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T 40.E68C56 1906
V.I
The life of John Ericsson /
3 1924 011 786 682
[At the tinlo he built the Princeton, 1S41.]
THE LIFE
OF
JOHN ERICSSON
BY
WILLIAM CONANT CHURCH
Editor of the Army and Navy Journal
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1906
Copyright, 1890, bt
CHAELB8 SCKIBNBR'8 SONS
PEEFAOE.
It was the declared wish of John Ericsson that I
should tell the story of his life. The executors of his
estate, Messrs. George H. Robinson and Cornelius S.
Bushnell, have accordingly placed in my hands all of
his letters and papers. His life-long friend, Mr. John
O. Sargent, has freely opened to me the letters received
from Captain Ericsson during fifty years of intimate
intercourse and has given me the benefit of his recol-
lections of the great engineer. The associates of Cap-
tain Ericsson in his office work, Mr. Samuel W. Taylor
and Mr. Valdemar F. Lassoe, have also rendered me
valuable assistance. To all of these gentlemen my
thanks are due. While the task of sifting the volu-
minous correspondence and collecting the necessary
facts has not been a light one, it has brought full com-
pensation in the study of a great intellect and a gen-
erous heart.
W. C. c.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY YEARS IN SWEDEN.
rAos
Birth. — Ancestry. — Parental Influences. — Youthful Home. — Early
Education and Associations. — The Gnome Prophecy. — First
Inventions. — The Gota Canal 1
CHAPTER II.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH ARMY.
Autobiographical Account of Ericsson's Early Life. — Finds a Friend
in Count von Platen. — Training on the Gota Canal. — Death of
Ericsson's Father. — Becomes a Soldier. — Military Life in Jemt-
land. — Wonderful Gymnastic Skill and Physical Strength. —
Promoted to a Lieutenantcy and Appointed Government Sur-
veyor. — Birth of a Son.— His Flame Engine 14
CHAPTER III.
ERICSSON IN ENGLAND.
Removes to London. — His Promotion and Resignation as a Swed-
ish OflBcer. — Becomes a Partner of John Braithwaite. — First
Use of Compressed Air and Artificial Draught. — His Novel Ap-
plications of Steam-power. — Invents Surface Condensation. —
Quarrels with Sir John Boss. — Invents the Steam Fire-fen-
gihe. — Prejudices of the London Firemen against it 36
VI CONTENTS OP VOLUME I.
CHAPTER IV.
OPENING OF THE ERA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING.
FAGB
Aristocratic Prejudice against Eailroads. — Stephenson's Contest
with Philistine England. — The Liverpool & Manchester Bail-
road offers a Prize. — The Argument for and against the Loco-
motive Engine. — The Eainhill Trial of 1829. — Stephenson's
Rocket and Ericsson's Novelty-. — The Novelty shoots by the
Rocket like a Projectile. — A Mile in Fifty-six Seconds. — Steam
Power Supersedes Muscle. — Public Excitement. — A New Era
Inaugurated 49
CHAPTER V.
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE.
A Spendthrift in Invention. — Associations with William Laird. —
The Caloric Engine the Sensation of London. — Faraday's Lect-
ure upon it. — Ericsson Anticipates Sir William Thomson's
Sounding Apparatus. — Applies Steam to Canal Navigation 67
CHAPTER VI.
THE SCREW PROPELLER.
Fortunate Eesult of the Eainhill Contest. — Ericsson's Viking
Blood. — Studies in Naval Engineering and Gunnery. — Eela-
tions to Captain Eobert P. Stockton. — The Screw Propeller. —
The First Steam Tug.— Early Experiments with the Screw .... 84
CHAPTER VII.
REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES.
Adventurous Voyage of the Stockton Across the Atlantic. — Subse-
quent History of the First Screw Steamer. — Eecognition of
Ericsson's Claims to the Screw. — Eobert Fulton's War-steamer.
— Naval Opposition to the Use of Steam. — Award of a Gold
Medal for the Steam Fire-engine. — Early Use of Propeller
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. vii
in American Waters. — Ericsson's Personal Appearance and
Habits. — Mrs. Ericsson Joins her Husband 101
CHAPTER YIIL
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS.
Screw Vessel Ordered lor the Navy. — Captain Stockton calls Erics-
son to His Aid. — His Testimony to Ericsson's Ability. — The
Direct-acting Screw System.- — Stockton's Injustice to Erics-
son. — The Guns, "Oregon" and "Peacemaker." — Disastrous
Explosion of the Stockton Gun. — President Tyler Loses Two
of His Cabinet. — Universal Excitement. — Success of the
Princeton.— Other Naval Vessels Rendered Obsolete. — Erics-
son's Physical Strength 117
CHAPTER IX.
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OF ERICSSON.
Ericsson Declines to be Held Kesponsible for the Princeton Disas-
ter. — Anger of Stockton. — Payment for the Princeton Refused.
— Correspondence with the Navy Department. — Application to
Congress. — Testimony of Dionysius Lardner and Professor
Mapes. — Legislative Injustice. — The Court of Claims Allows
the Princeton Claim. — Congress still Eefuses to Pay it. — Stock-
ton as a Duellist. — Stevens's Bomb-proof. 140
CHAPTER X.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES.
General Introduction of the Screw. — Adopted for the British Navy.
— First Use of Twin Screws. — Ericsson's Business Methods and
Finances. — Auxiliary Steam Vessels. — Their Use During the
War with Mexico. — The Massachusetts General Scott's Flag-
ship. — The Princeton Claim Again. — Failure of the Iron Witch.
— Business Associations with E. B. Forbes. — ^Ericsson's Work
for the Government. — Competitive Trial of Screw-vessels. —
Eival Claims to the Invention of the Screw. — Contests in the
Courts 155
vm CONTENTS OP VOLUME I.
CHAPTEK XL
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP.
rAOE
The Perfection Engine. — Plans for a War Vessel. — Ericsson Em-
ployed by the United States Government During the War with
Mexico. — Elected Honorary Church Member and Becomes a
Citizen. — Honors from England. — His Temperance Principles.
— Prosperity and Adversity 176
CHAPTER XII.
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIR PRINCIPLE.
Sinking of the Ericsson in New York Harbor. — It is Baised and
Takes the Seventh New York Begiment to Richmond. — Its Use
during the Civil War. — Attempts to Apply Hot Air on a Large
Scale Abandoned. — Its Application to Small Motors. — Specida-
tions as to the Moral Eesults to Follow their Adoption. — Prince
Krapotkin's Opinion. — Large Demand for the Caloric Engine.
— Its Advantages and Profits 195
CHAPTER XIII.
THE REGENERATIVE PRINCIPLE.
Keoeipts for Patent Fees. — Eeport on the Hot-air Engine by Dr.
F. A. P. Barnard. — Application of the Eegenerative Principle
by Sir William Siemens. — Faraday's Continued Faith in It. —
Its Application to the Steam-engine. — Professor E. N. Hors-
ford's Investigation of the Caloric Engine. — Its Progress Dur-
ing Thirty Years.— Ericsson Eeceives the Eumford Prize 206
CHAPTER XIY.
PERSONAL HISTORY.
Ericsson's Associates and Friends.— His Interest in European Pol-
itics. — He Meets with an Accident. — Submits to a Surgical
Operation.— His Physical Condition.- His Acquaintance with
Professor J. J. Mapes.— His Favorite Authors.— His Mathe-
matical and Linguistic Acquirements.— His Eelations with Mr.
Delamater.— Personal Anecdotes.— His Physical Vigor.— Hopes
to Live a Century 220
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. iX
CHAPTEE XV.
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOE.
PlOB
Ericsson's Preparation for His Great Work. — His Struggles with Pro-
fessional Jealousy. — Dealings with the Navy Department Pre-
vious to 1861. — rPresents Two Sub-aquatic Systems of Attack to
the Emperor of the French. — History of Armored Vessels.—
Outbreak of the Civil War. — Prompt Action of the Confed-
erate Authorities. — Ericsson Offers His Services to President
Lincoln. — Is Called to Washington. — Dramatic Interview with
the Board on Armor-Clads. — The Monitor Ordered 233
CHAPTER XYI.
BUILDING THE FIRST MONITOE.
Partnership with Messrs. Bushnell, Winslow, and Griswold. — Inter-
view with Thomas F. Rowland. — Laying the Keel of the Moni-
tor. — Building and Launching of the Vessel. — Mishaps by the
Way. — Herculean Labors. — Doubts and Criticisms of Commo-
dore Smith. — Payments for the Vessel Delayed. — Cost and
Profit 254:
CHAPTEE XYII.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MBRRIMAO.
Professional Ignorance on the Subject of Armored Vessels. — ^Erics-
son's Mastery of the Subject. — The Monitor Intended for Par-
ragut's Fleet before New Orleans. — Ordered to Washington. —
Stopped en route at Fort Monroe. — Timely Arrival and En-
counter with the Merrimac.—lvivns the Tide of Battle 273
CHAPTEE XVIII.
THE SUCCESS OP THE MONITOR.
Congratulations and Applause Following the Success of the Monitor.
— ^Delight of the Swedes. — Letter from Mrs. Ericsson.— Erics-
son's only Speech.— His Chagrin at the Drawn Battle between
the Monitor and the Merrimac. — ^Exaggerated Hopes and Fears
on both Sides 290
LIST OF ILLUSTEATI01S"S.
PAQE
John Ericsson at the Time he built the Pkinoeton, 1841, Frontispiece
John Ericsson's Birthplace and Monument 2
Ericsson's Home after his Father's Failure 10
Headquarters Gota Canal Company 16
Lieutenant John Ericsson, Jemtland Field Chasseurs 26
Second Engraving made by Ericsson, 1821, aged eighteen 30
Ericsson at the Age of Twenty-one 33
The First Steam Fire Engine, 1829 45
The Eocket Locomottvb 54
The Novelty LoooMOTrra;, built by Ericsson to compete with
Stephenson's Eocket, 1829 57
View of the Novelty with a Train of Engine and Coaches in
1829. (From pen-and-ink drawing by C. B. Vignoles.) 64
Hero's Eotary Engine 69
Ericsson's Caloric Engine 74
Mrs. John Ericsson - Facing 115
The Stockton crossing the Atlantic 102
Steam Fire Engine awarded a Prize ry the American Insti-
tute, 1840 107
XU LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS,
The Vanualia — Pioneeb PbopeliiEB on t^e Lakes Ill
Engines op the U. S. S. Peinoeton Facing 134
Engines and Paddles op H. M. S. AohiliiES 134
AtJxtLiABy Steam-paoket-shep Massachusetts 165
Deck Plan op Eeicsson's Wae Vessel op 1846 178
The Calobio Ship Ebicsson 197
Faosimilb op a Pencil Sketch by Ebicsson, giving a Tbansvbbsb
Section op his Original Monitob Plan with a Longitiidi-
NAL Section dbawn oveb it 238
Faosimile op Eeicsson's Oeiginal Pencil Deawing op his Moni-
tob, 1854 239
The Original Monitob 261
THE LIFE
OF
JOHN ERICSSON
"L'homme vertueux qui remplit fidfelement ses devoirs envera
le pays qui I'a vn naitre, a des droits a la reconnaissance de sa
patrie. Le philanthrope qui voue ses lumieres et ses veilles au
bien-etre de I'humanit^ entifere, a droit de citoyen chez tons lea
peuples." — Gha/rles-Jean {Bemadoite), King of Sweden.
LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON
CHAPTEE I.
EARLY YEARS IN SWEDEN.
Birth. — Ancestry. — Parental Influences. — Youthful Home. — Early Ed-
ucation and Associations. — The Gnome Prophecy. — First Inven-
tions. — The Gota Canal.
THE story of the development of special faculties under
favoring conditions is always interesting, always instruc-
tive ; and this is the story of John Ericsson. In him Nature
and Opportunity combined their forces to produce the great
engineer. The good seed falling upon good ground brought
forth abundantly.
He was born at the opening of this century of mechanical
achievement, on July 31, 1803, and was a native of Yermland,
a division of Swedish territory nearly equivalent in size to
British Wales or the American State of New Jersey. Verm-
land is one of the seven "lans" into which Central Sweden
is divided, and follows the " Ian " of Stockholm in the order of
importance. On its easterly boundary lies the mining district
of Nordmark, and here, at the time of John's birth, resided
his father, Olof Ericsson, Inspector of Mines at Langbanshyt-
tan.
Whether or not we accept the theory that the physical and
intellectual vigor to which Greater Britain owes its glory is of
Scandinavian origin, it is beyond question that the Norseland
has been, for more than two thousand years, the home of one
of the most intelligent and energetic of peoples ; a sturdy race
which has never yielded to a foreign conqueror since Odin, with
his Scythians from the Black Sea, colonized the Scandinavian
peninsula. No kingdom of equal extent occupies a higher
2 LIFE OP JOHN EKICSSOlSr.
place In modern history than Sweden. In territory she is ex-
ceeded by California, and is scarcely more than one-halt the
size of Texas. In population she is outnumbered by the States
of New York and Pennsylvania, and nearly equalled by the
sino-le city of London. Even when under Gustavus Adolphus
she°held cliief place among the great powers of the world, her
people did not exceed two millions and a half-a population
John Ericsson's Birthplace and Monument.
less than that of any one of half a dozen States of the Amer-
ican Union.
John Ericsson was a Swede of Swedes. Explaining his use
of the signature of " Thule " on one occasion, he states that
" Ultima Thule " was the home of his " remote ancestry ; " not
a very definite designation, for some locate Thule in Sonthern
Norway, others in Iceland ; and Procopius, the seci'etary of
Belisarius, who desci'ibed Scandinavia thirteen centuries ag-o,
gave tp it the name of "Thule." Tlie family name suggests
EARLY TEAKS IN SWEDEN. 3
nothing, as Eric is simply the equivalent of the Italian Enrico,
the Spanish Enrique, the German Heinrich, tlie English Plenry,
and the French Henri. The sons of Eric have always been
numerous in Scandinavia, and they have been equally at home
in the palaces of kings and the huts of the peasantry. Gus-
tavus Yasa, before he was crowned, bore this name, as the son
of Eric Johansson, the Swedish senator.
As far back certainly as the seventeenth century John
Ericsson's ancestors were miners in the district where lie was
born. Sir Jolni Sinclair,* who visited Sweden shortly before
John's birth, describes this class of Swedes as tall, robust, ac-
tive, and good-looking; loyal to the death, brave beyond ques-
tion, and so honest that they could be trusted with anything.
Robbery was almost unknown among them. They were civil,
obedient, contented, and ardent lovers of their country ; posses-
sing, in short, the characteristics of those who have cultivated
for generations unnumbered the virtues of a free people.
The first of this Ericsson family of whom we have any ac-
count was Magnus Stadig, a miner, who died in 1T39. Magnus
had a son Eric, born in 1724. He died in 1755, leaving a son
ISTils, born in 1747. Nils Ericsson advanced the family one
step beyond their ancestral employment as laborers in the Nord-
uiark mines. He was a mining proprietor and accumulated
some property. This property was transmitted to his son Olof,
the father of John, but Olof's inability to keep it returned the
family to its original condition of poverty ; so that among John's
earliest recollections was that of the appearance of the sheriff
selling the family furniture to satisfy the demands of importu-
nate creditors.
A better inheritance than ancestral wealth was the educa-
tion Olof received. To it were due the early influences that
shaped the career of his sons. He was a graduate of the gym-
nasium, or college, of Karlstad, the principal town of Vermland.
As Latin and Hebrew were part of the compulsory course,
Olof was well educated, after the standards of his time. He
was a clever mathematician and possessed an excellent mechan-
ical judgment. He does not appear to have been a man of very
* Correspondence of the Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart., with Rem-
iniscences of Distinguished Characters. Two vols. London, 1831.
4 LIFE 03? JOHN ERICSSON.
vigorous personality, nor did he inherit a strong constitution, if
we may judge from the record that he died at the age of forty,
his father at forty-three, and his grandfather at thirty-one.
Olof Ericsson is described as iiaving been a man notable for his
good looks, his amiability of disposition, and his devotion as a
father. In 1799 he married Brita Sophia Yngstrcim, of the
same age as himself, twenty-one. Her family was of Flemish
origin, and the marriage of her grandfather with a woman of
Scottish descent introduced a strain of Caledonian blood into
the veins of John.
Sir John Sinclair * reported a century ago that more than
sixty of the noblest and most powerful families in Sweden
were of Scotch extraction and proud of their origin. The
Caledonian Swedes are descended from otficers of the Scottish
regiments who served with great distinction under Gustavus
Adolphus in his German war and afterward settled in Swe-
den. Tradition does not tell us to what family of Scotch
Swedes John Ericsson's great grandmother belonged, but the
strains of blood that came to him through his mother must
have been strong and rich in quality. Her family was origi-
nally named Horn, her father, John Ericsson's grandfather, hav-
ing been compelled, while serving in his j'outh in the Swedish
army, to change his name, to satisfy tlie susceptibilities of his
commanding officer, a Count Horn of the illustrious Flemish
line of that name. Jan Horn, or Yngstrom, seems to have
been a man of a sturdy nature, for he refused to accept from
Count Horn the money offered him in compensation for his pat-
ronymic. He would change his name he said, but would not
be paid for doing so. Two generations later, his descendant,
John Ericsson's brother Nils, was created a baron, and had the
satisfaction of hanging his escutcheon in company with that
of the proud Horns on the walls of the Swedish House of
Knights.
If to his father he was indebted for his mechanical bent, it
was from his mother, apparently, that John Ericsson derived
some of his most distinguishing characteristics. She came of a
longer-lived race, and lived to be seventy-five. She is described
* Correspondence of the Eight Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart., with Rem-
iniscences of Distinguished Characters. Two vols. London 1831.
EAELY YEAES IK SWEDEN. 5
by a relative as a " warm-hearted, intellectual, high-spirited
woman of great firmness of character, a cheerful disposition, and
active habits ; very handsome, tall and slender in figure, with
magnificent light blue eyes that deepened in color, sparkling
and flashing most brilliantly, when she was animated. Love of
reading is a Swedish characteristic, and Sophie Ericsson studied
ardently works of a philosophical, social, religious, and polit-
ical character. She was fond of fiction and poetry as well,
and if we are to judge by a little library she left, Walter Scott
was among her favorite authors."
The family of Mrs. Ericsson had been mining proprietors
and landowners in Vermland for sevei'al generations. " The
bounty of God," said Duke Charles of Sweden three centuries
ago, "has replenished the mountains of Vermland with all
sorts of ores." The mining district where the Ericssons and
Yngstroms had so long lived has yielded its treasures for more
than five hundred years, and during that time has developed a
people of a striking individuality. The Vermlander is a moun-
taineer, and he exhibits in marked degree the sturdy inde-
pendence and passionate local attachment distinguishing the
highlander. He is moreover by nature cheerful, intelligent,
industrious, persevering, frank, and hospitable.
Vermland lies among the chief watercourses and lakes of
Sweden, within six degrees of the arctic circle, two degrees
north of Sitka, Alaska, and in the latitude of southernmost
Greenland. It is on the borders of IS'orway, on the direct line
of travel between Stockholm and Christiania. During the Mid-
dle Ages it was the home of Swedish E.obin Hoods, who levied
toll upon the caravans carrying tribute to the Norwegian King
from the subject province of Sweden, and it was long a debata-
ble ground between the two Scandinavian kingdoms. In Erics-
son's youth dense forests still covered portions of its territoiy,
and in their hidden depths were to be found foi-gotten villages,
depopulated by the "black death" of the fourteenth century.
Vermland is a region of legend, song, and romance, and
liere the old Norse spirit has been least influenced by modern
change. It was the birthplace of Geijer, the historian and poet
of Sweden. In its imposing scenery and primitive Scandi-
navian spirit he found inspiration for those Swedish folksongs
6 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
which were so powerfully influencing national sentiment at
the time John Ericsson's mind was receiving its strongest
impi-essions. Here too was born Esias Tegner, the autlior of
" Frithiof Saga," and chief of those to whom Sweden owes the
Gothic revival that marked the opening of the present centnrj'.
It was in Vermland forests that Almquist sought in 1823 to
establish a colony which was to return to the old IS'orse princi-
ple of natural living, and to the old Norse paganism likewise.
To be a Vermlander, in short, is to be a Swede of the inten-
sest and most distinctive type.
In its natural features Yermland is a confusion of moun-
tains, streams, and lakes. Across it extend spurs from a range
of snow-clad hills whose northern limit is within the arctic
circle. These mountains are the spine of the Scandinavian
peninsula, and the dividing line between Sweden and Norway.
From their eastern slopes flow across Swedish territory the
streams emptying into the Gulf of Bothnia, and from the west
come tlie rivers whose waters pour into the Atlantic through
the Norwegian fioi-ds whence Harold the Fairhaii'ed and Rolf
the Ganger set forth a thousand years ago upon those con-
quests " momentous at this day, not to England alone, but to all
speakers of the English tongue, now spread from side to side
of the world in a wonderful degree."
Through the nai-row rifts or valleys separating the mountain
ridges of Vei'mlaud flow southward immerous swift streams, of
which the river Klar is chief. These streams empty at the
south into Lake Yenern, the boundary of the district, and
chief of European lakes, Lake Ladoga in Russia alone ex-
cepted. East of Elfdale, as the central valley of the Klar is
called, rise numei'ous hills, none exceeding twelve or thirteen
hundred feet in height. Here are found those ores of iron
famed the world over, from which is wrought the steel used in
the best cutlery. The soil in Vermland is scantj' and j'ields
meagre returns, though the Vermland plough is famous through-
out Sweden.
The scenes and circumstances of John Ericsson's early life
in this glorious mountain region, and among these primitive
people, were sure to powerfully influence a nature so intense as
liis. After he left Sweden his affections seem never to ha\e
EARLY YEARS IN SWEDEN. 7
rooted themselves elsewhere, and he turned toward the home
of his youth with always ai'dent devotion. " I am so entirely
Swedish," he wrote in the midst of his triumphs, "that I can-
not bear the thought that I am believed to have forgotten, or
set aside in preference for some other, our beautiful mother
tongue, ' the language of glory and heroes ! ' "
Belief in the utterance of Volvas or Sibyls is one of the an-
cient superstitions of Scandinavia. So the ancient Swede who
announced to the family of the Yngstroms that there should be
born to them two sons who would be famous the M^orld over
found suflBcient credence to secure a place in the family annals.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, when Brita So-
phia's father was a young man, he had in his service a poor
cripple, who, duiing the summer, drove his cattle into the
depths of the forest in search of pasture. In a measure his de-
formity shut "lame Eric" out from his kind, and he was more
at home with the birds and the brooks, his friendly herds and
the wild animals who had grown accustomed to his harmless
presence. Alone with them and his own meditations he had
abundant opportunity to cnltivate the spirits of the wood and
had unquestioning faith in tlieir existence. On one occasion
Eric failed of his customary weekly visit to Langbanshyttan,
and when search was made he was found lying sick in a lonely
barn. With illness added to his solitude, strange fancies had
come to him, and he reported the visit of a friendly gnome
who brought report that a house was soon to be built. at a cer-
tain point on the Yngstrom property, and that there should he
born two boys " whose names would be known the -world over."
Tills story became a tradition in the Yngstrom family, and
when Brita Sophia went to housekeeping with her young hus-
band in a little one-story cottage with a turfed roof, inherited
from her father, and standing on the very spot the gnome had
indicated, she was sufficiently impressed with the prophecy to
remember it when the time for its application came.
After her marriage to Olof Ericsson in 1799 she bore to
him three children, Caroline in 1800, Nils in 1802, and John
in 1803. The young husband was part owner of a mine and
also superintendent of the works at Langbanshyttan, a region
noted for the beauty of its scenery. Mountains covered with
8 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
fir enclosed narrow valleys wliere lay hidden tiny lakes, tlieir
shores bordered by leafy woods, showing here and there among
the clearings clusters of cottages, the homes of an industrious
people; prosperous and contented after tlieir fashion, for Swed-
ish country life was at that time of the most frugal sort.
Shut out from the great world by the inaccessibility of their
position, they were a primitive folk, simple in their habits and
wholly removed from the French influences and ideas control-
ling at the capital ; for France and Sweden were at this period
united by a common dislike of Russia, and every effort was
made by the French to maintain intimate relations with their
ally. So powerful was the influence of the French in Sweden
toward the end of the last century and the beginning of this,
that they were accustomed to say that they kept the Swedes,
as they kept the Turks, " like wild beasts in their dens, to be
let loose for fighting whenever they desired."
The Ericsson family would have commanded attention any-
where. The daughter was a child of unusual beauty and the
boys were handsome, intelligent, and spirited. John was the
wonder of the neighborhood. From the very first he exhibited
the qualities distinguishing him in later life. lie was ceaseless
in his industry ; busied from morning to night drawing, plan-
ning, and constructing. The machinery at the mines was to
him an endless source of wonder and delight. In the early
morning he hastened to the works, carrying with him a draw-
ing-pencil, bits of paper, pieces of wood, and his few rude tools.
There he would remain the day through, seeking to discover
the principles of motion in the machines, and striving to copy
their forms.
When it came to learning his letters, the precocious John
had opinions of his own as to how they should be formed. He
quickly perceived that the characters set before him were sym-
bols, and he was discovered one day on the shore of the little
lake " Ilytt," bordering the homestead, drawing in the sand
characters that suited his fancy better than those of the Swed-
ish alphabet. There was born with this sturdy spirit an uncon-
querable disposition to rebel against routine. Usually the boy
was too much occupied with his studying and contriving to
join in the pastimes of other children. When the family left
EAKLY TEARS IN SWEDEK. 9
home, on some one of those excursions that furnish the mild ex-
citements of rural life, he would run down to open the gate for
them and then return to his drawing-board and his work-box,
delighted to find himself alone and free to follow his own de-
vices. Among his treasures was found a collection of drawings
— circles, lines, squares, and curves in great variety ; not the
meaningless pencillings of a child at play, but complete me-
chanical sketches representing the machinery of the mines and
saw-mills of the district.
The elder brother, l^ils, was more fond of pleasure, but his
subsequent career as an engineer shows also the influence of
early training, for Olof Ericsson sought in every way to en-
courage the mechanical occupations of his sons ; and John re-
membered his father with special affection as the one who
had first stimulated into activity the faculties in whose exer-
cise he was to find the joy of his life.
Olof Ericsson made no name for himself, but the world owes
him honor for what he did for his children. Tlie Chinese en-
noble the ancestors and not the descendants of those who do the
state service, and the custom has its foundation in reason ; great
men, good men, useful men are the product of the high thought
and noble aspiration, the useful labors, and the self-discipline
of their ancestors. In the curious kaleidoscopic changes of
character produced by the admixture of bloods, almost every
pattern may appear, but none the material for which could not
be found in ancestral inheritance.
The years from 1811 to 1814 were trying ones for the
Swedes ; the war with Russia, depriving them of Finland, was
in progress, and the freaks of the insane Gustavus TV. kept the
little kingdom in constant turmoil. Business did not thrive ;
many were ruined, and among them Olof Ericsson. The happy
life at Langsbanshyttan was ended, the home there broken up,
and the Ericsson family were for the first time brought face to
face with the rude realities of life. The father had been edu-
,cated for prosperity ; he was a man of sensitive and refined
rather than of robust nature ; his son tells us that " he could not
bear the smell of a peasant," and to a peasant's condition he had
now come. The blow was a ci'uel one, and Olof Ericsson would
have sunk under it had he not been sustained by the courage
10
LiFK oi'' JfiiiN j:i:rcssr)>r.
and vigor of liis M-ifo. A liai-il \rJntor folli)\ro(l ami tlio iiiisery
of tlie distressed family wan great. Jiiit the old life was ended
tliat a new and Letter one iiuglit open before tliein, and their
opportnnitj' soon came, as tlie liopefnl mother had insisted that
it would.
The project of the Gdta Canal, with which tlie fortunes of
the Ericssons were to be ideutiiied, was levived at tids time.
r~->'
i -
Ericsson's Home after his Father's Failure.
Olof Ericsson secured the position of engineer or foreman in
charge of a gang of men engaged in blasting I'ock on the line
of the canal, his station being at Forsvik, near Lake Vettern,
one hundred miles from his old home anmni;- the mountains of
Yerudand. The purpose of this canal \vas to establish ship
navigation across the Swedish peninsula by a series of short
EAKLY YEAKS IN SWEDEN. 11
canals connecting a cliain of navigable waters stretching across
the country, and improving the navigation of the Gota E,iver,
which carries the waters of Lake Yenern into the North Sea.
The first suggestion of this improvement is traced to a Swed-
ish bishop, Brock, who proposed it in 1526, during the reign
of King Gustavus Yasa. For nearly two hundred years the
proposition slumbered, until, in 1716, the attention of Emanuel
Swedenborg was called to it by his brother-in-law, Eric Benze-
lius, at that time librarian of Dpsala, afterward archbishop, and
always a tireless delver after forgotten facts.
Swedenborg, whose scientific and engineering reputation
has been discredited by his later claims to seership, was then in
the service of Charles XII. as "Assessor Extraordinary of the
College of Mines." To the King he M-ent, full of the plan
tlius suggested to him. Ilis proposal tliat the project of the
time of the Great Gustavus should be revived was received with
eagerness by Charles, for the possession hy Denmark of tlic
" Sound " had closed the natural exit for Swedish vessels from
the Baltic. During the succeeding year Swedenborg was sur-
veying the route for the canal, and in February, 1718, he was
ordered to undertake the work at the King's expense. The
death of Charles, on December 11, 1718, put an end to the
project for a time.
Swedenboi-g declared that the Gota Canal " would have
been the wonder of the world if it had been completed," and
a recent traveller tells us that having been completed it justly
ranks as one of the engineering triumphs of the age. From
the sea level to the summit is one hundred and fifty feet, and yet
vessels of large size have no trouble in ascending or descending.
" It is curious to see steamships half way up a hill, as lielpless
as turtles turned on their backs. To stand on the deck and se-
renely contemplate the watery steps before you, or shuddering-
ly look at the slippery staircase behind, is very novel and well
worth a trial. All this happens at Akersvass, where tliere are
eleven locks now in use, and several others half ruined — the
remnants of philosopher Swedenborg's plans."*
In Swedenborg's time the canal does not appear to have pro-
* Aalesund to Tetuau, a Journey. By Charles R. Corning. Cupples &
Hurd.
12 LIFE OF JOHN EKICSSON.
gressed farther than tlie partial completion of an enormous
sluice, sixty feet deep. Remains of this are still shown. This
sluice and two others were completed by Viman, whose work
succeeded that of Swedenborg, or rather of Polheim, Coun-
cillor of Commerce, and Swedenborg's superior officer in the
direction of this undertaking. In 1755 the malicious discharge
of an enormous quantity of timber over the Trolhetta Falls de-
stroyed the locks and the labor thus far expended was lost.
For more than half a century the canal waited upon fate
until it was once more taken in hand, this time by Count von
Platen. Meanwhile the science of canal building had made
great progress in Holland and England. Thomas Telford,,
chief of canal builders at that day, had completed the Elsmere
Canal, joining the Mersey to the Dee and the Sevei'n, and was
busied with the grander project of the Caledonian Canal, open-
ing a water-way across the highlands of Scotland from the At-
lantic to the North Sea. In 1808 Telford was invited to Swe-
den by Count Platen and made a careful survey for the Gota
Canal, which presented precisely the same difficulties as those
he was contending with in Scotland.
After working for two months, with a corps of assistants,
Telford sent to Platen an elaborate report with detailed plans
and sectional drawings. These were accepted and excavation
began. In 1810 Telford again visited Sweden to inspect the
work, leaving this time drawings for the locks and bridges.
The relations of England to Sweden were so friendly that he
was permitted to furnish the Swedish contractors with patterns
of the tools he used in canal making and to provide them with
experienced lock-makers and navvies from England for the pur-
pose of instructing the native workmen.
Thus were the latest results of English engineering experi-
ence carried into the wilds of Sweden, and brought to the very
door of the Ericssons, where the busy brain of the boy John was
already occupied with the study of such meclianical contri-
vances and engineering undertakings as were within his reach.
A new career was opening to Sweden. Internal dissensions
were ended by a graiit of tlie constitution now in force, the
termination of the royal line by the abdication of the insane
King Gustavus lY., in 1809, and the death of his uncle and
EARLY TEAKS IN SWEDEK. 13
successor, Charles XIII., in the year following. A vigorous
soldier, Bernadotte, a Marslial of Napoleon, had assumed au-
thority over Sweden as elected Crown Prince. The enterprise,
originated in the time of the iirst of the great soldiers controll-
ing Scandinavia, Gustavus I., and commenced by that other
great military sovereign, Charles XII., appealed at once to the
instinct of Bernadotte. Its nature was military no less than
commercial, for it was essential to the defence of a kingdom
whose vessels were shut into the narrow Baltic by foreign con-
trol of the only passage out. The enterprise henceforth pro-
ceeded with as much vigor as the circumstances of the times
would permit, under the direction of the Mechanical Corps of
the Swedish Navy.
CHAPTER II.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH ARMY.
Autobiographical Account of Ericsson's Early Life. — Finds a Friend in
Count von Platen. — Training on the Gota Canal. — Death of Erics-
son's Father. — Becomes a Soldier. — Military Life in Jemtland.—
Wonderful Gymnastic Skill and Physical Strength. — Promoted to
a Lieutenantcy and Appointed Government Surveyor. — Birth of a
Son.— His Flame Engine.
WHEN Olof Ericsson, in 1811, removed from Langbans-
hyttan to Forsvik, in the Ian of Skaraborg or Maries-
tad, Lis eldest son, Nils, was nine years old, and John was
eight. Up to tliis time the boys appear to have been dependent
largely upon home instruction for their education. Indeed, in a
fragment of autobiography left by Nils, he relates that he had
no other education previous to 1814. This did not agree with
the recollection of the younger brother, and John's eagerness
for knowledge in his youth makes him much the more reliable
witness. A letter in Swedish, addressed in 18Y9 to a relative
in Stockholm, gives some interesting particulars of his early
education. In this John says :
My Dbab HjAiiMAB : Thanks for your letter of the 26th of April,
enclosing a copy of Nils Ericsson's autobiography. It was with the
greatest surprise I read this incomplete and very erroneous account.
I have also received the biography of the deceased engineei-, written by
Major Adelskold at tlie request of the Koyal Academy of Science. I
have read with great sorrow and indignation the biography reflecting on
my father's character and repi'esenting him as neglecting the education
of his sons No reproach could be more unjust. Olof Ericsson made
all possible sacrifices to give us a good education.
To begin with, he had in his house as a governess during the years
1811 and 1812, Mrs. Malmborg from Vermland, and I remember thank-
fully all she taught me. At the same time he gave free board to the
talented controller who was then employed at the station of Forsvik,
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH ARMY. 15
that lie might teach us drawing and the modern English style, which he
executed in a manner rivalling that of the most skilful engravers. Our
father also secured for us permission from the chief, Captain Porsell, to
draw in the ofiBce of the draughtsmen of the canal company. Thus 1
secured the opportunity in the year 1811 to make my first drawing to
the scale. I was also enabled to learn the art of di-awing maps, and by
the end of the year 1812 could make a pretty accurate drawing, had an
excellent knowledge of drawing instruments and was well skilled in
their use.
In the year 1813 my father succeeded in persuading the renowned
director of instruction, Pohl, to give me lessons in architectural draw-
ing. During the winter of 1813-14, while we were living at the saw-
mills of Edet, where my father was commissioned to select the timber
for the lock gates of the west line of the canal, he kept in his house, as a
tutor for his sons, Dr. Azelius, a near relative of the celebrated chemist.
Of course he plagued us with lessons in the Latin grammar, etc., but
I learned from him many other things of use to me ; for instance, how
to make and mix, out of materials obtained at the druggist's for a, few
cents, the colors required for my drawings. In the summer of 1814 we
were living in the parish of Fredsberg, ou the beautiful Lefsang, near
Hajstorp station, where my father held a position next to that of the
chief of the work. Then he got permission from the Court Chaplain to
employ the curate at Lefsang to teach his boys French.
During the same pei-iod our indefatigable father succeeded in per-
suading the greatest mechanical draughtsman at that time in Sweden,
Lieutenant Brandenburg, of the Mechanical Corps of the Navy, to teach
us the modern art of shading or finishing off of mechanical drawings.
The great draughtsman was also good enough to make for us drawings to
serve as models for our guidance. These I afterward used as patterns
until I was able in some measure to emulate the master's skill.
On one of his visits to Lefsang, Lieutenant Brandenburg was accom-
panied by the skilful Captain J. Edstrom, just returned from England.
This warm-hearted man took such a liking to Brandenburg's pupils that
he advised our father to take us, without loss of time, to Count Platen
and show him our little works. The great man, who was then living at
lIalmator23, encouraged us with many kind words, and in a few months
the boys Nils and John Ericsson were appointed cadets in the Mechanical
Corps of the Swedish Navy. Its uniform we had the honor of wearing
until the authorities of the company resolved to receive ' Canal Pupils.'
It was not long after I entered the draughtsman's office of the Canal
Company at Tatorp before I was able to make, under Captain Edstrom's
friendly and useful direction, profiles, maps, and working drawings re-
quired in the construction of the canal.
As early as the summer of 1815, Captain Edstrom commissioned me
to make drawings for the archives of the Canal Company, and in the
year 1816, at the age of thirteen, I was assistant leveller at the station of
16
LIFE or JOHN KKICSSON.
Eiddarhagen. lu tlie year 1817 I was tlie only leveller at Eottkilms
station, on the west line of tlie canal. In 1818, at tlie age of fourteen and
three-quarter years, I secured the position of leveller on the east hne of
the canal at the station of Norsliolni, under the command of Lieutenant
Byding, chief of the works. My salary was then thirty crowns a month
with quarters and travelling expenses.
This extraordinarily quick promotion, the ability to fulfil the du-
ties of an officer required to make the plans and calculations needed
for the work of the canal, after comparatively little practice, does not
bear witness to a neglected education. The want of learning of which
Headquarters Gnta Canal Company
my brother complains I never felt, probably because I devoted 'all my
leisure hours to study, while he was occupied with society. It is cer-
tain that when I entered the Swedish Army in 1820, at the age of seven-
teen, I would not have exchanged my knowledge for that possessed by
any of the youth who had passed their time at the university, "^'hen I
arrived in England, at the age of twenty-two and three-quarter years, I
was not only equal, but superior to the English engineers in acquired
skill. This brief account should be sufficient to refute the accusation
that Olof Ericsson neglected the education of his sons.
At another time I will give you a fuller account of what his young-
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH AKMT. 17
est son did in Sweden from the time when, in 1809, seventy years ago,
he dug his first mine, twelve inches in depth, and made for it with his
little hands, a ladder and windlass, until the day when, in Jemtland, he
made his final experiment in raising water by means of a vacuum created
by condensing flame.
My father wrote a beautiful hand and was an excellent bookkeeper
and accountant. He possessed keen discernment in mechanical matters
and was a great admirer of Polhem. Before I was eleven years old, the
"^ mining laborer" had, among other things, taught me to construct an
ellipse, and how to overcome the difficulty connected with the rotary
motion of the angles by the use of a ball-and-socket joint. The ' ' mining
laborer " also taught me at the same time how to create a vacuum and
raise water by the condensation of flame. I shall never forget the joy I
experienced when my father extinguished the confined flame and I for
the first time saw the water rising in the glass cylinder.
Nor is it true that my mother " assisted in ijroviding for her family
by keeping a restaurant for the laborers." My father's salary was suffi-
cient for the support of his family, but she was persuaded to take as
boarders the civil and military officers located at Forsvik station during
the years 1811-12. This charge she fulfilled rather as a hostess than as
the keeper of a boarding-house, and the result was most unfortunate for
my father. At the end of the two years he was deeply in debt to the
tradesmen at Mariestad, who provided groceries for the too liberal
table. In 1818, after the death of my father, and when her sons were
officers upon the canal, my mother again undertook to board the officers
belonging to the difierent stations. As everybody saw that she set too
generous a table and was always losing money, she was given permis-
sion to brew a liquor to sell to the troops. This enabled her to make
good her losses and to pay the debts she had contracted against her
husband. I recollect so well the pride with which the sensitive wife
told me that she had sent the last payment to her husband's creditors.
"Nobody," she said, "can now insult me by reminding me that they
have suffered loss of money through my husband." After my father left
his position at Hajstorp station he was employed at the quarantine sta-
tion of Kanso, where he died, in the summer of 1818, after a long ill-
ness, during which he was nursed by my mother.
The statements of the two brothers can be reconciled by
assigning that of Nils, concerning his dependence upon his
mother for ]iis education, to the period preceding his father's
transfer to work upon tlie Gota Canal. The Captain Ed-
strom referred to in the letter quoted was " Chief of the Cen-
tral Canal District," and one of the two Swedish engineers,
Lagerheim being the other, sent by Count Platen to England,
2
18 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
at tlie expense of the Canal Companj', for tlie purpose of ob-
taining exact information concerning the details of canal con-
struction. These two officers returned in 1815, thoroughly in-
formed as to the best engineering work of that time, and
proceeded to instruct a number of pupils, cadets of the Swedish
Corps of Mechanical Engineers. The Ericsson brothers were
among these cadets ; John being then eleven j'ears old and Ifils
twelve. During the winter of 1816-17 John received lessons
in chemistry and algebra from Professor Rasl, of local reputa-
tion, who was engaged upon the canal. lie was also taught
field-drawing and geometry by a German engineer officer, Cap-
tain Pentz, who was building the fortification of Wanas at the
mouth of the Gota Canal, on Lake Yettern. He learned Eng-
lish from the English controller of the works at Hajstorp
station, and had the opportunity to practise it with Englishmen
employed on the canal.
The particulars I have given of John Ericsson's early edu-
cation are important in their bearing upon his future career.
While his eagerness for instruction was extraordinary, and his
capacity for absorbing knowledge unusual, his opportunity for
acquirement was also a rare one for that time and place — in-
deed for any time and place — combining, as his instruction
did, the practical and the theoretical. He learned thoroughly
tlie art of presenting his ideas through the medium of mechan-
ical drawings and made himself independent of models. To a
friend who once said to him, " It is a pity you did not graduate
from a technological institute," Ericsson replied, " I^o, it was
very fortunate. Had I taken a course at such an institution I
should have acquired such a belief in authorities that I should
never have been able to develop originality and make my own
way in physics and mechanics, as I now propose to do." " The
end," writes his friend. Count Rosen, in the letter quoted from,
" has proved your words true."
Except for tiie advantageous circumstances of John Erics-
son's youth his faculties could not have received the early
development which made possible his subsequent achieve-
ments ; for continually occasions arose when his facility in
handling the tools of his profession was an important element
in his success. His extraordinary natural ability having been
EXPEEIENCE IK THE SWEDISH AEMT. 19
thus developed by early training, he was able to do as mncli at
the drawing-board in a given time as two ordinary men. Not
only did nature endow Ericsson with an aptitude for his cho-
sen profession amounting to genius, but fortune also favored
him with exceptional opportunities for early training in its
mysteries.
The encouragement he received from Platen liad also a
deciding influence in determining Ericsson's future career.
" Continue as you have begun," he said to John, " and yon will
one day produce something extraordinary." The lad was not
one to forget such a greeting. When nearly seventy years old,
writing of another who in his youth had shown him similar
kindness, he said, " I always held him in the greatest es-
teem ; he often encouraged me, and I have not yet forgotten
his words. What he said to the warm-hearted boy were not
empty words, and the grain he sowed has borne fruit." Even
at the time he was introduced to Count Platen the future engi-
neer had astonished the local gossips with a saw-mill, pnmping-
engine, and a set of drawing instruments which he had made,
" all out of his own head." Certainly he had no other tools
than a gimlet and a jack-knife. The saw-mill and pump were
not childish attempts at imitation ; they were practical work-
ing models, needing only to be repeated upon a larger scale to
be nseful machines. The boj' was then only nine years old,
and we may imagine the delight that transported this youthful
inventor when he saw the water actually turning the wheel he
had attached to this mill and setting its miniature machinery
in motion.
Half a century later, when John Ericsson was asked to pre-
pare a list of his most noteworthy mechanical achievements, the
construction of this saw-mill headed the list of inventions, the
pnmping-engine and tlie drawing instruments coming next.
The mill was neat and tasteful in design and in every way a
remarkable piece of work for one so young. In a square wood-
en frame was set a watch-spring, transformed into a saw by the
aid of a file borrowed from a neighboring blacksmith. This saw
was moved by a crank cast from a broken tin spoon. The rest
of the machinery was of wood, and everything was complete —
the bed carrying the log and moved by a cord wound on a
20 LIFE OF JOHN EKICSSON.
drnm ; the ratchet-wheel and levei' to tnrn the drum ; the crank-
shaft and the liandle for turning it.
Encouraged by the success of this venture, the next year
this lad of ten undertook to design a pump for draining the
mines of water. The motive power was to be obtained by
the use of a windmill. Such a contrivance the youthful in-
ventor had never seen, yet he succeeded in drawing designs
for his mill after the most approved fashion of skilled engi-
neers by following a verbal description given by his father of
a mill he had just visited. But alas, he could conceive of no
way of adjusting it to the changes of the wind ! Again the fa-
ther visited a neighboring mill and in describing it referred to
a " ball-and-socket joint." The boy seized the idea at once and
with his pencil joined the connecting-rod for tlie driving-crank
to the pump-lever with a ball-and-socket joint.
John's visits to the office of the draughtsmen engaged upon
the plans of the grand ship canal had familiarized him with
drawing instruments and he imitated them as well as he could.
His home was in the depths of a pine forest, where his father
was superintending the selection of timber for the lock-gates of
the canal ; nothing was to be bought and he had nothing to
buy with. But the boy was as independent of outside assist-
ance as the much-contriving Crusoe on his island. Compasses
were made of birch-wood witli needles inserted at the ends of
the legs ; steel tweezers borrowed from his mother's dressing-
case and ground to a point furnished a drawing pen, the thick-
ness of the lines being effectually regulated by a thread slipped
up and down the prongs.
At that time coloring was deemed essential to the complete-
ness of mechanical drawings. Gamboge and indigo were at
hand but no drawing brushes. After many refusals the young
drauglitsman at length secured permission to rob Lis mother's
sable cloak of the hairs required for two small brushes, taking
care that these should be abstracted with such skill that their
absence would not be revealed. Thus equipped he was able to
complete his drawing with the wood and iron distinguished by
appropriate colors.
