Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/805

UNITED STATES. his annual address to Congress in December, 1790, strongly recommended laws for the gradual increase of the navy. The outrageous proceedings of the French cruisers on the United States coast did what no representations of the Government could achieve, and in April, 1798, Congress grudgingly authorized the President to build, purchase, or hire twelve vessels, none of which was to exceed 22 guns, and see that they were regularly manned and equipped. This act was passed on April 27th, and on the 30th a regular Navy Department was created separate from the Department of War, of which it had previously formed a part. Benjamin Stoddert of Georgetown, D. C., was the first Secretary, and he entered on his duties in June. On June 11th a new marine corps was established, and during the year a number of additional small vessels were authorized.

The quasi-war with France soon terminated with credit to the newly born service; nevertheless, it is probable that Congress was so deeply imbued with false ideas of economy that the navy would have been reduced to comparative uselessness had not the Barbary powers repeated their acts of aggression. At the close of the operations against Tripoli, which were highly creditable to the navy, the service was in excellent condition. The spirit of economy shown by our Government now took a new turn. President Jefferson, whose knowledge of military affairs was very slight and of naval affairs practically nil, brought forth his gunboat policy. While this system was being developed the incident of the Chesapeake and Leopard occurred and saved the navy from absolute disorganization, though that incident itself was discreditable to the country and the naval service. Neither the aggressions of England and France nor the danger of war with Spain were sufficient, however, to cause Congress to appropriate money for ships of the line, and the navy at the beginning of the War of 1812 was possessed of nothing larger than a frigate, while the price of several line-of-battle ships had been squandered in building more than 200 worthless gunboats. The operations of the War of 1812 were so extensive and important that they cannot here even be separately mentioned. Suffice it to say that the navy achieved world-wide renown and won the respect of the country.

Immediately after the close of the war with Great Britain a squadron under the command of Commodore Decatur was sent to punish the Barbary powers, particularly Algiers, for wanton aggressions upon our commerce during the war, which prevented action being taken at the time. In sixty days after his arrival in the Mediterranean Decatur had captured the principal vessels of the Algerian navy and had forced treaties on Algiers and Tunis which compelled these faithless pirates to a recognition of maritime right.

In considering the operations of the War of 1812 it is interesting to speculate upon what might have occurred had the war lasted another year. In 1813 Robert Fulton submitted to President Madison plans for a sea-going steam battery. His plans were accepted, and in March, 1814, Congress authorized the building of one or more of such batteries for the defense of the coast. Fulton died in February, 1815, but the

Demologos (Voice of the People) was completed in the following spring and had successful trials in June. On July 4, 1815, she made a trip to sea and back, steaming 53 miles in eight hours and twenty minutes. Her length was 156 feet, beam 56 feet, depth 20 feet, and she measured 2475 tons, or more than a line-of-battle ship and 1000 tons more than the Constitution, although her cost, $320,000, was only $17,000 more than the first cost of the latter. Her sides were 5 feet thick and impenetrable to any guns carried by British ships, while her battery consisted of 20 guns, which were heavier than any then afloat. A furnace was fitted for heating shot, and there were pumps for throwing cold or hot water on the enemy's deck. The propelling apparatus of the Demologos consisted of a single paddle-wheel in the centre of the ship, operating in a channel extending the length of the ship below the gun deck and dividing the under-water body into two parts, which were held together by the upper works and transverse frames at the bottom. Had this vessel got to sea before the conclusion of hostilities and met the warships of the enemy it is tolerably certain that she would have destroyed the heaviest squadrons with ease and caused a revolution in naval affairs. As it was, however, her powers remained unproved and the natural conservatism of the naval authorities, accustomed to the use of sails, caused her to be looked upon as an interesting experiment of no great practical value. She was, therefore, tied up alongside the wharf at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and used as a receiving ship. On June 4, 1820, her magazine blew up, killing 24 persons and injuring 19.

The successful performance of the Demologos (or Fulton, as she was afterwards called in 