I hrough the courtes) ol the trustees ol the National 

 Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England, the Rig- 

 sarkivet, Copenhagen, Denmark, and the Statens 

 Sjdhistoriska Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, the .mi Inn 

 has been able t<> illustrate in this article the designs 

 ni some hi the eai l\ Boating battel ies. 



In the last quarter ol the 18th centur) and later, 

 the 1 >anes had I mill sail-propelled floating bal 

 in blockships, which were employed in the defense 

 ni Copenhagen. The British built at least one sail- 

 propelled battery, the Spanker, in 17'U. I In-, was a 

 scow ni ver) angular form with overhanging gun- 

 deck, bomb-ketch-rigged, and about 120 feel overall 

 42-foot -1 inches moulded beam and 8-fool depth ill 

 hold. She is said to have been a failure due to hei 

 unseaworth) proportions and form; the overhanging 

 gun deck and sides were objected to in particulai 

 She i- called a "Stationary Battery" in her plans, 

 which are in the Admiralty Collection of Draughts, 

 National Maritime Museum. Greenwich. 



Controversial Descriptions 



The contemporary descriptions of the Fulton S!f 

 Battery do not agree. This was in part due to differ- 

 between the dimensions given oul by Fulton 

 dm ing the negotiations with the Federal ( rovernment, 

 and after the ship's construction was authorized. 



1 ro the context uf various statements concerning 

 the projected vessel, such as that ol the naval officers, 

 the changes in the intended dimensions of the ship can 

 be seen. I or ex imple, the officers state the model and 

 plan shown them would produce a battery carrying 



2 I guns 2 I- and 32-pdrS. I, and a letter from Fulton to 

 Jones," shows she was to be 1 3o feet on deck and 55- 

 foot beam. The final reported dimensions, given by 

 the Supervisory Committee, 10 are 156 feet length, 56 



i'i II am. and 20 feet depth. 



In addition there are a few foreign accounts which 

 gh e dimensions and descriptions. The most complete 

 was probably that of Jean Baptiste Marestier, a 

 French naval constructor who visited the United 

 States Minn aftei the end of the War of Kill' and 



published a report on Vmei ti i boats in 1824." 



The v I H m. . I ili. (Ugh a di ,iw - 



foneofhei boilers is given. Marestiei made an- 

 other report on the American Navy, however. I I 

 sive searches have been m ide for this in Paris over the 



I is! 14 ye us. but this papei has nut been found ill an) 



iii the 1 rench archives. References to the original text 



indie ate that the na\.d report dealt \ei\ extensively 

 wiih the Steam Battery. Some of his comments on the 

 battel \ appeal ed in l'< >» I r-i erb tu t des & 



s • . Mai estiei i onsidei ed the powei s 



ni the batter) to have been overrated due to fanciful 



accounts ni s I <■ men writers. He was av 



the shortcomings of the double hull in a steam vessel 

 at the then-possible speeds, bul he apparently thought 

 two engines, one m ,•.,, h | m |l and each with its boilers 

 would be bettei than Fulton's arrangement of boilers 



i ie hull and engine in the other. He noted that the 



paddle wheel turned 16 18 ipm and that steam pres- 

 sure sustained a column of mercur) 25 to 35 centi- 

 meters. The safety valve was set at ad centimeters. 

 I in I i onsumption was I . cords ol pine wood per hour. 



In view of the access Marestiei is known to have 

 had to American naval constructors, shipbuilders, and 

 engineers, it is highl) probable that he not onK ob- 

 tained the building plan of the ship but also si i 

 the earliei project plans from the builders and from 

 Fulton's superintendent, Stoudinger. It is. therefore, 

 a great misfortune that his length) report on the 

 Battery cannot be produced. 



A French naval officer who investigated the ship. 



M. Montg£ry, also wrote a description, published in 



"Notice sur la Vie et les Travaux de Robert 

 I ulton." 1 



It should be noted in regard to what Mont'_ierv 



wrote about the Battery, that in 1821 it hid been 

 considered desirable to disarm the ship. The engineer 

 in charge, William Purcell, had reported thai as there 



wen not proper scuppers, dirt and water had entered 

 the hull and had Collected under the engine and 



boilers, causing damage to the hull, and also that 

 with guns removed, the Battery would float too high 



lor die piddle wheel to propel the vessel; so it hid 



1 N'.ni ml. I Archives, Naval Ro ords ( ollcction, Miscellaneous 

 Letters, 1819, II. 



So i' 169, reproduced from Charles B. Sn vrt, Vavaland 

 Mail Steamers of the United Slatei \™ York, 1853), p. 15. 



"Jean Baptist! Marestier, Mlmoin sur les bateaux 



jiif, avec un afipendice sur diverses machine! 

 Paris: I .'imprimerie Royal, I 

 12 1820 1823, vol. 7. p. 157. 



11 Annates de Vinduslrie nalwnale el etranghe, ou Mercure Techno- 

 logique (Paris, 1822), pp 7"' I 



papkr :!'•: mt.ton's "stkam r. \iiiry" 



147 