It was this plan, conceived and executed under sucli circun^
stances by a mere child, tliat attracted the attention of Count
EXPEEIE]SrCE IN THE SWEDISH ARMY. 21
Platen and opened to young Ericsson tlie career lie was to
follow with such brilliant results. lie was not precocious, nor
was he the victim of any process of forcing, but with him the
comprehension of the science of motion was as intuitive as the
perception of the harmonies of color with Eaphael or those of
musical expression with Beethoven.
Seeing his two sons raised to. the dignity of cadets in the
Mechanical Corps of the Navy, and wearing the uniform of his
Majesty's service, Olof Ericssoft was a proud and happy fatlier.
His sacrifices for his children were rewarded, and their future,
under the patronage of the powerful Count Platen, then one
of the most influential of Swedish subjects, seemed assured.
At this time John also executed a drawing of the Sunderland
iron bridge, and this Count Platen, years after, was accustomed
to show to visitors, when recounting liis experience with his
youthful prodigy.
The canal opened a new world of mechanical interest to
John and he was not content to limit himself to the labor and
study required by his duties as one of the corps of construc-
tion. After his work for the day was done he would employ
himself during the long winter evenings with copying the
plans of the canal and the designs of the machinery and imple-
ments used in its construction. Of these he had a complete port-
folio by the time he was fifteen years of age. Still this healthy
lad found time for the sports peculiar to the Swedish country
life, and many j-ears after a friend of his youth wrote to re-
mind him of the occasion when he saved fi'om drowning one
of his fellow-pupils on the Gota Canal while they were skat-
ing on the ice at Motala.
Upon Europe had just dawned an era of peace destined to
last for a generation, but its results were not yet apparent and
Sweden was one of the poorest of European states. It was a
constant struggle to woo from the sandy soil of the stony penin-
sula even a scanty harvest of red rye, and the minerals wrested
from the still more reluctant rock barely sufiiced to make good
the lack of daily food. Accumulation was almost impossible
and enterprise was paralyzed by the lack of capital to set the
wheels of industry in motion. "That canal," the people in its
vicinity were accustomed to say, " is sure to get water in the
22 LIFE OF JOHN EKICSSON.
end, for the tears of the stockholders will supply it." The
changes in the working force were frequent, because of the lack
of money, but these changes did not disturb the Ericsson boys.
Though Nils was the elder by a year his position did not
equal that of John, for he tells us that he was occupied for
four summers, or until he was seventeen years old, in making
mortar and in carpenter- work. John, on the contrary, was
kept at this menial work less than six weeks. In the winter
the brothers were busied in the draughtsmen's office established
by Edstrom for the instruction of his canal pupils. During
the long summer days of that high latitude they were occupied
with out-door work, and John gained such skill tliat before he
was fourteen years old six hundred Swedisli troops labored upon
the canal under his direction, though he was still too small to
reach the eye-piece of his levelling instrument without the aid
of a stool carried by his attendant. Thus was Jolm Ericsson
identified almost from his cradle with great engineering works,
for the Gota Canal was one of the most formidable under-
takings of its kind. There could be no better scliool for profes-
sional training, and for seven years he enjoyed its advantages.
While the prospects of the sons were daily improving the
fortunes of the father were on the ebb. Ills capacity to spend
was beyond his ability to earn, and the generous-hearted and
liberal Olof Ericsson was again in pecuniary difficulties. Fail-
ing health added to his troubles, and the burden of life grew
too heavy for him. By favor of Count Platen he secured a sit-
uation in the Quarantine Office at Kanso, a little island in the
Kattegat, near Goteborg, and immediately opposite the north-
ern extremity of Denmark. Hither he removed, leaving the
mother with her two boys, who were still employed upon the
canal. Soon Mrs. Ericsson was called from the care of her
sons to attend upon her husband, and, in the summer of 1818,
death ended his unavailing struggle with adverse fortune.
The death of the father seems to have made but little change
in the fortunes of the Ericssons. The energetic mother was
able not only to maintain her familj-, but, as her son has shown,
to pay the debts left by her husband. Eer sacrifices for her
children were rewarded bj' their love and reverence, and neither
time nor absence could change their feeling toward her. Mrs.
EXPEEIENCE IN THE SWEDISH AEMT. 23
Ericsson lived until her sons were past middle life, dying in
1853, at the age of seventy-five. "When her eldest sou, Kils,-
married in 1833, she removed to his home, and afterward to
that of her daughter Caroline, who had married the Rev. J.
Odner. She was a welcome addition to the household, where
she occupied herself with the education of her grandchildren,
and in domestic duties, such as the care of the garden and poul-
try-yard, for, like her son John, she was always busy. Her
passion for reading novels does not appear to have been trans-
mitted to him, though he did inherit her marked tendency to
liberality in religious opinions. In spite of this peculiarity,
Mrs. Ericsson lived pleasantly with her orthodox son-in-law.
Pastor Odner, whose lines seem to have fallen in pleasant
places, for his Rectory of Kinnekuna was charmingly situated
at the base of a moimtain of that name, rising from the shores
of Lake Yenern. Here Sophie Ericsson enjoyed a tranquil
old age, telling her grandchildren, as stories of her sons' achieve-
ments reached her, of the prophecy that preceded their birth.
Isils, who most resembled his father, was the mother's fa-
vorite. He was more fond of pleasure and society than his-
younger brother, less original and aggressive, and more dis-
posed to follow the beaten track of conservatism than his
brother John, who was from the beginning searching for some
new M'ay of doing things, for some novel application of the
mechanical powers to add new forces to the world's wealth.
Commenting on a photograph, John once said : " The form of
the forehead indicates that the man will see things as they are,
and not as they ought to be, a circumstance that will remove
obstacles from his path through life." This prophetic instinct
toward things as they should be was destined to keep him at
war, so much of the time, with received opinions on engineer-
ing subjects.
In 1820, when Ericsson was seventeen years old, he
reached a point in his career where two ways parted. With
the first suggestion of manly independence dawning in his
mind he began to rebel against the career laid out for him by
friends and guardians, though before he had been more than
content M'ith it. To the home of his widowed mother had come
as boarders oflBcers, civil and military, at work upon the canal,
24: LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
and lier house was the rendezvous for the troops under their di-
rection. Her son was brought into association with tliose wlio
entertained him with stories of the great world ; the world in
which the Corsican cadet of Brienne had won an empire with his
sword, and the lawyer's apprentice, Bernadotte, a marshal's
baton and a crown. Military ambition began to stir in the
breast of the youth. Although he had worn the king's uniform,
and had directed the king's troops, it was not as a soldier. He
aspired to martial deeds, to break away from the bonds of
routine, and to lead the life of romance and adventure which,
to the imagination of the young man, always lies just beyond.
So he resolved to enter the army.
Knowing well that his military ambition would receive no
encouragement from his good friend Platen, boy-like he con-
cealed his purpose from the Count. When it was made known
to Platen he was greatly disturbed and urged upon his young
protege the importance of continuing a. career which opened
with such promise before him. By every possible argument he
sought to turn him from his purpose, but in vain. Finally,
out of all patience with the perverse youth, the Count left him
with the parting admonition, to "go to the devil."
The organization of the Swedish army is peculiar. In ad-
dition to a small body of troops of the line, there is a larger
force, composed of a sort of peasant yeomanry attached to the
soil and supported by it, an institution dating from the dis-
tribution in 1697 of crown lands, subject to an obligation of
military service. When not in active service these troops cul-
tivate their lands, or they are employed by the government in
constructing roads and fortifications, in draining marshes, dig-
ging canals, or in other public works. It was to one of these
regirpents, then known as the Twenty-third Regiment Rifle
Corps, and now as the Royal Fait Zagar, or Field Chasseurs
of Jemtland, that John Ericsson was assigned with the rank of
Ensign. The headquarters of the regiment were at Froson,
near Ostersnnd, the capital of Jemtland, the ld7i of Sweden
now governed by the second Baron Ericsson, the nephew and
namesake of John, and eldest son of Nils. The regiment was
a famous body of riflemen and Ensign Ericsson was soon num-
bered among its most expert marksmen.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH ARMY. 25
Just at this period Ilenrik Ling was introducing into Swe-
den his scientific system of gymnastics, based npon a study of
anatomy, and M^as endeavoring to restore the invigorating cus-
toms of ancient Scandinavia, where grew such men as Olaf
Tryggveson, the first Cliristian king of Norway, who, as Car-
lyle tells us, " could keep five daggers in the air, always catch-
ing the proper fifth by its liandle, and sending it aloft again ;
could shoot supremely, throw a javelin with either hand ; ex-
celling also in swimming, climbing, leaping, the then admirable
Fine Arts of the North ; in all which Tryggveson appears to
have been the Raphael and the Michael Angelo at once."
If Ensign Ericsson could not equal this " magnificent far-
shining man," the Hercules of Scandinavian history, he certain-
ly was a worthy successor. With characteristic enthusiasm and
energy he entered into the sports of his fellows and was soon
the champion in wrestling, leaping, lifting, and the like. lie
had the bodily strength of two ordinary men. At first his zeal
outran his discretion and in leaping bars he was again and
again thrown, hurting himself badly ; but difficulties never dis-
couraged him. On one occasion while in garrison at Froson,
across the river from Ostersund, he lifted a cannon weighing
six hundred pounds, a feat making such an impression on his
comrades that one of them wrote to remind him of it half a
century afterward. lie was only eighteen years old when he
performed this exploit. The effort was too great, and he suf-
fered in after life at intervals from the injury to his back re-
sulting from this supreme effort of strength. On the whole,
however, he gained greatly from this thorough physical train-
ing and was noted through life for his vigor and endurance.
Not in physical feats alone did the j'oung officer excel. lie
devoted himself with ardor to the study of his new profession
and, with his previous training to assist, became known almost
immediately as an expert artillery drauglitsman. lie studied the
science of artillery, too, and familiarized himself with the man-
ipulation of the eighty-pounders employed on the Baltic gun-
boats when nothing larger than a forty-pounder was known in
the American navy. lie never lost the interest in military and
naval subjects then acquired and it was in part the secret of liis
later successes in a field wherein he was supposed to be a novice.
26
LIFK OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Ill a letter to liis
mother, written at this
period, Ericsson thos
describes his early ex-
periences as a soldier :
OSTBESDND AND StOB-
viKEN, August 15, 1821.
My Dbab Mamma :
"We have now flnislied
our Annual Military Ma-
noeu%'ies, which lasted for
seven weeks. During
that time I have learned
tolerably well what it
means to be a soldier, and
am inspired with an un-
changing love for the
military profession. Our
colonel has just left for
Stockholm. As we part-
ed I reminded him of his
promise. "I will keep
my promise to you," he
said, "and the drawing
you gave me I shall pre-
sent to the King at the
first audience. He cer-
tainly will appoint you an
officer ; at any rate, you
are sure to be promoted."
He also told me he wished
me to pass my examina-
tion in the art of land
surveying ; for this rea-
son I shall be obliged to
spend the winter in
Stockholm, whatever my
means may be. The ex-
penses will, I fear, be
heavy enough, as I must buy geodetioal instruments ; besides, the pat-
tern of our new uniform is now fixed, and in consequence I must get
a green coat with epaulettes, new uniform trousers, epaulettes for the
dress-coat, scales for the shako, a, new sword of the special pattern of
our regiment, a scarf and other small military ornaments. I must also
Lieutenant John Ericsson, Jemtland Field Chasseurs.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH AEMY. 27
pay for my commission. Now, I don't mention all this to cause you
anxiety, dearest mother, only to show you that I really have necessary
expenses and do not spend my money cai-elessly and to no purpose.
I think I can defray most of the charges myself, but if you could
spare fifty rixdoUars early in the winter without inconvenience, I should
be glad to have them. However, if you are short of money, I shojild
consider myself unworthy to be called your son if I ever thought of such
a thing. I know your business is getting along well now ; still I feel
almost ashamed of my request and I am really grieved to think that, old
as I am, I have many times been forced to solicit the assistance of a
mother who has to work for every farthing without aid. I know, how-
ever, the kindness of my mother's heart ! ' ' No sacrifice is too great when
the happiness of my child is concerned," you think. What a blessing to
have a mother with such sentiments ! I have about one hundred and
seventy-five rixdollars left out of the money you gave me, and I expect
some more from Captain Edstrom. By careful economy I can manage
to get on until I receive my salary, when I shall be quite comfortable,
for with eleven hundred and twenty-five a year I shall be able to save
money for a lieutenant's commission and pay my debts to you.
"With God's help, I hope to be appointed a lieutenant within two
years' time, for there are only four second lieutenants in advance of me,
and many vacancies just now. I am the oldest stafi' ensign of those who
are to be officers at the same time as I.
With the heartiest wishes for your happiness, and kindest regards for
my brother and sister, I remain.
Your obedient and loving son,
J. Ekicsson.
P. S. — At present I board in a farm-house very cheaply. I am study-
ing Euclid. Later on I am going to practise plotting under the Sur-
veying General, as it requires a certificate to show that I can measure
and map before I am allowed to pass my examination. My kind regards
to Halstrom ; I long impatiently for a letter from him.
Jemtland, where young Ericsson's regiment was stationed,
and with which the fortunes of his family liave now been asso-
ciated for two generations, is a mountain district, lying two
hundred miles further north than Yermland, and it is even
more striking in natural scenery, being the location of the
highest mountains of Sweden. From the hills of " beautiful
Froson," a little town divided from Ericsson's station by a nar-
row channel spanned by a wooden bridge, a splendid view of
the greater part of the northern portion of Sweden is to be ob-
tained. In the foreground is the picturesque lake, or rather net-
28 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
work of lakes, called " Storsjon," numerous wooded islands dot
ting its surface, and bej'ond, to the west, the " dark Oviks " fur-
nish a sombre background, until they blend in the distant ho-
rizon with the mountains whose huge peaks seem to stand like
a wall of separation between the two kingdoms of Sweden and
J^orway. To the north stretches an immense wilderness where,
in Ericsson's day, roamed the Laplanders with their Lerds of
reindeer. To the south lies a charming landscape of hill and
dale, intersected by numerous watercourses, lakes smiling in
the sun, and foaming brooks plunging down the steep hill-
sides to disappear in the green-clad valleys beyond.
In other sections of Sweden the valleys near the high moun-
tains are uncultivated and almost uninhabited ; here they sup-
port a thrifty population. The general character of Jemtland
is that of a highland nearly a thousand feet above the sea level.
It is as far north as Hudson Straits, or Southern Greenland
and Iceland, and nowhere else is there to be found in a cor-
responding latitude, with an equal elevation, a section so highly
cultivated as this has been from time immemorial. Hich
meadows furnish pastures for the herds that constitute the chief
wealth of the people. The eighteen churches which can be
counted from a mountain on the southern shores of Lake Stor-
sjon testify to the extent and character of the population now
under the government of Ericsson's nephew.
The recommendation for Ensign Ericsson's promotion went
to Stockholm in dne course, but unfortunately his colonel. Baron
Koskull, was in disgrace at court, and the recommendation was
not heeded. The young Duke of Upland, Bernadotte's son, in-
terceded with the kino;, winning his interest in Ericsson bv
showing his soldier-father a military map made by the ensign.
This not only secured the desired commission of a second lieu-
tenant, but it also directed the attention of Bernadotte to the
great skill of Ericsson in this work. As a result, later on he
was summoned to the royal palace to di'aw maps to illustrate
the campaigns of the Marshal of the Empire.
A comrade of this period, Major Iljarne, who survived Erics-
son, describes the young officer as " a noble lad, frank, faithful,
and honest." He was never given to promiscuous acquaintance,
but with his little circle of intimates he was'a special favorite.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH AKMT. 29
His temper was hasty, but liis disposition was lively, cheerful,
and amiablD. Major lljarne recalls the picture of him as he lay
extended on the floor of his quarters, " eating sugar and enjoy-
ing himself like a merry sciiool-boy, for he was very fond of
sweets." Xot a strictly personal characteristic, for he was at
that time a lad not yet out of his teens. Still, it was a taste
that he never outgrew, and three score and ten years later,
there was found in his room, after his deatli, the little store of
the sweetmeats which he always kept by him. "He was ex-
ceedingly active," we are further told, " always inventing, de-
signing, constructing."
Young Ericsson had made such excellent use of the instruc-
tion in topographical drawing received from the German engi-
neer oflicer Pentz, that when he entered the Swedish army he
found no one to excel him, with the exception of one officer,
Major Scidermark, who was renowned in this department. Soon
after he joined the service orders were given to survey the
district of Jemtland in wliieh he was stationed. Officers to
perform this work were selected by a competitive examination
at Stockholm, and in this contest Ericsson easily won a prize.
The pay in his new employment was determjned by the amount
accomplished, and the J'oung surveyor from the Gota Canal
was so indefatigable in his industry and so rapid in execution,
that he performed double duty and was carried on the pay-roll
as two persons in order to avoid criticism and charges of favor-
itism. The results of his labors were maps of fifty square miles
of territory, still preserved in the archives at Stockholm.
Even this double duty was not sufficient to satisfy the rest-
less energy and activity of the young chasseur, for in this high
northern latitude he could protract liis work at the drawing-
board through the entire night, and this he frequently did,
without resort to artificial light, except for a few hours. As
occupation for his "leisure" he bethought himself of the
sketches and mechanical drawings lie had accumulated during
his service under Count Platen. He decided to use them in
a work lie proposed to prepare for publication, containing a
full description of the machinery and methods used in canal
work, the locks, and the various appliances for transporta-
tion. He enlisted in this enterprise Major Pentz, late pro-
^ i
EXPERIENCE IK THE SWEDISH ARMY. 31
fessor at Rostock, Germany, and probably tbe officer of the
same name from whom his lessons in topographical drawing
had been received. Pentz was to translate the work into Ger-
man to give it foreign currency.
It was necessarv to en2:rave the drawings selected to illustrate
the book, and Lieutenant Ericsson determined to do this work
himself. So he obtained leave of absence and hastened to
Stockholm where he applied to one of the best engravers for
permission to inspect his tools, and was laughed at for his sim-
plicity in supposing that he was to be thus pei'mitted to learn
the mysteries of the craft. Xothing daunted he hastened to
his room and set busily to work devising a machine for engrav-
ing. This he was soon able to show in triumph to the disoblig-
ing craftsman. Back to his station he went with his new ma-
chine and commenced work upon the sixty-five plates of copper
carried with him. Within a 3'ear ho had completed eighteen
plates, averaging in size fifteen by twenty inches. One of these
plates, tlie second one completed, was reproduced in a Swedish
illustrated magazine and is given here. In acknowledging the
receipt of a copy of this Ericsson said : " I remember very well
the surprise of certain engravers at the sharp' white edges of the
pump-i-ods against the dark ground. The plan of rubbing theso
parts with a fine varnish before the plates were prepared for the
aqua fortis, which suggested itself to the beginner, enabled him
to surpass the work of experienced artists."
Other occupations delayed the book, and before it had gone
farther it became apparent that the swift changes in the ap-
plications of machinery and the use of new methods were render-
ing the knowledge acquired at Gota out of date. So this \in-
dertaking was abandoned. Major Pentz never got farther than
the preface with his part of the work, but as he had advanced
some money to purchase the copper plates, the completed en-
gravings were all turned over to him in settlement of tliis ac-
count. Busy as he was, the ardent young Swede found time
for sentiment, for this was the romantic period in the young
man's life. During it Ericsson established friendships and
developed enthusiasms which continued with him to the end.
More than fifty years after, when his knowledge of Swedish had
grown somewhat rusty from disuse, he wrote home to Sweden :
32 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
" Overwlielmed with work, I Iiave not liad the time to write the
description you ask for in my native tongue. I can think in
Englisli four times faster tlian I can write in Swedish, and
write four times faster than I can think. As, now, 4 x 4 = 16
you will find my excuses sufiicient. But this is only the case in
mechanical matters, because when the language of the heart is
to be used I prefer to express myself in my native tongue. Al-
though ignorant of all that properly belongs to mechanical phi-
losophy when I left Sweden, I was by no means inexperienced in
the language of feeling. I sometimes wrote poetry to the won-
derful and enchanting midnight light of Norrland. Connois-
seurs often doubted that it came from tlie second lieutenant and
surveyor up among the mountains." ISTorrland is within less
than three degrees of the Arctic circle, and there the phenome-
non of the midnight sun is to be seen in perfection.
Human nature is the same" under the Arctic circle as in the
torrid zone ; indeed, as Ericsson was fond of arguing, the con-
ditions of life in hio;h latitudes are even more exciting:. lie
was a man of ardent temperament, and liis veins, through life,
were always swollen to bursting with the swift-flowing current
of healthy masculine vitality. The glories of the midnight
sun could inspire him with poetry, but the sparkling eyes of
the Jemtland maidens moved him still more profoundly. To
one of these the young lieutenant became deeply attached. She
was of an ancient and noble family, and her father was an of-
ficer of high rank. To her Ericsson was betrothed, with those
formalities which, in Swedish opinion at that time, imposed the
obligations of marriage, and were not infi'equently extended to
include its sanctions as well. Indeed, under early Scandinavian
law, a betrothal without marriage secured rights of inheritance
to a child born of such a connection that did not belong to the
child of a marriage not preceded by betrothal.
The laws of Sweden regulating the marriage of army ofiicers
were exacting, and made impossible a legal union between a
poor lieutenant and a maiden whose womanly charms and lier
excellent birth were her only dower. Precisely how the pair
stood related to one another from our point of view cannot, at
this distance of time, be determined. The connection was sub-
sequently dissolved, and being free, the young woman married
Ericsson at the Age of Twenty-one.
EXPERIENCE IN THE SWEDISH AKMY. 35
another Swede of distinguished reputation, and lived to old age
as his wife. One son, lljaltnar, was bovn at this time, and was
left in charge of Ericsson's mother in Sweden when he removed
to England. This child was well educated, and became a man
highly respected and holding a prominent position in govern-
ment employ. Ericsson at the age of twenty-one is described
as a handsome, dashing youth, with a cluster of thick, brown,
glossy curls encircling his white, massive forehead. His mouth
was delicate but firm, nose straight, eyes light blue, clear and
bright, with a slight expression of sadness, his complexion bril-
liant with the freshness and glow of healthy youth. The broad
shoulders carried most splendidly the proud, erect head. He
presented, in short, the very picture of vigorous manhood. A
portrait of him at this age, painted upon ivory for his mother
by an English artist named Way, has been preserved and is
reproduced here.
Recalling his father's experiments, Ericsson at this time
conceived the idea that flame might be used in a receiver cor-
responding to tlie cylinder of a steam engine. Thus he hoped
to obtain power equal to that of steam with less expenditure
of time and fuel. Devoting to this project such leisure as he
had, he finally succeeded in constructing a machine to illustrate
his principle. lie set it in motion, and to his delight discov-
ered that it worked perfectly and produced several horse-power.
Dreams of a coming revolution in the mechanical world occu-
pied his waking thoughts. lie prepared a paper, a translation
of which now lies before me, entitled, "A Description of a New
Method of Employing the Combustion of Fuel as a Moving
Power." This was written in Swedish, and sent, in 1825 or
1826., to the newly-organized " Institution of Civil Engineers,"
London, where a translation of it is still filed among the ar-
chives, " No. 119."
CHAPTER III.
ERICSSON IN ENGLAND.
Eemoves to London. — His Promotion and Besignation as a Swedish
OflScer. — Becomes a Partner of John Braithwaite. — First Use of
Compressed Air and Artificial Draught. — His Novel Applications of
Steam-power. — Invents Surface Condensation. — Quarrels with Sir
John Boss. — Invents the Steam Fire-engine. — Prejudices of the
London Firemen against it.
WITH tlie invention of the Flame Engine a new era opened
before John Ericsson. If the dreams suggested by this
first appeal to the judgment of the great world were not des-
tined to literal fulfilment they were at least prophetic of his
future. Military life lost its zest, and he turned from it, as he
had turned to it, with characteristic impatience of control.
King Charles John, when shown his drawings, had advised
him to go abroad, as his own country could not reward him as
he deserved. This advice was given now with more effect by
one of Ericsson's brother officers, who, in a letter written forty-
seven years afterward, said : " I remember the ensign, by whom
I was so struck that I asked my brother officers to accept liim
as a comrade, and urged the colonel to secure his promotion.
I could not bear the thought of his genius burying itself in
Jemtland, and when I heard of his attachment for a poor girl
I considered him- lost to the world if he should settle there.
I advised him to go to England. He at once replied that I
ought not to have awakened a thought that had long slumbered
within hiui when I knew that his want of means made it im-
possible for him to realize his ambition. 'How much do you
need to start out with ?' I asked. He answered, ' I coiald go
in a fortnight if I had a thousand crowns.' I asked him to
draw a note for this sum ; this I endorsed and took to the bank,
and a fortnight later he had the money."
ERICSSON IN ENGLAND. 37
Leave of absence was obtained, and the bright young lien-
tenant, wlio had been the pride of the Eojal Chasseurs, turned
his face toward England, carrying with him the hearty good
wishes of his comrades and their honest regrets at parting. On
his way through Stockholm he spent a week in the capital, par-
ticipating in the festivities attending the birth, on May 3, 1826,
of the heir to the throne, afterward Charles XV. of Sweden
and Norway.
The snow was melting from the mountains and the birches
were budding in the valleys when John Ericsson left the na-
tive land he never ceased to love, to seek elsewhere the op-
portunities she was too poor to offer him. What possibili-
ties were too great in the wider field that opened before this
vigorous young genius, with a thousand crowns in his pocket
and a substitute for the steam-engine among his luggage?
Arriving in England on Friday, May 18, 1826, Ericsson pro-
ceeded as soon as possible to exhibit his wonderful Flame En-
gine in operation. It worked satisfactorily under the condi-
tions intended, but unexpected difficulties arose when he was
compelled to use coal instead of the resinous woods, so abun-
dant in his native forests. Coal burned too slowly, and in place
of the gentle flame gave out a fierce heat that speedily destroyed
the working parts of the engine.
This was no light misfortune for the young man whose hopes
were centred in the venture. Even a thousand crowns will
not last forever, especially where the money is borrowed, and
to the expenses of travel were added the cost of setting up and
exhibiting his machine. Cynical criticism succeeded to the
friendly admiration he had received at home, and the necessity
of securing an income speedily convinced him that it was use-
less to give further attention to the Flame Engine ; so he turned
his back for a time upon his ambitious scheme of superseding
steam. He was compelled to seek employment, and almost be-
fore he knew it, was committed to remain in England. Appar-
ently, he had obtained leave of absence with the intention of
resigning from the Swedish service. For some reason he
seems to have overstayed his leave, and was technically in the
position of a deserter. Through the intervention of his friend,
the Crown Prince, he was honorably restored to the service
38 LIFE OF JOHN EKICSSON.
by the issue to liim on October 3, 1827, of a commission
as captain in tlie Swedisli Army. Tliis commission he resigned
ou the same day. Tlie peculiar circumstances under which it
was received appear to have given the title of Captain special
value in his eyes, and he used it until the end of his life.
If the immediate purpose of Ericsson's transfer to England
was not accomplished, his introduction to another field of ac-
tivity was timely. A new era was opening to English engi-
neers, and for this the young Swede's peculiar abilities and
special training exactly fitted him. It was the characteristic
of his mind, as I have said, to see things as they ought to be,
and not as they are. His spirit of adventure into new regions
was as indomitable as that of the N^orse rovers from whom he
inherited his mental constitution. All things in the engineering
world were to be made new, and there was need of men able
to discard the teachings of precedent without substituting
the conceit of ignorance. To England Ericsson cari-ied his
wonderful physique, his magnificent brain, an unusual train-
ing in the technique of his profession, and a capacity for work
which was in itself genius. The Flame Engine had not re-
alized the expectations of the Korrland garrison, but in it were
the germs of ideas destined to grow and produce fruit.
There was something about the young man that inspired con-
fidence in those brought into personal contact with him. To
the ingenuousness of youth he added the experience of man-
hood, and the lieutenant of twenty-three was too obviously a
master in his j5rofession to be kept long in waiting. lie was
fortunate enough to establish himself almost immediately in
intimate relations with the machine manufacturing house of
John Braithwaite, and soon after he became the junior partner
in the firm of " Braithwaite & Ericsson." " It was my good
fortune," he tells us, " to meet with Mr. Braithwaite's approba-
tion and friendsliip. In the various mechanical operations Ave
carried out together I gained experience which, but for the con-
fidence and liberality of Mr. B., I probably never should have
acquired. I am happy to acknowledge having, during our
labors, benefited much by his exquisite taste in the arts." *
Ericsson was not idle during the eighteen months interven-
* Letter to the editor of the London Builder, April 33, 1863.
EEICSSOK IN ENGLAND. 39
iiig between his arrival in England and the acceptance of his
resignation as an officer of tlie Swedish army. Turning from
his Flame Engine, he attempted to combine steam with the
gases arising from the combustion of coal, and patented an
engine constructed on this plan. This patent was assigned to
a fellow-countryman, Count Adolpli E. Yon Kosen.
Next he took a step farther in the direction of the future en-
gine, and attached a fire-place underneath a piston so as to
actuate it by the expansion of the air and communicate suction
to a working piston. An engine on this plan was patented and
a model erected at Limehouse, 1827. A motive engine of the
same general character was also put in operation at Limehouse
in the same year. In this the fire-place was fixed, at the bottom
of an eighteen-inch cylinder, and through the fire air was forced
so as to expand by heat and at the same time combine with the
gases from combustion. A loosely fitting piston moved up and
down in this cylinder and set in motion a sixteen-inch working
cylinder.
A difficult problem of mine draining presented itself. To
solve it Ericsson invented and patented a pumping-engine con-
sisting of a series of cisterns rising one above the other. By
exhausting the air from these in succession the water was lifted
to the desired height. The patent for this was taken out in the
name of, and assigned to Charles Seidler, who introduced the
first steamer on the Khine and into whose family Ericsson
afterward married. In 1828 Ericsson constructed and put
into successful operation at the tin mines near Truro, in Corn-
wall, an air compressor having an air-cylinder of twenty inches
diameter and five feet stroke. This operated a machine for
raising water from a mine shaft situated ojff shore at a con-
siderable distance from the point on the land wliere the actuat-
ing steam-engine and compressing cylinder were placed.*
Upon this invention Ericsson founded his claim to priority
in the use of compressed air for transmitting power. His
friend, Count Von Rosen, showed his unbounded confidence
in the abilities of his young countryman, by investing £10,000
in this last invention, in the days when fifty thousand dollars
was no small sum.
* Letter of Ericsson to Horace Day, October 13, 1873.
40 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON'.
Ericsson accepted in the beginning the conclusion, now uni-
versal, that a substitute must be found for the wasteful steam-
engine. His studies by day and his di-eams by night were oc-
cupied with the problem as to how he might bestow upon his
race the priceless boon of a new work-compelling force. Still,
the improvement and adaptation of the steam-engine was the
business immediately in hand, and this was not neglected.
In the month signalized by the birth of Ericsson in Yerm-
land Robert Eulton completed at Paris the trial of his first ex-
perimental steamboat. In 1819, while the young Swede was
at work on the Gota Canal, the Atlantic was crossed for the
first time by a steam vessel, the Savannah, which made a fly-
ing visit to Stockholm, where he may have seen it. By the
time he reached England the steam fleet of Great Britain had
increased to two hundred vessels, and the promising field of
engineering enterprise offered by steam navigation opened
before him. He was quick to perceive the deficiencies of the
existing machinery and prompt in suggesting remedies. To
hasten the sluggish fires under the boilers was a prime neces-
sity. On this speed depended. A boiler was invented with an
attachment of bellows or centrifugal blowers to produce artificial
draughts. This principle of artificial draught was patented
in England, in 1828, a year before Stephenson, made his repu-
tation by the application of the same principle to the Rocket
in connection with Booth's tubular boiler. The tubular prin-
ciple Ericsson also anticipated, for his boiler contained twenty
copper tubes and an internal furnace. It economized fuel, and
was so much smaller and lighter than other boilers that new
applications of steam-power were made possible. Patents were
also taken out for this in England, France, Sweden, and other
countries.
An opportunity to test the new boiler soon offered itself.
In 1827 Captain John Koss, who had made one unsuccessful
attempt to discover a JSTorthwest passage, endeavored to in-
duce the British Government to equip another expedition to
the Arctic seas under his command. Failing in this, he finally
persuaded a liberal London distiller, Mr. Felix Booth, to fur-
nish eighteen thousand pounds to equip an expedition. Mr.
Booth was subsequently made a baronet for his liberality.
ERICSSOJSr IN ENGLAND. 41
served a term as Sheriff of London, and had the honor of giv-
ing his name to tlie arctic region known as " Boothia Felix."
An important part of the business of Braitliwaite & Erics-
son at this time was that of constructing refrigerators and cool-
ers for the mammoth London breweries and distilleries. This
brought them in contact with Mr. Booth, and through him
they made the acquaintance of Captain Ross, wiio was fitting
up with new machinery an old side-wheel steamer he had pur-
chased for his expedition and named the Victory. Hoss fell
in love with the new boiler and ordered one for his vessel, to
accompany a marine engine of eighty horse-power. To this
was applied a "surface condenser" of Ericsson's invention.
The success attending Ericsson's efforts to condense steam,
in connection with his brewery and distillery experiences, sug-
gested the idea of adapting the same machinery to steam ves-
sels, as a substitute for the plan then in vogue for cooling
the steam by discharging into it jets of cold water. In his new
condenser the -steam was passed through a series of horizontal
copper tubes, collected in a boiler or evaporator into which
sea water was driven by a force-pump. This condenser was
operated upon the well-known principle that steam of some-
what less than one-half atmospheric pressure will cause water
to boil rapidly in a vacuum.
It was almost impossible to keep the condensers then in use
clear of water and preserve a vacuum in a marine engine, when
it was moving slowly in heavy weather, and it was then, if ever,
that perfect action was needed. As the ratio of condensing
surface increased in Ericsson's condenser in proportion as the
steam diminished, it was the most efficient when the engine
slowed down. In reference to this invention he said. May 16,
1868, in a private letter to John Bourne, the author of a work
upon the " Steam Engine," who applied to liim for infoi-mation :
" I claim to be practically the inventor of surface condensa-
tion applied to steam navigation." Various methods of con-
densing the steam had been tried, but nothing had been found
to supersede the plan of bringing the steam into contact with
jets of water. "Watt, Cartwright, Napier, Trevithick, Syming-
ton, Mills, and many others in England failed in the attempt to
apply the plan of condensing by the application of cold water to
43 LIFE OF JOHK EKICSSOW.
the outside of the vessel containing steam. Mr. Ilale, of J3as-
ford, did finally succeed, and claimed priority for Lis invention,
ill ignorance of Ericsson's successful application of the prin-
ciple a dozen years before. "The high-pressure boilers of
the Victory, said Ericsson, " would have been destroj'ed in a
single day but for the application of the surface condenser."
" The condenser," saj's John Scott Kussell, "is the most vs'onder-
ful part of the marine engine, as indeed of the ordinary steam-
engine. It is here that the whole process carried on in the
boiler in so great bulk, and at so much expense, is instantly
reversed, and all its laborious effects are at once annihilated.
Without a condenser of some form the development of the
steam-engine would have been impossible." Ericsson's conden-
ser made it possible, also, to use in steam navigation tubular
boilers, on which so much depends.
Into the Victory Ericsson also introduced the plan, after-
ward universally adopted in war vessels, of putting the machin-
ery below the water-line to protect it from shot. Fearful of
being anticipated, Koss concealed his intention of making an-
other voyage to the Arctic zone. Ericsson supposed he was fit-
ting out a vessel of war for experimental purposes, and " in
experimenting," as he was accustomed to say, " complication is
not regarded, since the intention generally is to ascertain facts
and effects never known, for guidance in future practice."
For the purpose intended the machinery of the Victory was
wholly unsnited, as its designer well knew. Koss concluded
that its room was better than its company and tumbled it into
the depths of the Arctic waters, where it may, in some post-
glacial age, furnish proof that the Esquimaux had advanced
ideas upon the subject of steam navigation.
Eighteen months after his return to England, in September,
1833, and six years after the Victory sailed. Sir John published
a narrative of his voyage, and then Ericsson for the first time
learned that he was most unfairly held responsible for the fail-
ure of Ross's second attempt to discover a JS^ortlnvest passage.
He called his detractor to account in a vigorous letter, and Mr.
Booth was compelled to interfere to prevent a duel that threat-
ened, for Ericsson charged Ross with an " utter forgetfulness of
justice and candor "in dealing with him and Mr. Braithwaite.
EEICSSON IJSr ENGLAND. 43
To steam inaclunerj wholly unsiiited to the purpose intend-
ed Captain Iloss added further complications in the shape of
gearing and paddle-boxes, described by Ericsson as " a pej-fcct
specimen of ignorance of the laws wliich should be consulted in
the construction of bodies intended to move through M-ater."
A specific contract had been entered into as to the amount of
power the engines were to furnish, but when the vessel was put
into the water from the dry-dock, she drew three feet more
than was intended. Captain Eoss was unfair enough to as-
cribe the consequent diminution of speed to want of sufiicient
engine power, in spite of the fact, obvious to every one, that
his paddle-wheels were half immersed in water, besides being
boxed in such a way as to prevent a free current to and from
the wheels, which were themselves constructed on a false prin-
ciple. Undoubtedly a great mistake was made in fitting out
the Victory with new and untried machinery, but this was in
accordance with Captain Koss's own orders, and he, and not
Ericsson, was responsible for the result.
The letter setting forth these facts appears to have been
signed b}' Braithwaite, but the rough draft of it in Ericsson's
hand-writing is found among his papers, with erasures and
changes showing it to be the original document. Ericsson was
accustomed to state his opinions with sufiicient frankness, espe-
cially in liis hot youth, and he was by no means reserved in his
characterization of what he declared to be deceit practised by
Captain Eoss. After describing one of his misrepresentations,
Ericsson said : " The deception had been so well kept up that
there was no occasion for this fresh lie to niislead us." This is
not the kind of language that captains in the royal navy wei-e
accustomed to receive with equanimity, in the days when Wel-
lington fought with "VVinchelsea, and Benjamin Disraeli chal-
lenged O'Connell, and the other party to the contention having
a military reputation to sustain it is not strange that this dis-
pute should have threatened to end in bloodshed.
As soon as Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson learned the
purpose to which the Victory was to be applied, and thus for
the first time realized the mistake they had been led into, they
exerted themselves to the utmost to correct her deficiencies,
spending night after night personally upon the vessel, " to
44 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
make good," as Ericsson said, " as far as lay in our power, the
baneful effect of the wanton deception practised upon us." Thej
also kept their men at work night and day at a heavy expense.
Hence they were naturally impatient of the charges of " gross
neglect so freely brought against them by Captain Koss."
Whatever the deficiencies of the Ylctory as a vessel for
Arctic voyaging, she marks a stage in the development of the
modern war vessel, and the ideas introduced into her, with the
intention of fitting her for naval service, have since become
common in the construction of machinery for war ships. The
engines of the Yictory were at the bottom of a frozen sea, but
the experience of the young engineer acquired in adapting them
to their supposed use was of great value to him in his subse-
quent career as a naval constructor.
The year 1828, noted for the advancement made in naval
construction, was signalled by another revolutionary invention
by Ericsson. This was the steam fire-engine which is now in uni-
versal use, substituting machinery for the workers at the polls
who for so many years made the streets of' our j^rincipal cities
hideous with their noisy rivalry and oftentimes bloody con-
tentions. The "fire laddies "had certain prescriptive rights,
for they were an ancient, if not a time-honored institution ;
even liome was disturbed in the time of Pliny by the rivalry
of her various compianies of matricularii. Fights were com-
mon among the London firemen previous to the year 1830,
and the methods of extinguishing fires showed no great ad-
vance upon the use of the early " divers squirts and petty en-
gines to be drawn upon wheels, from place to place, for to
quench fire among buildings." The chief advances had been
in the introduction of the air-chamber in fire-engines \)j the
German, Leupold, about 1720, the adoption of the system of
arranging two sets of men on a hand-engine, one above the
other, by Richard ITewsham in 1725, and the use of flexible de-
livery hose so that the engines could be removed far enough
from the fire to prevent their being burned up, as they fre-
quently were before.
Some of the fire-engines and implements brought from Hol-
land by King "William III., when he lauded in Torbay in 1688,
were in 1828 still to be found in the public buildings of London.
ERICSSON IN ENGLAND.
^5
The engines of Ericsson's time required some sort of a reservoir
from which to suck the water, and it was the custom of the
London firemen to supply this by tearing a great liole in the
street to gather water, with the necessary result of filling the
suction hose with stones and dirt.
Thrice had London been nearly destroyed by fire, Astley's
Theatre had been three times burnt, Drury Lane, Covent Gar-
den, and the Surrey, each twice, and the Lyceum and Italian
Opera once each. As these conflagrations were largely the re-
The First Steam Fire Engine, 1829.
suit of insufficient fire service, it seemed obvious to young
Ericsson's enthusiastic mind that a steam fire-engine was cer-
tain of immediate adoption. He first designed one in 1828,
for experimental purposes, and it proved entirely successful,
throwing jets of water, varying from one inch to one and one-
quarter inch in diameter, to the tops of the highest chimneys
of breweries. Into this engine was introduced the artificial
draught boiler, supplying the air for combustion by the recip-
rocating blowing machine worked by the engine when in oper-
ation.
The experimental engine was followed by another, mounted
on a light frame and suspended on springs, so that it could be
46 LIFE OF JOHN EUICSSON.
run over tlio pavements without jar. Tliis too proved a perfect
success on its first trial, and shortly after its completion the
memorable conflagration at the Argyle Kooms gave opportunity
for proving in actual practice its great superiority over the
engines then in use. The service of the engine was offered gra-
tuitously, and the insui'ance companies showed their apprecia-
tion of the courtesy by presenting Mr. Braithwaite's men with
the magnificent testimonial of one sovereign. The night was
cold and the hand-engines became quickly frozen up and use-
less, but the steamer worked incessantly for five liours with-
out a hitch, throwing its stream clear over the dome of the
building.
Another opportunity for testing the fire-engine occurred
soon after, when Barclay's breweiy was burned and Ericsson's
engine was borrowed and kept at work day and night for a
month, without interruption, pumping and starting the beer
from the different vats in the establishment. It was after-
ward taken on a sort of starring tour to France, where it was
used with great success in several towns, and from there to
Russia, where similar results followed its triaL
A third engine was built for the Liverpool Docks, and
used for many years in extinguishing fires and in other opera-
tions requiring the pumping of large quantities of M'ater. A
fourth, of beautiful construction, called the Comet, was built
for the King of Prussia in 1832, and Berlin was the first con-
tinental city to supply this means of extinguishing fires.
The fire-engine made by Braithwaite & Ericsson, with its
substitution of steam for hand power, was the first distinct de-
parture in principle from the engines in use, in one form and
another, at various periods since the beginning. The oldest
fire-engine of which we have any account is described by Hero
in his " Spiritalia," b.c. 160, and the description answers very
well for the ordinary form of hand-engine displaced by the
steam-engine. This early engine had the air-chambers and two
single acting pumps, worked by a beam moved by brakes and
uniting their two streams in a common discharge, connected
with a nozzle capable of being turned in any direction.
When an American hand-engine was first taken to Constan-
tinople, many years ago, the Pasha viewed its performance with
ERICSSON IN ENGLAND. 47
admiration, but exclaimed at the end, " Masliallali ! very good,
but it will require a sea to supply it with water. It won't do
for us, for tliere is uo sea iu the middle of the city." So he
decided to continue the use of his squirts, and to follow the re-
ceived method of letting the fire spread until the wind changed
or it could find nothing more to destroy. A similar objection
was raised to Ericsson's invention, known from the manufact-
urer as " Braithwaite's engine." Speaking of it, an authority
says : " The engine of Mr. Braithwaite, although most success-
ful in its working and adaptability to the purpose to which it
was designed, met with the usual opposition whicli all really
useful or important introductions seem destined to encounter,
and his proposals for bringing them into general use in Lon-
don met with the most determined hostility. First, it was
urged that to be good for anything it must constantly have a
fire alight or the steam kept up, as it would otherwise take too
long to bring it into operation ; then it was ' too powerful for
common use, too heavy for rapid travelling, and required larger
supplies of water than could be obtained in London streets.'
This in spite of the fact that Ericsson's engine had worked for
five hours at thfe Argyle fire wlien the other engines were frozen
up. Even if the steam fire-engines ' could get w^ater,' it would
not be desirable to use them, as the quantity of water thrown
by them might be injuriously applied and cause mischief.
In short, the managers of the fire brigade declined to en-
tertain Mr. Braithwaite's proposals, and their servants perpe-
trated every possible annoyance toward Mr. Braithwaite when
they met him with his engine at fires, which he for a long time
attended gratuitously, so that ultimately he withdrew in dis-
gust from the new field in which he had hoped to have both
profitably and usefully employed his talents and resources." *
Steam-power for extinguishing fires was in use in manufac-
turing establishments before it was emploj'ed in portable ma-
chines, every factory of any pretensions having its steam-
driven pump with hose and other attachments.
A fioating steam fire-engiTie, having the speed of nine miles
an hour, was designed in 1835 for the London Fire-engine Es-
* Young : Fires, Fire-engines, and Fire Brigades. (The author acknowl-
edges his indebtedness to this work for many of the facts given here.)
48 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSOK.
tablisliment, but a land steam fire-engine was used by them for
tlie first time in July, 1860, in one of the back sti'eets of Doc-
tors Commons. "In point of ' efficiency, simplicity, durability
of parts, weight, and cost,' it was in no respects superior to Mr.
Braithwaite's [Ericsson's] steam fire-engine of 1829, while in
some respects it was inferior to it. In a report to the commit-
tee, the superintendent of the brigade admitted that this en-
gine required delicate handling ; and so unsatisfactory upon
the whole was its performance that at the end of ten months'
trial it was withdrawn and replaced by one of a different
construction, bearing a close resemblance to that of Mr. Braith-
waite."
This claim for Ericsson of the invention of what has been
extensively known as I5raithwaite's steam fire-engine is made
upon Captain Ericsson's distinct declaration that it was built
from his designs, as well as upon other authority. In a state-
ment appearing in the London Engineer, December 31, 1875,
lie said : " Having originated, elaborated, and perfected a new
system, I claim to be the father of steam fire-engines ; cheer-
fully admitting that but for the confidence and liberality of my
friend and patron, John Braithwaite, it would not have been in
ray power to carry my plans into practice." This refers to the
experimental engine and the one first built from its design.
