THE CRADLE OF THE MODERN NAVY. 23 



assistant foremen who could take hold and finish them if I would be boss of the 

 gang, in order to help Mr. DeLamater out. He asked me to speak to Mr. DeLamater 

 about it, which I did. After a few minutes consideration, Mr. DeLamater told me 

 to thank the men for him and give him their names, but that if the machines were 

 finished during the strike the brewery would be boycotted and therefore it wouldn't 

 do. However, it would give him a chance to get an extension of time. He mentioned 

 it to me several times afterwards and was very grateful for the offer. 



"Just to show what we could do when the need came, I will cite an instance. 



"An English steamer arrived with its low-pressure piston broken; it was, I 

 think, 100 or no inches in diameter. She was scheduled to sail on the return voy- 

 age in just a week ; the DeLamater Iron Works was called up and the situation ex- 

 plained. After estimating carefully, we promised to make a new piston and have it 

 in place so that the vessel could sail on time. This was cabled to the other side and 

 the answer came back that it was impossible ; no one could make so large a piston 

 in that time that would be safe. The agent of the line was authorized to secure 

 another boat to take her place. We assured him, however, that we could do the 

 job and he told us to go ahead. We made the necessary patterns and cast it in the 

 time we had calculated and it was on the boring mill by Friday afternoon. The 

 little Irishman who ran the boring mill kept it going till Monday morning, when his 

 job was done, and he said he was going home to get some sleep. It was hot weather 

 and with the fine cast-iron dust and his perspiration he was as black as the ace of 

 spades. Another gang took hold then, fitted the piston rings and plugged the core 

 holes. At 5 p.m., Monday, it was on its way to the ship. About 5 a.m., Tuesday, 

 sailing day, it was in place and the cylinder head screwed down all ready for steam. 

 She arrived on the other side without trouble, but the owners said that the piston 

 was made too quickly, that it was taken out of the sand too soon and would break 

 from internal strains. They had another made in the meantime with over two 

 weeks to do it in. They removed our piston and put in theirs, but they took the 

 precaution to carry ours in the hold for a spare, which was lucky, as it turned out, 

 for on her return trip the new one broke and they put in ours at sea and came right 

 along." 



I could continue to give further personal reminiscences and more accounts of 

 remarkable work performed at these works, but what I have recounted will have 

 to suffice as giving a fair idea of what they accomplished and what they stood for 

 in the world and in their time. 



Mr. DeLamater died of pneumonia after two days' illness, on February 7, 1889, 

 in his sixty-seventh year, and impressive ceremonies were held on Sunday, February 

 10, at two o'clock at the Church of the Divine Paternity, then at Fifth Avenue and 

 45th Street, and the Rev. J. M. Pullman of Lynn, Massachusetts, who had been 

 Mr. DeLamater's pastor when he was in New York, delivered a beautiful eulogy, 

 listened to by hundreds of his old and faithful employees. The choir sang the hymns, 

 "Nearer, My God, to Thee" and "O, Ye Disconsolate." 



