ient, due to her rotten condition. 

 to destroy the ship completely. A Court of Inquiry 

 blamed a Ml-veai-old gunner, who supposedly entered 

 a magazine with a candle to get powder for the evening 

 gun. It was stated to the court that about 300 pounds 

 of powder in casks and in cartridges was on board 

 the ship at the time. 



She w.is not replaced until the const-defense steamer 



Fulton was built in 1837 38, though in 1822 the Nav) 



pun based for 516,000 a "steam galliot" of 100 Ions. 

 thi Sffl Gull, to be used as a dispatch boat for the 

 West Indian squadron engaged in suppressing pirac) 

 during 1823. In 1823 she was laid up at Philadelphia, 

 and in 1 840 she was sold foi $4,750. 



It is a curious fact that the battery did not receive 

 an othcial name, .is did the sailing blockship on the 

 wa\s at New Orleans, which at the end of the War of 



1812 was officiall) listed as the Tchijonta. Not was 

 the batter) given a number, .is were the gunboats. 

 In offii i.d correspondence and lists, the ste batter) 



is i eh i i ed tO as the "1 niton Mea I mi .is 



the "Steam Battery," but in latei years she was 

 referred to as the "Fulton" oi "Fulton the I hm " 

 Perhaps the explanation is that as she was the onl) 

 one oi her kind she was not numbered, and as she 

 was not considered fit foi coastal oi extended 



Voyages, she was not given a name. 



Surviving Designs for Floating Batteries 



The designs ol American blockships thai have 

 survived are those of the Tchifonta,' 145 feel lot 

 fool moulded beam, .".-loot 6-inch depth in hold. 



and about 152 feel 9 mc heS in k. She was to ( arr) 



a batter) of 22 long guns 12-pdi I, on the mam deck 

 12 carronades (42-pdi I, on forecasde and quartet 

 decks. She was to have been rigged to rat hei loft) 



and very square topgallant sails, and would have 

 been capable ol sailing 1'airK well, though oi lailai 



shoal draft, drawing only about 8 feet 6 inches when 

 read) for service. She was sold on the stocks at the 

 end of the war and her later history is not known. 



Another and earlier design for a blockship. oi 

 floating battery, was prepared b) Christian Bergh 

 for Captain Charles Stewart in 1806. This was ., 

 sailing vessel for the defense of the port ol New Yoik. 

 planned to mount 40 guns (32-pdr.), on her two lower 

 decks and II carronades 12-pdr.), on her spar deck. 

 she w..s to be 103 feel 6 inches between perpendic- 

 ulars, a 44-foot moulded beam, 10-foot depth ol hold. 

 and drawing about 9 feet when read) foi service, sin- 

 was intended to be ship-rigged, but was never built. 7 

 A few small sloop-rigged block vessels also were 

 built during Jefferson's administration. The sloop- 

 of-war Saratoga, built on Lake Champlain l>\ the 

 Browns, in 1813, was practical^ a blockship. A 

 plan for a proposed "Guard Ship." or "Floating 

 Battery," was made b) James Marsh at Charleston, 

 South Carolina, in 1814. This was an uni 

 battery, 200 feet extreme length, 50-foot moulded 

 beam. 9-foot depth ol hold, to 

 on a flush deck, with a covering deck above. 8 



National Irchives, N.iw Records Plans, 80 7 14; and 

 Howard I. Chapelle, Historj oj the American Sail;? 

 (New York W. \\ Norti I 1949), pp. 2 



' National Archives, Navy Records Plans, 80 7 9; and 

 Chapelle, Historj oj the American Sailing Navy, pp. 221 



■ National Archives, Navy Records Plans, 80-7-15. 



P \l'l R 39: MIH >N'S '"M I Wl B ^TTER'V 



i r> 