Continuing, Ericsson says further : " I designed two other steam
fire-engines ordered from Braithwaite's establishment about the
same time ; one for the Liverpool Docks and one for the Prus-
sian Government."
In his contest with the London Fire Brigade Ericsson ap-
pears to have had his first introduction to the official inertia
and prejudice he was destined to become further acquainted
with during his long career of invention. " Prejudice was
never reasoned into a man, and for that reason can never be
reasoned out of him."
CHAPTEE TV.
OPENING OP THE ERA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING.
Aristocratic Prejudice against Railroads. — Stepiiensoa's Contest with
Philistine England.— The Liverppol & Manchester Eailroad offers
a Prize. — The Argument for and against the Locomotive Engine. —
The Eainhill Trial of 1829. — Stephenson's Socket and Ericsson's
Novelty. — The Novelty shoots by the Rocket like a Projectile. — A
Mile in Fifty-six Seconds. — Steam Power Supersedes Muscle. —
Public Excitement. — A New Era Inaugurated.
I IN" 1798, when Lord Campbell went up to London to seek his
fortune, he was the subject of anxious apprehension on tlte
part of his relatives because of the speed with which he was to
travel by stage. The distance of three hundred miles between
Edinburgh and the capital was made in sixty hours, and stories
were rife of deaths by apoplexy, as the result of travelling at
this alarming rate of five or six miles an hour. During the
quarter of a century following Lord Campbell's journey there
was some increase on even this remarkable rate of speed.
Twenty thousand miles of turnpike had been constructed in
England previous to the date of Ericsson's transfer there in 1826
and £2,200,000 had been expended upon them to increase the
possibilities of land carriage.
Advance in tiiis direction had reached its limit. Light ve-
hicles, mounted on springs and speeding over the perfect high-
ways of Macadam had gradually replaced the pack-horses and
rude carriages of a hundred years before. Great attention h;id
been paid to improving the breed of carriage-horses, and seven,
eight, and even ten miles per hour were common with passenger
coaches. The Quicksilver Mail to Falmouth made eleven miles
an hour, including stoppages, and even seventeen miles an hour
were obtained for a short stage with the Shrewsbury coaches
over the exceptional route between Cheltenham and Tewksbury.
Tlie three thousand miles of canal in England had relieved
4
50 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSOlSr.
to some extent the demand for heavy carriage, and suggestions
of a coming revolution were found in the development of the
system of tramways employed in the coal districts of Iv'ewcastle
where George Stephenson served his apprenticeship and
gained experience in engine construction. These had been in
use for a century and a half, or since the time when Master
Beaumont, a gentleman of "great ingenuity and rare parts,"
had expended his fortune of £30,000 in substituting for the
ancient " waynes " '• waggons "running on these parallel ways of
timber. But no one dreamed of the great changes involved in
the use of steam as a means of traction. As to the general
public, it ridiculed in its wisdom the idea of exceeding the speed
of the quick passenger coaches. Philistine England combined
its strength to defeat the projects of the engine-driver from
Killiagwortli colliery, with his wild plans for carrying freight
at the rate of twelve or fifteen miles an hour. His idea of a
tramway laid to a uniform grade over hill and valley, instead
of following the sinuosities of the ground, was bitterly opposed,
and the most alarming prophecies were in vogue concerning
the danger attending his plans.
As early as 1749 Watt had suggested the idea of applying
steam power to passenger coaches travelling over the common
roads, and various attempts had been made to realize this con-
ception. Experience at the collieries had shown the possibili-
ties of moving heavy wagons on tramways witli stationary
engines, but a great contention had arisen over the suggestion
that it was feasible to use locomotives on such roads, while the
best engineers in England, Ericsson included, were seeking
some means of overcoming the supposed want of adhesion be-
tween the wheels and the rails. A learned advocate expended
his eloquence before a committee of Parliament ridiculing the
idea of going " at the rate of twelve miles an hour with the
aid of the devil in the form of a locomotive, sitting as postil-
ion on the fore horse." To his own satisfaction this man of
law proved that a gale of wind " would render it impossible to
set ofE a locomotive engine either by poking the fire or keeping
up of the steam until the boiler was ready to burst."
It is difficult now to realize the extent of the prejudice then
existing in England against railroads, especially among the
THE ERA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEEKING. 51
classes whose interests fortified their prejudices. Aristocratic
sentiment was long arrayed against a mode of conveyance
bringing noble and peasant to a common level ; even after suc-
cess was assured English fashion clung to its earlier and less
convenient mode of locomotion simply because its abandonment
by the vulgar made it more exclusive, as it still clings to its wax-
candles to the exclusion of gas.
The Duke of Wellington refused to trust himself upon a
railroad until the year 1843, and went then only because he
was in attendance upon the Queen, who the jea,r before fol-
lowed the example of Piince Albert in making use of this con-
veyance between London and Windsor. The favored of for-
tune always have a keen appreciation of the menace to their
privileges involved in radical changes of any sort in existing
conditions. In this case they appear to have had a pai'ticularly
lively premonition of the revolution to follow the success of the
Yorkshire engineer. The peers of England as landowners, and
tlie classes they represented or influenced, were among tlie chief
opponents of the railroad projects. " Journeys at that time,"
says James John Garth Wilkinson, " were restricted to a small
portion of the community. The more the coaches were per-
fected, and the better horsed, the more expensive and select they
became. How shall we popularize travelling ? By a viler ex-
pedient of canals, carts, and the like ? This, too, existed, but it
was used merely for necessity-, and did not attract, or make all
men into travellers. To effect the better result an invention
grander and cheaper than had then traversed space was required.
To move the rich needed only a four-horse coach, running in
an agony of ten miles an hour ; but to move the poor required
cars before which those of the triumphing Caesars must pale
their ineffectual competition. Thus, thougli the problem was
the enfranchisement of the meaner classes from the fetters of
pedestrianism, yet the only solution of it lay in the increased
convenience of all ranks, from the noble to the peasant, and not
in the degradation but in the elevation of the locomotive art." *
The early projectors of railroads intended them for goods
transport ; especially for carrying ore a short distance from the
mines. They did not realize the possibilities of passenger traffic ;
* Wilkinson's Human Body and its Connection witli Man, pp, 13, 13.
52 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
these revealed themselves only vs'hen rapid motion was assured
and in this revelation it was the fortune of John Ericsson to
play a most conspicuous part. He was at work on his marine
boiler, and fighting adverse public sentiment with his steam
fire engine, while the Stephensons were bringing to a success
ful issue the great scheme of a railroad between Liverpool and
Manchester. The appearance of the prospectus of this rail-
road in a volume labelled " Some of the Bubbles of 1825,"
and fonnd in one of the public libraries, shows how this project
was then regarded.
The elder Stephenson, who was the engineer of the railroad,
was an earnest advocate of locomotives, and argued strenuously
against the project of using stationary engines to draw the cars
from station to station. The possibilities of such engines were
limited to the carrying of forty tons of coal at the i-ate of six
miles an hour. Stephenson urged that ten miles could be ob-
tained with the locomotive, and in the hidden recesses of his
own mind cherished the thought of twenty miles. He did not
dare express it, for fear of still further increasing the prejudice
against his plans.
Upon the decision of this question of power turned the
whole future of railroad development, as the result lias shown.
After mnch painstaking investigation the railroad olEcials
yielded to Stephenson's solicitations, and resolved to make a
trial of the locomotive engine in spite of the baleful prophe-
cies concerning it. An advertisement was issued oifering a
prize of five hundred pounds for the best locomotive adapted to a
road of 5 feet 8^ inch gauge, capable of drawing a gross weight
of twenty tons at the rate of ten miles an hour, and conforming
to certain stipulations. It must consume its own smoke, accord-
ing to the provisions of the railway act, and its limit of weight
was fixed at six tons. The learned Government Inspector of the
Post Ofiice Steam Packets pronounced the men who prescribed
this impossible condition of ten miles an hour " a set of char-
latans," and offered a breakfast on a stewed engine-wheel in
case their requirements were met.* ISTot a single eminent pro-
* For many of the facts given thus far in this eliapter I am indebted to
Smiles's Life of George and Robert Stephenson, which is, however, tratli-
fully described by Knight's American Meclianioal Dictionary as " ignor-
THE ERA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGIWEEEHSTG. 53
fessional man sided with Stephenson in his preference for loco-
motives, and public opinion was greatly excited over the dangers
supposed to attend this novel system. When Parliament had
been applied to for a charter for the Liverpool & Manchester
road, great care had been taken to avoid the suggestion of lo-
comotives, and the discussion before the committee was as to
the possibilities of traction on a railroad by horse-power. The
biographer of C. B. Yignoles, who was principal resident en-
gineer of the road from 1825 to 1827, says: "There can be no
doubt it would have risked the success of the bill if the pro-
moters had laid any sti-ess on the possibility of steam becom-
ing the traction agent." *
Five months were allowed for completing the engines, yet
it was only by a bare chance that Ericsson was able to enter
the contest, for only seven weeks of the twenty-two remained
when he learned of the competition and commenced work on
his engine. He had never built a locomotive ; Stephenson had
beeu for five years at the head of an establishment for the man-
ufacture of such locomotives as were then in use on the colliery
tramways ; lie had made a special study of this form of engine,
and he enjoyed the furthei' advantage of controlling the road
ordering the trial and had the sympathy and support of its ofii-
cials. He was thoroughly equipped for the contest, and before
Ericsson began work had substantially completed his trial en-
gine with the assistance of his son Robert, a young engineer of
Ericsson's own age, twenty-six. The Stephensons were able to
test their engine in actual practice on the Killiiigworth Kail-
road, and to correct defects that would have been fatal to suc-
cess on the day of the trial.
Describing the occasion, Mr. Booth says : t
The intense interest excited by the offer of this premium was almost
unparalleled. The friends of Locomotive Engines hailed it as an era
ing facts and pettifogging the wliole case; about as one-sided an afEair as
Abbott's Life of Saint Napoleon. " This is certainly true, so far as concerns
Smiles's meagre reference to Ericsson's part in the Eainhill contest.
*Life of Charles Blacker Vignoles, by his son, p. 111. Longmans, Green
& Co. 1889.
f Account of Liverpool & Manchester Railway, by Henry Booth, Treasurer
to the Company, p. 101. Philadelphia, 1831.
54
LIFE OF JOHK EEICSSOX.
■which was to create one of the greatest changes in the internal comnm-
nioations of the kingdom that had ever yet taken place. The canal pro-
prietors dreaded lest the issue of these trials should prove that a more
economical mode of conveyance might be established ; and tho pro-
jectors of the Railway viewed the experiment as one calculated to make
that grand work profitable to themselves and beneficial to the country,
or show to them what an immense expenditure had been incurred which
miglit otherwise have been avoided.
The public were not idle spectators ; they considered that the suc-
cessful termination would not only confer individual benefits and local
advantages, but a great national good, by introducing a system of con-
veyance throughout the country which is at once easy, safe, expeditious,
''Rocket" Locomotive.
and economical, affording to the poor a luxury hitherto denied to them,
and to the opulent a despatch which hitherto no sum could purchase.
The conditions required a run of seventy miles, but wlien
tlie day for tlie contest came, the only portion of the railroad
completed was a level stretch of about two miles at a little place
called Kainhill. The competing locomotives M-ere compelled,
therefore, to cover their distance by making twenty trips back
and forth over one and three-quarter miles of track. Five en-
gines entered for the trial at Rainhill. Three were of little ac-
count. The only one which disputed for the supremacy with
Stephenson's Rocket, was Ericsson's Novelty. Minor defects
in its workmanship, such as Stephenson had every opportunity
to detect and correct, prevented the Novelty from completing
THE ERA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING. 55
the required distance. So Stephenson was the only one wlio
strictly conformed to the conditions, and the prize was awarded
to him.
According to . contemporary accounts, however, the sucds
di'estim.e was with Ericsson. His singularly quick comprehen-
sion of the problem befoi-e him, and his masterly control of its
conditions were shown in his ability to enter such a contest
with so little time for preparation, and no time for experiment.
Previous experience with the Victory, and with his steam fire-
engine no doubt led up to this result. In both of these he used
artificial draught, which is the essential factor in the produc-
tion of high speed, increasing heat in the furnace as the black-
smith does in his forge with his bellows. "Without this the
modern locomotive would be an impossibility.
To whom belongs the credit of first inventing what is known
as the steam-blast does not appear. It is certain that its value,
indeed its absolute necessity, in locomotives constructed for
speed, was never understood until the Rainhill contest made it
clear. Ericsson's previous use of this means of creating power
with the least expenditure of grate surface, and corresponding
compactness of construction, shows Iiis thorough appreciation
of its importance.
In an article on the " Civil Engineers of Britain," in Black-
woocPs Magazine for October, 1879, Me are told that: "There
are various claimants for the honor of the invention, which
proved to be the very vital breath of the locomotive, the steam-
blast, and the actual discovery, not of the method itself, but
of its prodigious efficacy, seems to have taken Stephenson as
much as anyone else by surprise at the experiments at Eainhill,
in 1829. On the first day of her trial the Rocket derived but
little benefit from the discharge of the exhaust steam up the
chimney, and, indeed, made steam nearly as freely when stand-
ing as when running. The mean speed kept up by the engine
was under 14, and the maximum 24 miles an hour. Without any
load a velocity of 29J miles an hour was attained. Ericsson's
engine, the Novelty, shot by the RocJcet like a projectile ; but
the workmanship was not equal to that of the stout Northum-
brian, though the scientific condition of the Novelty was proba-
bly of a more advanced order. Had the workmanship been as
56 LIFE OF JOHN ElilCSSON.
strong as the design was original, the prize would have been
won by the Novelty, and the early history of railways would
have assumed a different complexion. After the trials, the two
exhaust orifices of the Rocket were thrown into one, and so
contracted that the exhaust steam produced a powerful blast
in the chimney. The results were such as to indicate the full
value of this mode of developing heat."
Edward Alfred Cowper, a member of the Institution of
Civil Engineers, said in 1884:,* of the Novelty : "It was a very
light engine, and would not draw a heavy load, and the flue
gave way several times, but I think it due to the memory of
my old master, John Braithwaite, to state that it was the first
engine that ever ran really fast, as it did a mile in fifty-six
seconds."
Sir Charles Fox, afterward the engineer of the London
Crystal Palace, was at that time a young man in the employ of
Ericsson, to whom he was indebted for his first start in life.
He was on the Novelty when it shot by the Rocket, and never,
he was wont to say, could he forget the expression on the face
of Robert Stephenson at the moment.^
Speaking of this trial, Fraser's Magazine said, in 1881 :
"For the first time the shrill whistle of the locomotive was
heard in Middlesex. Few were the spectators, for the trial was
essentially a practical experiment ; but the faces of wonder and
dismay with which they beheld the advancing, the self-moving
machine were not to be forgotten. As the engine gained her
breath, and with the sharp sigh, or rather snort, now so fa-
miliar to our ears, rapidly attained the speed of thirty miles an
hour, the anxious lines on the face of the great engineer relaxed.
By the time of the return to Kilbui-n it was clear that the en-
gines designed for the London & Birmingham traffic would
answer the expectations of the engineer."
The defects of Ericsson's engine were such as might be
expected in a construction put at once to the test without pre-
vious experiment. These defects were all easy of correction
had opportunity offered. But time did not allow, and Erics-
son was even obliged to ask for a delay, to adjust the wheels
* Heat and its Mechanical Applications, p. 73.
f Blackwood's Magazine, p. 37. July, 1889.
THE TAIA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGT]Nr]';KUING.
n?
of his engine to the track, fur it Lad never been on tlio I'ails
befoi'o. lie always claimed the credit of being tbe first to
demonstrate the error of the then received opinion that exten-
sive surface must be exposed to the fire to secure the necessary
amount of steanj. His little Novelty, with its compact machin-
ery, was a revelation as to the possibilities of steam, yet nei-
ther for Stephenson iior for Ericsson is to be claimed the excln-
sive credit for tliat memorable day at llainhill. As Stephen-
The Novelty Locomotive, built by Ericsson to compete with Stephenson's Rocket, 1829.
son has liimself said : " The locomotive is not tlie product of
any single man, bnt of a nation of engineers."
If he spoke critically of Stephenson's engine Ericsson al-
ways I'efrained from attacking Stephenson personally, content-
ing himself with defending his own invention when unfair
comparisons were made. " As to George Stephenson," he once
instructed his secretai-y to say in reply to a letter, " the Cap-
tain refrains from doing anything calculated to tarnish the
fame of that truly great engineer."
58 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Neither Ericsson nor liis friends were satisfied with the jus-
tice of the decision against liini at Kainliill, so far as it assumed
to decide as to the meiits of tlio rival engines. Tliis decision
was in part due to the liastj action of tlie hot-blooded joung
Swede, in withdrawing the Novelty from the contest. In a
manuscript left by Ericsson, he says :
It is very surprising that the several writers on railway locomotion
have overlooked the fact that the Novelty contained the essential prop-
erties indispensable to success, while the Rocket, which took the pre-
mium, lacked those ^nxj properties. A glance at these locomotive
machines as first placed on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway shows
that the constructor of the former had grasped the subject and that the
constructor of the latter had not.
Ericsson, duly appreciating the necessity of protecting the mechan-
ism from shaking and jar on the rail, suspended the entire framework,
boilers and engines, on springs of the most perfect elasticity ; but in
doing this lie did not, like Stephenson, overlook the fact that unless the
power of the engines be applied to cranks on the axle of the driving-
wheels in a horizontal direction, the action of the springs would be in-
terrupted and countei-acted. Consequently the Novelty, actuated by
horizontal connecting-rods moved along the road with perfect steadiness
while the Rocket, with her diagonal connecting-rods had a violent racking
motion from side to side. Mr. Hack worth's Sans Pareil, with .her verti-
cal connecting-rods, proved worse even than the Rocket, in fact did not
admit of springs of sufficient elasticity to be of any Utility.
But a far more important feature in the construction of the Novelty
claims attention. Ericsson, duly estimating the insufficiency of chim-
ney-draught, provided his engine with artificial means for supporting the
combustion in the boiler furnace. A blowing machine was applied,
moved directly by the engine, so that the supply of air was greatest
when the engine worked at maximum speed. Stephenson, on the other
hand, depended on the chimney-draught. True, a discovery was made
by Mr. Hackworth, during the trials at Eainhill, that the admission of
steam into the chimney in a peculiar way produced a powerful draught.
But this principle of artificial draught did not enter into the original
construction of the Rocket, while the plan of the Novelty was wholly based
on that principle. In fact, no chimney at all was applied.
Ericsson has been justly censured for withdrawing the Novelty from
the contest in the absence of his friend John Bi'aithwaite, to whose liber-
ality, keen mechanical perceptions and enterprise the directors of the
Liverpool & Manchester Railway were indebted for the benefit conferred
on . their gi'eat undertaking at the time by the performance of the
Novelty. It ig difficult to see how, if the contest had not been aban-
doned, the judges could have refused awarding the prize to the Novelty,
THE EEA OP LOCOMOTIVE ENGISTEEEING. 59
in view of her greater speed than the otlier competing engines, and in-
view of lier superior principle of construction compared with the Rochet.
In reply to an inquiry from Mr. C. H. IlaSwel], Ericsson
said (February 2, 1875) :
My Dbab HaswelIi : As far as I know the boiler of the Novelty, as well
aa the boilers which I designed for the steamship Victory, 1828, were the
first in which the furnace with its surrounding water space was placed be-
low the horizontal part of the boiler which contained the flues. The pres-
ent locomotive boiler, as well as the boilers of Stephenson's engines built
1830, are, with reference to the point mentioned, copies of my originals of
1828. The boiler of Stephenson's Rocket, 1829, it should be observed, had
a separate fire-box secured to the horizontal part or flue boiler, the water
surrounding the furnace circulating through pipes connected with the
said flue boiler. Yours truly,
J. Ebicsson.
Stephenson ran the whole distance witliout the carriage
containing his water-tank, an essential part of his outfit, and
with the water in the boiler raised to the maximum tempera-
ture. This offended Ericsson's sense of fair play, as his engine,
owing to its construction, was compelled to run handicapped
with the load of a water-tank. The contemporary accounts
certainly awarded the palm of victory to him, and those who
read the newspapers of that day will suppose that the prize was
surely his. The account of the performance of the Ncmelty
given in the London Times (October 8, 1829) was very full
and most enthusiastic. Aside from its commendation of Erics-
son's Novelty, it is interesting as a contemporary account of an
historical contest. The Times said :
The directors of the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad having of-
fered, in the month of April last, a prize of £500 for the best locomo-
tive engine, the trial of the carriages which had been constructed to con-
tend for the prize commenced to-day. The running ground was on the
Manchester side of the Eainhill bridge, at a place called Kenriok's Cross,
about nine miles fi'om Liverpool. At this place the railroad runs on a
dead level, and formed, of course, a fine spot for trying the comparative
speed of the carriages. The directors had made suitable preparations
for this important as well as interesting experiment of the powers of
locomotive carriages. For the accommodation of the ladies who might
visit the course (to use the language of the turf) a booth was erected on
60 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
tlie south side of the railroad, equidistant from the extremities of the
trial ground. Here a band of music was stationed and amused the com-
pany during the day by playing pleasing and favorite airs.
The directors, each of whom wore a white riband in his button-
hole, arrived on the course shortly after 10 o'clock in the forenoon, hav-
ing come from Huyton on cars drawn by Mr. B. Stephenson's locomotive
steam carriage, which moved up the inclined plane from thence with
considerable velocity. Meanwhile ladies and gentlemen in great num-
bers arrived from Liverpool and Warrington, St. Helens and Manches-
ter, as well as from the surrounding country, in vehicles of every de-
scription. Indeed, all the roads presented on this occasion scenes sim-
ilar to those which roads leading to race-courses usually present during
days of sport. The pedestrians were extremely numerous, and crowded
all the roads which conducted to the race-ground.
The spectators lined both sides of the road for the distance of a
mile and a half ; and although the men employed on the line, amount-
ing to nearly three hundred, acted as special constables, with orders to
keep the crowd off the course, all their efforts to carry their orders into
effect were rendered nugatory by the people persisting in walking on the
course. It is diflScult to form an estimate of the number of individuals
who had congregated to behold the experiment, but there could not, at
a moderate calculation, be less than ten thousand. Some gentlemen
even went so far as to compute them at fifteen thousand. Never, per-
haps, on any occasion were so many scientific gentlemen and practical
engineers collected together on one spot. The interesting and impor-
tant nature of the experiments to be tried had drawn from all parts of
the kingdom to be present at this contest of locomotive carriages, as
well as to witness the amazing utility of railways in expediting the com-
munication between distant places. The attendance of the members of
the Society of Friends was extremely numerous also, and their appear-
ance on a race-course gave rise to some amusing badinage during the
day.
There were only one or two public-houses or taverns in the vicinity
of the trial ground. These were, of course, crowded with company as
the day advanced, particularly the railroad tavern at Kenrick's Cross,
which was literally crammed. The locomotive carriages attracted, of
course, the attention of every individual on the road. They ran up and
down during the afternoon more for amusement than experiment, sur-
prising and even startling the unscientific beholders by the amazing
velocity with which they moved along the rails. Mr. Eobert Stephen-
son's carriage attracted the most attention during the early part of the
afternoon. It ran without any weight being attached to it, at the rate
of twenty-four miles in the hour, shooting past the spectators with amaz-
ing velocity, emitting very little smoke but dropping its red-hot cin-
ders as it proceeded. Cars containing stones were then attached to it,
weighing, together with its own weight, upward of seventeen tons, pre-
THE ERA OP LOCOMOTIVE ENGHSTEEKING. 61
paratory to the trial of its speed being made. This trial occupied, with
stoppages, seventy-one minutes, and proved that the carriage can, draw-
ing three times its own weight, run at the rate of more than ten miles
an hour.
But the speed of all the other locomotive steam carriages on the
course was far exceeded by that of Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson's
beautiful engine from London. It was the lightest and most elegant
carriage on the road yesterday, and the velocity with which it moved
surprised and amazed every beholder. It shot along the line at the
amazing rate of thirty miles an hour ! It seemed, indeed, to fly, present-
ing one of the most sublime spectacles of human ingenuity and human
daring the world ever beheld.
Of the second day's trial the Times of October 12, 1829,
said :
Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson's engine (the Novelty) proved it-
self to-day to be as good (proportionally) at drawing a load as running
without one. It drew, in one hour, three times its weight a distance
of 204 miles !
In its issue of October 16, 1829, the Times said :
The definite trial of Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson's locomotive
carriage (the Novelty) was fixed for this day. The load having been
attached, the engine started on its journey shortly after one o'clock. It
performed two trips with great celerity ; but when running down the
course for the third time the pressure of the steam was too great for
the boiler, which unfortunately burst.* This accident put an end to
the trial and the Novelty was taken from the course.
The trials which have taken place have satisfactorily proved the su-
periority of the principle on which the Novelty is constructed. The
machine was, however, too hastily and slightly fabricated — defects which
Messrs. Braithwaite & Ericsson can easily remedy in any future engines
which they may construct for railroads.
To John Bourne Ericsson wrote (January 19, 1875) saying:
The Novelty was provided with a blowing machine operated by
a short lever attached to the extension of the axle of one of the bell-
cranks. The air was forced into a close ash-pit, the fuel, coke, being
supplied from the top by means of a hopper having two slide valves.
The bottom of the ash-pit, as well as the grate, moved on hinges in
* This is a mistake. The escape of steam from the yielding of green joints
misled the reporter.
62 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
order to admit of cleaning. The furnace was upright, resembling an
inverted truncated cone. The flue, made of copper, was a descending
one, leading out of the top of the furnace and returning three times,
with the exit at the extreme end of the horizontal part of the boiler.
Several boilers built on this plan all proved very satisfactory. In my
steam fire engine of 1840, however, though the blowing machine was re-
tained, the fire-box was square and the tubes straight, as in Booth's
boiler — I persist in not calling it a Stephenson boiler.
As to straight tubes, Braithwaite and myself built a boiler with
twenty straight copper tubes and an internal furnace in 1828, the oper-
ation of which was witnessed by Captain Boss and other persons. We
abandoned this mode of construction because it was difficult to make
steam-tight joints and not so economical as the descending flue, or the
helical flue coiled round the furnace. Ill-natured people in Liverpool,
during the Eainhill trials, insisted that Booth borrowed his idea from
London.* Unfortunately my drawings of these boilers were destroyed
many years ago.
The ' Novelty was planned and built ready for transportation to
Liverpool in smen weeks. But for a letter received from a friend in that
town, at the end of July, 1829, informing me, merely as news, that a
' ' steam race " was expected, the Novelty would never have been con-
structed.
After the Eainhill trials, I used the Novelty as an experimental
engine to test the efficiency of exhaust draught and independent power for
operating the blowing machine, etc., etc. At the end of those experi-
ments, the Novelty could hardly be recognized as the Novelty. I after-
ward designed another form of locomotive engine of very elegant ap-
pearance, two of which were built by Braithwaite, intending to astonish
the world at the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Eailway. They
proved utter failures for want of steam ; my opponents' outcry against a
close ash-pit having induced me to abandon the blowing machine and
resort to exhaust draught, produced by a small fan-wheel turning with-
in a magnificent polished copper vase placed on the top of the boiler ;
very classical but miserably inefficient.
The two locomotives here referred to were called the ' King
William ' and ' Queen Adelaide.^ t. To them was for the first
time applied in 1830, the link motion for reversing steam-
* That is to say, from Ericsson's previous use of it in London.
f Speaking of the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, Sep-
tember 15, 1830, Rev. Olinthus J. Vignoles, in his life of Charles Blacker
Vignoles, says: "New engines made by Ericsson & Co. for this occasion, viz.,
Queen Adelaide and William the Fourth, had been contracted for by the
Liverpool &, Manchester directors, but they had not reachwd Liverpool in
time to be ' proved ' before the day of opening.''
THE EEA OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERING. 63
engines. The so-called Stephenson link is a modification of
Ericsson's original link motion.
The sevej'al statements made by Ericsson concerning the
Rainhill trial, and here quoted, were all of them sent in answer
to requests for information coming from authorities on steam
engineering and the authors of works of professional reputa-
tion. The final paragraph of the letter last quoted shows how
ready he was to admit his mistakes when once thoroughly con-
vinced that he was wrong.
Among those present at liainhill was a young man named
John Scott Eussell, who has since become so widely known as
one of the most eminent of English engineers. To the seventh
edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," published three years
after the contest, Mr. Ilussell contributed an article in which he
said : " The Novelty had to be withdrawn, through a series
of unfortunate accidents which had no i-eference to the charac-
ter or capabilities of tlie engine ; and we well recollect that it
made a powerful impression on the public mind at the time.
On the first day of the trial, Thursday, October 6, 1829, it went
twenty-eight miles an hour (without any attached load) and did
one mile in seven seconds under two minutes. This perform-
ance will now appear trifling ; but at the time the sensation it
produced was immense."
The dii'ectors asked for ten miles an hour and Ericsson gave
them nearly thirty-two miles (31.9). It is true it was with an
unloaded engine, but this immense step forward was enough to
prove the possibilities of locomotion. "It is far from my
wish," Mr. Nicholas Wood, one of the judges, had said before
the trial, "to promulgate to the world that the individual ex-
pectation, or rather profession of the enthusiastic specialist will
be realized and that we shall see engines travelling at the rate
of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, or twenty miles an hour. Nothing
could do more harm toward their adoption or general improve-
ment than the promulgation of sucli nonsense."
What was to be said, then, of this Swedish youth of twenty-
six, fresh from liis Norrland forest, who gave them more than
thirty miles an hour ? Stephenson, too, exceeded his expecta-
tions, for Mr. Ilussell credits his locomotive with twenty-four
miles an hour, drawing three times its own weight, and thirty
64
LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
miles without a load. "Had the seventy miles been one
length," saj's Mr. Russell, " the Rocket would have maintained
an average velocity of fifteen miles an hour. "
Ericsson, while vastly increasing the speed of locomotives,
at the same time reduced the weight eighty-five per cent., as
compared with those then in use. The Rocket, though it
weighed four times as much as the Novelty, was also a great im-
provement in this respect upon the engines preceding it.
Charles Blacker Yignoles, F.E.S., rode with Ericsson that
day, and forty-one years after (January 11, 1870), in his address
upon taking the chair as president of tlie English Institution of
Civil Engineers, Mr. Yignoles said : " The Novelty was long
remembered as the beau ideal of a locomotive, which, if it did
not command success, deserved it."
" To most men," says another authority, John Bourne, " the
View of the Novelty with a Train of Engine and Coaches
(From pen-and-ink drawing by C. B. Vignoles.)
production of such an engine would have constituted an ade-
quate claim to celebrity. In the case of Ericsson, it is only a
single star of the brilliant galaxy with which his shield is
spangled."
Ericsson's engine leaped at once to the very front of locomo-
tive performance tlms far, if we are to accept the statement of
Mr. Cowper, confirmed by the excellent authority of Ericsson
and Vignoles, who declared that the Novelty ran, on one occa-
sion, with them on board, at the rate of fifty miles an hour.
The Great Western Bailway of England had distanced all
competitors when it made this speed on a continuous journey,
excluding stops from the calculation. The average speed of all
tlie express trains in England is now 44^ miles an hour, exclud-
ing stops, and in the United States 41-| miles. The maximum
speed is 47 miles, and the higliest speed beyond the bounds of
THE ERA OE LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEEEING. 65
Anglo-Saxon civilization is 37 miles an hour. This is the speed
of the trains that skirt the base of the Pyramids. France fol-
lows next with an average of 36^ miles and a maximum of
43 miles from Paris to Calais. The great advance is in the in-
creasing nuiuber of the trains run at these high speeds.*
We may imagine the excitement following the announce-
ment in the Times concerning the performance of the Novelty,
for to this engine, as we have seen, England's great daily de-
voted chief attention. Kailroad shares leaped at once to a pre-
mium, and excited groups gathered on 'change to discuss the
wonderful event which Britis'h opinion had led everyone not to
expect. The pessimists were silenced ; the art of modern rail-
way travel was inaugurated, miles divided where leagues sepa-
rated before ; men were called upon to adjust themselves to
new conditions created by the possibilities of freer intercourse,
and the era of great cities and mighty states extending their
sway over continents was opened.
To the young engineer who played his part so well that day
was accorded the rare privilege of living long enough to witness
the development of the new age he had helped to usher in. In
the closing years of his life he could look back upon " a change
in the physical relations of man to the planet on which he
dwells greater than any that can be distinctly measured in- any
known period of historic time : " a change he had a most
memorable part in creating, and all of which had come within
the period covered by his professional labors.
In 1841, when the railroad had fairly established itself as
a popular means of transit, eighteen hundred miles of track
had been built and three hundred thousand passengers were
carried weekly. "When Ericsson died, nearly half a century
later, the annual receipts of English railroads were more than
the capital outlay in 1841 and the number of passengers had
increased more than forty-fold.
The trial on the Liverpool & Manchester road not only at-
tracted the attention of all England, but it brought together, as
the reports show, a great gathering of the engineers of that
day. Coming together and dining together are in England re-
* Express Trains, English and Foreign. By E. Foxwell and T. C. Farrer.
London, 1889.
5
06 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
]ated as cause to effect. A grand banquet was given in Liver-
pool to the directors and officers of the railway and to the com-
peting locomotive builders. Toasts and speeches followed, and
if Ericsson did not carry home with him tlie £500 offered as a
prize, he at least made himself known to all England as one
of the rising men of his profession.
If slow to realize the possilpilities of railroad locomotion in
advance, the capitalists were prompt to take advantage of the
change when it came. A powerful combination was formed to
open communication with the French capital by railroad and
steamboat, and Vignoles was sent over to secure the necessary
concession from the French Government. Thiers, then Minis-
ter of Public Works, visited England with his under-secretary to
inquire into this method of locomotion. But he did not pro-
pose to trust himself to it, for he carried with him for private
use a lumbering coach of the time of Louis Quatorze. M.
Thiers examined, listened, responded politely to those who
sought to instruct him, and went back to report that railroads
were not suited to France, and to violently oppose them from
his place in tlie Corps Legislatif. Thus tlie introduction of
railroads into France was postponed for eiglit years, and an il-
lustration given of the enormous difficulties against which such
men as Ericsson contend. Naturally, Ericsson did not share
the reverence for official utterance entertained by " Sir Joseph
Porter, K.C.B.," and if he on occasion spoke evil of dignita-
ries, his experience through life gave him ample justification.
CHAPTER Y.
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE.
A Spendthrift in Invention. — Associations with William Laird. — The
Caloric Engine the Sensation of London.^Faraday's Lecture upon
it. — Ericsson Anticipates Sir William Thomson's Sounding Appa-
ratus. — Applies Steam to Canal Navigation.
JOHN" ERICSSON was now fairly entered upon his en-
gineering career. Fortune, as well as fame would have
been witliin his reach had he possessed what is called " the
nose for money." But the Swede has been described as " one
born to own a million and to spend two." And if this de-
scription does not apply to the race, it certainly does apply to
this particular representative of it. He was accustomed to
say he cared not who drew at the spigot, so long as he controlled
the bung, and the spigot was always open. Nor was Ericsson
in any active sense anxious for fame. He wished to accom-
plish, not to proclaim his accomplishment ; though he was quick
enough to defend his reputation when assailed, or to assert him-
self when he detected a disposition to set him aside. His one
consuming passion was to bring forth some new thing, or to
transform the old in the alembic of his creative imagination.
For this he would sacrifice his own means and, so far as they
would let him, the means of his friends. Not otherwise ex-
travagant, in realizing his engineering conceptions he was a
spendthrift. For this reason, the pai-tnership with Braithwaite,
so valuable in practical experience, was not a commercial suc-
cess. The steam fire-engine was a mechanical triumph, but it
did not bring orders to the workshop. It was a generation in
advance of the demand. Though the experiments with the
Yictory laid the foundation for future triumphs in naval con-
struction their immediate result was, most unfortunate.
In the field of locomotive construction Ericsson was distanced
63 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON'.
by tlie more steady-going, if less brilliant, Stephenson, wliose
labors, concentrated \ipon the work of improving and adapting,
were not disturbed by the constant buzzing of inventive con-
ceits. Ericsson's energies, on the contrary, were divided among
the numerous schemes constantly born of a prolific brain, and
such of these adventures as were profitable were, like the " good
ears " of Pharaoh's dream, " devoured by the thin ears blasted
by the east wind." Invention followed invention at the aver-
age rate of three or four a year for a long period, limiting the
. term to devices put in actual operation, and excluding the nu-
merous modifications introduced into existing patents.
Ericsson shared the experience common to inventors, and
discovered at times that he was forbidden to use his own ideas
because tliej' were vaguely suggested in some previous patent
or had been monopolized by some later discoverer, more enter-
prising tlian he in availing himself of the protection of the
Government. He never invented anything, he was accustomed
to say, without finding it claimed by some one, as soon as at-
tention was called to its value by its introduction into use.
Following his abandonment of the field of locomotive con-
struction, he designed a steam-engine formed of a hollow drum
of metal with inclined planes set on the inner surface. The
steam was admitted at the centre and striking these planes set
the globe in motion, at the rate of over six hundred miles an
hour, or nine hundred feet in a second. This steam wheel was
a beautiful piece of work, so true a circle and so highly polished
that it continued to rotate for several hours after the steam
was shut off. It was set up at Birkenhead, England, in 1831,
and connected to a centrifugal pump by band wheels to reduce
the speed. The pump, another of Ericsson's inventions, raised
a standard column of water thirty-two feet high, and two feet
in diameter. The enormous speed of tlie prime motor rapidly
destroyed the belts, but the action of the pump was perfect.
A patent for this rotary engine was obtained February 8, 1832,
and one-half interest in it assigned to William Laird, of Liver-
pool, who advanced the money to pay for the patent and con-
duct experiments. The title of the engine was " an improved
engine for communicating mechanical power." One-half inter-
est in another rotary engine, bearing the same title, was also
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE.
09
assigned to Mr. Laird. This, as we are informed by a memo-
randum found among Ericsson's effects, " proved a complete
failure when put to trial."
Rotary engines have been the dream of inventors for gener-
ations ; indeed, since the time of Hero of Alexandria, B.C. 130.
They are practicable, and have been to a certain extent success-
ful. Other engines convert reciprocating into rotary motion ;
in a rotary engine the steam is applied directly in the line of
motion, and thus follows the movement of the earth upon its
Hero's Engine.
axis. The enormous speed of nine hundred feet a second, ob-
tained by Ericsson's engine, was almost exactly equal to that of
Liverpool around the axis of the globe.
William Laird, with whom Ericsson became associated at
this time, was one of the founders of Birkenhead, opposite
Liverpool. As late as 1818 this place was nothing more than
a fishing village, with less than fifty inhabitants, and the first
shipbuilding docks were not erected there until 1824. The
friendship established by Ericsson with the heads of the great
shipbuilding house of Laird & Son extended to the third gen-
70 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
eration. On the death of the father of the present Mr. Will-
iam Laird in 1874, his son wrote to Ericsson, saying : " I re-
member very well that in the earlier days of Birkenhead you
were intimate with my father and grandfather, and it is pleas-
ant to know that the lapse of so many years has not altered
your feelings of friendship and esteem for them."
On February 27, 1830, Ericsson patented, in the name of
John Braitliwaite, an apparatus for making salt from brine.
The fluid was first heated in closed boilers, placed underground,
and next turned into large open cisterns, there agitated by
centrifugal fan-wheels, and then allowed to settle and de-
posit the salt. It worked perfectly, and proved to be economi-
cal. The crystals were of unusual size but much discoloied,
and numerous experiments failed to discover any metliod of
overcoming this fatal defect. Messrs. Cropper, Benson & Co.,
of Liverpool, advanced £6,000 for obtaining the patents for
this invention and erecting experimental works at Liverpool
and Winsford in Cheshire. To them the patent for this " im-
proved method of manufacturing salt " was assigned, and they
were given control of it as general agents. Twenty years later
the Siemens Brothers wasted a still larger sum in the unsuc-
cessful attempt to improve the process of manufacturing salt
by their " Begenerative Evaporatoi'."
To the steamer Corsair, Paying between Liverpool and
Belfast, was applied in 1832 a centrifugal fan-blower, operated
by a separate small engine, and intended to increase the draft
in the furnace by creating an artificial current of air. This
was the first employment, for marine purposes, of a device
subsequently brought into general use on American steamers.
" I claim," said Ericsson in a letter to John Bourne, " to be the
father of the independent power fan-blower system for steam
vessels, now universally adopted in American river navigation.
So far no one has disputed my claim."
On February 8, 1832, a novel device for a rotary engine
made its appearance from the busy workshop of the inventor's
brain, and a modification of it followed during tlie succeeding
year. These engines were patented, and experimented with, at
the expense of Mr. William Laird, who received a one-half
interest in the patents. One was applied to a vessel on tlie
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE. 71
Mersey and the other was set up for trial at the establishment
of Messrs. Maudsley. They worked well, .but consumed more
steam than ordinary reciprocating engines, having the piston
moving backward and forward in the steam cylinder, as in
Watt's engine.
Tliese failures to introduce moi'e economical methods in the
use of steam seem to have intensified Ericsson's determination
to find a substitute for it. He had never laid aside the ex-
pectations connected with his earliest invention of a flame-en-
gine ; indeed, their influence may be traced through all the ex-
periences of his long and busy life. They at one time led him
very near to the danger-line of speculation as to the possibility
of perpetual motion. He knew of no engineer, he said, who
had not at some time been fascinated with this conceit. In the
mechanical operations of nature there seemed to be, with contin-
ual waste, some law of compensation at work, and Ericsson was
led to the conclusion that there exists in nature a principle of ab-
solute reproduction of mechanical force. For this he sought as
for the pearl of great price. The dynamical theory of heat
was not accepted when his studies began, and his experiments
led him to believe that heat was an agent exerting mechanical
force without itself undergoing change. In this opinion he
was supported by tlie declaration of his countryman, Professor
Harvefeldt, a famous mathematician, that tliere was nothing in
the accepted theory of heat to prove that a common spirit-lamp
might not be sufficient to drive an engine of one hundred horse-
power. Ericsson hoped at least to so lessen the consumption
of fuel in the production of mechanical power as to extend the
j-ange of manufacturing industries into regions not furnished
with fuel, as well as to remove farther into the future the in-
evitable period when the world's coal supply will be exhausted.
The smoke-jack, setting figures in motion by the action of
the rarefied air rising from a hot stove, is the simplest expres-
sion of the mechanical force Ericsson sought to control in his
" caloric engine." As early as 1699, the Frenchman, Amouton,
had applied this principle to a wheel moved by a column of
heated air. A century later, in 1797, an Englishman, Glaze-
brook, patented the idea of transferring the heat in an air-en-
gine from the hot air going out after doing its work to tlie
72 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
cool air coining in to take its place and continue the circuit.
The same idea is found in Lilley's English patent of 1819, and
in the hot-air engines of Rev. Dr. Robert Stirling, to whom the
credit for its conception is usually given.
Stirling, who was a clergyman of Ayrshire, in the year
Ericsson arrived in England, 1826, applied for a patent for an
air-engine representing what is known as the regenerative prin-
ciple. The fact that Ericsson opposed this application shows
what he thought of Stirling's claim to originality. His oppo-
sition was unavailing, for a patent is on record as having been
granted in the following year.* The reverend gentleman de-
scribes his apparatus for receiving and transferring the lieat as
similar in principle to " Jeffrey's Respirator," then used by con-
sumptive patients to transfer the heat contained in the air ex-
haled from the lungs, to the cool air inhaled to take its place.
Stirling's device was imperfect, and his engine, as Chambers
states, was crude and incomplete. Nevertheless, it greatly
annoyed Ericsson by its claims to prioi-ity. His own applica-
tion of a " regenerator " was first made in 1833, when he in-
vented and patented in England, France, the United States, and
other countries a " caloric engine " with an " organ-pipe regen-
erator " consisting of a faggot of small copper tubes. Through
these tubes the heated air passed on its way out of the working
cylinder to the " cooler," and on the outside of the tubes the
cold air from the cooler passed in an opposite direction on its
way into the cylinders. Tlius, there was a transfer of heat
from the air going out, after doing its work, to the cold air
coming in to take its place over the furnace. This transmission
of heat from the outgoing to the incoming air reduced to the
minimum the waste of heat, and consequently of power. This
" regenerator " was the result of many years of study and care-
ful experiment to determine the most effective means of pre-
venting the loss of heat, for Ericsson had discovered that it
was necessary to maintain the air in his working cylinder at a
liigh temperature until the end of the piston's stroke. The cyl-
inder for compressing the air was surrounded by a water-jacket,
to keep down the temperature and protect the leather fasten-
ings from the high heat.
*See Volume 6, Third Series, Repertory of Patents, 1828.
THE HOT-AIE ENGINE. 73
An experimental caloric engine of five horse-power, and
with a working piston fourteen inches in diameter, was set in
motion at London, in 1833, and at once excited extraordinary
interest. Sir Richard Phillips has recorded, in his " Dictionary
of the Arts of Life and of Civilization," the " inexpressible de-
light " with which he witnessed the workings of this machine.
" With a handful of fuel applied to the very sensible medium
of atmospheric air and a most ingenious disposition of its dif-
ferential powers, he beheld a resulting action in narrow com-
pass, capable of extension to as great forces as ever can be
wielded or used by man."
" The principle of the new engine," Sir Richard tells us,
" consists in this, that the heat that is required to give motion
to the engine at the commencement, is retained by a peculiar
process of transfer, and thereby made to act over and over
again, instead of being, as in the steam-engine, thrown into a
condenser, or into the atmosphere as so much waste fuel. And
the well-known phenomenon that temperature, or quality of
heat, is always equalized between substances, however unequal
they may be in density, forms the basis of the new application
of heat." *
Dr. Alexander Ure, author of the technical dictionary bear-
ing his name, was another believer in the caloric engine, assert-
ing that this invention would throw the name of James Watt
into the shade. The little engine was in its day .the sensation
of London in scientific and mechanical circles. It was visited
by a large number of men of reputation, as well as by curious
crowds of sightseers, and for many years after was a theme of
discussion in engineering circles. Among those who called to
visit this new motor was Lord Althorp, afterward Earl Spen-
cer, then Chancellor of the Exchequer and Ministerial leader in
the House of Commons. He was accompanied by Mr. Brunei,
the distinguished engineer and citizen of two worlds, whose
name is associated in London with the Thames Tunnel, and in
New York with the Bowery Theati-e of his designing. Mr.
Brunei was not favorably impressed. Believing that his judg-
ment was founded on an erroneous impression of the new pow-
• Dictionary of the Arts of Life and Civilization. By Sir Richard Phil-
lips. London, 1833.
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE. 75
er, Ericsson entered into a lively discussion with him. This
was continued by correspondence, with the usual result of es-
tablishing each party to the controversy more firmly in his own
opinion.
Professor Michael Faraday, however, declared by John Tyn-
dall to be " the greatest experimental philosopher that the
world has ever, seen," was prepared to give a hospitable wel-
come to Ericsson's theories and studied his new engine with
the greatest attention and interest. He refused to accept the
condemnation passed upon it by nearly all the leading scien-
tific men of that day, and denied that the principle on which it
was based was unsound. Ericsson counted with great confi-
dence upon the results expected to follow Faraday's advocacy
of his invention, for the distinguished investigator announced
his intention of delivering a lecture upon it at the theatre of
the lioyal Institution, London. A large audience was attracted
by this announcement, including many gentlemen of distin-
guished scientific reputation. Just as Faraday was prepar-
ing to appear upon the platform he came to the conclusion
that he had made a mistake as to the principle of the expan-
sion of air upon which the action of the machine was depend-
ent. He accordingly commenced his lecture, greatly to the
disappointment of Ericsson, by the announcement tliat he was
unable to explain wliy the engine worked at all. lie confined
himself, therefore, to an explanation of the regenerative appa-
ratus, for using the heat over and over again in the production
of force. " To this part of the invention he rendered ample
justice, and explained it in that felicitous style to which he is
indebted for the reputation he deservedly enjoys, as the most
agreeable and successful lecturer in England." *
The caloric engine of 1833 was a sore puzzle to the savans
of that day. They were unwilling to accept Ericsson's theories
and claims concerning it, but their own opinions as to the nat-
ure of heat were not suflaciently settled to enable them to ex-
plain clearly their skepticism. Aristotle had told them that the
first principle in nature, through all of its manifestations, was
* A Lecture on the Late Improvements in Steam Navigation and the Arts
of Naval Warfare, with a brief Notice of Ericsson's Caloric Engine, delivered
before the Boston Lyceum, by John 0. Sargent. New York, 1844.
76 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
unity, and that these manifestations were always reducible to
motion as tiieir foundation, and Bacon had declared that " the
very essence of lieat or the substantial self of heat is motion,"
but the science of thermo-dynamics was not yet established on
the present basis of theory and experiment. It was not until
sixteen years later, in 1849, that Joide, in his paper before the
Royal Society, presented his final conclusion as to the mechani-
cal equivalent of heat, and established the existence of an exact
relation between lieat and force.
The regenerator was correct in theory, as subsequent ex-
perience has shown, but its advantages were to some extent
neutralized by the obstruction it offered to the free passage
of air. Other practical difficulties presented themselves in an
engine that required 450° F. of heat instead of the temperature
of 212° at which water is turned into steam. Oxidation soon
destroyed the pistons, valves, and other working parts.
Ericsson's use of high temperature in an air engine seems
to have suggested the use of a similar apparatus to increase
the temperature of steam. Accordingly his next invention was
a super-heating condensing steam-engine. It consisted of two
sixteen-inch cylinders and had a stroke of eighteen inches. The
power was communicated through cog-wheels to a double-acting
pump, thirty inches in diameter and thirty inches stroke. Steam
was generated at only eight pounds above the atmosphere. In
Watt's time five to ten pounds was the ordinary pressure and
it has since risen as high as seventy-five or even one hundred
pounds. With this low pressure the engine proved to be eco-
nomical. But here again arose the diificnlty attending the use of
high temperatures. The lubricants were carbonized, and the
pistons, left without protection from friction, were I'apidly de-
stroyed.
In the intervals of his study of new motors, Ericsson found
time to perfect a variety of minor inventions. Most of these
appear to have been more ingenious than profitable. There
was at least one exception. This was a sounding instrument
constructed upon the principle of measuring depths by the
compression of air, and anticipating by many years the similar
device for which credit has been given to Sir William Thom-
son. It was patented iu England and the United States, sub-
THE HOT-AIE ENGINE. 77
sequently improved, and under the name of " Ericsson's Sea
Lead " came into extensive use. Thousands were sold and the
instrument stood the test of many years' trial in the British and
American mercantile and naval marine, and was especially ap-
proved of by the hydrographic bureaus of the two govern-
ments. By means of tallow, held in the usual manner by a cav-
ity in the base, it was determined whether the lead had touched
bottom or not, and a dial registered the depth in fathoms. Sir
William Thomson's instrument, like that of Ericsson before it,
is based upon the theory that the pressure of the sea for each
succeeding fathom of descent increases in a definite and practi-
cally direct ratio. The difference in the two instruments is
in the method of registering the pressure. In Ericsson's in-
strument this is done by noting on the dial the height to
which the column of water ascends against the pressure of the
air ; in Sir William Thomson's, by the change the rising water
effects in the color of tubes lined with cliromate of silver.
The anxiety to make quick passages, and the temptation to
avoid the delay occasioned by the old method of taking sound-
ings, resulted in the loss of many fine ships. As soundings
could be taken by the new lead without stopping the vessel, it
was welcomed with enthusiasm by those who tested it. The
British Admiralty referred it for trial to Lieutenant Philip
Bisson, R. N. After testing it for nine days, at depths varying
from five hundred to six hundred fathoms, he reported, saying :
" Respecting the accuracy of the instrument, I found it perfect ;
and as to simplicity I need only say that all my crew soon un-
derstood its use. And on these grounds I can strongly recom-
mend this instrument as being of great practical utility. I took
accurate soundings in sixty fathoms from a vessel going at the
rate of six knots." Sir William Thomson's machine has since
taken soundings in one hundred and twenty fathoms from a
vessel moving sixteen knots an hour, and this could have been
done with Ericsson's. Captain Ogden, U. S. S. Decatur, re-
ported that it never failed to give correct soundings, and that it
was of great use in running in the night along shoals and reefs
in the Lidian Ocean. " No commander who has ever used
one of them," he said, " would be willing to be without it."
Speaking of this instrument, Ericsson says : " It was contrived
78 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
in conjunction with Francis B. Ogden, Esq., U. S. Consul at
Liverpool, a gentleman practically skilled as a sailor and known
for liis scientific attainments. The writer has great pleasure
in according to Mr. Ogden the principal merit of this very use-
ful instrument." Doubtless the idea was Ogden's, and the de-
velopment of the mechanical details Ericsson's. As finally
completed it was known as "Ericsson's Improved Sounding In-
strument," and a patent for improvements on it was taken out
as late as September 23, 1863.
When Ericsson arrived in England there were some 2,500
miles of canals in operation in the United'Kingdom, and by the
time the railroads appeared as a rival to check their growth,
the mileage had increased to 4,000 miles. The traffic upon
these artificial water-ways, connecting the natural watercourses,
was an important factor in commercial enterprise. The result
of the Rainhill trial of locomotives had greatly alarmed the
canal proprietors as to the future of their property. Ericsson
sought with others to find some means of enlarging the capacity
of the canals. In connection with C. B. Yignoles he patented
a plan for propelling Canal-boats by placing on board a steam-
engine and using it to set in motion two rollers, pinching be-
tween them a flat bar of iron fastened to a wooden rail running
along the bank. This was simply the application of a device
previously invented by Ericsson, and designed primarily to en-
able locomotives to ascend heavy grades. It was originally
supposed that it would be impossible for a locomotive to draw
trains of cars even up ordinary grades without some such de-
vice, and among those suggested was the one appearing in the
illustration. The railroad on Mount Cenis was constructed
over thirty years later on Ericsson's plan.*
In 1834 Ericsson tested on the Regent's Canal a system of
propulsion by movable shutters resembling Venetian blinds.
These shutters projected beyond the stern post of the boat and
were set in motion by a steam cylinder placed in the bottom of
the vessel parallel with the keel. The speed obtained was
satisfactory, but the movement of the shutters jarred the
mechanism so much that it could not be made to work continu-
ously. In a modification of this system, patented in 1834, the
* See New York Times, March 18, 1866.
THE HOT-AIK ENGINE.
79
propelling blades were operated by the engine and the 'jarring
motion was thus avoided. This was applied to a canal-boat in
France with economical results.
A hydrostatic weighing machine was another of Ericsson's
inventions during his residence in England. For this a prize
was awarded by the Society of Arts. Its inventor had given
much attention to hydrostatics and had noted, without reason-
ing concerning it, this remarkable peculiarity of fluids : " with
a specific gravity only one-twentieth part that of gold, water
holds, bulk for bulk, a greater quantity of heat, and while so
light that no substance once immersed in it can ever rise from
its surface, except in an aeriform state, it resists pressure to a
degree nearly equal to that of the metals themselves." " Who
can prove," asks Ericsson, " that the waters on the surface of
the globe would not ages ago have become crusted over with
solid matter, and the world converted into a parched desert,
80 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
but for its remarkable property of submerging and retaining
every solid inanimate substance, permitting only a partial escape
in the aeriform state ? " Believing that a fuller knowledge
should be acquired of the mechanical laws governing this mys-
terious combination of matter, he invented an apparatus for
testing the compressibility of water. This he called the "hy-
drostatic gauge." The measurement was effected by means
of mercury brought into contact with distilled water at sixty
degrees, this water being subjected to liydrostatic pressure. A
compression of T^nru'Dinr "^^^ ^^^^^ readily detected in a column
of water only a few feet high. The possibilities of this instru-
ment were of course limited to the strength of the material of
which it was composed. This, Ericsson estimated at two hun-
dred thousand pounds per square inch of section. As he had
no time to experiment with this device, to determine the pre-
cise relations of force and compression characterizing a fluid,
he placed it in the London Crystal Palace Exposition of 1851,
with a hydraulic machine constructed for the purpose of test-
ing it.
In 1836 Ericsson patented a machine for cutting files auto-
matically. One model was put into operation at Sheffield and
another in Belgium. Several files could be cut at one time, and
in cutting taper files the force of the blow was proportioned to
the width and depth of the cut at different parts of the file.
For double-cut files two machines were used, the bed of one
inclining to the right and that of the other to the left, to give
proper inclination to tlie rows of teeth crossing one another.
For '• floats," or files with a single row of teeth, and for round
and half-round files a straight bed was used. Two beds were
employed on each machine, so that the " blanks " could be ad-
justed upon one while the other was cutting. The machine
made two hundred and forty strokes in a minute; three
times the rate of handwork. As these blows were of uniform
strength, steel of uniform hardness was required, and with this
excellent files could be made.
Another steam-engine was added to the list of inventions
about this time and applied to a canal-boat in France, a patent
being taken out there, as well as in England and the United
States. It was a " semi-rotary engine," the steam cylinder con-
THE HOT-AIR ENGINE. 81
taining a piston projecting like the spoke' of a wheel from a
central axis. This piston was moved hack and forth hy the ac-
tion of the steam through an arc of three hundred degrees:
and imparted a continuous rotation to tlie driving-shaft by the
means of a peculiar application of "friction disks." It was in-
genious but not economical. A serai-rotary engine was among
the ideas patented by John Watt in 1782. If equal power
could be thus obtained, rotary engines would have the great
advantage of compactness of construction. There are two dif-
ficulties: first in securing a satisfactory packing of the piston,
without excessive friction, and next in the loss of effective
pressure in consequence of the resistance of the steam behind
the piston.
Ericsson had now been ten j'ears in England, and during
this time he had patented thirty inventions, considered by him
of sufficient importance to claim a place in a list I have before
me in his handwriting. It was prepared in 1863 and includes
just one hundred inventions, after the precedent of " The Cen-
tury of Invention," written in 1655 by Edward Somerset, Mar-
quis of Worcester, who in his turn may have derived his idea
from the " Centnria di Secreti Politici, Cimichi, e Natnrali,''
by Francesco Scarioni of Parma (Venice, 1626).
Very little is to be learned concerning the details of Erics-
son's life in London. We find him recorded on his patents as
an engineer, located, October 10, 1834, at " Union Wharf, Al-
bany Street, Eegents Park ;" July 13, 1836, at " Brook Street,
E"ew Road," and on July 6, 1839, at " Cambridge Terrace,
Hyde Park." He was an agreeable companion, and by no
means unsocial in his nature, but constant occupation gave
him small opportunity for the ordinary intercourse of society.
Still, lie was an admirer of ladies in his own way and did not
scorn to trim his plumage accordingly. In matters of dress
he was at that time very particular and maintained an extensive
wardrobe. His friendsliips \yere usually the result of pi-ofes-
sional association, and through them he secured a circle of ac-
quaintance sufficiently large for the limited need of social in-
tercourse, since he was less dependent than most men on human
friendship.
Among his earliest acquaintances in England was Mr.
6
82 LIFE or JOHN ERICSSON.
Charles Seidler. The wife of Mr. Seidler had a half-sister,
Amelia Byaiu. When Ericsson first knew her brotlier-in-law,
Amelia was a child of ten years. She grew into a lovely
woman, the most fascinating he had ever seen, as he was accus-
tomed to say, intelligent, generous in disposition, cultivated,
and a fine musician, as well as very handsome. Her father,
Edward Byam, was the second son of Sir Charles Byam, at one
time British Commissioner for Antigua, and her uncle, Eev.
Richard Burke Byam, was for forty years rector of Kew and
Petersham, where he confirmed several members of the royal
family.
When Amelia Byam was nineteen years old, and John
Ericsson thirty-three, they were married by license, on October
15, 1836, by the incumbent of St. John's Church, Padding-
ton. The witnesses signing their names to the register of the
church were Mr. and Mrs. Seidler and their daughter ; Mrs.
Seidler's sister, Louisa Browning; John Braithwaite, Ericsson's
partner ; and " John Milner." Referring to this occasion thirty
years after, tbe bridegroom said : " I have not been in a church
since March, 1826, except once in London, when on a certain
morning I committed the indiscretion of not only going inside
the holy room, but of also appearing before the altar and there
giving a promise difiicult to keep."
Speaking of one of his rivals, he said : " That the beautiful
and musical Miss Byam preferred the foreign engineer hurt
the proud banker's vanity exceedingly, as he was one of the
handsomest men in London."
A niece of Mrs. Ericsson married, in 1868, Colonel, afterward
Lieutenant-General, Sir Trevor Chute, K.C.B., of the British
army, and one of the Chutes of " Chute Hall," England. She
^.ppears frequently in Ericsson's domestic correspondence as
^' the magnificent Lady Chute," descriptive in this case, no doubt,
but not necessarily so, for he was accustomed to relieve the strain
of exactitude required in his daily pursuits by indulging in hy-
perbole when he found occasion to deal with ladies. His na-
tive Swedish is said to lend itself to this form of expression
more readily than any other European language, except the
Spanish. Lady Chute lived in New Zealand, and of Erics-
son it must be said that his admiration for women was in in-
THE HOT-AIE ENGINE. 83
verse ratio to their social demands upon liiin. He was willing
enough to be entertained by them when the linmor pleased
him, but quite unwilling to assume anv responsibility for them
necessitating the occupation of his valuable time. He was him-
self accustomed to say that he was not fitted for domestic
life.
CHAPTEE YI.
THE SCREW PROPELLER.
Fortunate Eesult of the Eainhill Contest. — Ericsson's Viking Blood.—
Studies in Naval Engineering and Gunnery. — Eelations to Captain
Eobert F, Stockton.— The Screw Propeller.— The First Steam Tug.
— Early Experiments with the Screw.
NEITHER the comments of the critics nor the failure of his
plans could discourage Ericsson's belief in the principle
of his hot-air engine. In it he proposed to substitute air for
water, as a medium for transferring heat into power, and thus
escape the danger attending the explosive properties of steam.
Bat what particularly fascinated his imagination was the idea
that he could, by the use of his " regenerator," or respirator, as
it should more properly be called, save the waste of heat at-
tending its use in the steam-engine. Brande describes the
respirator as " an instrument covering the mouth with a net-
work of fine wire, through which persons of weak lungs can
breathe without injury. The wire being warmed by the breath,
tempers the cold air from without." *
A similar net-work of wire was used in a second caloric en-
gine contrived by Ericsson in 1838, the " orifice through which
the air to be expanded by heat into working force passed in
and out being covered by a metal box wherein sheets of wire
gauze were closely packed, their meshes receiving heat from
the warm air passing out and transferring it to the cold air
coming in.
Theoretically, this "regenerator" would prevent all waste
of heat, except such as was lost by radiation from the machine
itself ; practically this result was only partially accomplished.
The name given to the engine indicated that Ericsson was at this
date possessed by the idea which, as Professor Eankine tells us,
* Brande's Dictionary of Science. Literature, and Art.
TIJE SCREW PEOPELLEE. 86
" has been the chief impediment to the progress of the accurate
knowledge of the laws of the relations between heat and motive
power " — the idea that the phenomena of heat are caused by
the presence, in greater or less quantity, of a substance called
" caloric.'- * Heat was not then recognized as a mere form of
activity, and no account was taken of the large amount of heat
necessarily transformed into work. ]SIo sufficient provision was
made in the furnaces for this loss of power, and unexpected dif-
iiculties were met with in heating at all a substance so little
affected by radiant heat as air. Ilence, the inventor did not at
this time go beyond the construction of a model engine for the
purposes of experiment.
In the interval of five years between this experiment and
the preceding one, with the first caloric engine, in 1833, Erics-
son had made good use of his studies into the conservation of
heat by improving the steam-engine, so as to lessen the loss of
heat attending the process of condensing the waste steam into
water. With these labors he found time for others, destined to
produce even more important results.
Reviewing his life toward its close, he was accustomed to
say that his failure to secure the much-coveted prize in the
Rainhill locomotive contest was most fortunate for him. With
success would have come immediate prosperity and correspond-
ing temptation ; as it was, his struggle with adverse fortune
continued until his blood was cooler, and the heat and passion
of youth had in a measure abated. He was naturally an in-
tense man in every way, and when the full tide of life poured
through his veins they were fairly bursting under the constant
strain of a vigorous vitality that must find relief in some form
of activity. With his great mental power and intense nervous
force were combined enormous muscular strength and corre-
sponding physical passion. He was, in short, in every respect,
a high- pressure engine.
The taste for strong drink is a Swedish characteristic, and in
his younger years Ericsson shared it, though he never permitted
it to master him ; still, until he changed his habit, when he was
about fifty years old, he was accustomed to take his brandy and
his heavy sherry, if not immoderately or imprudently, at least
* Eankine's Manual of the Steam Engine and other Prime Movers. 1861.
86 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
with studious regularity. "With his ardent temperament he
felt that idleness, or the temptation of leisurely social inter-
course, would liave put a lion in his path, for it was the time
of high living and hard drinking in England. From this pos-
sible danger, as well as from other temptations, he was saved
by the strain of constant occupation.
J^aturally amiable and generous, Ericsson was, at the same
time, a man of ungovernable temper. Like the Scandinavian
hero, Odin, "he looked so fair and noble when he sat with his
friends that every mind was delighted, but when he was in a
heat then he looked fierce to his foes." He was controlled by
a strong sense of justice, but he did not readily brook opposi-
tion, and he had his experiences of the " Berserk fury," such as
compelled the Norse warriors of old to bite their shields, and
to wrestle with the stones and trees, lest they slay their friends
in their rage. " There was no king who would not give them
what they wanted rather than suffer their overbearing ; " * and
they were few who cared to encounter John Ericsson when the
Berserk fury was on him.
At the time when Ericsson was first busied with his caloric
experiments steam navigation upon the ocean was opening the
way to new conquests over space. In 1807, on August 7th,
the Katherine of Olermont, nicknamed by the derisive
" FultorCs Folly,"" left her wharf at New York, followed by
taunting shouts of " God help you, Bobby ! " " Bring us back
a chip off the North Pole," " A fool and his money," etc.,
and steamed up the North River to set the farmers on its
banks fleeing home with the tidings that the devil was sailing
up the Hudson " on a saw-mill."
In 18.32, the year before the caloric engine appeared, came
the first wild suggestion of the possibility of establishing a
reo-ular line of steamers between England and America. In
1838, when the improved caloric engine was finished, the pio-
neer of the ocean line, the Great Western, crossed the AtlaTitic
in fifteen days; just equalling the time of the sailing ship
Pennsylvania, which three months before had made " the
shortest passage as yet."
To Ericsson seems to have been apparent ten years earliej
* Vide Du Chaillu's Viking Age.
THE SCEEW PROPELLER. 87
what did not become clear to others until this experiment in
ocean navigation, that steamers could not compete in a fair con-
test with sailing vessels until there was a radical revolution in
the means of applying power. Especially did he sec that the
objections taken by the old salts to the use of steam for naval
vessels were well founded, so long as the imprisoned steam
was in danger of being let loose by exploding shell, and the
clumsy paddle-wheels, with the machinery coupled to them, to
be torn to pieces when most needed in order to escape the per-
ils of battle. Some time previous to 1833 he was called upon
by a carrying company in London to conduct numerous trials
with submerged propellers on the London & Birmingham
Canal, and we find evidence that he was certainly conducting
such experiments as early as 1833. Describing his subsequent
progress, he said, in a letter to John Bourne, published in the
London Engineer, December 31, 1875 :
1835. Designed a rotary propeller to be actuated by steam power,
consisting of a series of segments of a screw, attached to a thin broad
hoop supported by arms so twisted as also to form part of a screw. The
propeller subsequently applied to the steamship Princeton was identical
with my said design of 1835. Eyen the mode adopted to determine, by
geometrical construction, the twist of the blades and arms of the Prince-
ton's and other propellers was identical with my design of the year last
mentioned.
1836. Constructed a small propeller boat, operated by steam power,
in a large circular cistern, for the satisfaction of certain parties intending
to take an interest in my invention, and to furnish means for securing
letters patent for the same.
1837. Designed an engine for imparting motion directly to the screw
propeller shaft, consisting of two steam cylinders placed diagonally at
right angles to each other, the connecting-rods of which were coupled to
a common crank-pin. This engine was applied, in the year 1838, to the
iron screw steamer Robert P. Stockton, which crossed the Atlantic, under
canvas, 1839, and was afterward employed as a tug-boat on the river
Delaware for upward of a quarter of a century.
This last was the first direct-acting screw propeller engine
ever built.
The large circular cistern here referred to was one of the
public baths in London. A steam boiler was placed over this
and steam from it conducted through a pipe to a small engine
88 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
set in the little boat. The accuracy of the inventor's theoreti-
cal calculation was shown by the complete success of the ex-
periments. On the first trial the toy boat, less than two feet
in length, as soon as the steam was turned on started on a
voyage around the basin at the rate of more than three miles
an hour. This was an instance of the nice application of theory
to practice for which Ericsson's career was remarkable. If he
could not always control the conditions of economical success,
he never proposed mechanical absurdities or impossibilities.
His chief rival for the honor of introducing the screw,
Francis Pettit Smith, was at this time striving to work out the
problem of using the old device of an Archimedean screw by
" rule of thumb," for he was a farmer and not an engineer or
mechanic. Only by the accidental breaking of the long screw
he was using did he discover that he was on the wrong track.
His labors undoubtedly did much to smooth the way for the
early introduction of the propeller, and up to the time that
Smith and Ericsson appeared no permanent or practical prog-
ress had been made in screw propulsion. In 1836, when their
patents were taken out, there was no vessel propelled by a screw
in existence. Experiments, indeed, had been made in England,
in America, and in France, showing that by means of a s'crew,
a vessel might be driven through the water. But the recol-
lection of these experiments had in a great measure died out,
and what remained of it operated rather as a discouragement
than a provocative to enterprise, since it carried the presump-
tion that if the mode of propelling by the screw had been found
satisfactory it would not have been relinquished.*
Shortly after Ericsson's patent was granted, the Francis B.
Ogden, a vessel 45 feet long, 8 feet beam, and 3 feet draught,
was built for the purpose of effectually testing the power of the
screw, and launched upon the Thames in the spring of 1837.
Two propellers, 5 feet 3 inches in diameter, were so fitted to
the stern of this vessel that either could be used. " So suc-
cessful was the experiment that when steam was turned on for
the first time, the boat at once moved at a speed of upward of
ten miles an hour, witliout a single alteration being required
in her machinery. This miniature steamer had such power,
* Treatise on the Screw Propeller. By John Bourne, C.E. London, 1852.
THE SCBEW PEOPELLEE. 89
too, tliat she towed a schooner of one hundred and forty tons
burden at the rate of seven miles an hour, and the American
packet sliip Toronto at the rate of more than four and a half
knots an hour against the tide." "This fact," Mr. Sargent
tells us, " excited no little interest among the boatmen of the
Thames, who were astonished at the sight of this novel craft
moving against wind and tide without any visible agency of
propulsion, and, ascribing to it some supernatural origin, they
united in giving it the name of the Flying Devil. But the
engineers of London regarded the experiment with silent neg-
lect" *
In the summer of 1837, Ericsson invited the Lords of the
British Admiralty to take an excursion in tow of his experimen-
tal steamboat. The Ogden was taken to Somerset House, the
headquarters of the British Navy, and lashed alongside the Ad-
miralty barge containing the First' Lord, Sir Charles Adams ;
the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir William Symonds ; the Ilydro-
grapher, Captain Beaufort, and Sir William Edward Parry, the
hero of five expeditions to the Arctic seas, who had recently as-
sumed the duties of the newly created office of " Comptroller of
Steam Machinery for the Koyal Navy.'' Other gentlemen of
scientific or naval distinction accompanied this party. The
results of the expedition are best told in the language of Mr.
John O, Sargent, the friend of Ericsson for half a century.
He described it while the circumstances were still fresh in recol-
lection, in his lecture delivered before the Boston Lyceum in
December, 1843,* as follows :
In the antioipation of a severe scrutiny from so distinguished a
personage as the Chief Constractor of the British Navy, the inventor
had carefully prepared plans of his new mode of propulsion, which were
spread on the damask cloth of the magnificent barge. To his utter as-
tonishment, as we may well imagine, this scientific gentleman did not
appear to take the slightest interest in his explanations. On the con-
trary, with those expressive shrugs of the shoulder and shakes of the
head which convey so much to the bystander without absolutely com-
mitting the actor, with an occasional sly, mysterious, undertone remark
to his colleagues, he indicated very plainly that though his humanity
would not permit him to give a worthy man cause for so much unhappi-
* Sargent's Lecture on the Late Improvements in Steam Navigation, etc.
90 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
ness, yet that " lie could an' if he would " demonstrate by a single word
the utter futility of the whole invention.
Meanwhile the little steamer, with her precious charge, proceeded
at a steady progress of ten miles an hour, through the arches of the lofty
Southwark and London Bridges, toward Limehouse, and the steam-
engine manufactory of the Messrs. Seaward. Their lordships having
landed and inspected the huge piles of ill-shaped cast-iron, misdenom-
inated marine engines, intended for some of his Majesty's steamers,
with a look at their favorite propelling apparatus, the Morgan paddle-
wheel, they re-embarked and were safely returned to Somerset House,
by the disregarded, noiseless, and unseen propeller of the new steamer.
On parting, Sir Charles Adams, with a sympathizing air, shook the
inventor cordially by the hand, and thanked him for the trouble he had
been at in showing him and his friends this interesting experiment ; add-
ing, that he feared he had put himself to too great an expense and trou-
ble on the occasion. Notwithstanding this somewhat ominous finale of
the day's excursion, Ericsson felt confident that their lordships could
not fail to perceive the great importance of the invention. To his sur-
prise, however, a few days afterward, a friend put into his hands a letter
written by Captain Beaufort, at the suggestion, probably, of the Lords
of the Admiralty, in which that gentleman, who had himself witnessed
the experiment, expressed regret to state that their lordships had cer-
tainly been very much disajipointed at its result. The reason for the dis-
appointment was altogether inexplicable to the inventor, for the speed
attained at this trial far exceeded anything that had ever been accom-
plished by any paddle-wheel steamer on so small a scale.
An accident soon relieved his astonishment, and explained the mys-
terious givings-out of Sir William Symonds, alluded to in our notice of
the excursion. The subject having been started at a dinner-table when
a friend of Ericsson was present. Sir "William ingeniously and ingenu-
ously remarked, that " even if the propeller had the power of pro-
pelling a vessel, it would be found altogether useless in practice,
because the power being applied in the stern it would be absolutely impos-
sible to make the .vessel steer." It may not be obvious to everyone how
our naval philosopher derived his conclusion from his premises ; but his
hearers doubtless readily acquiesced in the oracular proposition, and
were much amused at the idea of undertaking to steer a vessel when
the power was applied in her stern.
But we may well excuse the lords of the British Admiralty for
exhibiting no interest in the invention when we reflect that the engi-
neering corps of the empire were arrayed in opposition to it ; alleging
that it was constructed upon erroneous principles, and full of practical
defects, and regarding its failure as too certain to authorize any specu-
lations even of its success. The plan was specially submitted to many
distinguished engineers, and was publicly discussed in the scientific jour-
nals ; and there was no one but the inventor who refused to acquiesce
THE SCEEW PEOPELLEE. 91
in tlae truth of the numerous demonstrations proving the vast loss ot
mechanical power which must attend this proposed substitute for the
old-fashioned paddle-wheel.
Mr. Francis B. Ogden was a gentleman well known at tliat
time to travelling Americans, as Consul of the United States at
Liverpool. He was a liberal-minded man and one whose prac-
tical experience in steam navigation made him an invaluable ally
to Ericsson. Though not an engineer by profession, Mr. Ogden
had been distinguished, Mr. Sargent tells us, " for his eminent
attainments in mechanical science, and is entitled to the honor
of having first applied the important principle of the expansive
power of steam, and of having originated the idea of employ-
ing right-angular cranks on marine engines. His practical ex-
perience and long study of the subject — for he was the first
to stem the waters of the Ohio and Mississippi, and the first
to navigate the ocean by the power of steam alone — enabled him
at once to perceive the truth of the inventor's demonstrations ;
but not only did he admit tlieir truth, he also joined Cap-
tain Ericsson in constructing the first experimental boat," and
to this boat his name was given.
In Mr. Ogden Ericsson found an attentive listener to his
engineering ideas, and a warm sympathizer with projects so
novel that they confused the mind of tlie average Englishman,
who hates a thing merely because it is new. To a man pur-
sued almost to his death by the tribe of the 'twill-never-doists,
acquaintance with such a man as Ogden was like the shadow of
a great rock in a weary land. " How I hate that expression ' it
will never do,'" says Hayden — the unfortunate artist to whom
England owes its possession of the Elgin marbles — in his " Lec-
tures on Painting and Design;" " it has always been the fa-
vorite watch-cry of those in all ages and all countries who look
on all schemes for the advancement of mankind as indirect re-
flections on the narrowness of their own comprehensions."
This was not Ogden's first venture with Ericsson, for I find
the record of an obligation he entered into in 1831, binding
liimself in the penal sum of £20,000 as assignee for Ericsson
of the rights in the United States " to a certain invention,
being an improvement in the application of steam for mechan-
92 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
ical purposes." This is evidently tlie steam-drnm, in which
William Laird also invested. Ogden, being a citizen, took out
the patent in the United States, and assigned to Ericsson one-
half interest. It was through Mr. Ogden, too, that Ericsson ap-
plied at Washington, in 1837, for a patent for his propeller.
" One thing is forever good : that one thing is success."
" Will it pay ? " is the supreme test of success in contemporary
appreciation of mechanical iniprovements, and Ericsson's inven-
tions, as we have seen, did not always pay. Sometimes because
tlie result he sought could be more economically accomplished
in other ways, if less efficiently, and as often because a long ed-
iicational process was required to convince those he wished to
benefit of their need of what his genius had provided for them.
The reception, no less than the conception, of new ideas neces-
sitates evolution, and this is a weary world for those who see
much beyond their fellows. Ericsson's investments in " fu-
tures," as they would be called on the exchanges, were too
heavy, and the financial difficulties resulting from this impru-
dence were increased by the enforcement of an obligation as-
sumed on behalf of a friend. The firm of Braithwaite &
Ericsson had failed, and the bailiffs were on the track of the
junior member. So, for a time, he enjoj^ed the hospitalities
of "The Fleet" as a foreign debtor. In tlie year 1837, so
disastrous to many othiers, he took the benefit of the " act for
the relief of insolvent debtors," and secured his discharge in
bankruptcy.
We had in our navy at this time, a sailor, Kobert F. Stock-
ton, who united qualities rarely found in combination. An ac-
complished and experienced office)', showing an intelligent inter-
est in all that concerned his profession, lie was at the same time
a man of fortune and family influence, as well as an important
factor in the politics of his native State of Xew Jersey, after-
ward representing it in the Senate of the United States. Lieu-
tenant Stockton was building the Delaware & Raritan Canal,
and had invested in it his fortune, and that of his family. The
financial difficulties of 1837 compelled him to visit England to
procure the means for completing the canal. There he made
the acquaintance of Ericsson, no doubt through Mr. Ogden,
who was a fellow-Jerseyman, and a representative, as Stockton
THE SCREW PROPELLER. 93
himself was, of a family honorably identified for several gene-
i-ations with the history of the State. E.obert Ogden, tlie
grandfather of one, was a member of the Continental Congress,
and the ancestor of the other was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence.
Thus it happened that Ericsson and Stockton were brought
together just at the time when the inventor of the propeller was
most in need of influential assistance to enable him to develop,
in some more congenial clime, schemes in danger of perishing
under the chilling influence of British hostility and indiffer-
ence. To Stockton the State of !Nevv Jersey is indebted for
the early development of her railroad and canal system, and
his experience in this work, supplementing his naval training,
led him to give much attention to the construction of steam
engines, and the subject of applying steam to war vessels at a
time when most naval oflBcers were still insisting upon the ad-
vantages of sails.
Stockton was induced to accompany Ericsson in one of his
excursions on the Thames on the Francis B. Ogden, and at
once appreciated the value of the invention I'eceived with sucJi
cool indifference by the officials of the British Is avy. He com-
prehended immediately the revolution it was destined to work
in naval warfare, and this was sufficient to fix his attention
without reference to its commercial value.
Tlis perceptions were quick, liis self-reliance was unlimited,
and he was nearly as energetic as Ericsson himself in carrying
out a plan once conceived. A singly trip from London Bridge
to Greenwich was sufficient to induce him to at once order from
the inventor two iron boats for the United States, to be fitted
with his steam machinery and propeller.
" I do not want," said Captain Stockton, " the opinions of
your scientific men ; what I have seen this day satisfies me."
A dinner at Greenwich ended this excursion and Stock-
ton, who added oratory to his other accomplishments, made a
speech declaring to Ericsson, " We'll make your name ring on
the Delaware, as soon as we get your propeller there."
Returning to the United States, Stockton was, in December,
1838, promoted to captain and ordered to the Mediterranean as
fleet-captain on board the flag-ship of Commodore Hull. He
94 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
was also made bearer of despatches to the American Minister
to the court of St. James, and improved the opportunity of liis
visit to England to thoroughly inform himself as to the condi-
tion of the mai'ine armaments of Great Bi'itain. Pie also found
time to witness the trial of the screw steamer built for him,
the Robert F. StocJdon, and for further consultation with
his friends Ogden and Ericsson. It would have been im-
possible to find two men better fitted to assist Ericsson in the
realization of his ambitious schemes with reference to marine
propulsion, for the studies and experience enabling them to
comprehend his plans had not closed their minds to new sug-
gestions. " Stockton was, moreover," as Philip Ilone says in
his "Diary," "not one of the timid sort, and did not often
find his modesty crossing the path of his undertakings." *
The Stockton was launched in the river Mersey on July
Y, 1838, and immediately fitted with her double cylinder,
direct-acting engine and the patent spiral propeller. After
several highly satisfactoiy trials with her at Liverpool, she was,
on January 12, 1839, tried on the river Thames, in the pres-
ence of Captain Stockton, Mr. Ogden, and about thirty other
gentlemen invited to witness her performance. The London
Times of that date mentions as present several distinguished
British and Swedish naval oQicers, Mr. Vignoles, and other
■engineers, and Major-General Sir John Fox Burgoyne — a nat-
ural son of the Burgoyne of Saratoga surrender, the engineer-
in-chief in the attack on l^ew Orleans, repulsed by Jackson,
and the father of a son destined, thirty years later, to fall a
victim, as a captain in the British navy, to Cowper Coles's at-
tempt to rival Ericsson in marine construction. Sir John was
at this time Chairman of the Board of Public Works and Com-
missioner of Steam Navigation, etc., in Ireland.
The results obtained with this vessel were considered at the
time most extraordinary. The Times described them at length,
announced that they appeared "quite conclusive as to the
success of this important improvement in steam navigation,"
and forecasted "important changes in steam navigation" from
its introduction. The Robert F. Stockton was an iron steam-
boat, seventy feet in length on deck and ten feet beam, drawing
* Diary of Philip Hone, vol. i., p. 273.
THE SCREW PROPELLER. 95
three feet of water and propelled bj a fifty-horse power engine.
Of such engines the Times said :
They may be made much stronger and more compact than ordinary
marine-engines, in consequence of the power being applied directly to
the shaft which works very near the bottom. This for sea-going vessels
will be very important, and their original cost may be considerably re-
duced, as all the paraphernalia of shafts, wheels, wheel-guards, etc. , will
be dispensed with. We were struck with the great regularity of the
motion, not the slightest jar being perceptible. The engines consist of
two cylinders sixteen inches in diameter with eighteen-inch stroke, and
are worked by steam, of a pressure varying from thirty-five pounds to
fifty-five pounds to the square inch, their construction is extremely sim-
ple and evinces a knowledge of steam machinery by the inventor which
is calculated td give additional confidence in the success of his propeller
in all the varieties of its application for the canal, river, or ocean navi-
gation.
The Stoohton was built at Birkenhead, on the Mersey, by
Messrs. John & Macgregor Laird, who were the pioneers in
building iron vessels, one of their boats, the Alhurha, having
been sent with the Landers to Africa to explore the l^iger.*
From them, no doubt, Ericsson obtained thus early, ideas on the
subject of- iron ship construction of which he was able, later in
life, to make most effective use.
Some gentleman, whose knowledge of the text of Shake-
speare was obtained at second-hand, objected to one of his plays
on hearing it for the first time, because it was too full of fa-
miliar quotations to do credit to the author's originality. Erics-
son was the subject of similar criticism in his old age. His
knowledge of and expeiience with many mechanical contriv-
ances in common use to-day dated so far back of any existing
recollection that he was supposed to have copied from others
what he, in fact, originated himself, or certainly first brought
into use. The spectacle of saucy little steam-tugs drawing
huge vessels after them at will, so familiar now in American
waters, was wholly unknown to British seamen in 1838. So
strange, indeed, that the stolid watermen watched the feats of
towing on the Thames with the sort of curiosity attending a
balloon ascension, as an entertaining exhibition in dynamics,
wholly disconnected from any relation to the daily business of
* Pairbairn's History and Progress of Iron Ship Building, p. 4.
96 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
life. Even the commendation of tlie Times could not arouse
in conservative British sliip-ov?ners, or naval officei-s, the ambi-
tion to avail themselves of this new power.
Just previous to this, in the winter of 1837, Ericsson's pro-
peller had been fitted with great success to a canal boat of ten
horse-power called the Novelty, plying upon the canal between
Manchester and London, and realizing a speed of eight or nine
miles an hour. " This," says Bourne, " is the first example of
a screw boat being employed for commercial purposes; but
this boat was in a short time laid up, owing to the failure of
her owners. In the early part of 1839 another iron steamei-,
70 X 7 feet, with li-horse-power engines, was built by Mr. J.
T. Woodhouse, and fitted with Ericsson's propeller to run on
the Ashby-de-la-Zouche Canal, near Leicester, England. She
attained a speed of nine to ten miles in deep water. These ex-
periments were not repeated, and it required a struggle of years
to persuade the British public and British officials of the value
of the screw." *
In his petition of 1850 to the Privy Council Ericsson tells
us that the success attending these several vessels was, at the
time, faithfully and favorably recorded in the Times news-
paper. Mechanics Magazine, the Civil Engineers and Archi-
tects Journal, and the London Journal of Arts and Sciences.
Although the importance, usefulness, and practicability of '
the invention were thus established, and public attention at-
tracted to it, " yet so little was it then understood and such was
the opposition and indifference of engineers and others inter-
ested in the invention that no benefit resulted to the inventor."
Ericsson further called the attention of the Privy Council
to the fact that his patent " was the earliest in date, and that
in a book recently published by Bennet "Woodcrof t, Professor of
Machinery in the University College of London, on ' The Ori-
gin and Progress of Steam Navigation,' it is admitted that
your petitioner, John Ericsson, accomplished for the screw pro-
peller in America and in England what Fulton did for the
paddle-wheel in the former conntry,t which testimony your pe-
* A Treatise on the Screw Propeller, by John Bourne, p. 88. London, 1853.
f See WooAoroft's Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation,
p. 102. London, 1848.
THE SCREW PROPELLER. 97
titioners submit is the more valuable as proceeding from one
who is liirnself the inventor of an improved propeller, and to
whom your petitioners were wholly unknown. Tlie efforts of
your petitioners, and particularly your petitioner, the said John
Ericsson, have mainly contributed to the introduction and prac-
tical application of the screw as a marine propeller to the al-
most incalculable benefit of this great commercial country."
This petition presents very fully, in formal language, a his-
tory of its author's claims to the screw pi-opeller. Yarious na-
tions have claimed it for their citizens, just as they have claimed
tlie steam-engine and other useful inventions. In front of the
Polytechnic School at Vienna stands a bronze monument,
erected in 1863, bj' a national subscription, to the memory of Jo-
seph Ressel, the Austrian to whom his countrymen ascribe the
first use of the screw. Eessel's first drawing was made in 1812,
while he was a student in the University of Vienna ; his first
experiments were made in 1826, with a barge driven by hand,
and February 11, 1827, an Austrian patent was issued to him.
In 1829 he applied his sci'ew to a boat with an engine of six
horse-power and made for a time six miles an hour. Then a
steam-pipe burst and the police, whose heads were more occu-
pied in those days witli the plots of Carbonari than with scien-
tific investigation, put an end to further experiments.
It is a curious fact that John Bourne, who devotes a treatise
to the screw propeller and describes one hundred and twenty-
six different inventions, does not so much as mention the orig-
inal of the Austrian monument. In 1823, Captain Delisle, of
the French Engineers, presented a memorial to the Minister
of Marine describing a proposed method of propelling vessels
by means of a submerged screw. No attention was paid to it
and it was forgotten until revived in after years to furnish a
pretext for the invasion of Ericsson's patent in France where
his propeller was the first introduced and obtained a wide accept-
ance. Weighing Ericsson in the balance with his chief rival.
Smith, Bourne says: "Ericsson, previous to his connection
with the screw, was an accomplished engineer ; Smith was only
an amateur, with almost everything except the leading idea
to learn. Ericsson's mechanical resources gave him means of
overcoming difficulties such as Smith did not possess ; and
7
98 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Smith had therefore to accept expedients then usual among
engineers as his starting-point, whereas Ericsson could reject
those expedients in favor of others wliicli his own ingenuity
suggested. Tluis, in bringing up the speed of the screw, Smitli
Iiad to submit to the use of gearing, because that was the ex-
pedient which was approved by orthodox engineers ; but Erics-
son threw tlie dogmas of engineers to tlie ■Ccinds, and coupled
tlie engine immediately to the propeller."*
In Marcli, 184.5, Ericsson made affidavit that before the year
1833 he had devoted much time and attention to the invention
of stern propellers, having been appointed by a carrying com-
pany in London to conduct numerous experiments in propelling
canal-boats with submerged propellers in the London & Bir-
iningliam Canal. In 1833 his attention was particularly di-
rected to the subject of oblique propulsion, on the principle
for which he afterward obtained letters patent in England.
He employed Elias Harrison, afterward Chief Engineer on the
U. S. S. Princeton, to fit stern propellers of various patterns to
a canal boat called the Francis and belonging to Messrs. Robins
& Mills, forwarders, 128 London Wall. All of these propel-
lers were connected with the engine with a cylindrical iron
shaft projecting through the centre of the stern-post and
worked below tlie water-line. They were placed between the
rudder and the stern-post, and were protected by an overhang
which also gave support to the rudder from above ; wheel and
rudder being supported from below by a flat iron bar bolted
to the after end of the keel, extending beyond it and turning
in the space between this and the overhang. The same device
was, toward the end of 1834, applied bj^ Ericsson to a new canal
boat called the Annatarius built by Robins & Mills, the over-
hang in this case forming part of the boat itself. These facts
are stated in an affidavit made by Harrison, who further states
that the screw was thus put into practical operation on the An-
natarius " before May, 1835, this deponent having been em-
ployed by the aforesaid Robins & Mills as chief engineer run-
ning the said boat for many months from that time."
Farmer Smith's attention was not directed to the subject of
screw propulsion until 1835, but he preceded Ericsson with his
* Bourne's Treatise on the Screw Propeller, p. 90.
THE SCEEW PEOPELLEE. 99
English patent. It was dated May 31, 1836, Ericsson's Jnly
13, 1836, or six weeks later. Tiiat tlie latter carried his inven-
tion into practice at once is shown by his statement and tliat
of Count Von Rosen to the Privy Conncil, as well as by contem-
porary newspaper accounts.
The Mechanics Magazine of June 3, 1837, described tlie
towing of the American packet ship Toronto, of six hundred
and thirty tons burden, on June 28, 1837, and published the
certificates of tlie pilot and mate that the vessel was towed
"at the rate of four and a half knots an hour against the tide."
Two years later the same vessel was again towed by another
propeller, and this led to some confusion of dates, upon which
has been founded a denial of the original performance. The
Enterjyrise, built for the Ashby-de-la-Zouche Canal, ran there
for one season, but without profit to her owner. She was ac-
cordingly transferred to the Trent and Mersey where she met
with great success as a steam-tug hauling coal barges.
Among Captain Ericsson's papers appears a letter from
Count Yon Rosen enclosing this financial statement. It pre-
sents a very interesting condensed history of his early relations
to the propeller.
ERICSSON'S PATENT PROPELLER.
Dr.
£
1836. To cost of first experimental model 27
" patent 150
" Robins & Mills' canal boats machinery... 1,264
"model No. 2 26
" experimental boat Ogden 394
" canal boat ifo&m No. 1 282
" engine and propeller of the Robert Stock-
ton 1,529
' ' Robins' canal boat 208
" Robins' experiment 115
"model No. 3 44
" Rossi6re rotary engine and propeller 516
" " " " " 80
" engine and propeller Stockton 37
" " " , 66
• " Captain Ericsson's maintenance 94
" Stockton machinery 196
' ' No. 3 rotary engine and propeller 404
" Rossiere's rotary engine and propeller. . . , 304
1887.
Jan.
April
Nov.
1838.
Jan.
1,
May
7,
<&
19,
Aug.
(<
a4,
i(
((
u
li
Dec.
7,
n
31,
1839.
Jan.
1,
(i
19!
((
25,
s
d
14
10
17
2
12
6
16
11
13
8
2
6
10
7
8
1
9
11
2
5
2
12
3
13
8
3
11
3
17
8
16
10
100
LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
June 5,
1889.
Feb. 15, To cost of Stockton machinery.
May 35,
"3 models
" engine and propeller for canal boat Asihby-
de-la-Zauche
" semi-rotary engine and propeller
" Captain Ericsson's maintenance
" Robins' canal boat
" Captain Ericsson's maintenance
Stockton machinery
" Robins' canal boat
" Captain Ericsson's maintenance
" 25,
Sept. 3,
Nov. 5,
Dec. 31,
1840.
Jan.
July,
Deo. 31.
1841.
£
g
d
180
7
248
19
7
149
11
5
563
17
9
803
18
3
600
9
37
17
6
50
47
15
18
6
349
13
50
8,730 6 1
1837.
April 5,
May 16,
Sept. 13,
Oct. 3,
1838.
Jan. 35,
March 1,
" 5,
April 23,
May 19,
June 8,
28,
Aug. 24,
Oct. 3,
1889.
Jan. 5,
Feb. 20,
July 6,
Aug. 8,
Dec. 31,
1840.
Jan. 4,
Feb.
Aug.
Or.
By cash Ogden and Stockton boats.
£
95
170
old material canal boats 250
cash Robins & Mills 455
" Ogden a.nd Stockton 350
" Robins 130
" 415
" Ogden and Stockton 400
" 156
" Robins 99
' ' Rossiere 100
" " 160
" Ogden and Stockton 550
" Rossiere 180
" Ogden uni Stockton 443
" 573
" Ashhy-de-la-Zmtche 390
old material, Robins 50
cash Ogden and Stockton 770
" Robins 49
old material, Robins 35
5,713
Balance 3,017
Balance 8,017 6 5
1846. Cash AmpMon 1,500
1,517 6 5
Law expenses 156
1,678 6 5
6 11
15
9
3
19
6
11
12
18 9
12 5
10 5
8,730 6
CHAPTEE YII.
REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES.
Adventurous Voyage of the Stockton Across the Atlantic. — Subsequent
History of the First Screw Steamer. — Eecognition of Ericsson's
Claims to the Screw. — Bobert Pulton's War-steamer. — Naval Oppo-
sition to the Use of Steam. — Award of a Gold Medal for the Steam
Fire-engine. — Early Use of Propeller in American Waters. — Erics-
son's Personal Appearance and Habits. — Mrs. Ericsson Joins her
Husband.
u
NDER date of May 30, 1839, this entry appears in the
published " Diary of Philip Hone."
Among the maritime exploits with which these adventurous times
abound, the arrival, on Wednesday last, of a little steam schooner, called
the Robert F. Stockton, from England, was one of the most remarkable.
She sailed from Gravesend on April 13. She is only ten feet wide and
seventy feet long, and her burden is thirty tons. She is built entirely
of wrought sheet-iron, and is intended as a towing vessel on the New
Jersey Canal. The commander is Captain Crane. She performed her
voyage in forty-six days, with no serious disaster except the loss of one
seaman, who was washed oflf this little cockle-shell by one of the seas
which were constantly sweeping her decks. Never, I presume, was the
western ocean crossed in so small a craft. There was not room enough
to lie straight nor to stand erect. This little vessel lies near the Battery,
and is visited by hundreds of curious persons, anxious to realize the
possible truth of the nursery story about the " three men of Gotham "
who " went to sea in a bowl." *
Crane was a captain in the American merchant marine and
a most intrepid sailor, as this experience shows. His crew con-
sisted of four men and a boy, and he made the passage under
sail alone. In admiration of his daring the New York autliori-
ties presented him with the freedom of the city. The little tug
• Diary of Philip Hone, 1828-1851. Edited by Bayard Tuckermau. Vol.
i.,p. 362.
102
LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSOW.
was set to work on the Delaware & Raritan Canal, and nearly
thirty years after was still doing duty as the New Jersey. On
November 17, 1866, Bennet Woodcroft, then Librarian of tlie
British Patent Office, wrote to Ericsson expressing a desire to
purchase the original engines of this vessel, to place them in the
Patent Office Museum — " not only for their historical value, but
also to put an end to F. P. Smith's false claim to any invention
in regard to screw boats or their first introduction." Ericsson
replied : " The Robert F. Stockton {New Jersey) is still in oper-
ation as a tow-boat after twenty-five years' constant service.
The Stockton crossing the Atlantic.
The original engine was some time ago taken out. It will give
me great pleasure to send it to you free of cost, if not broken
np."
The Stockton, or Neio Jersey, was at this time in the pos-
session of the Messrs. Stevens, of Iloboken. Ericsson offered
to replace the old engine with a new one, but without avail, and
on August 15, 1S73, he wrote : " Nothing could induce the
Messrs. Stevens, who claim to be the originatoi's of screw pro-
pulsion, to permit the machinery of the real pioneer screw ves-
sel to be placed in your museum. Accordingly, some time ago,
EEMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 103
the Robert F. Stockton was hauled ont of the water and cut up,
each plate being separated from the others, while the machin-
ery was broken up and put into the melting-pot. So careful
were the parties mentioned to prevent the smallest part to re-
main as a proof that the remarkable vessel once existed, that
' not a vestige now remains,' says my informant, who has access
to the premises where the vile act of destruction took place. A
meaner proceeding cannot well be imagined, but I expected
nothing else, since it leaked out during the negotiation what
the old maehinei-y was wanted for."
This letter was in response to one from Mr. "Woodcroft of a
month earlier, saying : " The benefit you have conferred on the
world by the screw propeller is beyond computation. If I could
obtain the original engines, in whatever, state they now are, I
should be proud of them as a trophy, to be placed in the Patent
Office Museum in London, where they would be side by side
with Miller's experimental engine that drove a paddle-wheel
boat in 1788 ; Watt's steam-engine, by which circular motion
was first given to a shaft ; Bell's engine that drove the first
practical paddle-wheel steam-boat in Europe in 1812, on the
Clyde ; Stephenson's locomotive, the Rocket, and your locomo-
tive, the Novelty. If you could possibly point out the way in
which I could obtain thetn, I would spare neither expense nor
trouble." Tiiisis what was thought at the British Patent Office
of Ericsson's claim to the screw propeller, after a generation of
trial, investigation, and controversy.
" lS.ot only did Captain Stockton order on his own account
the tvvo iron boats," says Mr. Sargent, " he at once brought the
subject before the Government of the United States and caused
numerous plans and models to be made at his own expense, ex-
plaining the peculiar fitness of the new invention for ships of
war. So completely persuaded was he of its great importance
in this aspect, and so determined that his views should be car-
ried out, that he boldly assured the inventor that the Govern-
ment of the United States would test the propeller on a large
scale ; and so confident was Ericsson that the perseverance and
energy of Captain Stockton would sooner or later accomplish
what he promised, that lie at once abandoned his professional
engagements in England and set out for the United States."
104 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Speaking of the screw propeller, Mr. Sargent says further :
"The circumstances under which this invention was devised
and prosecuted, the perseverance with which it was followed up
by Ericsson, through all discouragement and neglect, and its
ultimate success in its precise original shape prove it to have
been the result, not of a happy accident, but of patient reflection
and scientific calculation. It was not hit upon, but was wrought
out; it was not suggested, but elaborated; demonstrated in
theory to the inventor's own satisfaction before it was submit-
ted to the test of successful experiment." *
Ericsson was at this time superintending engineer of the
Eastern Counties Railway, one of the principal lines centring in
the British metropolis, designed by Mr. Braithwaite and opened
in 1839. For this road Ericsson built a machine of his own
contrivance for constructing embankments. He resigned his
position and started for New York ITovember 1, 1839, in the
steamer .Great Western, the pioneer of the first line of Atlantic
steamers.
The Great Western had a stormy passage and did not ar-
rive in New York until November 23d, so Ericsson had an
opportunity of realizing the difference between planning ships
on shore and sailing in them on the sea, for he was dreadfully
sea-sick. " Before May 26, 1826," he says, in a letter written
in 1875, " I hailed from Sweden, after that date up to Novem-
ber 1, 1839, I hailed from England, and since November 23d,
same year, I have been a steady New Yorker."
It does not appear to have been Ericsson's original inten-
tion to become a resident of the United States, for I find among
his letters the following from his friend Ogden, to whose
friendly suggestions his journey to the New World was in no
small measure due :
Oak Dale, Thursday Night.
My Dbae Ericsson : I have just got through with a lot of letters for
you to take with you to the United States, but I have determined to put
them into your hands myself, and to bid you good-by in person. I am
going up to town on Saturday night, and on Sunday morning shall go
directly to Swartwout, wherever he may be — if you have not yet
learned, inquire either of Miller, in Henrietta Street, or of Blood, 12
* Sargent's Lecture on Improvements in Steam Navigation.
REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 105
Nortli Audley Street, but at all events hold yourself ready to dine with
us on Sunday, somewhere, where you will get much information on the
subject of your transatlantic tour.
Eemember me kindly to Madam and believe me,
Yours truly,
Francis B. Ogden.
At the time of Ericsson's transfer to the United States
there were no steam vessels in onr navy. In 1813-14 Hobert
Fulton had built his Demologos or Fulton. This was the first
war-steamer ever built, and into her Fulton introduced a va-
riety of devilish contrivances for confounding an enemy ; fur-
naces for red-hot shot, submarine guns sending one hundred
pound balls twelve feet below the water-line, and an engine
for discharging an immense colunm of water upon decks and
through portholes. The Fulton was never entirely completed,
the war with England which had called for her construction
having ended. She was converted into a receiving ship and
stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. There she was blown
up in 1829, whether by accident or design has never been set-
tled, and a large number of persons on board of her were
killed.
In 1837-38 a second Fulton was built. Though this vessel
attained a high speed, she was entirely unsuited to naval pur-
poses, and in 1839 was lying a useless hulk at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard. Stockton was an ardent advocate for the introduc-
tion of steam into the naval vessels already in service, and his
conferences with Ericsson had satisfied him that it was possible
with a vessel on an entirely new plan to convince the most con-
servative of the value of steam. By act of March 3, 1839, Con-
gress had authorized the construction of three ships of war, and
it was Stockton's confident assurance that he would be allowed
to build one of these that prompted Ericsson to prepare the
plans of a steam frigate in England and bring them with him
to this country. Every detail for such a vessel had been most
thoroughly considered, and the plans included not only the
model of the vessel but her engines and motive power, her
guns, and the method of mounting, aiming, and firing them.
Unexpected difficulties attended the carrying out of the proj-
ect Stockton and Ericsson had conceived between them. A
106 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
powerful service sentiment resisted innovation of every sort, as
it always has done and always will do. " Do you not know,"
Ericsson once wrote, "that you can never convince a sailor? "
" The head of the Navy Department," so says Stockton's bi-
ographer, " is generally a politician more solicitous to obtain
popularity among the officers than competent to discharge judi-
ciously the functions of his office. He listens, therefore, to the
voice of the superannuated officers, who, with professional dog-
matism, denounce all novelties, and pronounce all innovations
dangerous. The application of steam to national ships-of-war
from the first was resisted by many naval .officers, and had to
encounter the most stubborn prejudices and most determined
opposition. It was confidently asserted by the old captains
that steam vessels would be worthless except for purposes of
transportation." *
An officer of the navy. Captain "William M. Hunter, sub-
mitted a plan for a vessel with submerged wheels on the sides
and Stockton urged the building of a steam frigate after the
designs of Ericsson. It was finally decided to build one vessel
on each plan. There was delay in carrying out the purpose of
the Wavy Department, and work was not begun until 1S42,
upon the vessel proposed by Stockton and called the Princeton,
after the city of his residence.
Meanwhile Ericsson found abundant occupation. Just
after his arrival here the Mechanics' Institute of New York,
taking alarm at the destructive fires devastating the city, in
January, 1840, offered its great gold medal as a prize for the
best plan of a steam fire-engine. With his previous experience,
Ericsson had no difficulty in securing this prize. In this en-
gine he adhered to his early system of using a blowing appa-
ratus to generate steam, in deference to the prevailing opinion
that the sparks from an engine using the " steam-blast" would
endanger the wooden houses so common at that day. The
engine used in 1829, at the Argyle fire, had six horse-power
and threw one hundred and fifty gallons of water in a minute
to the height of one hundred feet. It took twenty minutes to
get up steam. The new engine got up steam in ten minutes,
had the power of one hundred and eight men, and threw three
* Life of Commodore Robert F. Stockton. New York, 1856.
REMOVAL TO THE UNT'l'KD STATES.
107
tlion.s;ui(l gallons of water in a iniiHite throngli a 1 J,-iiieli pijioto
a lieiglit (if one lumdred and five feet. It weighed two and
one-lialf tons.
The main purpose of Eriesson's visit to tlie United States
vas to introduce liis ]iropeller to American waters. In a letter
to liis friend Sai'gent, dated January 24, 1845, lie says : "I
visited tliis country at Mr. Ogden's most earnest solicitation, to
introduce my propeller on the canals and inland vaters of the
Union. I had at the same time strong reasons for supposing
that Stoclcton would bo able to start the ' biij; friirate' for which
Steam Fire Engine awarded a Ptize by the Arr
ncan Institute, 1840.
1 had prejiared such laborious plans in Englan-d. On ai-r
hei'e I soon found that Cajitain S. had not that power
the administration ho had told me in England — where he
assured me he could get ni}' pi-opcller introduced in the
erican navy at once. lie, on one occasion, expi'cssed hi:
thus : ' I will let yon have,' or 'you shall have ' the ' fine^
gate in the American navy ' — meaning to try thc^ propellei
"Stockton's inability to do anything with the navy in(
me at once to turn i-ound and see what conld be effected
private individuals. The result vas the fitting out of the
ivmg
with
once
Am-
nself
-t f ri-
on.
bleed
with
riar-
108 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
ion, the Vandalia, on the lakes, the steamboats Propeller, Erics-
son, and a barge for the Canadian Government, all running on
the St. Lawrence. Various other vessels were in contemplation,
when at last Captain Stockton ordered his four iron boats, for
which he never paid me one cent. The steamboat Ericsson, on
the Delaware, and numerous other propeller vessels were succes-
sively commenced, all without the least assistance from Captain
Stockton, who all the while threw cold water on my endeavors."
In a letter to Captain Stockton, dated " Astor House, Kew
York, August 31, 1840," Ericsson called attention to the fact that
his "journey to this countiy " was undertaken "for the sole pur-
pose of carrying out patents in which yourself and Mr. Ogden
are equally interested with myself." lie stated that Mr. Ogden
had agreed to loan him £160, and asked for a similar loan from
Stockton, adding, "Tour refusal would be unwelcome news, I
can assure you.'' His gun-lock was at that time being tiied at
Sandy Hook, and he had great hopes of profit from that. He
says, in concluding his letter, "Mr. Ogden tells me yon are
about starting an ocean steamer at Philadelphia — I will not ex-
press my apprehensions that the news are too good to be true."
The canal barges for Stockton were vessels of six feet
draught and two hundred tons burden, 100x22^ feet. They
were built early in 1842 and ran from Philadelphia, two of them
to Albany and two to Hartford. They were ordered through
Ericsson from a Kew York builder named Cunningham, and
were the occasion of some unpleasantness growing out of cir-
cumstances the significance of which is not now apparent. In a
letter dated I^ovember 1, 1S42, Stockton says : " There seems
to be no end to the misunderstanding between ns." In this
letter he also says: "What I have done for j-ou, the trouble,
pain, anxiety, suspense, and inconvenience which I have under-
gone in my desire to serve you — not myself, seem to be alto-
gether overlooked by you, and you seem to accuse me of hav-
ing made use of your services for my own ends and afterward
to refuse you what you thought was your just due. I was
not disposed to submit to this in silence and was desirous to
know whether you intended to make any charge for any other
seivices you have rendered, because I did not wish unexpected-
ly to be reminded of them."
EEMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 109
This seems to have been simply a phase of the old qnarrel
between client and patron. " I hope," said Dr. Johnson, in his
famous letter to Lord Chesterfield, " it is no very cynical as-
perity, not to confess obligation where no benefit has been re-
ceived, or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as
owing that to a patron which Providence has enabled me to
do for myself." Stockton's confident assurances had thus far
resulted in nothing tangible, and whatever assistance he might
receive, the proud-spirited engineer believed to be due from a
public servant to one who was himself seeking public ends.
lie felt that he was superior to Stockton in every respect, ex-
cept the possession of wealth and influence, and he was by no
means disposed to accept the position, in which it was sought
to place him, of an " ingenious mechanic " developing the ideas
of a progressive naval officer.
The increase of intelligence has in some measure relieved
the men of brains from their position of slavish dependence
upon men of position, but their emancipation is not yet complete,
as Ericsson discovered. lie struggled through life to assert the
dignity of his profession, and we shall see how constantly his
uncompromising spirit kept him at war with circumstances.
From his cradle almost he had had the command of men ; the
sense of strength which superiority in an}' department gives
was active within him, and in his field he was inclined to be as
autocratic as one who controls the resources of an empire.
Among those who witnessed the early trials of Ericsson's
propeller in England were two American ship captains and ship
owners, Messrs. Kussell E. & Stephen E. Glover, of Isew York.
The Glovers were enterprising men and they determined, with-
out waiting for others, to apply the screw to tlie Clarion, a ves-
sel they were building to run between New York and Plavana.
This was the fourth vessel to receive the Ericsson propeller ; the
Ogden being the first, the Stockton the second, and the Yan-
dalia, plying between Oswego and Chicago, the third. Four
vessels were put on the Kideau Canal and St. Lawrence, viz.,
the Baron Toronto, Royal Barge, Propeller, and Ericsson ;
seven sailed from Philadelphia to various ports ; one was on
the Erie Canal ; four on Lake Erie ; two, besides the Vandalia,
ran from Oswego to Chicago ; two from ISTew York to Canada ;
110 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
one was put on the Jatnes Kiver Canal and one on the Delaware.
This makes iu all twenty-four merchant vessels receiving the
Ericsson propeller before the Princeton went into commission,
February, 1849. There was besides the Revenue Cutter Jef-
ferson on Lake Erie.
Great interest in this new motor was awakened by the dis-
cussions in the New York papers at the time the Clarion was
built iu 1840, and its obvious adaptability to tlie necessities of
American shipping was soon made apparent. From a list pre-
pared in 1843 by Lieutenant Johnson, a Swedish naval ofSeer,
acting under the instructions of his Government, it appears
that the propellers at that time numbered in all forty-two ; one
built in 1839, six in 1841, nine in 1842, and twenty-six in 1843.
The history of the introduction of steam navigation on United
States waters shows that several years before screw propulsion
had assumed importance in England the carrying trade of our
great lakes was to a large extent conducted by screw vessels.
On April 6, 1841, Captain James Yan Cleave and Mr. Ben-
jamin Isaacs purchased the right to use the Ericsson propeller
on the lakes. The Yandalia was their first vessel, and on De-
cember 1, 1841, her owners reported that she had proved a
great success. " She has astonished us all," they said.
At a still earlier date the canal barge Ericsson, built from
the plans of her namesake, made her first voyage from Rock-
ville to Montreal, forty miles in sixteen hours — no great speed,
the significance of the voyage being in the ability shown to
master the rapids. Another propeller Ericsson, built in 1842,
to run on the Delaware & Chesapeake Canal, between Phila-
delphia and Baltimore, carrying passengers and freight, proved
so great a success commercially that two other vessels, the Cum-
lerland and the Baltimore, were ordered and the " Ericsson
Line " established, greatly to the discomfort of the Philadelphia,
Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad, with whose business it most
seriously interfered. The railroad was compelled to reduce its
fares one-half. It finally persuaded the State of Delaware to
impose a prohibitory toll on passengers going on the propeller
line, but this did not restore its freight business. The Erics-
son line of steamers was incorporated by the State of Mary-
land in 1844, and it is still in operation with five propellers.
EEMOVAL TO THE U^ITKD STA'l'KS.
Ill
Out of it liRS grown the New York & l!;iltini(ii-e Transporta-
tion Company, ecpiipped with eight steamers and plying daily
between Baltimore A; Kew York.
When he tirst came to Kew York Captain Ericsson took up
his resilience at the Astor house, in tliose days a famous hos-
The Vandalia — Pioneer Propeller on tho Lakes.
telry, especially affected by New Englaiulers, Daniel Webster
making his liome tliere when in the city and tlie New England
Society there doing yearly homage to Plymoutli Hock. Among
the New England habitues of the place was ]\rr. Jolin O, Sar-
o-ent, a lawyer of Massachusetts bii'th, who to his leiral leai-ning
united line abilities as a writer and nuicli experience as an ed-
112 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
itor. He liad founded the Collegian wlien a student at Har-
vard in 1830, had for four years, 1834-37, contributed the po-
litical articles to the Boston Atlas, and was at this time asso-
ciated with James Watson "Webb in the conduct of the New
York Courier and Enquirer. The New Englandei- and the
Swede had a common fondness for a good glass of sherry, and
were accustomed to linger over their wine after the " fifteen
minutes for refreshments " Americans had left the dining-
room. Thus they fell into conversation, conversation led to ac-
quaintance, and acquaintance ripened into a friendship lasting
to the end of Ericsson's life, Mr. Sargent, who was eight years
his junior, surviving him.
Immediately after his arrival in New York, Ericsson estab-
lished business relations with the " Phcenix Foundry," which
about this time passed under the control of two young men,
Messrs. Hogg and De Lamater. With the junior partner, Mr.
Cornelius H. De Lamater, his relations became very intimate,
and their associations of business and friendship continued
through life.
Another of Ericsson's early acquaintances in New York was
Mr. Samuel Risley, to whom I am indebted for a description
of his appearance, his characteristics, and his personal habits at
this time. Mr. Risley says :
My first acquaintance with Captain Ericsson, or rather my first sight
of him, I think, occurred in the summer of 1839 .* He had brought with
him from England a working model of the propeller engine he had de-
signed for the war steamer Princeton, and a twelve-inch wrought-iron
gun. The model engine referred to was erected in the Phoenix Foun-
dry engine works, West Street, New York, and put in operation there.
Captain Ericsson would frequently visit the works, bringing with him
friends and Government naval officers to witness its working. Of +.hese
I think Mr. Ogden was one, Captain Stockton, of the United States
Navy, the promoter of the building of the Princeton, another.
Captain Ericsson all his life was careful of his personal appearance ;
at the time I refer to he was exceptional in dress, not dandified, but
more in keeping with the present morning call attire than an ordinary
day habit. A close-fitting black frock surtout coat, well open at the
front, with rolling collar, showing velvet vest and a good display of
* This must have been In 1840, as Ericsson did not arrive until the last of
November, 1839.
.REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 113
shirt front, a fine gold chain hung round the neck, looped at the first
button-hole of the vest and attached to a watch carried in the fob of
the vest. Usually light-colored, well-fitting trousers, light-colored kid
gloves, and a beaver hat completed the dress. To this add a well-built
military figure, about five feet ten and one-half inches in height and well
set up, with broad shoulders and rather large hands and feet ; the head
well placed and supported by a military stock round the neck. Expres-
sive features, blue eyes, and brown, curly hair, fair complexion. His
head was about medium size,* his mouth well out, upper lip a little
drawn ; the jaw large and firm-set, conveying an expression of firmness
and individual character.
Up to the summer of 1842 I was in constant attendance upon the
Captain, being a sort of factotum to him in preparing his models. At
that time he boarded at the Astor House where I first met his wife. He
was very reserved about his models and inventions and seemed to have
a mortal dread of their being discovered. I remember once, at a later
period than I am now referring to, we shook hands and I pledged my-
self most solemnly not to reveal a discovery of his that at the time he
considered of vital importance to the caloric engine, but which on trial
was disappointing to him. It, however, led up to uses by which he
profited eventually.
Ericsson's manner with strangers was courteous and extremely tak-
ing. He invariably made friends of high and low alike. With those in
immediate contact in carrying out his work he was very popular. He
had few intimates of his own social level. Mr. John Osborne Sargent,
brother of Epes Sargent, was one of them. With such I think he would
be very hearty, open, and frank, and he was a good talker.
In the fall of 1842 the Captain employed me to superintend the
building of an iron screw steamer at Richmond, Va., for the navigation
of the James River and Kanawha Canal, in that State. Owing to the
shallow water in the canal, the Oovernor McDowell, as the vessel was
christened, was put to other use, although the result of the experiment
was in the main satisfactory. She was followed by another steamer pro-
pelled by paddles, but again the diflSculty of running the boat through
about three feet of water was insurmountable. The Cai^tain was at the
trial of the McDowell and was introduced to the Governor, after whom
the boat was named. Being present at the interview, I had an oppor-
tunity of seeing both men at their best, the Governor gracious and afia-
ble and withal dignified, Ericsson lifting his hat and holding it above
his head while bowing respectfully, then replacing it and shaking the
hand held out to him by the Governor.
The following year I went with the Captain to 95 Franklin Street
as his assistant, and remained with him until the fall of 1846, when I left
him to go to China. During the period I was with him he accomplished
* Twenty-three inches in circumference. He was about five feet seven
and one-half inches tall.
114 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
an immense amount of work. He would work out designs in pencil and
I would make fresh drawings from them in detail. He gave up this
practice, he informed me, after I left him and gave particular attention
to all details, working out every screw in finished drawings. He said
he profited by it in the end.
Ericsson's habit of life at that time was to breakfast at 8.30 a.m.
dine at 4 p.m., with a cup of tea and toast at 7 p.m. He usually went to
the engine works to see how his work was progressing in the forenoon,
but as a rule he spent about fourteen hours a day at his drawing-board.
In designing he was marvellously quick, and with his scale and a
pencil he would sketch almost equal to a finished drawing. He had
been thoroughly grounded in Euclid and his conceptions of mechanical
movements were clear and distinct. He had great method and order in
laying out his work and its continuance after was easy to him — more, in
fact, a pleasure than a labor. His mechanical resources in designing
were practically unlimited. The engines in . the caloric ship Ericsson
were a remarkable evidence of his superiority in this respect. In some
respects his wonderful inventive faculty may have acted as a drawback
to the successful working out of his plans. Had he, for instance, given
more time to the improvement of the steam-engine in his earlier days it
is not improbable that he would have outstripped all competitors in its
development.
During this time he designed the iron steamer Iron Witch as a pas-
senger day boat between New York and Albany. In this he introduced
the compound principle in the engine, using the steam expansively in a
second cylinder. The boat attained a speed of about seventeen miles an
houi', as well as I remember, but was not fast enough to outrun the old
line boats, and she was withdrawn from the route.
About 1845 I made drawings from a sketch by Captain Ericsson for
a further improvement in the compound principle in the steam-engine.
I think a model was also made and a patent applied for.
I have remarked that Captain Ericsson was, at this period of his life,
exceptionally handsome in personal appearance, and that he was equally
attractive in dress and bearing. To me, from my first intercourse with
him to the last, he was always gentle, kind, and considerate. In habit
of life he was frugal, but in carrying out his mechanical conceptions, or
in the elaboration of them, money was not considered.
I last saw Captain Ericsson on July 1, 1887, at his home. Beach
Street, New York. Being on my way to England, I called to say good-
by ; we had not met for several years. He was very cordial, going
over his daily habits of life, his work, the improvement of the steam-
engine, the sun motor, and the lunar investigations. He was in good
health and spirits, and laughingly told me that he was going down by
gravitation only at the rate of about three-fourths inch in seven years.
Twice, on taking my leave, he shook hands, and bid God bless me, re-
peatedly saying good-by. My last letter from him is dated November
[ Mrs, John Ericsson.
EEMOVAIi TO THE UNITED STATES. 115
9, 1888. In it, in reference to his health, he writes : " I very seldom
quit my drawing-table before 11.00 p.m , and not once in the course of
the year go to bed before half an hour past midnight. Brain, muscle,
and eyes, thank God, all hold good."
Mrs. Ericsson did not accompany her husband to the United
States, but soon followed him. Crossing the ocean in the mid-
dle of winter, in one of the uncomfortable boats of that time,
she had a trying passage, arriving in a state of complete ex-
haustion. She remained with Captain Ericsson for a time at
the Astor House, and until they transferred their residence to
No. 95 Franklin Street, where he had his office as well as his
home. This was a fine house in that day, and stories of John's
extravagant living went back to Sweden, as would appear from
a letter received from his mother at this time. Do not, he
said, in reply, " put any faith in the gossip about our ' lavish-
ing.' There are people who cannot understand that one can
live in a grand house, wear fine clothes, and yet starve. As to
my wife, her elegant garment is a black dress which I gave her
five years ago, and yet she gains everybody's attention."
Mrs. Ericsson was a woman who would attract attention in
any dress. She was above the medium height ; in fact, quite as
tall as her husband, who was five feet seven and one-half inches.
A trifling masculine in her type, but bearing herself with grace,
her beauty and dignity of manner mad,e her a noticeable figure
wherever she. went. Iler husband was proud of her beauty,
and she was equally proud of his talents, but his mind was too
much occupied with his work to leave him opportunity for those
domestic interchanges which are the recreation of leisure hours.
Ilis wife was not a woman to be neglected, and, as her hus-
band expressed it, was " jealous of a steam-engine." It is not
the habit of imperious beauties to admit even a Frankenstein to
rivalry, and Mrs. Ericsson soon tired of the isolation in which
she was left She did not like America, and as her husband
was engaged in a desperate struggle with fortune, it was finally
decided that it was best for her to return to her relations in
England until Ericsson found the opportunity, that never came,
to join her there. He made such allowance for her support as
his means admitted of from time to time, and they continued
116 LIFE OF JOHN EEIC8S0N.
in correspondence up to the day of her death, without again
meeting.
Ericsson appears to have stripped himself for the battle he
was constantly waging against conservatism, and it left him lit-
tle leisui-e for anything else. A tender-hearted and affection-
ate man in his way, his intellect dominated his aifections, and
he was to an unusual extent independent of them. They were
with him rather sentiments than motive forces, and he gave
himself small opportunity for their cultivation. His love for
his mother was always controlling with him, and while she lived
he continued in constant correspondence with her, though there
were times of intense absorption in his work when even she for
the moment seems to have been forgotten. His check-book
gives proof, however, of his constant recognition of the claims
of filial duty, as well as of his obligation as a husband. It
seems to have been his wish that his wife should share his for-
tunes in the United States, for a letter to him from her sister
shows that on one occasion she refused to leave England after
he had paid her passage across the ocean. This letter was
written just after Mrs. Ericsson's death, and in it her sister
says, that " Amelia's " last words were, " I have always been a
trouble to you all. Forgive me."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS.
Screw Vessel Ordered for the Navy. — Captain Stockton calls Ericsson
to His Aid.!— His Testimony to Ericsson's Ability. — The Direct-
acting Screw System. — Stockton's Injustice to Ericsson. — The Guns,
"Oregon '' and "Peacemaker." — Disastrous Explosion of the Stock-
ton Gun. — President Tyler Loses Two of His Cabinet. — Universal
Excitement. — Success of the "Princeton." — Other Naval Vessels
Eendered Obsolete. — Ericsson's Physical Strength.
" "TTTHILE busily engaged," said Ericsson, in a letter already
* » quoted from, " and perfectly independent of Captain
Stockton, so far as the introduction of the propeller went, I un-
expectedly received a letter from him in the fall of 1841, ask-
ing me to meet him at Princeton, N. J. There he informed
me that he had received orders to build a steamer of six hun-
dred tons for the navy. He at this interview consulted me as
to the best dimensions for such a vessel. I made a sketch on
the spot, and after some discussion he agreed to my proportions.
He then desired me to make out a general plan for the whole
ship, arrangement of steam machinery, etc. I went to New
York, and in about a week returned to Princeton, with such
general plans, and with these Captain Stockton was delighted.
I also brought an estimate of the cost of the steam machinerj-,
made at his particular request. The maximum of the estimate
was seventy-five thousand dollars. Captain Stockton told me he
would put it down at one hundred tliousand dollars, on which I
remarked that it was too much ; to this he replied, ' I want to
make ample allowance for paying you for the use of patents,' or
words to that effect. Captain Stockton, having made his formal
arrangements with the Government and fixed on Messrs. Merrick
& Town* as the builders of the engines, desired Mr. Merrick
* Concerning the machinery of the Princeton, Mr. J. Vanghan Merrick,
the son of one of the builders, says in a letter to the author of this biography ;
118 LIFE OP JOHN EKICSSON.
to go to New York to receive my instructions with regard to
tlie engines. Captain Stockton not only desired me to make
the plans and superintend the manufacture of the engines, but
he frequently complimented me as the only man in America
capable of doing it.
" At a dinner given by Captain Stockton to the Corpora-
tion of Princeton on the day the Princeton was launched at
Philadelphia, he told his guests he had been all over the
world in search of a man that could invent or carry out what
lie thought was necessary to make a complete ship of war ;
he had at last found that man. ' He is,' he said, ' my friend
here by my side, Captain Ericsson,' and he desired the com-
pany to drink my health with ' three times three.' Such were
his sentiments then concerning the man who, in May, 1844,
had dwindled into an ' ingenious mechanic,' ' a mechanic of
some skill.' Again, on board the Princeton, at a public trial
in New York Bay, Captain Stockton proposed my health to
hundreds of respectable gentlemen in these M'ords ; ' Captain
Ericsson, the most extraordinary mechanical genius of the
present day.' "
This was said by Ericsson in a letter written in 1845 to Mr.
John O. Sargent in the confidence between client and attorney,
and the writer further says; "I am ready to swear to the con-
tents if needful." Letters not necessary to produce here, as
they form part of the official record at Washington, show these
facts : On May 27, 1841, Captain Stockton wrote to the Secre-
tary of the ISTavy transmitting a model for a steam ship-of-war
" The machinery of the Princeton was of a novel type, and I believe has never
been copied (certainly not in the United States), although its performance was
good, and its location in the hull was low— an excellent point for war ves-
sels of light draught. The writer, at a later period, when a draughtsman
in the Southward Foundry, made several sets of drawings of the details of
these engines for foreign governments (the art of blue printing not having been
invented'). The originals were the handiwork of the inventor, and were beau-
tiful specimens of work. It was one of Ericsson's great peculiarities that his
design sprang from his brain in so perfect a shape that there was little to do
except to embody them in the drawings. I think that Ericsson's career
proved that the pencil, as well as the pen, is mightier than the sword. Napo-
leon did not effect greater changes in the face of Europe than has Eric.'ison
produced in naval warfare, and these latter are lasting, while the former have
long since passed into other forms."
THE SOEEW IN WAR VESSELS. 119
and asking that Lieutenants E. R. Thomson and "William Hunt
be detailed to assist him in preparing the drawings to show
tlie character of the vessel proposed. This request was granted
on June 1, 1841. September 21st, Commodore Charles Stew-
art, known as " Old Ironsides," from the frigate Constitution
whicli he immortalized, was informed that the Secretary of
the Navy had authorized tlie construction at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard, commanded by him, of " a steamer of six hundred
tons on the plan proposed by Captain Stockton ; steam to be
the main propelling power upon Ericsson's plan." He was fur-
ther informed that Captain Stockton had been requested " to
prepare a draft of the plan of the steamer."
The origin of the plan proposed by Captain Stockton is in-
dicated in a letter addressed by him to Ericsson more than two
months previous to this, in July, 1841. In this letter he said :
In making up the estimate of the cost of the ship, it will be neces-
sary to consider what must be put down for the use of your patent-
right. It will be necessary, therefore, for you to write me a letter,
stating your views on that subject. As a great effort has been made to
get a ship built for the experiment, I think you had better say to me in
your letter that your charge will hereafter be (if the experiment shall
prove successful) , but, as this is the first trial on so large a scale, I
am at liberty to use the patents, and after the ship is tried Government
may pay for their use in that ship whatever sum they may deem proper.
To this Ericsson replied as follows :
New York, Astor Hoijsb, July 28, 1841.
To Captain R. F. Stockton :
Sra : I have duly received your communication on the subject of
my patent-right for the ship propeller and semi-cylindrical steam-en-
gine ; in reply to which I beg to propose that in case these inventions
should be applied to your intended steam-frigate, all considerations re-
lating to my charge for patent-right be deferred until after the comple-
tion and trial of the said patent propeller and steam machinery. Should
their success be such as to induce Government to continue the use of
the patents for the navy, I submit that I am entitled to some remunera-
tion ; but, considering the liberality that thus enables me to have the
utility of the patents tested on a very large scale, and the advantages
which cannot fail to be derived in consequence, I beg to state that
whenever the eifficiency of the intended machinery of the steam-frigate
120 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
shall have been duly tested, I shall be satisfied with whatever sum you
may please to recommend, or the Government see fit to pay for the
patent-right.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
John Ebicsson.
In a letter to Sargent, written a few years later, " February
15, 1845," Ericsson said: " I do not understand why Captain
Stockton wanted the services of Lieutenants Hunt and Thom-
son in connection with the plans of the Princeton, excepting
as a vehicle of communication between him and myself. As
such, these gentlemen certainly were useful, but in no other
manner, as neither of them pretends to the slightest knowl-
edge of mechanics. The making of a plan for a common
wheelbarrow requires far more knowledge in mechanics tlian
possessed by these officers. Captain Stockton himself, on the
other hand, never made a plan in his life."
Stockton's whole stock in trade as a naval designer appears
to have been the model of a vessel prepared by Ericsson when
they were together in England. "In the summer of 1839,"
Ericsson tells us in one of his letters, " I prepared a model of a
war screw-steamer of two thousand tons, with a set of detailed
drawing plans, for Captain Stockton. These plans and this
model Captain Stockton presented to the United States Navy
Department in the fall of 1839." This was before Ericsson
arrived in this country.
Again Ericsson says :
' I am the father of the direct-acUnc/ scre^ system. On leaving Eng-
land for this country the whole engineering world opposed me, and ridi-
culed the idea of driving engines fast enough to turn the screw directly.
I, however, adhered to my plan, and built over twenty direct-acting en-
gines, not one of which ever failed, before a single individual followed my
system. Smith and the whole Archimedean screw fraternity advocated
the cog-wheel system, and the Maudsleys, Watts, Kennies, Seawards,
and Napiers all built cog-wheel engines for the British Government
with such bad success that the screw system was on the eve of being dis-
carded from the navy. In the meantime some forty propeller vessels
had been fitted out in this country under my patent, all with direct-
acting engines ; and presently the Princeton appeared in the Mediterra-
nean, and the eyes of the naval authorities of England were opened and
the direct-acting system insisted on. The host of great engineering
THE SCEEW IN WAR VESSELS. 121
houses no-w all entered the field, and all sorts of direct-acting engines
were planned by men who had no experience in the working of engines
of quick action. I say, without hesitation, that most of their engines
are disgraceful to the profession. These boasted engines do not even
hold out during the trial trips over the measured mile, in the placid
waters of Stokes Bay. Did you ever hear of the direct-acting engines of
the Princeton being out of order during her remarkable cruise? It is,
I believe, on record that this ship was under steam for forty consecutive
days and nights, at Vera Oruz.*
Captain Stockton's orders " to superintend the building of
said steamer [viz., the Princeton], under the Commandant of
the Navy Yard in Philadelphia," were dated at Washington,
September 22, 1841, and addressed to him at Princeton, N.J.
Immediately upon their receipt, Captain Stockton appears to
have visited Philadelphia for he wrote from that city, Octo-
ber 2, to Ericsson in New York:
I will meet you at the depot at Princeton on Tuesday morning, if
you can make it convenient to dine with me on that day ; you may re-
tui-n to New York in the night train. I have received orders to build a
ship of six hundred tons ; I have remonstrated against it. [He wanted
a larger vessel.] In the meantime I wish to converse with you on the
subject. E. P. S.
" Tuesday " was the 5th. As the result of the conference
on that day, apparently, Stockton wrote from Philadelphia,
October 8, saying to " Captain Ericsson, Astor House, New
York:"
I wish you would make the drawings of a ship with the dimensions
we spoke of. I will go to Washington as soon as you can send them to
me. Put both bow and stern to her, and make her midship section ac-
cording to the plan we spoke of at my house.
Next followed a series of calls for one thing and another.
October 13th Stockton wislied "a drawing of the amidship
section with engine, as well as the others." October 17th he
called for various details which he was required to send to
Wasliington, "cost of hull, equipments, etc., etc., as well as for
the engines, displacement, metacentre, centre of gravity, centre
* Letter to John O. Sargent, dated May 5, 1854.
122 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
of flotation, five inidsliip sections, etc." "You are so much
better skilled in these matters,*' he says, very truthfully, " that
you will have these all ready by the time I get through my
work, when I propose to take them all to Washington."
November 21, 1841, the working drawings for the engines
were called for ; April 13, 1843, the " drawings for the wheel
and gun-carriage." Altogether one hundred and twenty-four
working drawings were furnished by Ericsson, occupying, with
the sketches, skeleton plans, and diagrams necessary in their
construction, two hundred and seven days of the time of a
man who could do in one day double the work of an ordinary
draughtsman ; one hundred and thirteen days were devoted to
actual superintendence at New York and Philadelphia, and in
travelling to and fro. This was but part of the labor to which
Ericsson gave two of the best years of his life. It was the
strictly professional service of an engineer, and could not by
any honest possibility be included in Ericsson's expression of
his willingness to leave the question of i\\e payment for his pat-
ents to the generosity of tlie Government.
He was, besides, put to no inconsiderable expense during the
two years for office expenses, travelling expense, postages (which
were a serious matter in those days), and the like. The manu-
facturers of the machinery, guns, gun-carriages, etc., testified
that they did their work from Ericsson's drawings and under
his directions. Stockton gave his assurance over and over again
that if the vessel succeeded there would be no difiiculty about
pay, and a letter from him to Ericsson, dated Philadelphia, Feb-
ruary 2, 1844, shows that he acknowledged the obligation by a
partial payment of $1,150.
It is necessary to be thus specific in order to lay the basis for
a proper understanding of the action taken by Captain Stockton
upon the account rendered for these services when this account
was referred to him by the Departn-— ^^ By this time the man
whose genius he had extolled in England, and to whom he had
held out such brilliant anticipations ; the one man lie had
hunted the world over to find, who could build a complete ship-,
the only man in America capable of making the engines she re-
quired, etc., had become "a very ingenious mechanic by the
name of Ericsson."
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS. 123
In the letter dated February 2, 1844, here referred to,
Stockton said : " Will you send me a bill and receipt for the
$1,160 which I paid you for services rendered in constructing and
superintending machinery, etc., for the U. S. ship Princeton. I
will include it in the PrincetorCs expenses, and repay myself for
the advance in that way if I can.'' In a note accompanying
this letter Ericsson says: "The preceding letter for the first
time suggested to Captain Ericsson that any difficulty was an-
ticipated in securing him an adequate compensation for his ser-
vices in the construction of the Princeton.'''' When Ericsson's
account was referred by the Department to Stockton he sent in
reply a letter which extinguished Ericsson's hope of obtaining
pay for his services out of the appropriation for the Princeton,
to which it was properly chargeable. The events immediately
succeeding the completion of the vessel explain this change of
attitude toward the man Stockton had before extolled.
I have mentioned the fact that Ericsson brought with him
from England a wrought-iron gun of his own designing. This
gun was built at the Mersey Iron Works, near Liverpool, and
was forged of the very best material, as the manufacturers as-
serted. Still, it had the defect of a forged gun ; strong longi-
tudinally, it was weak transversely and opened cracks under the
proof firing in rear of the trunnions, and thus near the butt of
tlie gun. To remedy this, Ericsson adopted an expedient now
in universal use. IIoops three and one-half inches thick, made
of tlie best American wrought iron, were shrunk onto the
breech of tlie piece up to the trunnion bands. These hoops
were arranged in two tiers, one above the other, in such a man-
ner as to break joint, and they were so perfectly matched as to
appear like a single band.
That this expedient proved entirely successful is shown by
the fact that the gun is still intact, and is now (1890), on exhi-
bition at one of our Navy Yards, after having been fired some
three hundred times with charges varying from twenty-five to
thirty-five pounds of powder (enormous in that day) and a two
hundred and twelve-pound shot. In 1842, before going aboard
the Princeton, this gun was fired from one hundred and twenty
to one hundred and fifty times, after being banded ; and aimed
by its designer, the ex-Swedish artillerist, Ericsson, it pierced a
124 Lli'E OP JOHN ERICSSON.
target of four and one-half inches of wrought iron. This tar-
get is also still to be seen.
Thus the discovery that this thickness of armor was no pro-
tection against artillery fire was made by Ericsson many years
in advance of others.
Fired by Ericsson's example, Stockton aspired to build a
gun of his own. He had one forged at Ilamersley Forge and
sent it to the PiiCEnix Foundry, New York, to be bored and
finished under Ericsson's directions. It was of the same calibre
as the imported gun, viz., twelve inches, but a foot more in diam-
eter at the breecli, and much heavier. This Stockton gun was
considered at the time to be a remarkable specimen of work-
manship, and great confidence was placed in its strengtli, be-
cause of the supposed superior quality of American iron ; it
was believed to be capable of sustaining the explosion of any
amount of powder that could be put into it, having been thor-
oughly tested by charges varying from twenty-five to fifty
pounds. It was the largest mass of iron that had at that time
been brought under the forging hammer, and had a massive ap-
pearance by tlie side of its slender companion on the Prince-
ton.
But this appearance of strength was deceptive. The fibrous
qualit)', giving strength to the iron, was in some way destroyed
in the process of manufacture, and the specific g)-avity of the
metal reduced nine per cent, below that of ordinary iron. This
fact was not discovered until it was too late. Ei-icsson had a
natural partiality for his own gun and advised Stockton to use
it for the purpose of exhibition instead of the Peacemaker, as
the second gun was called, but he does not appear to have
doubted the sufficient strength of the Stockton gun.
Describing the trial of this gun a newspaper letter, dated
New York, January lY, 1844, says :
Instead of being placed on the ground in some remote corner, as is
usual in proving guns of not one-third of her calibre, such was Stock-
ton's confidence in this wrought-iron piece that the proving was actually
performed on board a small vessel of some twenty feet beam and seventy
feet in length. This appears the more astonishing when we consider
that the charge was fifty pounds of powder ; and a charge that might well
be required for the capacious maw of a gun fifteen feet long, with a bore
THE SCREW IN WAE VESSELS. 125
of twelve inches, carrying a ball of two hundred and thirteen pounds
weight, and itself weighing ten tons.
So much for Captain Stockton's big gun — the largest piece of
wrought-iron in the world, and forged in this city, of American iron !
Here, where four short years ago they could not forge an ordinary
steam-engine shaft ! There was a christening scene on board the Prince-
ton yesterday, and from a font of champagne this magnificent piece of
ordnance was appropriately baptized the Peacemaker. *
In his diary vinder the date of February 20, 1844,1 Jolin
Quiney Adams says :
The House of Eepresentatives yesterday adjourned over till to-
morrow, for the avowed purpose of enabling the members to visit the
Princeton, a war-steamer and sailing vessel combined, with the steam
machinery of Ericsson's propeller, all within the hull of the vessel and
below the water-line. This vessel, the " gimcrack of sundry other inven-
tions " of Captain Stockton himself, was built under his directions, and .
was commanded by him. .She was ordered round here to be exhibited to
the President and the heads of the Executive Departments, and to the
members of both Houses of Congress to fire their souls with a patriotic
ardor for a naval war. On Saturday last, by invitation from Captain
Stockton, the vessel was visited by the President, the Heads of Depart-
ments and Senators, and for this day, at eleven o'clock. Captain Stock-
ton has issued a card of invitation to every member of the House of Eepre-
sentatives, besides a general one in the National Intelligencer this morn-
ing. I went with Isaac Hull Adams to Greenleaf's Point, and thence
embarked in the Princeton's barge on board that vessel.
I was punctual to the hour of eleven and the first of the company
that came. Captain Stockton received me with great politeness, and
showed me all the machinery of the ship. Afterward upward of a hun-
dred members of the house came on board. The two great guns are
called the Peacemaker and the Orator [Oregon^. A salute was fired from
the carronades, and the Peacemaker was three times discharged.
Eight days later, February 28th, we find this entry : f
Dies ircB. I had received an invitation from Captain Bobert F.
Stockton to another party of pleasure, with the ladies of my family, on
board the wai'-steamer Princeton. We declined the invitation. I had en-
gaged to dine at six o'clock this evening with Mr. Grinnell and Mr.
Winthrop, in company with Mr. Pakenham, the new British Minister.
* Boston Post of January 30, 1844.
f Memoirs of John Quinoy Adams, Comprising Portions of His Diary, from
1795 to 1848. Edited by Charles Francis Adams. Vol. xl.
128 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSOK.
. . . While we were at dinner, John Barney burst into the chamber,
rushed up to General Scott, and told him with groans that the Presi-
dent wished to see him ; that the great gun on board the Princeton, the
Peacemaker, had burst and killed the Secretary of State, Upshur ; the
Secretary of the Navy, T. W. Gilmer ; Captain Beverly Kennon ; Virgil
Maxey ; a Colonel Gardiner, of New York, and a colored servant of the
President, and desperately wounded several of the crew. General Scott
soon left the table, Mr. Webster shortly after, also Senator Bayard. I
came home before ten in the evening.
29th. At the House, immediately after the reading of the Journal, a
message was received from the President, announcing the lamentable
catastrophe of yesterday, bewailing the loss of his two Secretaries, with
others, and hoping that' Congress will not be discouraged by this acci-
dent from going on to build more and larger war-steamers than the
Princeton.
The biographer of Commodore Stockton * says :
During the progress down the Potomac the great guns of the Prince-
ton had been again and again discharged, until public curiosity appeared
to be satiated. The company had returned below, and at the festive
board the voice of hilarity resounded through the proud ship. Some
of the guests had commenced retiring and were renewing their scrutiny
of the different parts of the ship. Captain Stockton had risen to offer
a toast complimentary to the Chief Magistrate of the Republic. As he
rose, with his wine-glass filled in his hand, an oificer entered and in-
formed him that some of the company desired one of the great guns
to be again discharged. Captain Stockton shook his head and saying,
" No more guns to-night," dismissed the oflScer. He soon again re-
turned, while Captain Stockton was speaking on the subject of his toast,
with a message from the Secretary of the Navy, expressive of his desire
to see one of the big guns fired once more.
This message Captain Stockton considered equivalent to an order, and
immediately went on deck to obey it. He placed himself upon the breech
of the gun, aimed and fired. Feeling a sensible shock, stunned and en-
veloped in a cloud of smoke, for an instant he could not account for his
sensations. But in a few seconds, as the smoke cleared, and the groans
of the wounded and the shrieks of the bystanders who were unhurt re-
sounded over the decks, the terrible catastrophe which had happened
was revealed. He was severely hurt, but the strength of his intellectual
powers, now intensely concentrated, sustained him. Calmly and clearly
his voice pealed over the elements of confusion and disturbance ; a few
brief orders, recalling his men to a sense of duty, were given, the deacj
and wounded ascertained, and all proper dispositions respecting both
* Life and Speeches of Robert F. Stockton. New York, 1856.
THE SCKEW IN WAR VESSELS. 127
being made, when, as he turned to leave the sad scene; he fell into the
arms of his men, exhausted physically and was borne insensible to his
bed.
" There were two hundred ladies on board," Philip Hone
tells ns :
But, fortunately, they were all below, dining and drinking toasts.
The noise of mirth and joviality below mingled with the groans of
the dying on deck. By this circumstance they were saved. Not one
of the ladies was injured. But oh, the anguish of wives and daughters
at the sight of the mangled remains of their husbands and fathers.
Nothing so dreadful has ever happened in this country, except the
shipwreck of the Rose in Bloom and the conflagration of the Eichmond
theatre. The wife of Governor Gilmer was on board. The story
of her woe is melancholy and touching in the extreme. Her lamented
husband entered upon the office of the Secretary of the Navy a few days
since, and the estimation in which he was held is proved by his nomina-
tion having been unanimously confirmed without debate by the Senate.
Mr. Gardner's two daughters were also witnesses of their father's death.
President Tyler gave a new instance of folly and bad taste in a
toast that he gave at tlie entertainment which terminated so tragically
on board the Princeton. It was : " Oregon, the Peacemaker, and Cap-
tain Stockton." Oregon is the bone of contention at this time between
Great Britain and ourselves, to settle which difficulty a new minister
has just landed on our shores. It is a subject which requires to be
handled with the greatest delicacy. The Peacemaker is the great gun
which was to hurl defiance at Great Britain or any other nation which
might stand between the wind and Colonel Benton's popularity. Cap-
tain Stockton is the fire-brand which was to ignite the whole ; and in
the excited state of the public mind on this subject, the President gives
this mischievous sentiment. The Peacemaker at the same moment
broke the jDeace in the manner which has been described, and amidst
the melancholy reflections arising from this fatal day's excursion will be
mingled a feeling of contempt for this act of folly.*
David Gardiner, one of the victims of the disaster, was a
descendant of the lords of the manor of Gardiner's Island, off
the east coast of Long; Island. His remains were carried to
the White House, and the event resulted in the marriage of his
bsautiful daugliter, Julia, to President Tyler.
The injuries of Captain Stockton were, fortunately, only
* Diary of Philip Hone, 1838-1851, edited by Bayard Tuokerman, vol, ii.,
p 307.
128 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSOKT.
sliglit. He soon recovered and demanded a Court of Inquiry to
investigate the question of his responsibility for this sad acci-
dent, turning his rejoicing into mourning. This court exon-
erated Stockton from all blame. In their report they referred
to the consultations held by him "with three gentlemen pos-
sessing from their scientific acquirements and practical experi-
ence on such subjects, very superior qualifications in questions
of this character ; and whose opinions were entitled to high re-
spect, Mr. William Young, of the West Point and other foun-
dries. Captain Ericsson, and Francis B. Ogden, Esq."
During his triumphant exhibition of his pet vessel, Stockton
had apparently forgotten Ericsson, and an examination of the
contemporary accounts of her performances shows how little
was said of him in connection with this triumph of naval con-
struction. This neglect was so marked that a writer in the
Brother Jonathan, a New York newspaper of March 2, 1844,
was tempted to say :
We apprehend that it will be necessary for his sober friends to
provide the gallant admiral of the great Tyler squadron with a strait
jacket. What with revolutionizing New Jersey by his eloquence, and the
art of naval warfare by his inventions, he is in a fair way of having his
head turned. If we can believe all we see in the newspapers, he will
hardly be satisfied till the nation shall give him an opportunity with his
steamer Princetcm, to annihilate a few British squadrons, and burn down
the city of London. We do not desire in the least to detract from the
credit to which Captain Stockton is entitled for the construction of the
Princeton. He deserves praise for having put himself in the hands of
a thoroughbred engineer, and for having acquiesced in his suggestions
and followed his advice.
A remarkable result has been accomplished, manifesting a fertility
of invention and a skill in construction which indicate the mind and
the hand of a master in theoretical and practical mechanics. The na-
tion is well aware to whom our navy has been indebted for this new
wonder, and we should not be surprised even if Congress should some
day attain the information which Captain Stockton has withheld in his
recent report to the Secretary of the Navy. It is not a little surprising
that in commending to Congress the numerous striking inventions and
constructions which give his single ship her boasted advantage over en-
tire navies, he should have omitted to mention even the name of the
individual who had invented, planned, and superintended the whole of
them.
THE SCREW I.V WAK VESSELS. 129
The I'eport here referred to was forwarded by Stockton
February 5, 184:4, after the Princeton liad i-eeeived her arma-
ment on board and was fitting for sea. lie dwelt witli enthu-
siasm upon the " great and obvious advantages " she possessed
" over Ijoth sailing ships and steamers propelled in the usual
way." With engines lying " snug in tlie bottom of the vessel
out of tlie reach of an enemy's shot," showing no chimney and
" making no noise, smoke, or agitation of the water (and, if she
chooses, no sail) she can surprise an enemy," and " at pleasure
take her own position and her own distance."
The Princeton was the only war vessel that then possessed
these advantages; she liad by far the most formidable guns
afloat and could " throw a greater weight of metal than most
frigates, with a certainty heretofore unknown." " By the ap-
plication of tlie various arts to the purposes of war on board
the Princeton" said Stockton, " it is believed that the art of
gunnery for sea service has, for the first time, been reduced to
something like mathematical certainty. The distance to which
these guns can throw their shot at every necessary angle of ele-
vation, has been ascertained by a series of careful experiments.
The distance from the ship to any object is readily ascertained
with an instrument on board, contrived for that purpose, by an
observation which it requires but an instant to make, and by
inspection without calculation. By self-acting locks the gun
caii be fired accurately at the necessary elevation — no matter
what the motion of the ship may be. It is confidently believed
that this small ship will be able to battle with any vessel, how-
ever large, if she is not invincible against any foe. The im-
provements in the art of war, adopted on board the Princeton,
may be productive of more important results than anything
that has occurred since the invention of gunpowder. The nu-
merical force of the navies, so long boasted, may be set at
nought. The ocean may again become neutral ground ; and the
rights of the smallest, as well as the greatest nation, may once
more be respected."
All of this was true, and it was further true that to the ge-
nius of John Ericsson were due these changes which inevitably
revolutionized naval methods and speedily compelled the re-
construction of every great navy. This important fact Cap-
9
130 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
tain Stockton omitted to mention in his report. The name of
Ericsson did not appear there, and he left it to be inferred, if
lie did not directly state, that it was to Stockton himself that
the country was indebted for this marvel of a naval vessel. In
a measure this was true. While it is not certain that Ericsson
might not have otherwise obtained an opportunity to develop
in practice the ideas he had elaborated a dozen years befoi-e, it
is evident that this opportunity did come to him in 1842-44,
through Stockton. The two men were necessary to each othei',
and if there had been a sufficiently generous recognition of this
fact on both sides, even the disaster attending the Peacemaker
might not have prevented them from together accomplishing
great results for our navy.
The history of gun construction shows how much tentative
effort is required to develop even a sound theory in ordnance,
and in the half century and more that has passed since Erics-
son drew the plan of his twelve-inch gun nothing has occurred
to show that he was mistaken in contending, as lie did to the
last, that he was on the right track with his forged and liooped
gun. On the contrary, the development of heavy ordnance
thus far has been precisely in liis direction. The two men
upon whom we principally depended throughout our Civil War
for heavy guns, Major T. J. Rodman and Captain Robert C.
Parrott, both testified that their inventions dated from studies
prompted by the bursting of the Peacemaker*
" I do not pretend," said Parrot't, " to be the inventor of
the idea of putting a band on the gun, because that thing lias
been tried before, but I believe my gun is the first banded gun
that was ever actually introduced into the service of any coun-
try as part of its armament." Tliis is perhaps true in the sense
in which the word "introduced" is liere used, for the ill fate
of the Peacemaher prompted the transfei- of the Oregon to a
Navy Yard, where it has since remained. But the idea was
there, and had our ordnance officers kept their heads, and
availed themselves of the talent and experience Ericsson was
ready to place at their disposal, they might have led the world
in ordnance from that time on. As to his own forged and
* Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. Second Ses^
sion, 38th Congress, vol. ii., pp. 99, 136.
THE SCEEW IN WAE VESSELS. 131
hooped gun lie alwaj's contended that none of his works fur-
nished better evidence of his thorough knowledge of dynamics
and his practical experience of the strength of materials.
Twenty one years ago he declared that nothing more reliable
had, up to that time, been produced, and this declaration
may be repeated now. Stockton's imitation was not Ericsson's
gun.
" ' The United States Government having been the first to
introduce heavy wrought-iron ordnance, why does it not con-
tinue to build guns of that material ? ' European artillerists
repeatedly put this question. Probably the answer will be
found in the fact that, although having in the meantime suc-
cessfully constructed wrought - iron ordnance of considerable
size, the first essay at building heavy guns for naval purposes
proved most disastrous." *
As to the gun-carriage and the "friction gear," by which the
recoil of the gun was controlled, nothing more reliable was
contrived until Ericsson undertook the handling of the enor-
mous monitor ordnance. Of the Oregon its author says : " Ex-
perienced commodores at the time protested loudly against the
proposition to ' mount the monster gun ' on board a vessel so
lightly built as the Princeton, insisting that, among other dif-
ficulties, the breeching would tear her upper works to pieces.
It was urged by the opponents of my new system that the
handling of such guns at sea would prove impossible, the con-
structing carriages of sufficient strength being pointed out as
impracticable ; while the imprudence on the part of the K^avy
Department of intrusting such matters to mere engineering
skill was severely criticised. In spite of the remonstrances,
however, Captain Stockton's influence with the Government
prevailed. In the meantime the problem of handling the
twelve-inch gun received due attention. Calculations of the
dynamic equivalent of the recoil convinced me that a moderate
resistance, if continuous and uniform, woiild suffice to bring the
piece to rest in less space than that required by breeching.
Friction, being the simplest means of obtaining a continuous re-
sistance, was accordingly resorted to." *
* Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition. By J. Ericsson. 1876.
132 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Tlie iustruiiient for ineasuriug distances, spoken of in Stock-
ton's repoi't, Ericsson liad just invented, and in 1851 it was
awarded a prize at tlie London Exhibition. It worked auto-
matically, dispensing with calculations and indicating the range
]>y the movement of a hand upon a dial. The self-acting gnn-
lock was invented by him as early as 1828, and shown to
the head of the British Ordnance Department, Sir Henry
Yane. It was proposed to appoint a board of officers to test
Ericsson's gun-lock in actnal practice. As this would disclose
the secret of the invention, and the British Government re-
fused to enter into an agreement to pay for it if the trial was
successful, the instrument was locked up in a safe until 1839.
Then it was shown to Captain Stockton, who was quick to per-
ceive its value, though most unwilling to accord to the inventor
proper credit for it.
In the semi-cylinder engine of the Princeton Ericsson
took especial pride. Of it, Chas. B. Stuart, Engineer-in-Chief
of the United States ISTavy, said, in his work on " The Kaval
and Mail Steamers of the United States," published in 1853.
The semi-cylinder engine of the Princeton is unquestionably the most
remarkable modification of the steam-engine that has ever been carried
into successful practice. A vibrating piston of a rectangular form mov-
ing in a semi-cylinder is an. old mechanical device. Mr. Watt, in his
celebrated patent, embraced this plan of transmitting the motive force
of steam to machinery. Since his time, several engineers have at-
tempted to build engines on this plan, but without success. In com-
mon with Mr. Watt, they have adopted the single semi-cylinder with
packing against the piston-shaft. Ericsson's plan differs materially from
these various attempts, he having introduced double or compound semi-
cylinders of different diameters with double pistons placed in opposite
directions on the piston-shaft, both being acted upon by the steam at
the same time, their differential force being the effective motive power
of the engine. The combination of two such double semi-cylinders,
arranged so as to transmit their power in directions nearly rectangular
to a crank-pin common to both, also contributes to the complete suc-
cess of this singular engine.
The device of the blower, worked by a separate small steam-
engine, first introduced, as we have seen, in 1831, in the steam-
packet Corsair, enabled Ericsson to substitute for the ordinary
fi.xed smoke-stack, offering in action a target for shot, a teles-
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS. 13B
copic chimney. This could be used when natural draught was
desired, and lowered when the blowers were at work. His en-
gine as a whole was regarded by experts as one of the most re-
markable features in the vessel, weighing, as it did, less than
one-half as much as British marine engines of equal power,
and occupying but one-eighth the space. The moving parts
were so light that the quantity of matter to be kept in motion
was hardly one-sixth as great. The compactness of Erics-
son's engine as compared with the engines of British naval
vessels at that time, is shown by the two illustrations given
on the next page.
A semi-cylinder engine had been applied to the Stockton in
1838, and the model of the engine for the Princeton was
brought by Ericsson with him from England. The link mo-
tion applied to it was that introduced by him in 1830 into his
locomotives King William and Queen Adelaide, subsequently
into the Stockton, and later on into hundreds of screw-propeller
engines. The engine was first introduced on the Stockton and
patented in 1839.
A committee of the American Institute was appointed to
visit the Princeton and report upon this "important experi-
ment in steam navigation." They announced that this vessel
was " in evei-y way worthy of the highest honors of the Institute
— a sublime conception most successfully realized, an effort of
genius skilfully executed, a grand, unique combination, honor-
able to the country as creditable to all engaged upon her."
The chairman of this committee was Commodore George 0.
De Kay, a gentleman of high reputation and lai'ge experience
in ship construction. The Secretary was Professor James J.
Mapes, Yice-President of the Institute, and among its members
was Professor James Renwick, the physicist.*
The sensation produced by the Princeton wherever she ap-
peared is shown by the description given by two eye-witnesses,
John O. Sargent and Francis B. Ogden, of a trial of speed be-
tween the naval vessel and the pioneer steam-packet between
ISTew York and Liverpool. The occasion Avaa the departure of
* The other members were J. S. Drake, H. Meigs. Adoniram Chandler,
Philip Schuyler, Geo. F. Barnard, Gordon J. Leeds, and Thomas S. Cum-
mings.
*vi Transverse Section of Princeton and Front View of Engines.
Engines and Paddles of H. M. S. Achilles.*
* The location of tlie engines and the propeller of tlie Princeton, and the
engines and paddles of iiie Acliilles, with reference to the water-line at J,
shows what a complete revolution Ericsson effected in the matter of protection
against shot and shell. His early use of coal protection is also shown, but not
the relative size of the engines, as the diagrams are not drawn to the same
scale.
THE SCREW IN WAK VESSELS. 135
the Great Western upon one of her transatlantic voyages, Oc-
tober 19, 1843. Describing the scene, Mr. Sargent says :
The Battery and the piers were thronged with an expecting multi-
tude. At her appointed hour the Great Western came plowing her way
down the East Eiver, under circumstances which manifested more than
ordinary effort. She was enveloped in clouds of steam, and of dense
black smoke ; her paddle-wheels were revolving with unusual velocity,
leaving a white wake behind her, that seemed to cover half the river
vrith foam ; and with her sails all set she was evidently prepared to do
her best in the anticipated race. As she passed the Battery she was
greeted with three hearty cheers, and a fair field with no favor was all
that she seemed to challenge, and the least that all were willing to allow
her.
She had left Castle Garden about a quarter of a mile behind her, when
a fine model of a sailing ship, frigate-like, appeared gliding gracefully
down the North Eiver, against the tide, without a breath of smoke or steam
to obscure her path — with no paddle-wheels or smoke-pipe visible — pro-
pelled by a noiseless and unseen agency, without a rag of canvas on her
lithe and beautiful spars — but at a speed which soon convinced the as-
sembled thousands that she would successfully dispute the palm with
the gallant vessel, celebrated throughout the world, and everywhere ad-
mitted to be the queen of the seas. Such is the march of improvement
in the arts. The newcomer was the United States War Steamer Prince-
ton. The agent by which she was moved was Ericsson's propeller. She
soon reached and passed the Great Western, went round her, and passed
her a second time before they had reached their point of separation. In
a moment, practical men began to speak lightly of their hitherto favor-
ite paddle-wheel, and the propeller that they had shrugged their shoul-
ders at, and amused themselves with for some years of doubtful experi-
ment, rose into altogether unexpected favoi\" *
Of the numerous screw steamers planned by Ericsson, the
Princeton was the only one built under his superintendence.
The others were constructed from drawings made in his office.
He was extremely particular about the quality of both materi-
als and workmanship, and his thoroughness in inspection is
shown by a story told of him which also illustrates his enor-
mous physical strength.
On one occasion, during the construction of an engine at
Delamater's, a certain casting appearing to him doubtful as to
soundness, Ericsson ordered it broken up. And, possibly sus-
* Sargent's Lecture on Steam Navigation. New York, 1844.
136 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
pecting that blowholes might be phigged, or the suspected piece
made to do duty in some way, he insisted on having it broken
on the spot. Some stalwart workmen accordingly attacked it
with heavy two-handled sledges, hut, failing to make an im-
pression, they desisted at length, saying : " We will put it un-
der the drop by and by." His quick temper rose at this, but
he spoke not a word ; with his right hand he snatched the
sledge from the nearest man, and in an instant it whirled like
a meteor before the eyes of the astonished spectators, the pon-
derous tool driving its head at the first stroke through the
shell of the dubious casting, making it a hopeless wreck,
lie tossed away the sledge as if it had been a jackstraw, and
turning on his heel, strode away with the remark : " Kow you
may put it under the drop." *
So thorough was the work upon the Princeton that after
serving through the Mexican War, and doing more duty than
any other naval vessel, she was sent to Eui-ope without being
repaired. Her success was the final triumph of the principle of
screw propulsion. It was most fortunate for Ericsson, in his
contest with the adverse opinion of authority, that he was able
to present his new motor in a remarkably perfect condition at
the start. Yet his proposition to substitute the propeller for
the paddle-wheel was received with ridicule by all officialdom.
Government officers at Washington, enjoying a high repu-
tation for scientific attainment, proved, to the satisfaction of
themselves and their fellows, that the Princeton never could
attain a speed of five miles an hour ; she was able to make over
twelve, and this was relatively equal to eighteen or twenty
miles now. The most prominent of the Government naval
constructors assured his Department that a mere glance at the
propeller intended for the Princeton was sufficient to convince
the practical eye of the absurdity of the scheme, " the surface
of the blades was too small for the body to be propelled." The
President of the United States was warned by Government
engineers that utter failure would attend the attempt to use
engines constructed on such erroneous mechanical principles as
those of this vessel. The learned Fi'anklin Institute con-
demned the vessel, and the builders of her engines received in-
* Soieutifio American, December 14, 1889.
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS. 137
timations from the members of the Institute that they ought
not to be parties to this waste of tlie public money.
Indeed, public opinion has been so misled by statements
finding their way into standard publications, encyclopedias and
the like, that one who undertakes to set forth the plain facts
concerning Ericsson's inventions must expect even now to bo
condemned as a partisan. His engines, using a half cylinder
instead of a whole cylinder, have been confounded with the
one patented by Watt, to which they bear only the most super-
ficial resemblance. Ericsson understood that it was possible to
make circular pistons tighter than those of his semi-cylinder
engines, and he introduced this modification into engines, made
otherwise on the plan of his Princeton engines, and put into
the Daylight and the Penguin.
Keturning to the biography of Captain Stockton, we learn
that the construction of the Princeton " confuted the ignorance
and antiquated dogmas of the Washington ]^aval Bureau. Iler
speed and sailing qualities, her admirable model, the impreg-
nable security of her motive power (being placed below water-
line), and her powerful armament made her an object of uni-
versal admiration. Wherever she appeared immense crowds
gathered to witness her evolutions and inspect her machinery.
She was kept in continual service from tlie« time she was
launched until the antipathy of the blundering incapables who
controlled the Bureau of Construction at Washington directed
her to be broken up. On her visit to the Mediterranean she
attracted the attention of the curious and of the skilful en-
gineers of every naval power ; and, while the United States
neglected to multiply such cheap and efiicient auxiliaries of
naval defence after her model, England and France profited by
the experiment, and their navies are now [1856], crowded with
powerful steamers, many of them built on the model and pos-
sessing all the peculiar characteristics of the PrincetonP *
As soon as he gave his attention to marine engineering,
which was shortly after his arrival in England in 1826, Erics-
son saw clearly that three conditions were essential to the in-
troduction of steam into war vessels : first, the instrument of
propulsion must be beneath the water ; second, the machinery
* Life of Stockton, p. 81.
138 LIFE OF JOIISr ERICSSON-.
must also be placed below the water-line to be protected from
shot, and finally, the draught of the furnaces must be made
independent of a smoke-stack liable to be shot away at any
moment. All of these indispensable conditions were fulfilled
in the Princeton and he enjoyed the gratification of finding
his old antagonists of the British Admiralty compelled to fol-
low his lead.
When he left England Ericsson entrusted his interests to the
guardianship of Count Adolph E. Von Eosen. In 1843 Count
Rosen received an order from the French Government to fit
a forty-fonr gun frigate, the Pomone, with a propeller on
Ericsson's plan, and with engines of two hundred and twenty
horse-power to be kept below the water-line, as in the Prince-
ton. In 1844 the English Government gave Count Eosen
instructions to fit the Arnphion frigate with a propeller and
with engines of three hundred horse-power. These were also
to go below the water-line.
Aside from the Yictory, fitted out by Ericsson in 1828,
•' these were the first engines in Europe which were kept below
the water-line. They were also the first direct acting hori-
zontal engines employed to give motion to the screw. The air-
pumps, which were also horizontal, were double-acting, and
were furnished ,with canvas valves to diminish the shock inci-
dent to the shutting of large apparatus where so high a speed
had to be maintained. Both vessels were completely success-
ful. The speed engaged to be given was five knots an hour.
The speed of almost seven knots an hour was actually at-
tained." *
The designs for the machinery of this first British naval
steamer carrying a propeller were made in New York by Erics-
son. He had made scores of plans before he finally decided
that the application to vessels of war of side propellers was in-
admissible, because of their exposed position, the difficulty of
actuating them with the propeller shaft under water, and the
additional power required because of the breadth of the beam.
" When the U. S. S. Princeton, propelled hy Ericsson^s
screw and armed by Ericsson^ s wr ought-iron gun, was launched
the war between armor and projectiles began. Heretofore the
• Vide Bourne's Treatise on the Screw Propeller, p. 89.
THE SCREW IN WAR VESSELS. 139
means of propulsion by steam had been by machinery entirely
above the water, and exposed to an enemy's fire : the screw did
away with this great drawback, removing the working-beam
and paddle ; compact engines in the hull, giving motion to a
propeller protected in part by the element in which it acted.
The centre of gravity was also lowered, and, the paddle-boxes
being removed, there was less surface to armoi", and less target
to hit.
" The Princeton was in reality Ericsson's first monitor, giv-
ing a warning on both sides of the Atlantic of the changes
that were to ensue. Congress resounded with eulogies of the
genius which would enable us in the near future to defy the
navies of Europe. Parliament, perceiving the error the ad-
miralty had made in driving the Swedish inventor from Eng-
land, voted large sums of money to build trial propellers and
built-up guns. The British foundries were ready for the emer-
gency ; stimulated by the success of their first iron steamers,
they hastened to increase their plant so as to include the fabri-
cation of armor plates for iron men-of-wai-. The age of iron
had begun." *
* Development of Armor as Applied to Ships. By Lieutenant Jacob W.
Miller, U.S.N. Proceedings U. S. Naval Institute, No. 10, 1879.
CHAPTEE IX.
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OF EEICSSON.
Ericsson Declines to be Held Eesponsible for the Princeton Disaster. —
Anger of Stockton. — Payment for the Princeton Eefused. — Corre-
spondence with the Navy Department. — Application to Congress. —
Testimony of Dionysius Lardner and Professor Mapes. — Legisla-
tive Injustice. — The Court of Claims Allows the Princeton Claim.
— Congress still Refuses to Pay it. — Stockton as a Duellist. — Ste-
vens's Bomb-proof.
WHEN the Peacemaker exploded with such fatal results
Captain Stockton bethought himself of Ericsson. If he
was not disposed to share the credit of success with him he
was quite ready to give him his full measure of responsibility
for disaster. It was on the programme that Ericsson should
accompany the Princeton when she was ordered from Isew
York for exhibition to convince the public officials at "Wash-
ington of her value. lie proceeded accordingly to the foot
of Wall Street at the appointed time, expecting to be taken
aboard there, but the vessel carrying his fortunes, not less than
those of Stockton, steamed by without slopping for him.*
From Washington came the echoes of the cannon celebrat-
ing the triumphs of the ambitious naval captain, of the speeches
sounding his praises, and of the clinking of tlie glasses in
which delighted visitors drank his health. There was no music
in all this for the man who had spent so many years in devel-
oping the ideas thus coolly appropriated. He was in no state of
mind, therefore, to obey with alacrity the summons that came
for him to appear and assume the responsibility for the one de-
fective feature in the vessel and its equipment ; so he left his
* I make this statement upon the authority of Mr. Samuel W. Taylor,
for many years the confidential secretary of Captain Ericsson, from whom he
obtained this information.
STOCKTOX'S TREATMENT OF ERICSSON. 141
associate to liis own explanations. His agency .in the success
of tlie Princeton had been, as he believed, most ungenerons-
ly ignored, and he did not propose that criticism for disaster
should be diverted from Stockton to himself. Ericsson's rea-
sons for declining to respond to the summons calling him to
Washington are given in this letter :
New Yoke, March 1, 1844.
Deab Sib : Your letter of the 28th did not reach me until 5 o'clock this
afternoon. The awful calamity which you relate was therefore l^nown
to me twenty-seven hours before the receipt of your communication,
but for the joyful intelligence of Captain Stockton's safety I am still in-
debted to you. Your request for me to come on immediately, whilst yet
the funeral knell is piercing the air of Washington, you can readily im-
agine is not very agreeable.
How differently should I have regarded an invitation from Captain
Stockton a week ago ! I might then have had it in my jjower to render
good service and valuable counsel. JVow I can be of no use. I must be per-
mitted to exercise my own judgment in this matter, and I have to state
most emphatically that since Captain Stockton is in possession of an ac-
curate working plan of his exploded gun my presence at Washington
can be of no use, should an investigation of the causes of the sad acci-
dent be deemed neoessai-y.
The circumstances attending the loading, quantity and strength of
powder, weight, nature, and fit of ball, etc., of course / cannot inquire
into. On the other hand, any detailed information from the forge as
to the quantity of metal and the mode of proceeding with the forging
from day to day, and also a similar statement from the Phoenix Foundiy,
showing the quality of the chips or borings in every part of the gun
I can readily procure whilst remaining here.
With the sincerest wish that Captain Stockton may now have suffi-
ciently recovered to bear with the fatigue of hearing you read this, I am
Yours truly,
J. Eeicsson.
Wm. H. Thompson.
The haughty naval officer never forgave this defection, as he
considered it, and in his mind it was ascribed to other motives
than those of wounded professional pride. " If Ericsson had
not been a coward," he once said to Sargent, "there would
have been no trouble about his getting his money for the vessel."
As it was, Stockton prevented the payment of Ericsson's bill
from the appropriation for the Princeton, and there was no
142 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
possibility of Lis obtaining remuneration for the two years he
had devoted to the Government work, and for the charges to
which he had been subjected, except by the tedious and uncer-
tain process of an appeal to Congress.
With a bill made out in due form, and amounting altogether
to $15,080, Ericsson sent this letter :
City of New York, March 14, 1844.
Sm : I have the honor to transmit to you, annexed, the bill for my
services as engineer in planning and superintending the steam machin-
ery, armament, etc., of the U. S. steamer Princeton, and for certain in-
ventions therein specified.
I beg leave to state that the per diem, charge of five pounds sterling
includes all my office, travelling, and other professional disbursements,
and barely covers my expenses for the time during which I have been
occupied on this important national work.
Of the value of the inventions which I have introduced in the Prince-
ton, the results of much previous labor and outlay, it does not become
me to speak. On this subject I can only refer to the recent official re-
port of Captain Stockton, and to the report made by the American Insti-
tute of New York at Captain Stockton's request, a copy of which is here-
,'with enclosed. In any point of view, I trust that my professional
charges will be deemed reasonable by the Department, for it has been
my intention to make them so. When the sum total of charges is com-
pared with the magnitude of the work that has been performed, it will
exhibit a moderate compensation for services of such variety and extent.
I have the honor to be your most obedient servant,
John Ebicsson.
To the Hon. the Secbetaby op the Navy.
The charge was for two hundred and thirty days at five
pounds a day, and $5,000 for services, specified as follows :
For services rendered in inventing, designing, and perfecting the
following improvements connected with the arts of naval warfare and
■with steamships of war, and applied to the U. S. steamer Princeton,
viz. :
The heating apparatus, by which a great saving of fuel is effected,
■which has never before been attained ;
The new gun-carriage, by which not only the heaviest piece of ord-
nance can be handled by a few men, but which so gradually checks the
recoil that the ship receives no injurious shock ;
The sliding chimney and mechanism by which that great desidera-
Stockton's treatment of eeicsson. 143
turn, the absence of a projecting chimney in a ship of war, has been
attained; and
The spirit-level, by which the elevation of a piece of ordnance may
be readily ascertained with the utmost precision. . . .
A reply came at ouce from the Department stating that the
account had been received and " referred to Captain Stockton
for report." Tvpenty-five days passed and Ericsson again wrote
saying : " The great leugtli of time which I devoted to tliis
work compelled me to incur pecuniary liabilities which render
it necessary for me to solicit as early an attention to my account
as may be consistent with the multiplicity of business."
No reply. Again he wrote, a month later (May 8, 1844),
suggesting that it might be necessary for him to apply to Con-
gress, and asking such information as would enable him " to
judge of the propriety or necessity of making such an applica-
tion." This time an answer came at once, saying that the De-
partment was waiting for Stockton, and the next day this letter
was received :
Navy Depaetmbkt, May 11, 1844.
Sib: A letter has this day been received from Captain Stockton
which contains the following paragraph in relation to your claims :
" In regard to Captain Ericsson's bill, which was sent to me at the
same time, I must say that, with all my desire to serve him, I cannot
approve of his bill ; it is direct violation of our agreement as far as it is
to be considered a legal claim upon the Department."
With such an unfavorable expression of opinion, the Department
cannot allow your claim.
I am respectfully yours,
J. Y. Mason.
Captain J. Ericsson, New York.
Nine days after the date of this letter Stockton sent this
communication to the Department :
Pbinoeton, May 20, 1844.
Sib : In answer to your last communication of the tenth instant, on
the subject of Captain Ericsson's account, a copy of which had been pre-
viously sent to me by the Department, and which I could not approve,
I have the honor further to state :
That it has given me great pleasure to acknowledge on all proper
occasions the services of Captain Ericsson's mechanical skill in carrying
1-14 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
out my well-intended efforts for the .benefit of the country and, although
I am still free to do so, yet my duty to the Government, and not more
than a proper regard for myself, require me to say, that I was quite sur-
prised to learn that he had ]jreseuted any claim or demand wliatever,
against the Department, for services rendered to me in fitting the
Princeton ; nor was my surprise at all diminished on the perusal of his
accounts to find that he had been so extravagant in all his demands.
That the Government itiay have a proper understanding of the true
position of Captain Ericsson toward the Government and myself in re-
gard to any demand he has made or may see fit to make for services
before alluded to, however eminent and laborious they may turn out to
be, it seems to be proper here to state some of the circumstances con-
nected with my first acquaintance with him and his subsequent visit to
the United States.
Previous to my acquaintance with Captain Ericsson I had proposed
to the President of the United States and the Navy Department to con-
struct a steamship-of-war, whose machinery should be entirely out of
the reach of shot. Pursuing my inquiries on this subject a few years
afterward in England, I was informed by Mr. Francis B. Ogden, our
Consul at Liverpool, that a very ingenious mechanic by the name of
Ericsson had been devoting much time and attention to the matter of
submerged wheels. He afterward introduced him to me ; subsequently
I had constructed in England, under his immediate superintendence,
an iron boat with submerged wheels, and which boat was afterward sent
to the United States. I also had constructed under his direction an
engine similar to the one now on board the Princeton, which was also
sent to the United States.
Having obtained these two models, I took my leave of Captain Erics-
son, not knowing that I should ever again see him, and not supposing
that his personal sei-vices would be ever required or desired by me. I
had the fullest confidence that all that I wished could be done quite as
well by the mechanics in the United States as by Captain Ericsson.
I had no idea that Captain Ericsson intended to come to the United
States until I received a letter from him announcing his arrival in New
York. I have invariably given him to understand in the most distinct
manner, whenever the subject was alluded to, that I have no authority
from the Government to employ him, and that if he received anything,
that it must be altogether gratuitous on the part of the Government, that
considering the great opportunity he, as an inventor, would have to in-
troduce his patents to the world by the aid of the Government, I did not
think it proper for him to make a charge for their application to the
Princeton, in all of which he has concurred as far as I know, up to the
time of his presentment of his extraordinai-y bill.
It appears, then, in the first place, that Captain Ericsson came to the
United States without my invitation or approbation, and allow me fur-
ther to add, much to my surprise and annoyance. Ha^^ng thus thrust
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OF ERICSSON. 145
himself upon me, and believing him at that time to be a mechanic of
some skill, I did nut employ him, but I permitted him, as a particular act
of favor and kindness, to superintend the construction of the machinery
of the Princeton, on the success of which he had placed so much of his
future hopes and expectations. Captain Ericsson himself considered, at
the time he thus volunteered his services, that the opportunity afforded
him to exhibit to the world the importance of his various patents,
would be a satisfactory remuneration for all his services in getting them
up on so magnificent a scale.
In giving you this brief and general statement of my views on the
subject of your letter of the 10th inst., I have endeavored to avoid every-
thing not directly connected with the subject of your inquiry.
Your obedient and faithful servant,
K. P. Stockton,
To Hon. John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy.
It thus appears that Captain Stockton, after delaying a I'S-
port upon Ericsson's claim, for services as long as he could,
finally took a position concerning it which was in flat contra-
diction of his own previous action and of oral and written prom-
ises to Ericsson. The distinction between a claim for patent
fees and one for professional services is too obvious to suffer
tliein to be for a moment confounded. Besides, Stockton was
held by the strongest obligations that can bind an honorable
man to urge upon the Government Ericsson's title to the re-
cognition of his patent claims, for these had been made con-
tingent only upon the success of the Princeton and its complete
success was not questioned. Even were the facts as stated they
would not justify Stockton's position, and if the letter does not
actually misstate facts it does furnish an example of the sup-
jiressio veri, suggestio falsi.
" To the Honorable the Congress of the United States,"
" John Ericsson, of tlie City of Xew York, Civil Engineer," ac-
cordingly addressed a memorial setting forth the facts, as shown
by a series of twenty-six letters and documents accompanying
the petition, and saying in this temperate language : " It is
suggested by Captain Stockton that your memorialist has no
' legal claim ' upon the Department. By this expression Cap-
tain Stockton does not intend to deny that the sei-vices al-
leged have been rendered — that the work for which your me-
morialist claims compensation has been done by him and Avell
10
146 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
done— nor that the United States are in the present enjoy-
ment of the unpaid results of your memorialist's labor and
invention. ... A claim founded on such considerations
and so verified, your memorialist cannot well distinguish from
a 'legal claim.'"
Ericsson then quotes the letters which passed between liim
and Stockton in July, 1841, with reference to his leaving the
matter of payment for his patent rights to the Government, and
continues : " This your memorialist presumes to be the agree-
ment which Captain Stockton alleges to be directly ' violated '
by the account which your memorialist has submitted to the
Department. It is true that your memorialist consented thus
to leave the amount of his patent fees to what Captain Stock-
ton should ' recommend,' or the Government should see fit to
pay. Six months have elapsed since the ship was tried. Four
months have elapsed since Captain Stockton reported to your
honorable body that the Princeton can make greater speed
than any sea-going steamer or other vessel heretofore built, and
expressed his belief that she would prove 'invincible' against
any foe. Meanwhile the Government has not seen fit to pay
your memorialist anj'thing for his patent rights. Meanwhile
Captain Stockton has not been pleased to recommend that any-
thing should be paid to your memorialist for his patent rights.
And when your memorialist calls upon the Department — not
for the patent fees in question — but for the bare repayment of
his expenditures and compensation for his time and labor iu
the service of the United States — still leaving his patent
charges to their own voluntary action — he is told that the
' Government cannot allow his claim,' and the presentation of
his bill, ' if it is to be considered a legal claim upon the De-
partment,' ' violates an agreement.'
" This agreement, it is obvious, had reference only to the
patent rights in question and not to the services of your me-
morialist as engineer, his expenses in that capacity, nor to his
compensation for the numerous inventions and improvements
unconnected with the engine and propeller which were subse-
quently introduced in the Princeton. Your memorialist never
contemplated that these services should be gratuitously rendered,
and it would require certainly a very clear and unequivocal ex-
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OP ERICSSON. 147
pression of such an intent on his part to lead any one to a con-
clusion so extraordinary.
" Under tliese circumstances your memorialiot is compelled
to apply to your honorable body for relief, and would respect-
fully solicit the attention of your honorable body to the veri-
fied accounts he has the honor to transmit to them. The ad-
vances which your memorialist lias made on account of the
United States and the great length of time during which he
was devoted to this work without compensation have exhausted
his resources, and the refusal of the Department to entertain
his claim leaves liini no recourse but that of making a direct ap-
peal to the representatives of the American people.
" All of which is most respectfully submitted by
" Your obedient servant,
" John Eeicsson."
The documents accompanying this memorial were the of-
ficial orders directing Stockton to build the Princeton, a series
of letters from Stockton calling upon Ericsson for the plans,
designs, superintendence, travelling, etc., charged for in his
bill, and affidavits from Professor Dionysius Lardner, Pro-
fessor James J. Mapes, and Eobert Schuyler, setting forth that
the charge of £5 per day was not only moderate but far less than
such exceptional professional services might properly command.
There were also letters and contracts showing that the speci-
fications called for " a semi-rotary engine on Ericsson's patent
principle" and for his propeller, and that the work upon the
equipment of the vessel was done from his designs and under
his superintendence. The sequence and order of these letters,
together with their text, shows that while Stockton stood be-
fore the Department as sponsor for the Princeton he was de-
pendent for every detail of its equipment upon Ericsson's skill
and experience. Yet in liis official report upon the completion
of the vessel Ericsson's name does not appear, nor is there any
allusion to him in the message of President Tyler to Congress
transmitting this report, February 12, 1844.
" Of this," wrote Mr. Sargent at the time to Senator More-
head, " Captain Ericsson does not complain. But not satisfied
with deriving all the credit, Captain Stockton is altogether in-
148 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
active in procuring Captain Ericsson compensation for his ser
vices. Whether or no this arises from a desire to keep Erics-
son altogether out of view, and then monopolize all the credit
you can judge as well as I. Stockton has taken all the glory.
In his report he even speaks of ' submerged wheels,' to avoid
an allusion to ' Ericsson's propeller,' and besides all this
suffers Ericsson to go without remuneration for his laborious,
valuable, and unremitted services for two years. Ericsson
was the author and maker of the whole thing, that is to say
everything about lier in which she differs from others. Bills
for constructing for the United States the most formidable
ship of war that floats the seas, and that has excited the wonder
and admiration of so many thousands of our citizens, sleep on
the table of the Secretary unpaid. His letters on the subject
remain unanswered. Is not this disgraceful to the navy ? "
The Naval Committee of the House of Eepresentatives unani-
mously reported a bill to pay Ericsson $15,080, but it was
defeated by a narrow majority. In 1848, a similar bill was de-
feated by an unfavorable report from the Senate Naval Com-
mittee.
For eight years nothing further was done in Congress.
Meantime, the Act of February 24, 1856, established a Court
of Claims to adjudicate upon questions in dispute between
the Government and individuals, reserving to Congi-ess the
right to approve or disapprove the decisions of the Court.
On March 26, 1856, the Senate of the United States ordered
Ericsson's papers to be referred to the Court of Claims. The
Court united in a decision granting him $13,930, and refer-
ring this award to Congress in the usual form for approval.
This was the amount of his bill for $15,080 — less $1,150 he had
received, including the thousand dollars referred to in his cor-
respondence with Stockton. Ten days after this judgment the
Senate committee reported a bill providing for the payment of
this net sum. In the United States Senate on May 14, 1858,
an earnest speech in support of the claim was made by the
Hon. Stephen R. Mallory, representative from Florida, whose
experience as Chairman of the Naval Committee had made him
familiar with the value of Ericsson's services. " There was no
experiment in the Princeton^'' Mr. Mallory said. " The exper-
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OF ERICSSON. 149
iment had been made at great cost by Captain Ericsson, tie
liad exhausted every dollar he had on earth in making the ex-
periment. . . . The Princeton is the foundation of our
present steam marine. It is the foundation of the steam ma-
rine of the whole world. . . . The qualities which the
Princeton had we have translated into other vessels, but we
have never excelled her. ... If he had volunteered his
services, I ask, when the country has reaped these great advan-
tages by them, is it just, is it generous, is it magnanimous in the
American people to refuse him this paltry compensation ? A
letter from Stockton, written in 1853, was interpreted by the
Court of Claims as showing that he merely held that there was
no legal contract and not that no service was rendered. The
Court of Claims did not accept Stockton's view of the case and
finding in his letters, as well as elsewliei-e, proof that payment
of some sort for service was expected, granted Ericsson the
amount asked for."
There the matter has rested from that time to this. Con-
gress neglected to appropriate the money, and the bill for
Ericsson's relief, like so many other meritorious measures,
after running the usual course, disappeared in the sandy wastes
of legislative talk. The decisions of the Court of Claims ad-
verse to the claimants against the Government were concurred
in at that time without examination. The decisions in their
favor were sent to a committee, where, in the language of one
of its members, you needed " law, equity, evidence, and inspira-
tion to get anything."
The justice of his demand being recognized, and the Court
of Claims having reported in its favor, Ericsson had every
reason to believe that his money would soon be received.
Thus he was tempted to give to the collection of his " claim "
time which he might liave devoted to more profitable pursuits,
and was kept for years in a constant state of irritation and
anxiety. The chief theme of his discourse with his friend Sar-
gent, in a long series of letters, extending over a number of
years, was the injustice of Congress, and his favorable opinion
of American methods did not grow apace. At the conclusion
of a long letter on this subject, he writes : " I will say no more ;
the gross injustice in the whole matter makes me nervous, far
150 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
more than if doomed to decapitation in twenty-four hours."
lie was constantly harassed for money at this time, and sub-
jected to endless embarrassment and humiliation. For this the
law afforded no possible redress against the Sovereign Con-
gress. The JSTavy Department did finally, in 1848, allow him
two thousand dollars for the use of his patented engine but his
bill for two years' services devoted to the construction of the
Pririceton still stands as an vmpaid judgment against the
Government.
If an " ingenious mechanic " had rendered service under
like circumstances to an architect employed to build a liouse,
can there be any doubt that he would not only have had a legal
claim against the owner of the house but a lien upon the prop-
erty as well? A claim that is legal as against an individual
is not under our system enforceable against the Government ;
that is all. Judge Story, in his " Commentaries on the Consti-
tution," points out the serious defect of both Federal and State
constitutions in failing to provide any means of enforcing a
just claim against the State, such as exists in England under
what is called a petition of right to the Court of Chancery.
" Cases of the most cruel hardship and intolerable delay, have,"
said Judge Stoiy, " already occurred, in which meritorious cred-
itors have been reduced to grievous suffering, and sometimes
to absolute ruin, by tardiness of a justice which has been
yielded only after the humble supplication of many years be-
fore the legislature."
Such is Ericsson's case, and in this instance the United
States has availed itself without compensation of the experience
acquired at great cost by a private individual, and has con-
tinued to make use, from that dav to this, of ideas undoubtedlv
originated and first ■ applied by him, without payment for the
service rendered. If this does not violate the letter it cer-
tainly does offend the spirit of the constitutional requirement
that private property shall not be taken for public use without
just compensation ; for property, as the United States Su-
preme Court has said, " is a word of large import."
In 1866 a competent engineering authority declared that no
screw propeller engine " has since been constructed to go below
the water-line which surpasses that of the Princeton in trust-
151
worthiness, durability, strengtii, lightness, and meclianical ex-
cellence of performance. It was simpler and had fewer parts
than any propeller engine ever put into a war steamer." Erics-
son was the pioneer in applying power directly to the shaft
turning the screw, so as to get rid of the complication of belts
or gearing, and the engine of the Princeton was the fii'st ex-
ample of this type. It marked a new departure, and was at
the time openly and unsparingly ridiciiled by all the experts
who examined it. In spite of them and their wisdom it did
its work so perfectly and accurately that it wore out one hull,
and another was built expressly for it.
Whatever feeling Ericsson may have had toward Captain
Stockton, it did not survive the occasion. In his Contribu-
tions to the Centennial Exhibition, 1876, he gives some account
of his transactions with him (Chapter XXVI.) making no allu-
sion to the differences between them, and speaking of him as
" that enterprising and spirited officer." Ericsson's published
references to Stockton were all dignified and free from passion,
thougli in one of his private letters, written in 1844 when he was
smarting under the sense of recent injustice, he does speak of
" the deep rascality of that letter of Stockton's." In another
private letter, also written at that time, he said : " Give Stock-
ton time and he will produce certificates that gun, carriages,
heaters, engines, and propeller of the Princeton are all failures.
Ten to one he will make me out to be tiie Government's debtor
— only give him time." Francis B. Ogden, who had a pro-
prietary interest in the propeller, shared its inventor's opinion
as to the hostility of Captain Stockton. Writing concerning
some of Ericsson's difficulties, he said (in a letter dated June
26, 1849) :
I enter feelingly into your disgust at the unfair decision of juries and
judges ; but, my dear friend, you have a recuperative hundred horse-
power in your favor in your own inexhaustible resources. Write me
immediately and more frequently — tell me what you are doing — where
is Stockton and what is he about — has he influence with the present ad-
ministration ? If he has I need not ask how he employs it. I have it
from the best authority that he has sworn to ruin me — as well as your-
self. I should like to have him within ten paces, with all his boasted
chivalry and devil-may-care deeds. What is Bobert Stevens doing ? Will
152 LIFE OP JOHN EEICSSON.
his sliot-proof frigate ever be afloat, or his thirty mile steamers ever as-
tonish the world ?
The " ten paces " has reference to Stockton's early reputa-
tion as a duellist. At one time, when feeling between British
and American officers ran higli, jnst after tlie War of 1812,
Stockton accepted challenges to fight all the captains of the
British regiment then garrisoning Gibraltar. Several meetings
took place and Stockton had a most adventurous escape from
arrest after wounding his adversary in one of them.
Ilow deeply Ogden was interested in his partner's success is
sliown by these extracts from letters written by him to Erics-
son from Liverpool.
February 3, 1842. As soon as any money comes in that you can
spare do let me for Gods sake have a little for old scores, for I do as-
sure you I am still devilish poor, although Stockton's acceptance has
kept me afloat for the present, and I hope for better times some day
hereafter.
February 18, 1842. I am delighted with your satisfaction at the com-
ing in of the works of the frigate, and with the rapid progress you are
making ; and I do not allow myself to put in a hypothetical )/as to the
success of the iron boats. [These were the four canal barges ordered by
Stockton.] I look upon that as settled. Had Stockton come forward
three years ago, as he ought to have done, his property would have been
at this day worth twice what it is ; never too late, however.
Liverpool, April 3, 1842. Count Von Eosen has had two interviews
with the Lords of the Admiralty, and seems to think that they favored
the idea of giving your propeller a trial. I have written to President
Houston, of Texas, urging him to let me build him an iron ship, fitted
with Ericsson's propellers and armed with Paixhan guns."
May 20, 1842. My chief, aay for a time to come my only depend-
ence is in your success, and as I embarked with you heart and soul, and
have never for one instant faltered, but have stuck by you in good re-
port and evil, and as far as it was in my power have assisted you and pro-
moted your views, I feel quite certain of all your exertions in my favor.
My head is yet above water, but I tell you in sincerity that I have not
money to go to market with. I have property here worth four times as
much as it would now sell for. I have debts (good in time) due from
the United States to the amount of $15,000, from which I cannot now
realize a shilling.
Your arrangement with the Lake people I approve highly of, for in
the first instance, a peppercorn is of moi'e importance than any sum that
might be recovered or rather jeopardized by the uncertainty of the law.
STOCKTON'S TREATMENT OF ERICSSON. 153
I am rejoiced at the prospect your ivon boats will open, and indeed I
look upon the thing as fairly before the public, sink or swim, accord-
ing to its own merits. Of the result I have not the least doubt. Such
is Bobert Stevens's standing that it will not be advisable to come out
against his plan until you are in successful operation — then plunge a
240-pound shot into his citadel, and don't take it for granted because he
says so ihafc his " Pa " was the inventor of the propeller. Bring him down
to particulars and you will find it to have been quite a different thing.
Should he attempt to introduce it into his iron bomb-proof, make no stir
about it until the thing is complete, and Congress has acted upon your
claim. Then you will have ground to go upon.
June 3, 1842. Since the fate of the Clarion, no sea-steamer, I
suppose, will be started until the Princeton sets the question at rest,
which I trust it will do to the satisfaction of all the world except Bobert
Stevens, who of course will be an unbeliever until he can establish his
claim to it in the name of his ' Pa,' who tried everything and succeeded
in nothing. The Mai-qiiis of Worcester was a fool to him with his " Cen-
to " ; Stevens was a Millio.
These familiar letters show the relations existing between
the two men to whom we are chiefly indebted for the steam
propeller — to Ericsson because of the engineering ability and
persevering enei-gy devoted to the solution of a problem so
long bafSiino' mechanics — to Osrden because of the sound nanti-
cal judgment and personal influence which contribnted to its
early inti-oduction. The Clarion of the Havana line, alluded
to here, was the first ocean steamer fitted with the propeller.
Stevens's " bomb-proof " was the iron-clad vessel begun by
Robert L. Stevens at Hoboken, in 1843, carried on during his
lifetime at heavy expense, and continued after his death by
General George B. McCIellan, Stevens having left a million
dollars for this purpose in his will. It was never completed,
and was finally sold for old iron and broken up. Stevens's bat-
tery as well as the Princeton originated in the Oregon boun-
dary troubles of President Tyler's administration and the
" fifty -four forty or fight" sentiment of that day, which de-
manded that the boundary line between the United States and
the British possessions should extend to latitude 54° 40' TT.
In 1842, April 14, an act of Congress was passed authoriz-
ing a contract with Mr. Stevens for an iron-clad steam vessel,
a joint commission of army and navy oflficers having decided, af-
154 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
ter experiments at Sandy Hook, that four and a half inches of
armor were proof against existing ordnance. Similar experi-
ments in England led to similar conclusions. Before Stevens's
vessel was begun Ericsson and Stockton had shown that this
thickness of armor could be easily pierced, and the contract
with Stevens was chaiiged accordingly.*
In this and in other ways Ericsson and the Stevens an-
tagonized, for among the numerous claimants for the screw
was John Stevens, who experimented with it in 1804. Og-
den's letters quoted here appear to be the echo of Ericsson's
own sentiments concerning Stevens. Ericsson's antagonisms
were, however, directed against acts rather than individuals,
as even his friends sometimes discovered to their cost. He
was too large-minded to indulge in antipathies merely personal.
Confident in his own abilities he asked only for a fair field
and no favor, and his feelings of hostility never survived their
occasion, as was shown in still another instance when he re-
buked with dignity a correspondent who assumed upon his sup-
posed hostility to his Rainhill antagonist, George Stephenson, to
speak slightingly of him. It was not his habit to speak ill of
otliers and he was always ready to rebuke those who imagined
that they could turn wliat they assumed to be his hostUities
to their personal account. Favors done him were written on
adamant; injuries were inscribed upon the waters. When he
had acquired wealth some one sought to annoy him by writing
from abroad, that a movement was on foot to erect a monu-
ment to one of the numerous claimants to the invention of the
screw. Ericsson's response was a check for five hundred dol-
lars as a contribution to the monument.
* See American Cyclopedia of Biography, article R. L. Stevens.
CHAPTER X.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES.
General Introduction of the Screw. — Adopted for the British Navy. —
First Use of Twin Screws. — ^Ericsson's Business Methods and Fi-
nances. — Auxiliary Steam Vessels. — Their Use During the War with
Mexico. — The Massachusetts General Scott's Flag-ship. — The Prince-
ion Claim Again. — Failure of the Iron Witch. — Business Associa-
tions with E. B. Forbes. — Ericsson's Work for the Government. —
Competitive Trial of Screw-vessels. — Rival Claims to the Invention
of the Screw. — Contests in the Courts.
ETilCSSOWS occupation with the Princeton continued for
two years, from September, 1841, to September, 1843.
During this period, as ah-eady stated, twenty -five vessels trading
in American waters received the screw, besides the original im-
ported tng Robert F. Stockton. By the end of 1843 the list of
screw vessels afloat on this side of tlie Atlantic had extended
to forty-two. They are enumerated and described in the report
of the Swedish Lieutenant Johnson referred to on page 110.
Speaking of this report, an English authority says :
The fate of mechanical inventions is much like that of the seed in
the parable. The invention must fall on a proper soil and be nurtured
by favorable circumstances of time and place, in order to bloom into
success. The application of the steam-engine to navigation was of
greater necessity to the large extent of the rivers and lakes of the Unit-
ed States than with ourselves ; and Fulton did right to take his marine
engine back to his own country. For similar reasons the screw pro-
peller worked its way into use there much quicker than with ourselves.
It is worthy of notice that Ericsson applied his propeller to upward of
sixty vessels in America before any other form of propeller was adopted,
nor is it less worthy of remark that the adoption of his pi'opeller proved
a great commercial success from the start, many of the original vessels
being now, after fifteen years of service, in good working condition.*
* The London Engineer, May 11, 1866.
156 LIKi; OF JOHN EEICSSON.
The machinery of tliese early vessels was built in New
York, Philadelphia, and Oswego.
Daring the two years principally devoted to the PrincMon
time was found for other work. June 24, 1843, engines upon a
new pi-inciple were experimentally tested in a canal barge called
the Black Diamond, and the next year a model was deposited
in the Patent Office, June 8, 1844, and a patent applied for
June 24th. October 6, 1843, Rufus K. Page, of Ilallowell, Me.,
was given the right for eighteen months to negotiate " on joint
account " with '' any prince, power or sovereignty," except
France, for applying Ericsson's propeller and engines to ves-
sels on the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In 1842 back
action engines were planned, and in 1843 they were applied to
the Ke venue cutter Legate, and afterward to II. M. S. Am-
jpliion, tlie first British war vessel fitted with the Ericsson pro-
peller. They are described as "a species of steeple-engine laid
upon its side." The steeple-engine is one familiar to travellers
on American rivers. The guides to the connecting-rod rise
vertically along the crank-shaft, and require for their accom-
modation the high frame rising above the deck like the steeple
of a country church.
In 1843, too, twin screw engines were applied to the steam-
ship Marmora, tliese consisting of two independent beam en-
gines placed transversely in the ship, the beams operating close
under the deck. This was the first practical application of the
twin screw system. Single cylinder screw engines were also ap-
plied in a peculiar manner to numerous freight vessels on the
canals and rivers of the United States, to adapt them to the ne-
cessities of navigation in shallow waters. The piston-rod and
driving-crank were so connected by cog-wheels as to move in
opposite directions through equal arcs in equal times.
Soon after his arrival in New York Ericsson opened an ac-
count in the bank of " Manhattan Company," a corporation
chartered in 1799 under tlie pretence of introducing water into
New York, and owing: its existence to a scheme of Aaron Burr's
for neutralizing the influence in New York City of Hamilton
and the Federalists. With this ancient and substantial institu-
tion Ericsson continued to bank.until his death. In his series
of cheok-books are found the only accounts he ever kept,
a
SUCCESSES AKD PAIUJEES. 157
for, whatever his accomplishments, book-keeping is not to be
included among tlieui. Departing from the strictly legitimate
uses of the check-book, he filled his up with memoranda of
various sorts — most useful for biography, if somewhat disturb-
ing to the cashier's idea of the fitness of things. Here is to be
found the only consecutive account that has been preserved of
Ericsson's transactions from day to day, and from year to year.
His check-books tell in their way the story of their owner's
personal peculiarities, and with mute eloquence testify to his
generosity, his kindness of heart, his strict integrity, and,
most of all, to his overmastering disposition to spend his money
upon his ideas rather than upon himself. There was for him
no resting-place of ease, of Sybaritic enjoyment, or even of per-
sonal comfort, as most men regard comfort. Always just be-
yond lay the goal of higher attainment.
The account in these check-books begins with July, 1844,
and one or two of the books before 1844 have disappeared. The
sum to Ericsson's credit at this time was $5,361.16, and the
deposits during the previous six months had amounted to $21,-
423.33. For six weeks from July 1 there were no deposits :
then on August 15, 1844, $3,700 went into the bank, and
the next day $3,500 more. Meantime checks had been drawn
for these items :
Payments on account of machinery contracted. $2,897 14
For patent expenses on the propeller 316 93
Salaries of office assistants 80 00
Eent for one month 128 00
Marble bust from H. Kneeland (on account) . . 70 00
For " Duck " (Mrs. Ericsson) 150 00
For personal expenses 150 00
Total «3,792 07
Substantially thus runs the account from month to month.
It shows that as soon as he was released from his obligations to
Stockton, Ericsson found abundant and profitable occupation.
Had his honest bill against the Government received recogni-
tion, he would have had to his credit nearly twenty thousand
dollars on July 1, 1844, less than five years after he landed,
a stranger, in the country ; by no means an inconsiderable
158 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
sum for any professional man in those days, and especially
for one starting life anew in a strange country. During tlie
entire year 184:4 Ericsson's receipts were nearly forty thou-
sand dollars, $39,121.16, and the year following they were
more than double this, or $84,536.84. In these two years, as
his records show, he was carrying out contracts for steam-ma-
chinery for seven or eight steam vessels. One of these was
the Kevenue cutter Legare, another the Keveuue cutter Jef-
ferson, and a third the 188-ton twin screw propeller Midas.
The Midas belonged to Messrs. J. M. & E. B. Forbes and W.
C Hunter, and was the first American steamer to pass the Cape
of Good Ilope, and the first to ply in Chinese waters. She
sailed from New York Kovembcr 4, 1844, and fell a victim to
neglect and bad engineei'ing. Her boilers were ruined and
she was transformed into a sailing vessel.
The Midas was followed by tlie auxiliary steam bark
Edith, 450 tons, belonging to Robert B. Forbes and Thomas
II. Perkins, Jr., two of tlie most enterprising of Boston
merchants and sliip ownei-s in the China trade. Mr. Per-
kins who, during the War of 1812, served on a private armed
ship, and took part in several naval engagements, was familiar
■with navigation, as was also Mr. Forbes. Both of them were
men of rare force of character, of far-sighted views, and in-
dependent jndgnient. It was with such men that Ericsson
always succeeded host. It was only the timid worshippers of
precedent who feai-ed him. The " opium war" of 1842 had
opened five treaty ports in China to foreigners, and as there
was an active contest for their trade the Edith was built with
a fine model and a full rig, to enable her to run between India
and China in competition witli the fast English opium clippers.
Speaking of this vessel's trial trip, Ericsson wrote : " The
E/lith went four and a lialf miles in twenty-seven and a half
minutes, being at the rate of nine and eight-tenths miles per
hour (statute). My guarantee was, as j'ou will recollect, seven
statute miles. This result far exceeds anything that has at-
tended the application of my propeller, and that it should be
so in this particular case, being the first in which my patent in-
vention for unshipping the propeller has been applied, is most
gratifying." The Edith sailed from New York January 18,
SUCCESSES AND I'AILUEES. 159
1845, and was the first Amei-ican steamer to visit Britisli India
and the first square-rigged propeller that went to China under
the American flag.
On Marcli 11, 1843, Ericsson acknowledged the receipt of
$1,000, patent fees, from Messrs. Forbes & Perkins for the
propeller and shipping apparatus of the Edith, and agreed to
protect them against adverse claims for patent fees.
In February, 1845, Ericsson wrote to Sargent, saying : '■'■In
confidence, our lioston friends have about made up their minds
to build at once a large packet with my auxiliary propeller for
tlie Atlantic. I am almost crazy with joy in consequence. It
is by far the most important move yet."
The owners of the Edith were so well satisfied with her
performance that they resolved to follow her with another
auxiliary screw-steamer, that is, a vessel rigged as a sailer but
fitted with engines and a propeller to be used as occasion re-
qnired. This was the Massachusetts, 170 tons, old measure-
ment, belonging to Mr. Forbes and some friends. She had
the same general arrangement as the Edith for turning up her
propeller out of the water and was, like her, full-rigged with
donble topsails and masts and spars aloft, so that she could
either steam or sail. She was intended for the transatlantic
trade, and left New York on her first voyage, September 16,
1845, as the pioneer steam packet between the United States
and England under the American flag. Neither of these two
vessels was successful commercially, for reasons explained by
Mr. Forbes in his volume of " Personal Eeminiscenees." They
met the fate that usually overtakes the pioneers in any enter-
prise, and their ill success was in no way connected with Erics-
son's work, which was done to the entire satisfaction of the
owners of the vessels. Fortunately, the Mexican War created
a demand for transports and these vessels were chartered and
afterward bought by the United States. The Massachusetts
carried Winfleld Scott to the siege of Vera Cruz and was af-
ter the war employed on Lighthouse service. She was re-
clii'istened Earallones and was finally sold and transformed into
a sailing ship called the Alaska. Tlie Edith was lost in a fog oif
Santa Barbara Cove while in charge of an oflicer of the N'avy.*
* Personal Reminiscences. By Robert B. Forbes, pp. 210-216.
160 LIKE OF JOHN EllICSSON.
Mr. Forbes sent to the ISTavy Department a most flattering
account of the Massachusetts and proposed that Ericsson's pro-
peller and unshipping gear should be applied to a fi'igate, de-
claring that it was 'bis " greatest ambition " to build a ship of
war for the navy to be used as a merchant vessel until occasion
required its service, for war. At this time Ericsson's attorney-
Mr. Sargent wrote from Washington that the Committee of Con-
gress was proposing to cut down the Princeton claim to $6,000
and pay him that. To this he replied, saying : " So far from
refusing the $6,000 recommended, I gladly accept it as a god-
send, since I have for several weeks past made up my mind to
receive nothing whatever. I am now on the point of conclud-
ing very favorable contracts with gentlemen in the East, which
in another year will make me independent of Government.
Hence, $6,000 will be of far greater importance to me now than
three times that amount this time twelve months, and I have
good reason to believe that Stockton has sworn vengeance
against mo and that it would be a 'vqy'^ heavy sacrifice indeed
that ho would not make to purchase my downfall." This letter
throughout shows liow sound a judgment Ericsson had even in
matters where his interest might seem to blind him to the facts.
Early in 1845 (says Mr. Forbes in his Eeminisoenees), I signed a
contract to build an iron steamer to be called the Iron Witch. My
associates were J. M. Forbes, J. K. Mills, W. S. Wetmore, John E.
Thayer, Edward King, M. O. Roberts, and John Ericsson, the eminent
engineer, who designed her, and expected her to beat all competitors
on the North Biver. Hogg & Delamater were the bnilders. She had
sea-going inclined engines of great power, intended to operate small
paddle-wheels. She was very nicely built, and had superb engines,
plenty of boiler, fire, and grate surface. All American engineers, who
had long pinned their faith on the beam-engine and long stroke, with
wheels of large diameter, predicted the failure of the Iron Witch. On
trial, it was found that she could just beat the old Ti-oi/, but stood no
chance with the more modern boats on the route to Albany. She ran for
a time in charge of Captain Roe, continually losing money ; when it was
determined to try an experiment suggested by Ericsson ; namely, to re-
move her side-wheels, and put on geared side-propellers ; with these she
made no increase of speed, and added much to thevibi'ation. Some five
or ten thousand dollars were thus wasted, and the material went into the
scrap-heap.
The Iron Witch — known in my books originally as the Allegania —
SUCCESSES AND EAILtTKES. 161
proved to be a grand failure. Her machinery being veiy massive, it was
concluded to put it into a sea-going steamer. A contract was made with
Mr. Brown, who built the Falcon, taking the Iron Witch's hull in part pay.
ment. He fitted her with an ordinary beam-engine ; and. for a long
time, she ran in connection with some railroad on the North Eiver. The
Falcon was sold to George Law, and, I believe, was the first to run in
connection with the Ohagres and Panama route to California. . It will
readily be conceived that the Iron Witch spec resulted in a heavy loss to
all concerned. The wise men of Gotham, who predicted her failure, had
no doubt that her powerful engines would revolve her small wheels up to
any desired speed ; but they said she would not go fast. Ericsson had
no doubt of his power to work up to more than thirty turns, and had full
faith that she would go over twenty miles per hour. The result proved
that no amount of steam could get the wheels beyond about thirty
turns ; and with this she went about seventeen statute miles, or just
enough to beat the old Troy. With an active competition under the
control of such men as Daniel Drew, this slow rate was a failure.
A speed was guaranteed " six miles per hour faster than the
average run of the boat Emjpire, upon the Hudson Eiver," and
the gentlemen advancing the money to build the vessel were
to have one-half the patent right for the Hudson liiver and one
half of all profits the Iron 'Witch and all other boats similarly
equipped might earn upon that stream. Success would have
made Ericsson a rich man, but success did not come. Alto-
gether, this was one of tlie most trying experiences of his life,
and failure left him in a position from which nothing but great
abilities could have extricated him.
Ericsson's accounts show that a little over ninety thousand
dollars was expended on the Iron Witch, and nearly one-half
of this amount was fui-nished by Mr. Forbes and his brother.
The vessel had double engines and in these the steam was
worked highly expansively and on a new plan. As both pad-
dle-wheels and propeller were applied to her, an excellent op-
portunity offered for a comparison of the two, greatly to the
advantage of the propeller. In a letter dated April 3, 1846,
Ericsson wrote :
TheTFiic^ ran yesterday up and down the Hudson eighteen miles each
way in one hour and fifty-five minutes on 16J pounds of steam in the
boilers, all we could carry without foaming. Her speed at that low
pressure (only one-third of what we intended to carry) is conclusive as
to our ultimate success. ... In a few weeks we will show the fast-
11
163 LIKE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
est vessel now in the world, and perhaps, the fastest ever to be seen pro-
pelled by steam force.
Ericsson's idea was, that great speed could be obtained by
the use of small wheels, and over eighteen miles an liour was
certainly by no means a contemptible result, but it was not sufB-
cient to give him and his associates the monopoly of steaui navi-
gation on the Hudson, which he had confidently hoped to secnic.
For the invention he filed a caveat August 23, 1845. In it he
desci'ibes himself as an alien, who has declared his intention of
becoming a citizen of the United States. The amount lost by
Mr. Marshall O. Roberts, of Kew York, in this enterprise was
suflBeient to tlireaten him with pecuniary embarrassment, but
his fortunes took a happy turn just then and within the next
ninety days he was able to console himself with the addition of
half a million dollars to his possessions.
The business associations formed at this time between Erics-
son and Forbes resulted in personal friendship, and this con-
tinued for nearly half a century, or until the death of Ericsson,
followed within a few months by that of Mr. Forbes. The
shipmaster's ill ventures in the steamship line in no way af-
fected his confidence in the engineer, and he was in the habit
of consulting him upon all occasions. lie asked his opinion as
to the rig of ships, as to the introduction of salt water into
cities, and concerning a great variety of subjects which occu-
pied the busy brain of this energetic and public-spirited Yankee
skipper and merchant. In a letter written just after Ericsson's
death, giving some account of his early acquaintance with him,
Mr. Forbes said : " This brief sketch of my intimate association
with Ericsson, covering a long period of time and much cor-
respondence, never interrupted by an hour of unfriendliness,
proves that, while a man of positive convictions, he never gave
me any offence, and proved a firm friend and able correspond-
ent nearly up to his death." *
* Letter from E. B. Forbes to the Army and Navy Journal, March, 1889.
In a letter addressed to Mr. Forbes in 1883, Ericsson said with reference to
the introduction of salt water into seaboard cities : " The subject was brongbt
to my notice thirty years ago (i.e., 1853). I have ever since taken mueli in
teresfc in the matter, and strongly advocated the salt-water system. It is only
a question of time when it will he introduced, as the stnam engine demand
has already increased to such an extent that fresh water cannot be supplied.
SUCCESSES AND Ti'AlLUEES. 168.
Ericsson in 1844 planned an iron tow-boat, built by Otis Tufts
for the Boston underwriters, and named the IL B. Forbes, ^he
had great power, applied to twin screws, was the first twin screw
propeller built in isew England and was generally recognized
as the most powerful tug-boat in the United States. After a
service of fifteen years in Massachusetts waters, during which
she towed the huge ship Great Iie2)uMic aronnd to Kew York,
the Forhes was sold to the United States and, in 18G2, towed a
frigate into action during Du Pont's attack on Port Eoyal.
On her way along the coast, soon after, she ran ashore and was
burnt to prevent her falling into the hands of the enemy. The
specification for this vessel, dated July 13, 1844, provides for
water-tight bulkheads.
Objections to the screw arose at the beginning because of
the practice of cutting out the stern of vessels to make loom
for it. Ericsson accordingly carried the propeller shaft on the
side of the stern-post, working it abaft the rudder and securing
the further advantage of deeper immersion. This device was
first applied to the Edith and Massachusetts with great econ-
omy of fuel, and in 1849 was adopted for the U. S. war steamer
San Jacinto, 1,460 tons, whose beautiful lines gave opportunity
for a striking exhibition of this new method of applying the
screw. A precisely similar vessel, the U. S. S. Saranac, was
fitted with the ordinary side-wheels and the two vessels were
tried, together under similar conditions, the result clearly dem-
onstrating the superiority of the screw vessel. Now, a naval
power would as soon think of building a vessel without engines
as without tlie screw. To meet the early objection to the
screw, Ericsson built his ships precisely on the model of sail-
ing vessels of the first class, with similar lines in the run and
similar form of stern, the perforation in the hull for the pro-
peller shaft being the only indication of a steamer.
In 1840 Mr. Isambard Kingdom Brunei, the younger of the
two eminent engineers of that name, I'ecommended as the result
of his investigations into the merits of the screw, that it be
adopted on board the steamer Great Eastern. Previous to
this. Captain Eichard Clayton, R.N., made six voyages across
For the steam-boiler salt water is nearly as good as fresh. Other purposes are
too numerous to mention."
164 LIFE OP JOHN EEIOSSON.
the Atlantic in the pioneer vessel of the first transatlantic
line, the Great Western, to note the exact performance of
her paddles and engines on behalf of Mr. Brunei. The atten-
tion of the Admiralty was called to Mr. Brunei's conclusions
concerning the screw, and Sir E. Parry, Controller of Steara
Machinery, proposed that he should apply the propeller to a
naval vessel to be built for the purpose of experimenting with it.
When his engines were approaching completion, Mr. Bru-
nei inquired as to the progress of the ship and ascertained that
the vessel ordered had never been laid down. As the result of
his inquiries he was sent for by Sir George Cockburn, the First
Naval Lord. In his room was a model of the stern of an old-
fashioned three-decker with the whole lower deck exposed
through openings designed to make room for the screw. On this
model was written "Mr. Brunei's mode of applying the screw
to Her Majesty's ships." Pointing to this Sir George said :
" Do you mean to suppose that we shall cut up Her Ma-
jesty's ships after this fashion, sir ? "
Mr. Brunei smiled and disclaimed all responsibility for this
ridiculous application of the screw. " Why, sir," said the First
Lord, "you sent it to the Admiralty." This was denied, and in-
vestigation showed that it came from the office of the Surveyor
of the Navy, the gentleman \s\\o had three years before reported
that a vessel could not be steered with the power applied at
the stern.* Mr. Brunei's expeiience shows how useless was
Ericsson's attempt to overcome the interested or prejudiced
judgment of Mr. Symonds. It was not until two j-ears later
that Mr. Brunei got his vessel, the Rattler, and so thoroughly de-
monstrated the advantages of the screw that in 1843, eight years
after Ericsson's excursion with the Admh-alty lords, twenty of
Her Majesty's vessels were ordered to be fitted with the screw.
The unique engines of the Massachusetts furnished the
model for the screw vessels of Sweden, and her hoi-izontal
double-acting air-pumps were extensively copied in the British
and American navies. The back-acting engines applied to the
United States Revenue cutter Legari', so named after an At-
torney-General of the United States, were copied with slight
modifications into the British screw-steamer Amphion. In
* Life of I. K. Brunei, Civil Engineer, p. 385.
SUCCESSES AND FAILUKES.
165
1844 and 1845 Ericsson applied to several vessels vertical en-
gines for working twin screws independently of each other.
These were so unpopular at the time with engine-drivers that
he discontimted their use but they have since come into favor.
Numerous freight steamers on the canals and lakes were fitted
with macliinery especially adapted to their use.
Ericsson's plan of coupling the engine directly to the pro-
peller shaft met Avith great opposition, but in the end his judg-
ment prevailed, and the rapid introduction of the propeller is
Auxiliary Steam-packet-ship Massacliusetts.
no doubt due to his early appreciation of the necessity of get-
ting rid of the clumsy gearing through which motion had been
transmitted to paddle-wheels. The change involved a difficulty
with the valves of the air-pump. After many experiments he
finally overcame it by using valves of canvas resting on per-
forated plates. These were first applied to the Massachusetts
and attracted great attention from engineers. On this vessel,
also, he first discarded the hoop used to strengthen his original
propeller, securing the same result by bracing the blades diag-
onally.
166 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
By 1849 the screw propeller had been applied to twenty-
four steamers belonging to the United States Government.
Four were naval vessels — the Princeton ; the Water Witch, a
harbor tug ; the Scourge, a purchased steamer, and the San
Jacinto, 1,4C1 tons. Three of these vessels were built by the
Treasury Department, the Jefferson, Legare, and Spencer, and
seventeen were merchant vessels — purchased for transport ser-
vice by the Quartermaster-General of the army, General Jesup,
during the war with Mexico. Various forms of propellers were
tried on these vessels, six having Ericsson's propeller and some
a flat-bladed propeller invented by Loper, who claimed to have
improved upon Ericsson.
During the winter of 1846-47 Ericsson spent much time in
Washington seeking for Government work to retrieve his fort-
unes, after the miscarriage of his plans in connection with the
Iron Witch. He made a most favorable impression upon the
Secretary of the Treasury, Robert J. Walker, and was consulted
by him with reference to changes required to improve the Rev-
enue cutters, being also i-equested to go to Pittsburg to take
charge of alterations in the Revenue cutter Robert J. Walker.
The Secretary gave him orders for the introduction of his sys-
tem for supplying fresh water from the boilers of steamei's, and
altogether Ericsson received so much encouragement that lie
wrote, April 27, 1847 : " Appearances now indicate that I
reached the climax of misfortune in putting propellers into the
Iron Witch, and that I am henceforth to taste some of the
sweets of my long and laborious career."
He was then in the forty-fourth year of his age, and had
■ been for over thirty years continuously at work, but the end of
his probation of disappointment and comparative poverty was
not yet. He was even then engaged in a struggle that proved
to be one of the most bitter he was destined to know during a
long life full of conflict and opposition.
" The triumphs of genius," says Dr. Dionysius Lardner, " are
not unattended with alloy. The moment that any invention
proves to be successful in practice a swarm of vermin are fos-
tered into being to devour the legitimate profits of the inven-
tor, and to rob genius of its fair reward. Captain Ericsson, so
long as his submerged propeller retained the character of a mei'e
SUCCESSES AND EAILUEE8. 167
experiment, was left in undisturbed possession of it ; but when
it forced its way into extensive practical use — when it was
adopted in the United States navy and in the Kevenue ser-
vice — when the coast of this country witnessed its application
in numerous merchant vessels — when it was known that in
France and England its adoption was decided upon — then the
discovery was made for the first time that this invention of
Captain Ericsson's was no invention at all — that it had been
applied since the earliest dates in steam navigation. Old pat-
ents — some of which had been still-born, and others which had
been for years dead and buried — were dug from their graves, and
their dust brought into courts of law to overturn this invention
and wrest from Captain Ericsson his justly-earned reward." *
When in 1838 Ericsson applied for a patent at Washington
he appears to have had some difficulty at first in obtaining it,
owing to a supposed interference with a patent granted to one
Jesse Ong, of Is'orth Huntington, Pa., May 23, 183Y, or nearly
a year after Ericsson had procured his patent in England, but
before his application for it in the United States had been
filed. lie was informed, however, by the examiner of the Pa-
tent Ofiice that the similarity was confined to the principle, the
application being new, and he heard nothing more from Ong.
The principle of the propeller was then so little understood
that any revolving wheel seems to have been mistaken for it,
wliether this was intended to turn under or above water, at the
stem or stern, or even at the side. As late as May 17, 1873,
Sir E. J. Hoed wrote to Ericsson : " The action of the screw
propeller is a subject which has not been exhaustively, or in
my opinion, satisfactorily dealt with by any English writer."
From Abo, in Finland, Samuel Owen wrote to the London
Engineer, December 22, 1871, saying: "John Ericsson took
the idea from my father's propeller, which was shown to him
at the time." To this Ericsson, in a letter to John Bourne, re-
plies with characteristic directness :
This assertion I have to state is an unqualified untruth, the com-
munication addressed to the Engineer being the first intimation I have
that the steam-engine builder Samuel Owen, in Stockholm, at any time
* Popular Lectures on Science and Art, New York, 1846.
168 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
conducted experiments relating to stern propulsion. With reference to
the drawing of Mr. Owen's propeller wheel, published in the Engineer,
it is scarcely necessaij to call your attention to the fact that it could
not have been intended to operate under water, since the blades are at-
tached to a centre-piece and arms, which, if immersed, would to a gi'eat
extent neutralize the propulsive energy of the wheel. Mr. Owen pos-
sessed too much practical knowledge to support the blades in such a
manner had he intended his wheel to operate under water. Evidently,
then, the wheel which Mr. Owen's son mistakes for a sa^ew propeller, was
simply a transverse stern wheel provided with flat blades placed ob-
liquely. It will be observed that the drawing published in the Engi-
neer furnishes no evidence that Mr. Owen had any conception whatever
of a screw propeller, his flat blades and solid centre-piece and arms
being incompatible with the principles of a screw.
The claim to priority giving Ericsson the most trouble in the
United States was that of J. B. Emerson. This was founded
upon a patent originally taken out May 23, 1837, for improve-
ments in the steam-engine and improvements in propelling.
Ericsson showed that no draughtsman could by any possibility
construct from the specifications filed by Emerson a propeller
containing the distinctive and patentable features of his own de-
vice. The Patent Oflice at Washington, vrith its records, was
burnt in 1836 and inventors were granted the privilege of re-
filing their papers. Taking advantage of this privilege, Emer-
son filed in 1841 drawings, and again in 1846 amended drawings,
embodying in them features obtained from the plans of Erics-
son's screw previously recorded. At the time Ericsson obtained
his patent a thorough examination was made by the Patent Office
of all previous devices, and the originality of his device estab-
lished so far as the Patent Ofiice could do so. This examination
was repeated in 1846 at the request of the Navy Department,
and with the same I'esult. No attempt was made by Emerson
to introduce his propeller into actual use ; it never went beyond a
record in the Patent Office. But when he found that Ericsson
had achieved success, he brought suit for infringement, sought
to restrain him by injunction, and busied himself with tra-
velling along the lakes, where the Ericsson propeller was com-
ing rapidly into service, demanding royalties for its use. He
also gave public notice through the newspapers that no patent
fees could be safely paid to Ericsson, and by a long and vexa-
SUCCESSES AND EAILUKES.
169
tious litigation kept him worried for many years. After tlie
issue of this notice nothing further could be collected for the
patent, and Ericsson's income from this source was at once cut
off and the expenses of litigation took its place. .
Emerson finally memoi'ialized Congress asking $15,000 as
compensation for the use of his patented " spiral propellers "
on Government vessels. His memorial was referred to En-
gineer-in-chief of the United States Navy, Charles H. Haswell.
He reported against Emerson's claims as covering a form of
propeller-blade employed neither by Captain Ericsson nor Cap-
tain Loper and " positively impracticable for any useful pur-
pose." This was the opinion of an expert whose professional
training enabled him to estimate at their true value vague re-
semblances that confused courts and bewildered juries.
As Messrs. Hogg & Delamater were the parties defend-
ant, they had been subjected to the expenses of litigation, and
on February 24, 1847, Ericsson executed on their behalf an as-
signment of all his patent rights in the propeller. This as-
signment specifies the original patent of 1838, a patent for
improvements dated November 5, 1840, the patent of Decem-
ber 31, 1844, for an " imshipping apparatus," and the patent
of September 9, 1845, for an elliptical propeller. A circular
issued by Ericsson contains this announcement :
The patentee offers to dispose of his right at the rate of $3.50 per
ton register measurement for vessels of 1,600 tons and upward, with an
increase of ten cents per ton for vessels below that tonnage, thus :
Per ton.
Per ton.
For vessels of 1,600 tons . .
. . »3 50
For vessels of 800 tons . .
. . «4 30
1,500 " ..
.. 3 60
700 " ..
,. 4 40
1,400 " ..
.. 3 70
600 " ..
. . . 4 50
1,300 " ..
.. 3 80
500 " ..
. . 4 60
1,200 " ..
.. 3 90
400 « ..
... 4 70
1,100 " ..
.. 4 00
300 " ..
. . . 4 80
1,000 " ..
.. 4 10
200 " ..
. . . 4 90
u
900 " ..
.. 4 20
100 " ..
. . . 5 00
New York, March 15, 1849.
J. Ebicsson, Patentee,
95 Franklin Street.
170 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Many persons occupied their day dreams with speculations
upon the possibility of screw propulsion ; some experimented
with screws more or less impracticable in form or in the
method of applying them ; Ericsson alone invented a submerged
screw, so complete at the outse.t in its mechanical details that it
was capable of immediate use. Further, his large experience
in mechanical construction enabled him to determine the best
methods of applying his propeller to vessels of various kinds.
What is absolutely the best form of screw is not even now de-
termined, nor is the theory of its operation placed beyond dis-
cussion. As for the screws invented since Ericsson demon-
strated the advantages of this method of propulsion, their name
is legion. For a time he received a royalty on his patent, but he
was forced to maintain his rights against constant aggression.
And, at the end of a long and expensive contest in the courts,
it was finally decided that the invention of the screw could not
be protected in the United States by a patent.
Nevertheless, the demonstration of the efficiency of the
screw which converted the world dates back to the building of
the United States steamer Princeton and its engines, in 1842-44,
by John Ericsson, or from his plans and under his supervision.
All who have investigated the subject, as such authorities as
Scott Kussell, Bourne, and "Woodcraft have done, will accept
the dictum of the " Encyclopsedia Britannica," that " a small
vessel fitted with a propeller patented by Ericsson was the^Vs^
brought into practical use." Long after steam had been applied
to navigation, battle-scarred and experienced old admirals in
the British service were declaring that a sailing ship would
always beat a steamship, and that steam could never be de-
pended upon. The control such imcon vincible gentlemen
exercise over naval affairs in England has resulted in the
British Admiralty's always following, instead of leading, in
the march of improvement. Long after the screw had dem-
onstrated its efficiency, the English dockyards continued to
turn out the good old-fashioned paddle-wheel steamers, and in
the end they were obliged to adapt these as best they could to
the new motor. Ericsson's early antagonist. Sir "William Sy-
monds, who prevented the Admiralty from considering his in-
vention when it was offered to them in the beginning, contin-
StrCOESSES AND FAILURES. 171
ued to resist for twenty-two years longer the idea of adopting
the screw in war-vessels.
"When in 1850 Ericsson appeared by counsel before the
Queen's Privy Council and asked for the extension of his Eng-
lish patent, it was necessary to prove that his propeller was an
invention and a meritorious one, and that the time covered by
the original patent had not been long enough to snfSciently
remunerate the inventor. The proof on all these points appears
to have been found sufl&cient, as the application for renewal was
granted. Ericsson?s counsel was Sir F. Thesiger, late Attorney-
General, afterward Lord Chancellor, and finally, as Baron
Chelmsford, one of the leaders of the Conservative party in the
House of Lords. Mr. Thesiger served in his youth as a mid-
sliipman in the navy, and was better fitted than most attorneys
and judges in those days to understand the distinctive features
of Ericsson's invention. He showed that the only propeller in
use before 1836 was the Archimedean screw, and one with arms
like the vanes of a smoke-jack ; he pointed out the advantages
and indicated the essential differences between these and his
client's invention, which offered the first " eflficieiit means of
screw propulsion known to the scientific world." He described
the difficulties encountered in endeavoring to secure the recog-
nition of the screw in England from the Admiralty and others,
and demonstrated that there had been thus far an actual loss
on the patent of £3,271 Kas. 2d. This did not include these
further items taken into account between these parties in in-
terest in their private settlement, viz., "Captain Ericsson's
time, three years, £1,500 ; M. Hobin's time, eight years,
£2,400 ; Count von Rosen's time, ten years, £5,000."
Mr. Tliesiger gave some account of the litigation resulting
from the rival claims in England to the invention of the screw,
ending finally in tlie union of the several interests, and called
as a witness Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, whose patent for screw
propulsion, taken out in 1832, had been extended. Mr. "Wood-
croft said in his testimony : " The parties having patents for
the screw propeller have united ; they are Messrs. Smith, Lowe,
Ericsson, Blaxland, and myself. After fighting each other for
many years, we have got tired of it and want to be amica-
ble."
172 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
By the Attohnby-Genbral. You were to be a partner in the profits 1
Ansu'er. Profits! We have had none.
Question. Did not Captain Ericsson first introduce a fixed shaft, or
a shaft running horizontally below the water-line ?
Answer. Yes, Captain Ericsson did.
Question. He was the first that introduced the shaft running below
the line of the water through the stufiing-box outside the stern ?
Answer. Yes.
Various witnesses were called to establish Eiicsson's title
to the screw, and after listening to this testimony and to the
arguments, the Council reached their conclusions as thus re-
corded :
The Attoeney-Gbnbeal. I understand your lordships to grant this
extension upon the same terms and the same conditions as Mr.
Smith's ?
Me. Baeon Paeke. Yes.
The Attoeney-Genebaii. And further, the Crown using it may em-
ploy engineers to make it ?
Me. Baeon Pabkb. Yes.
Of this judgment the London Mechanics' Magazine said at
this time :
The Attorney-General demanded that a condition should be attached
to the prolongation, to the effect that the Government should have the
use of the patent and with it of all the other patents for the screw pro-
peller gratuitously. The argument relied on to extort this concession
appears to be worthy of the narrow-minded policy, which has almost in-
variably characterized the treatment of inventors by the authorities of
this country. As our readers well know, the proprietors of the various
screw patents have been at law with each other for some years — they re-
ceiving the shells while the lawyers swallowed the oysters; and when
they finally make peace and have a prospect of getting a few of the
oysters for themselves, they are coolly told by the Attorney-General —
" You are going to make some money now, so you can bear to be fleeced
a little." This is really the truth of the matter. If people want to use
the screw propeller in their national capacity, why should they not pay
for it the same as they would have to do in their individual capacity ?
The Admiralty subsequently made an award of £20,000 for
the use of the screw. This sum was divided among the five
inventors whose names are given above by Mr. Woodcroft. The
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES. 173
proportion coining to Ericsson was by him made over to Mrs.
Ericsson who was living in England at tlie time of the award.
To his associate, Count Von Rosen, he had previously (July 15,
1845) assigned his patent rights " within England, Wales, and
the town of Berwick on Tweed and all his Majesty's colonies
and plantations abroad." This was necessary to enable him
to carry on litigation in England. " Berwick on Tweed,"
then a free town, independent of both England and Scotland,
now constitutes a county by itself.
Coant Yon Kosen took charge of the introduction of Erics-
son's propeller in France. At the end of ten years of constant
effort, he reported that it had established its superiority with
the public and the government, "but," he adds, "I have ex-
perienced nothing but disappointment and discouragement at
seeing the invention, when its merits were acknowledged, boldly
infringed upon and pirated by the veiy people who showed
themselves at first most averse to it. Now (February 8, 1848)
tliere are upward of 5,000 horse-power of engines, made or in
coui'se of construction, applied or to be applied to screw-ships
on our system. On these, a large amount of patent fees are
due, for wliich I shall be obliged to sue."
The claim made on behalf of John Ericsson to the honor of
substituting the screw for the paddle-wheel has been hotly dis-
puted. In the end, when all the evidence is sifted, his name
will be associated with that great advance in steam navigation,
as the name of Watt is associated with the steam-engine, Ful-
ton's with the steamboat, and that of Morse with the tele-
graph. Let them build monuments as high as they may to
others, they can never overshadow the memorial wliich the
impartial judgment of the future will accord to Ericsson.
As a screw is reported to have been introduced into England
from China early in the seventeenth century, its origin may
be referred to a period as remote as the invention of the wind-
mill, or the smoke-jack it so much resembles. Still, it is to
Ericsson, unquestionably, that we owe the revolution in steam
navigation resulting from the demonstration of the possibilities
of the screw propeller.
How important his labors in this regard were, in establisli-
ing the supremacy of steam upon the ocean, is shown by the
174 LIFE Oi' JOHN ERICSSON.
calculation made in 1852 that the cost of £198 lis. 3d. for
transporting four hundred tons of merchandise over a distance
of five hundred miles with a full-powered paddle vessel, was
actually reduced by using a screw vessel of auxiliary power to
£60 12s. 6^^. or seventy per. cent.* In this difference lies
the solution of the problem of competition with sails.
Any device, from a smoke-jack to a windmill, with arms
turning upon a centre, or having the spiral motion of the screw,
was considered sufficient to antagonize Ericsson's claims to pri-
ority. " Tlie principle of the propeller," Mr. Sargent tells us,
" was first suggested to the inventor by the analogies of nature,
and a study of the means employed to propel the inhabitants
of the air and deep. He satisfied himself that all sucli propul-
sion in nature is produced by oblique action ; though, in com-
mon with all practical men, he at first supposed that it was in-
separably attended by loss of power. But when he reflected
that this was the universal principle adapted by the gi'eat Me-
chanician of the universe, in enabling the birds, insects, and
fishes to move through their respective elements, he knew that
he must be in error. This he was soon able to demonstrate,
and he became convinced, by the strict application of the laws
which govern matter and motion, that no loss of power what-
ever attends the oblique action of the propelling surfaces ap-
plied to Nature's locomotives."
In connection with his studies of the propeller at this time
Ericsson applied to the equipoise rudder his plan of investigat-
ing the operation in nature of tlie mechanical laws, as would
appear from a letter written twenty years later to Mr. Robert
B. Forbes. In this he said :
New York, September 29, 1857.
My dear Sib : I note with profound satisfaction that you have been in
the habit of swearing by me. Swear on ; my opposition to the equipoise
rudder furnishes no just ground for your withdrawing your confidence.
You say that the several engineers that you consulted all pronounced
in favor of the equipoise ; you mean that all of them agreed that the
rudder could be worked with very little power and that it would steer.
Any person of ordinary intelligence could see all that. The drag in-
separable from this steering apparatus, this "vile contrivance" as you
* John Bourne's Treatise on the Screw Propeller, p. 183. London, 1852.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES. 175
remember I called it at our interview, requires, however, some knowledge
of hydro-dynamics to determine. Your suggestion is far from being cor-
rect that my knowledge on the subject is mere theory. All my early
propeller experiments in England were made in boats steered by equi-
poise rudders. I know the critter to pieces, and so do the canal men of
Europe, who no longer favoi' this machine, invented for the lazy at the
expense of force and time. You will admit on reflection that a rudder
to be theoretically perfect should form an elongation of the vessel and
be if possible, devoid of thickness. The Great Constructor of the craft
of the deep, not only carries out this theory but adds flexibility to the
rudder, which renders its action absolutely perfect by presenting the
greatest angle at the aft end.
The current of water, instead of being forced violently from its
course along the body is gradually deviated on meeting the rudder,
thereby causing a minimum retardation to the moving body, remov-
ing at the same time the greatest action to the extreme end, where
the leverage is greatest. Although we cannot, with all our boasted
ingenuity, imitate this beautiful property of flexibility which Omnipo-
tence employs, we can at least constract our rudder so as to form
an elongation of the vessel. As the thin stern-posts of iron vessels admit
of a rudder almost devoid of thickness, we are enabled in that class
of vessels to do all that theory demands. Let us, then, not introduce
a detached body to be towed abaft the vessel.
I note particularly what you say of the small angle required by
your rudder. There is a fixed law in dynamics that " every deviation
from a straight line of a moving body is attended with a given diminution
of speed or momentum." Do not suppose that there is any way to cheat
this law.
Very truly yours,
J. Ericsson.
CliAPTEE, XI.
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP.
The Perfection Engine. — Plans for a War Vessel. — Ericsson Employed
by the United States Government During the War with Mexico. —
Elected Honorary Church Member and Becomes a Citizen. — Honors
from England. — His Temperance Principles. — Prosperity and Ad-
yersity.
DURING the years in which Ericsson was so constantly oc-
cupied with the application of his ideas to the practical
purposes of navigation, and in defending himself against the
efforts to rob him of the fruit of his industry, he still found
time to develop various new inventions. He designed in 1846
an apparatus for heating the feed-water of boilers, and a high-
pressure condensing steam-engine with two single-acting cylin-
ders, the diameter of one being five times that of the other.
Tliis engine was patented in America and in other countries.
It received the special attention of Professor Dionysius Lard-
ner, the British writer and lecturer on Physical Science, wlio
had been Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy iu
the London University -until domestic difficulties led to his
transfer to the United States. During his residence in New
York, Dr. Lardner devoted several months to the theoretical
study of Ericsson's engine, and he continued these investiga-
tions after his removal to Paris. He estimated that Ericsson's
engine showed an economy of fuel equalled only by the engines
used in the mines of Cornwall.
Lardner endeavored to introduce this engine into France,
and there was an amiable dispute between him and its inventor
as to whether he should receive any remuneration for this ser-
vice. On August 23, 1849, he wrote to Ericsson from Paris,
saying : " After the services you formerly rendered me, I think
you need not have felt much hesitation in accepting my aid
THE EBICSSOK HOT-AIE SHIP. 17?
without thinking of compensation in any sliape. I can assure
you that I would act foi- you as zealously and carefully as for
myself. However, seeing what your sentiments are on this
point, I believe that it will be best for you that I sliould at
once acquiesce in your proposition of accepting a fifth of the
net profits for France, if through my exertions tlie patent
should be rendered productive." As Professor Lardner had
gathered $200,000 from a lecturing tour in the United States,
he was much more independent in his circumstances than
Ericsson was at this time.
In the spring of 1846, the House Committee on Naval Af-
fairs of the 29tli Congress considered the subject of employing
steam for naval armaments and sent a circular to various per-
sons, asking an opinion as to the pi-acticability of rendering an
iron vessel shot-proof. Among the replies accompanying the
report of the Committee (Report No. 681, H. E., 29tli Con-
gress, 1st Session) is one from John Ericsson. He argued that
" the weight of a floating body is prescribed within such nar-
row limits as to preclude the possibility of making the side of
a vessel of sufficient thickness to prevent penetration by heavy
projectiles. He recommended, therefore, a system of water-
tight bulkheads, so distributed that less than one-fortieth of
the ship's displacement would be occupied by water entering
through a shot-hole. He proposed also to strengthen the bows
so that they would deflect a shot when the vessel was flghting
bows on, the method he always favored. He forwarded a plan
for a 1,200-ton iron vessel. This he proposed to build, and arm
with two 12-inch and four 8-inch guns, for $415,000. She was
to be 200 feet long by 36 feet beam, and to make " fifteen miles
an hour at sea in pretty rougli weather." Three of his guns
were to be placed within the line of tlie protected bow, one was
to train over the stern, and the other two were to be placed
amidships. These guns were to be mounted on circular rail-
ways and the engines of the vessel were to be partially pro-
tected by stowing the coal in water-tight bulkheads over the
engine-room.
This Congressional inquiry antedates by nine years the ap-
pearance, during the Crimean War, of the first Fi'encli armoi-
clads. Ericsson's rejection in 1846 of the idea of undertaking
13
178 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
to protect the ordiiiaiy war-ship against shot, cleared the way
for Jiis final conclusions as to the only possible type for a com-
pletely protected arniored vessel. He advanced step by step in
his stndy of battle-ships, until his mastery of the subject en-
abled him to act at a critical moment with the utmost prompt-
ness and decision, while others were yet lingering in the pre-
liminary stages of discussion. This diagram of the deck plan
of the vessel he recommended to Congress also suggests the
monitor idea of all-round fire.
Deck Plan of Ericsson's War Vessel of 1846.
The committee in their i-eport called attention to the fact
that the Princeton was the first ship ever constructed with her
machinery and propeller so arranged as to be secured from an
enemy's shot, and urged that " this fact should hereafter be the
governing principle in the construction of a steam navy." They
also said : " The machinery and propeller of this ship were in-
vented and arranged under the superintendence of that eminent
civil engineer. Captain John Ericsson." The committee recom-
mended the building of twelve iron war steamers and one iron
frigate, but beyond the competitive trial of the paddle-wheel
Saranao and the screw vessel San Jacinto, already recorded,
and the building of the 23-gun paddle-wheel steamer Sus-
quehanna, nothing was done. This was in the line of Con-
gressional precedent. In 1816 the national legislature had de-
cided that the navy must be gradually increased and improved.
So, for the next twenty-three years they spent an average of
$600,000 a year in partially building frigates and seventy-fours,
erecting houses over them at a large expense, and then leaving
them to rot on the stocks, while the men who were to man
them were deprived of the opportunity to practise their pro-
fession, which the commissioning of these vessels would have
given them.
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIE SHIP. 179
This was one of the most trying periods of Ericsson's his-
tory, and at times he was driven nearly distracted by pecuniary
diffionlties. In full reliance upon the justice of Government
he had expended $6,000 in money, besides his time, in the work
upon the Princeton. This involved him in debt, and he was
constantly harassed by the attempt to meet over-due obliga-
tions out of an empty purse. His check-book shows balances to
his credit during the two years ending with May, 1846, varying
from $1,000 to nearly $14,000, but much of this was expended
in completing contract work. On May 5, 1846, he was reduced
to $38.54, and against the entry of this ominous balance he
has made a memorandum in Swedish to the effect that it was a
most discouraging exhibit for so many years of hard work,
lie had not even then touched bottom, and $23 was at one time
the limit of his credit with the bank. September 16, 1846, he
wrote to Mr. Sargent, saying :
" I received your letter of the 14th yesterday afternoon,
and opened it with trembling hand. My worst fears were
realized, and I turned nearly crazy for a few minutes. In my
despair I resorted to the expedient of asking Delamater to help
me, and he has done so for to-day, apiDi'opriating the funds he
has for meeting a bill at the end of next week. Now, if in
addition to my anxiety already experienced, I should ruin the
young man's credit by not being able to refund the money by
next Wednesday I shall have to cut my throat."
" It is unfortunate," said Ericsson, in a previous letter, "that
I have allowed the supposed payment of my Princeton claim to
enter into my financial calculations, as, in all probability, it will
be the means of throwing me on my beam ends ; still more un-
fortunate is it that immediately on the success of the Princeton
I did not pack up my traps, make a present of my inventions
to the United States, and recross the Atlantic with a grateful
heart to find my retreat left open, an advantage which I do not
now enjoy." *
From this condition of pecuniary distress Ericsson was
for a time relieved by the fortunate sale to the Government
of the steamer Massachusetts, in which he had a part inter-
est, and by the I'eceipt, Decetnber 27, 1847, of a payment of
* Letter to John 0. Sargent, New York, July 30, 1846.
180 LIFE OF JOHN EEIOSSOK.
$4,300 for the application of Lis fresh water apparatus to that
vesseh
A portion of this year was occupied with a careful study of
oscillating engines, and on June 17, 1847, he wrote to the Coin-
nlittee on Engines of the United States War Steamers that he
had "succeeded in removing the principal imperfections of
this simple instrument for transmitting the force of steam for
purposes of locomotion." lie was also called upon by the United
States Treasury Department for a report upon the altei'ations
required in the Revenue cutter JPolk, and he presented to the
War Department a plan for an iron steamer to navigate the Gulf
of Mexico and the Eio G-rande. This was a time of war, and the
Government were looking in all directions for an improvement
in the means of transporting troops and supplies to Mexico.
The apparatus for condensing into fresh water the steam
generated by the boilers of ocean-going vessels was applied in
1818 to the Alabama, a steamer belonging to the Quartermas-
ter's Department of the United States Army to the U. S. S.
Judith, then fitting out for the Pacific, and to the Revenue cut-
ter Legare. The profit on the $10,725 received for this sei--
vice constituted nearly all of Ericsson's income for this year.
But his frugality in personal expenditure enabled him even
then to respond to the calls of duty and affection, as is shown
by his remittances to his wife in England and his mother in
Sweden. A report to the Quartermaster-General stated that
there was a saving of twenty-five per cent, in fuel from the use
of the fresh water apparatus, and that it condensed all the steam
generated during an entire day, with full fires and engines sta-
tionary. The captain of the Alabama, after a voyage from
New Orleans to Cliagres and back, said :
The condensing apparatus for making fresh water for use of pas-
sengers and crew works admirably, furnishing one thousand two hun-
dred gallons, if necessary, for twenty-four hours, enabling us to dis-
pense with at least three thousand gallons of water, which weight can be
carried in fuel or cargo. We drank this water from choice during the
whole voyage ; it is clear as the purest spring water.
Unfortunately, iron liad been used for the tubes instead of
copper, and these were rapidly destroyed by the galvanic ac-
tion resulting from the use of copper in the vessel itself. So
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP. 181
the inventor's confident expectation that his apparatus would
be introduced into other Government vessels, and ultimately
into the Atlantic steamers, was not realized.
In January, 1847, Ericsson was in Philadelphia experiment-
ing in the use for locomotives of anthracite coal, which had been
first employed on steamboats in place of wood ten j-ears earlier.
January 5tli he wrote : " Christmas and New Year's have
played the devil with my work on the Reading road. We are
now at work again, and probably this week we shall know some-
thing more of burning anthracite than we now do." He was
not an observer of holidays, and all days wei-e much the same
with him.
Ericsson became a naturalized citizen October 28, 184:8, and
his correspondence for 1848 contains the only political allusion
I have been able to find. The Democrats had nominated as
their candidate for President, General Lewis Cass, of Michi-
gan, and for Vice-President, General W. C. Butler, of Kentucky.
"Writing to his enthusiastic Whig friend, Sargent, May 31st,
on the eve of the Whig JSTational Convention, Ericsson said :
" Opposed by two generals your party cannot surely think
of any other man than the victorious soldier whose military
lustre is untarnished by a single spot or speck. I therefore
take it for granted that Taylor will be nominated." He sj'm-
pathized with liis friend's enthusiasm, but personally he took
very little interest in the contentions dividing pai-ties at that
time. It was not until slavery became the main issue in the
contest that his earnestness was aroused. He was hostile to
slavery from the beginning, and was accustomed to say that he
could conceive of nothing meaner than the desire of one man
to live on the toil of another.
1849 was another trying year for Ericsson. His receipts
from all sources were only two thousand dollars and at the end
of this year he records against his balance of $132.32 on his
cheek-book this legend, written in Swedish : " A beautiful bal-
ance indeed to start the new year with. One gives much for
little as he grows older and more used up." He was occupied in
1849 in an unsuccessful attempt to secure a contract for an
immense pnmping-engine for a new dry dock at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard. " You must know," he wrote to his agent at
182 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Washington, " that I built in Europe a machine raising 3,000
gallons of water per minute to precisely the same height as will
be requisite at the Brooklyn dock by means remarkably sim-
ple, durable, and efficient and cheap. But as we have no dry
docks in England or on the continent, I could not profit by my
beautiful machine. Now, however, is a chance of making a
little fortune."
Ericsson was a pioneer in the attempt to solve the difficult
problem of introducing steam power upon the canals of the
United States. In 1844 he entered into a contract with Charles
Diinmock,* of Richmond, Va., to build small steamboats for
canal navigation. It was agreed that they were to exceed the
liorse-boats in speed, and as they failed in this he became in-
volved in an unfortunate litigation with the purchaser. With
his usual hopefulness he had guaranteed results which the con-
ditions of canal navigation made it impossible for him to realize.
In October, 1849, he entered into a contract with James S.
French, of Old Point Comfort, Va., to build for him for $3,000
a model locomotive, to test French's invention for obtaining
greater adhesion to the rails and security against derailment
with lighter locomotives. This engine, called the Climber^ was
to be used on an experimental road authorized by the Virginia
Legislature.
In 1849 Ericsson secured a patent for his " independent
action condenser." It provides for condensing the exhaust
steam from a marine engine by passing it through tubes,
around which circulates cold water from the sea, the water
flowing in a direction opposite to that of the escaping steam.
The water is supplied by a pump, worked by an auxiliary
engine so as to be independent of the action of the engine
running the vessel, and can either be returned to the boiler to
be again converted into steam or used for other purposes.
This invention is described at length in Ericsson's volume,
" Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition," and appears to
be an improvement upon his previous condensers. In 1847 a
board composed of three naval engineers, and four other ex-
perts, reported to the Secretary of the Treasury on this appai'-
* An ex-army officer, West Point gradviate, and native of Massaoliusetts,
who died in the Confederate service in 1863 as General Dimmook.
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP. 183
atus as applied to the revenue cutter Legare, saying, at the
conclusion of a very flattering report :
We cannot but congratulate ourselves and the profession with which
we are connected that you have seen fit to test this experiment by the
construction of the apparatus upon which we have been called to
report. Such encouragement identifies in the merits of success the
patron with the improvement, and is honorable to yourself no less than
to the nation in whose service you have bestowed it.
They reported a saving of 7.56 per cent, in fuel, " and alto-
gether, independent of the loss of heat by the presence of scale
in the boiler when salt water is used, and from leaks incurred
by the oxidizing effects of salt water."
A number of minor inventions were sent to the Crystal
Palace Exhibition of 1851. For an alarm barometer a prize
medal was awarded. Tlie tube of the common barometer was
so enlarged at the upper end that the mercury in falling ran
out of the lower end and into a cup, so adjusted that its weight
set loose a catch and released the hammer of a gong moved by
a spring. An index regulated the altitude of the mercurial
column at which the gong would sound, thus giving notice of
sudden changes.
The Croton Aqueduct Department of New York adopted,
after a series of careful experiments, a fluid meter of Ericsson's
invention, measuring the flow of water by plungers of definite
size working between stops. He also patented a meter for
measuring fluids by a calculation of the velocity with which
they passed through apparatus of different dimensions.
In 1851 a pamphlet was published in London entitled
" Brief Explanation of some Philosophical and other Instru-
ments placed in the United States Division of the Industrial
Exhibition of All Nations, Hyde Park, London, by John Erics-
son, Knight of the Order of Yasa, Member of the Eoyal Acad-
emy of Sciences, Stockholm ; Corresponding Member of the
Franklin Institute, Pliiladelphia ; Member of the Eoyal Acad-
emy of Military Sciences of Sweden ; Hon. Member of the
American Institute, New York, &c., &c., &c." It was accom-
panied by this dedication :
184 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
To His Eotal Highness Pbince Albebt :
Illustbious Peinoe — In laying before your Eoyal Highness the ac-
companying Brief Statement of some Philosophical and other Instru-
ments placed in the Industrial Exhibition of All Nations, it is my duty
to state that these mechanical productions, the result of much labor,
would never have been put before the public in the complete form they
now appear, but for the encouragement extended by your Royal High-
ness to all nations alike — an encouragement entitling your Eoyal High-
ness to the gratitude of the whole civilized world, and the results of
which mark an epoch in the annals of mankind.
Your Eoyal Highness's most humble Servant,
J. Ericsson.
New Yobk, June 16, 1851.
Included in the brief explanation are seven of Ericsson's
inventions — the instrument for measuring distance at sea ; the
hydrostatic gauge for measuring the volume of fluids under
pressure ; the reciprocating fluid meter ; the alarm barometer ;
the pyrometer for measuring high temperatures ; the rotary
fluid meter, and the sea-lead. Lithographic illustrations of
these several instruments accompanied the text. The various
distinctions referred to in the title-page of this pamphlet were
conferred upon him after he left England in 1839. In 1843,
the Franklin Institute elected him a corresponding member,
in recognition of the service rendered in designing the steam
fire-engine, for which the New York Mechanics' Institute
awarded the only gold medal it has ever bestowed upon an in-
ventor. In 1847 the Royal Academy of Sciences of Stockholm
elected Ericsson an honorary member ; in 1850 the Swedish
Government bestowed upon him tl:e distinction of Knight of
the Order of Yasa, and in 1852 the Royal Military Academy of
Sciences of Sweden elected him an honorary member.
The studies into the nature and application of heat as a me-
chanical force, begun by Ericsson at the time of his youthful
invention of the flame-engine, were continued at intervals for
three score years and ten, or until the end of his active and use-
ful life. At a very early date he discovered the fallacy of the
conclusions concerning higli temperatures resulting from the
use of Wedgewood's method of measuring these by gauging
the dimensions of a cylinder of clay before and after heating it
in a furnace. This measurement gave 21,637 degrees as the
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP. 185
temperature of iron melted in cupola furnaces. Ericsson satis-
fied himself tiiat this was at least six times too gi-eat, and the
actual temperature proved to be 2,786 degrees. The inven-
tion of the pyrometer was one result of these studies. Erics-
son's method of measuring high artificial temperatures by the
expansion of confined gases has since' been shown to be one of
the most reliable of the dozen different methods tested, and
he was a pioneer in this field of investigation, as in so many
others. Of the others none have been superior, except per-
haps Siemens's method, recently adopted, of measuring tem-
peratures by changes in resistance to electricity.
After his removal to the United States in 1839, Ericsson
continued his experiments with hot air as a motor, building
eight caloric engines for experiment between 18i0 and 1850.
Seven of these cost together $9,400 and the eighth $7,000.
He gradually enlarged the dimensions of these experimental
engines from the fourteen inches of his original model to six-
teen inches and then to thirty. Into these engines he intro-
duced the principle of " regeneration," as he called it, or
transfer of the heat from the outgoing to t!ie incoming air by
passing the currents alternately through a metal box or chest
filled with wire meshes.
Theory, he said, " clearly indicates that, owing to the small
capacity for heat of atmospheric air — that beneficial property
which the Great Mechanician gives to it as a fit medium for an-
imated warm beings to live in — and, in consequence, also, of the
almost infinite subdivision atnong the wires, the temperature
of the circulating air in passing through the regenerator of the
caloric engine must be greatly changed. Practice has fully
realized all that theory predicted, for the temperatures at x
and 3 [that is, at the points of entrance to and exit from the re-
generator] have never varied during the trials less than 350 de-
grees, when the engine has been in full operation ; indeed it
has been found impossible to obtain a differential temperature
of less magnitude with sufiicient fires in the furnaces. The
great number of disks, their isolated character, and the distri-
bution of the air in such a vast number of minute cells, readily
explain the surprising fall and increase of temperature of the
opposite currents passing the regenerator, and which constitutes
186 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
the grand feature of tlie caloric engine, effecting, as it does,
such an extraordinary saving of fuel by rendering the caloric
not converted into work active over and over again." *
Letters from Ericsson shovv that he was at vrork upon his
caloric engine in 1847. Early in December of that year a
model engine was sent from the factory and set up in his room
at JSTo. 95 Franklin Street for experiment. On December 23d,
he wrote to Sargent : " The caloric is very nearly finished. It
will beyond all question succeed. JSTever felt so sure in my
life." Six weeks later, January 14, 1848, he wrote: "I am at
this moment under lock and key with Harrison, who is en-
gaged in the secret operation of stuffing the guts of the regen-
erator of the caloric, which is in all other respects ready for
trial. I have had pressure, and all is tight. The thing must
go."
But not yet, for January 20th he wrote again, saying:
" The caloric is not yet completed ; a deposit of water, occa-
sioned by the pressure of atmospheric air within the machine,
has given me trouble, great trouble. The steam formed from
this water has produced inflammation in the stomach of the re-
generator. Cold applications have been resorted to without
reducing the undue temperature. All that medical skill can
effect will be done, and no fears need be apprehended as to the
safety of the patient."
On the principle that troubles never come singly, Ericsson
at this time, as he wrote another correspondent, " suffered the
pains of the damned," having been obliged to lose three of his
strongest back teeth, to cure the toothache. A few days later,
January 27th, he reported concerning the ailing one, for whom
he himself served as physician, that " the patient is yet labor-
ing under his intestine complaints, caused by water in the
stomach, but his physician entertains strong hopes of a com-
plete cure." On February 2, 1848, he wrote :
" I fear the unexpected difficulty cannot be got over with-
out a material change in the apparatus. ' Take nothing for
granted' is an excellent precept in all mechanical combinations
where the physical agents are called upon to cooperate. Un-
derstand me, I have not discovered anything wrong in the
* Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition, p. 429.
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP. 187
principle of the motive engine, practical difficulties alone have
presented themselves in a new quarter. Bent as I am on doino'
something great in my line, I thank God that I have the vast
steam engine improvement to fall back upon, scai-cely inferior
in importance, whilst more readily convertible into dollars. So
don't be alarmed, we shall still go to London together."
This indicates a purpose of visiting England, which was
never realized.
Five days elapsed and again, on February 7, 1848, Erics-
son wrote : " I liave, after serious reflection, decided on mak-
ing the requisite alteration in the calorie, the new parts are all
on hand and probably in two weeks I start again. The new
difficulty I met with took me aback for a day or two, but I feel
now as warm and confident as ever — now, don't laugh at me
when I tell yon ' next time ' the thing will go off without a
screw to alter. I can hardly be mistaken in supposing that I
now see all the difficulties that can have any inaterial bearing
on the operation of the great principle in practice. I am
shocked to think that for a single moment I should have con-
templated relinquishing my gigantic scheme."
February 15tli "the alteration of the caloric was more than
half completed " and the inventor was " in fine spirits and full
of confidence." In another fortnight he was able to announce
that all difficulties had been overcome and the caloric engine
■was ready for trial. March 3d he reported, saying : "I wrote
last Saturday that the caloric was ready for trial. So it was,
excepting some hard ingredients for its stomach which it does
not take five minutes to cram in. Kow these ingredients, how-
ever simple, the manufacturer did not let me have until last
night — confound him ! On starting the affair this moi'ning
everything went straight off, as I had calculated, and, as. you
suppose, the thing does everything but talk. I am "writing
under the click-clack of the machine, and have not time to go
into particulars now."
We may be sure that this " click-clack " was music in the
ears of Ericsson, and these letters indicate the intense delight
he took in his chosen woi-k of mechanical creation. " Caloric
does work," he wrote, on March 8th^ " and not a single practi-
cal detail remains to be removed."
188 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
The engine here alluded to was followed by others, as we
have seen, and finally, in 1851, the work of developing this new
motor had advanced to the production of a ninth experimental
engine, tliis costing $17,000, having two feet stroke and two
compressing cylinders of forty-eight inches diameter. The re-
generator of this engine contained an aggregate of 13,520,000
meshes for each working cylinder, the two thus distributing the
air through more than twenty-seven million minute cells, there
being, necessarily, as many small spaces between the disks as
there are meshes. As there were 228,000 feet, or forty-one and
one-half miles of wire in each regenerator, the metallic surface
presented was equivalent to that of four boilers, each forty feet
long and four feet in diameter. The regenerator occupied but
two cubic feet and the boilers would fill 1,920 times that amount
of space. After putting a moderate quantity of fuel into the
furnace, the engine worked for three hours without fresh fuel,
and it frequently worked for one hour after the fires had been
drawn. But eleven ounces of fuel were consumed per horse-
power per hour. It was estimated that nine ounces were re-
quired to make good the loss of radiation into the air in con-
tact with the exterior of the machine, only two ounces being
lost in the process of transferring the heat to and from the re-
generator.
1851 was one of Ericsson's prosperous years. He had en-
tered upon. 1850 with some sarcastic refiections concerning the
very unsatisfactory showing of $132.32 to his credit at the
Manhattan Bank, but by January, 1851, his balance had in-
creased to $8,690.10. More than that, his improved caloric
engine was regarded as a success, and there is an entry in his
accounts recording the receipt of ten thousand dollars from
William Bloodgood and Dr. C. Dellingerfor ten per cent, inter-
est in the foreign patents. Previous to this he had disposed of
interests in his Amei'ican patents to Edwin "\V. Stoughton, sub-
sequently United States Minister to Hussia, and to Messrs.
Tyler and J. Bloodgood, the entries indicating the sale of two
tenths interests to the two gentlemen last named for $11,000.
In January, 1852, the King of Sweden sent to Ericsson
his sincere congratulations on the success of his test caloric
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIE SHIP. 189
" The regularity of action and perfect working of every part
of tlie experimental tliirty-incli engine, completed in 1851,"
says Ericsson, " and above all its apparent great economy of
fuel, inclined some enterprising niei'cliants of New York in the
latter part of 1851 to accept my proposition to construct a ship
for navigating the ocean, propelled by paddle-wheels actuated
by the caloric engine. This work was commenced forthwith,
and pushed with such vigor that within nine months from com-
mencing the construction of the machinery, and witliin seven
months of the laying of the keel, the paddle-wheels of the ca-
loric ship Ericsson turned around at the dock. In view of the
fact that the engines consisted of four woi'king cylinders of one
hundred and sixty-eight inches diameter, six feet stroke, and
four air-coinpressing cylinders of 137 inches diameter, and six
feet stroke, it may be claimed that, in point of magnitude and
rapidity of construction, the motive machinery of the caloric
ship stands unrivalled in the annals of marine engineering.
The principal engineers of New York all expressed the opinion
that a better specimen of workmanship than that presented by
the huge engines of the caloric ship had not been produced by
our artisans at that time." *
The Ericsson was certainly a singularly bold undertaking,
and it shows the confidence her designer inspired in business
men that he should have been able to obtain the money to
build lier. Her principal owner was Mr. John B. Kitcliing,
a young man of wealth and enterprise. Another gentleman
interested was Mr. Edward Dunham, president of the Corn
Exchange Bank of New York.
The cost of the vessel was about half a million dollars, her
engines costing $130,000. Her length was 260 feet, breadth
40 feet, and draught 17 feet, tonnage nearly 2,200. The keel
was laid in April, 1852, she was launched five months later,
September 15, 1852, and went on her trial trip January 4, 1853.
Thus in nine months, or half the time ordinarily required at
that date for completing a vessel of her class, Ericsson had
pushed to completion this vessel of novel design and including
so many new and untried problems of construction. It is a
remarkable illustration, not alone of his industry, energy, and
* Contributions to the Centennial Exhibition, p. 433.
190 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
skill in management, but of the completeness of his preliminary
preparation in the way of designing and planning. He could
carry in his head every detail of the most complicated construc-
tion, and when his drawings were completed every bolt was
in place, every screw where it should be, and he was able to
keep several establishments busied on different parts of his
mechanism with the certainty that when the several parts were
brought together, they would fall into adjustment without
change — provided his working drawings had been strictly fol-
lowed. He was most exacting in his requirements and he
thoroughly understood what good work was. So if the work
upon the Ericsson was hurried, it was in no respect slighted.
Up to that time no finer or stronger ship had been built in
the United States. Indeed, the agreement with the builders
required that the vessel should be " the strongest ever built in
New York,'' and Ericsson was not the man to let such a stipu-
lation become a dead letter enactment. The Scientific Amer-
ican totally condemned the principle of the caloric ship, and
persistently predicted its failure, but in fairness it said : " We
heartily wish success to Captain Ericsson and his compatriots,
for patriots they certainly are. The caloric ship Ericsson is a
marvel of faith and enterprise, their energy and spirit deserve
success and the praise of the whole world. The caloric ship
has new and very excellent features about it. The designer
and constructor of its machinery have shown themselves to have
long heads and skilful hands. We have seen nothing to com-
pare with the castings. It is safe and comfortable for passen-
gers, and it saves the firemen from the pandemonium of our
steamship."* If these had been the days of forced draught
with fire-rooms at 180°, this comparison would have been still
stronger. Comfort, as well as safety, was involved in Erics-
son's grand scheme for substituting hot air for steam at sea.
A week after her trial trip, on February 11, 1853, " the
representatives of the Press " and others were invited to take a
trip on the Ericsson, and the papers of the day following con-
tained glowing accounts of her success and most confident pre-
dictions of a coming revolution in locomotion. During the trip
the gentlemen present appointed a committee to draft appro-
* Scientific American, New York, January 22, 1853, p. 149.
THE ERICSSON HOT-AIR SHIP. 191
priate resolutions, and these were adopted with enthusiasm.
The members of the Committee were Ricliard Grant White,
Professor James J. Mapes, and Fi'eemau Hunt, all gentlemen
then and since well-known in Kew York. One of these resolu-
tions declared, " that the peculiar adaptability to sea vessels of
the new motor presented to the world by Captain Ericsson, is
now fully established and it is likely to prove superior to steam
for such purposes,"
In a speech on this occasion Professor Mapes said : '• I con-
sider there were but two epochs of science — the one marked by
J^ewton, the other by Ericsson." " Tiie inventor to whom
this unwholesome flattery was paid," says his critic of the
Scientific American, "rebuked the speaker with manly modes-
ty." Some years later (July 20, 1875) Ericsson wrote to this
paper saying :
After having completed the general design of the motive engines of
the caloric ship, and finding that in proportion to the power exerted by
the 72-inoh trial engine, a speed of five miles an hour called for cylin-
ders of 168 inches diameter, 6 feet stroke, I hesitated in undertaking the
construction. But for the encouragement received from some of our
leading commercial men who were consulted on the subject, the caloric
ship would not have been built. Let me add, that all united in the
opinion that if a speed of seven miles could be produced, the work
ought to proceed. Francis B. Cutting, the eminent patent lawyer, who
took a greater interest in the scheme than probably anyone else, stated
emphatically during a conversation at the Union Club, that if I felt
sure of being able to produce a rate oifive miles an hour, I ought not to
hesitate, reminding me of Fulton and his first attempt.
I have never before communicated the above facts to anyone, except-
ing a few intimate friends ; nothing short of my integrity having been
assailed ia your columns would have induced me to make a statement
which I had reserved as an accompaniment to my account of the world's
first and last big air-engine.
I abstained, in my letter of Saturday, from adverting to your edito-
rial reference to " the Ericsson hot-air stock-jobbers," confident that
you had inadvertently made the damaging remark.
Eeplying in the same month f July 7, 1875), to a compli-
mentary letter from his associate in the caloric ship enterprise,
Mr. J. B. Kitching, Ericsson said: "Your remark about the
caloric ship gratifies me more than I can express. There was
192 LtFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
more engineering in that ship than in ten Monitors. I regard
the hot-air ship as by far my best work, it was simply a me-
chanical marvel. The four 168-inch working cylinders and
four air-compressing cylinders of 137-inch diameter, sink the
Great Eastern machinery into insignificance."
The Soientifio American seems to have struck the only jar-
ring note in the general chorus of approval and prophecy, and
to this Ericsson made no objection, but the suggestion that he
was a party to a stock-jobbing operation, or that the gentlemen
associated with him could have any other motive for investing
so mnch money in a new venture than the obvious one, could
not pass without notice. It is, of course, impossible to prove a
negative, but such a charge was not only opposed to the facts
and probabilities of the ease, but it is contradicted by the whole
course and tenor of a life as absolutely free in its way from any
suggestion of the kind as that of Simon Stylites ; for Ericsson,
if he did not dwell on a pillar apart, was equally removed from
the ordinary currents of sordid calculation by his devotion to
ideas.
" The age of steam is closed," declared one of the admirers
of the caloric ship the next day, " the age of calorie opens.
Fulton and Watt belong to the past. Ericsson is the great me-
chanical genius of the present and the future." Somewhat too
enthusiastic as to the ship, but not so far wrong as to her de-
signer.
The Baltic and the Pacific, two vessels of the Collins line
at that time offering themselves for comparison, each used fifty-
eight tons of coal in twenty-four hours ; the four furnaces of
the Ericsson consumed six tons in the same time. With this
amount eight pounds pressure per square inch was obtained,
and a regular speed of seven miles per hour, with a possible
eight. Critics declared that the difference in the coal consump-
tion was due to the difference of speed. Ericsson replied that
the consumption of coal was nearly all due to radiation, that
increased power and speed would not result in corresponding
increase in coal consumption, and that on a large scale, much
of this radiation would be prevented. The question was never
tested. Difficulties innumerable assailed an engine working at
a temperature of 444° and constantly subject in all of its parts
THE EEICSSON HOT-AlR SHIP. 193
to the destructive influence of dry heat, burning out its lubri-
cants, loosening its joints, and rapidly destroying its working
members by oxidation.
After being thrown open to curious visitors for a day or two
the Ericsson started on a trip to Washington, February 16,
1S53, arriving there in safety after a stormy passage, and with-
out injury to her machinery, which was so utterly unlike any-
thing before seen on board ship as to invite the distrust of all
properly constituted sailors. Her four huge working cylinders
were arranged in pairs along the centre of the vessel, two for-
ward and two aft of the midship section, and each 14 feet, or
168 inches in diameter. Instead of resting in the usual man-
ner on the keelsons these cylinders, each of 924 feet, or 691
gallons cubical contents, were suspended, like enormous camp-
kettles, over the furnace fires. Above the working cylinders
were an equal number of supply cylinders or single acting
pumps, ll-j^j feet, 137 inches, in diameter. Eight piston-rods,
each 14 feet long, connected the mammoth pistons of each set
of cylinders, and these pistons had a total area of 43 cubic feet-
Though the pistons, with their connecting-rods, weighed up"
ward of fifty tons, so perfect was the frame-work supporting
this weight and that of the cylinders that Captain Sands of
the navy, who, with Ericsson, accompanied the ship to Wash-
ington, was able to report to the Secretary of the Navy that
not the slightest movement was observed in any part, even
when the vessel was passing through a gale and rolling very
heavily. Ericsson expected to attain a pressure of twelve
pounds with his engine, and calculated that this would give a
speed of ten or even twelve miles an hour, but it was found
impossible to exceed eight miles. Still, this was all that had
been promised, and the failure in speed alone would not have
secured the condemnation of the vessel if there had been suf-
ficient prospect of increasing it.
Considering the time, no bolder feat of marine engineering
has ever been accomplished ; so that it was truly said that the
caloric ship was at the same time a commercial failure and
one of the greatest mechanical triumphs of the day. An effort
was made to secure an appropriation from Congress for build-
ing such a vessel, but it met with no success.
13 ■
194 LIFE OP JOHN EEICSSON.
Soon after his arrival in "Washington with the vessel, Erics-
son issued this invitation :
Caloric Ship Ekicsson,
Off Alexandria, March 4, 1853.
Captain Ericsson requests the pleasure of the Company of the mem-
bers of the Virginia Legislature on board the new caloric ship Ericsson
for the purpose of inspecting the improvements made by this new mode
of propelling vessels, which will afford facilities to commerce by reduc-
ing the rates of running ships with motive-power even to that of sailing
vessels.
For the purpose of enabling the members of the Legislature to visit
the vessel with least possible loss of time. Captain Ericsson will cause
her to be at Acquia Creek either on Monday or Tuesday morning as may
be most convenient to them, and he will therefore be obliged by answer
in time to enable him to move the ship from Alexandria to Acquia
Creek.
J. Cook, Clerk.
The Yirginia legislators were entertained by a speech from
the inventor, for he could be eloquent on occasion with the elo-
quence of earnest conviction and assured mastery of tlie partic-
ular subject he discussed. He was not a man of varied knowl-
edge, or of culture in that sense, but what he did know he
knew thoroughly, and as the stream of a given volume gains
additional power by running in a narrow channel, so did the
concentration of his thought give added force to Ericsson's vig-
orous personality. He was accustomed to great intensity of
expression, he had exceedingly clear and positive conceptions
concerning matters he understood, and was indifferent to every-
thing else.
In return for the courtesy shown them, the Yirginia Legis-
lators invited Ericsson to dine with them, but he had left
Washington before the invitation reached him. He did dine,
liowever, at the capital with Washington Irving, who was tlien
engaged in researches connected with his work upon the life of
Washington.
CHAPTER XII.
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIR PRINCIPLE.
Sinking of the Ericsson in New York Harbor. — It is Raised and Takes
the Seventh New York Kegiment to Eichmond. — Its Use during
the Civil War. — Attempts to Apply Hot Air on a Large Scale Aban-
doned. — Its Application to Small Motors. — Speculations as to the
Moral Besults to Follow their Adoption. — Prince Krapotkin's Opin-
ion. — Large Demand for the Caloric Engine. — Its Advantages and
Profits.
AFTER the caloric ship returned to New York from Wash-
ington, it was decided to make changes in her engines to
increase their efiBciency and correct defects revealing themselves
in actual practice. Ericsson seems to have counted too confi-
dently on his regenerator, and the heating power was insuf-
ficient. Blowers were therefore added to force the draft and
make good the deficiency in the area of grate surface. The
Ericsson was finally made ready for another trial, and took a
trip down I>[ew York Bay on March 15, 1854:. A second trip
followed on April 27th, and the next day Ericsson wrote to
Mr. Sargent, concerning the results as follows :
At the very moment of success — of brilliant success — fate has dealt
me the severest blow I ever received. We yesterday went out on a private
preparatory trial of the caloric ship, during which all our anticipations
were realized. We attained a speed of from twelve to thirteen turns of
our paddle-wheels, equal to full eleven miles an hour, without putting
forth anything like our maximum power. All went on magnificently
until within a mile or two of the city (on our return from Sandy Hook),
when our beautiful ship was struck by a terrific tornado on our larboard
quarter, careening the hull so far as to put completely under water the
lower starboard ports, which unfortunately the men on the freight deck
had opened to clear out some rubbish, the day being very fine. The
men, so far as we can learn, became terrified and ran on deck without
closing the ports, and the hold filled so rapidly as to sink the ship in a
196 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
few minutes. I need not tell you what my feelings were as I watched
the destructive element entering the fireplaces of the engines, and as
the noble fabric, yielding under my feet, disappeared inch by inch. A
more sudden transition from gladness and exultation to disappointment
and regret is scarcely on record. Two years of anxious labor had been
brought to a successful close, the finest and strongest ship perhaps ever
built was gliding on the placid surface of the finest harbor in the world
and within a few cable lengths of her anchorage ; yet, with such solid
grounds for exultation, and with such perfect security from danger, a
freak of the elements eflfected utter annihilation in the space of a few
minutes.
As it was impossible under these circumstances to demon-
strate the capacity of the vessel, a certificate of her performance
on the trip that ended thus disastrously was prepared and
signed by five persons who witnessed it. They united in saying
that the engines of the vessel were worked up to " twelve turns
per minute against quite a smart breeze." An average pressure
of seventeen and one-half pounds was carried in both furnaces,
and a mean pressure at tlie time of closing the cut-off valve of
twelve and one-half pounds per square inch. This gave eleven
miles an hour through the water, the wheels being thirty-two
feet in diameter. The excursion being merely preparatory to
a regular trial trip, the consumption of fuel was not ascertained.
These witnesses estimated it at a little less than nine tons for
twenty-four hours.
In response to Sargent's letter of condolence, Ericsson said:
"You are quite right in thinking that it takes something more
to kill me than the sinking of a ship, though it carried down
the results of twenty years of labor. I am in abundant pin-
money, having brought out some small inventions kept back
by the absorbing caloric."
The same day, May 1st, he wrote : " The ship is up, much
to the sorrow of numerous wise men who predicted that the
thing could not be done. Pray present my warm thanks to
Commodore Smith for the prompt manner in which he ordered
his officers to put the ship on the Government Dock. Gentle-
men are so confoundedly scarce in these diggings that it is quite
refreshing to me to come in contact with the officers of the
Navy now and then." This was Commodore Joseph E. Smith,
Chief of the Naval Bureau of Yards and Docks from 1846 to
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIR PP.INOIPLK.
197
1869. Of him we shall hear more in connection witli Ericsson's
worl'L.
After examining the caloric ship, Ericsson I'eported on the
19th of May that twelve thousand dollars would be required to
put her machinery in order. It was finally decided to take out
her caloric eno'ines and convei't her into a steamer. TIioukIi the
economy of fuel in hot-air engines was very considerable, it was
accompanied by too great a sacrifice of space, and too great an
outlay of machinery, to permit competition with the steam-
engine at its best estate. Each of the four " regenerators "
of the engines on the caloric ship contained fifty disks of one-
The Caloric Ship Ericsson.
Sixteenth inch wire netting, each disk measuring six by four
or twenty-four squai'e feet. As the open spaces in each
disk measured one-half this, or twelve square feet, there was
no appreciable resistance to the passage of the air to and from
the cylinders, Ericsson tells us. But the expansion of the
air in the supply-cylinders, resulting from the great volume
of the vessels containing the wires through which the air
passed, seriously diminished the effect from the working
cylinders.
After her transfoi-mation into a steamer, the ErlcsHon was
chartered, in 18.58, to carry the Seventh Xew York Ilegiment
to Richmond, Ya., on the occasion of transfei'i-ing to Hollywood
198 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
Cemetery tlie remains of James Monroe, Ex-President of the
United States. She was subsequently used during the Civil
War as a Government transport, and with her four small smoke-
stacks was conspicuous in the picturesque group of vessels as-
sembled at the capture of Port Royal, S. C, by Commodore S.
F. Du Pont. After serving as a transport for a time slie was
fitted up with a battery of small guns and sent cruising after a
Confederate vessel. She was finally converted into a sailer and
employed by the British Government in carrying coal to one
of their stations in the Pacific.
In his Centennial volume (p. 438) Ericsson says of this
vessel : " The average speed at sea proving insufficient for
commercial purposes, the owners, with regret, acceded to my
proposition to remove the costly machinery, although it had
proved perfect as a mechanical combination. The resources of
modern engineering having been exhausted in producing the
motors of the caloric ship, tlie important question has forever
been set at rest : Can heated air as a motor compete on a large
scale with steam ? The commercial world is indebted to Amer-
ican enterpi'ise — to ISTew York enterprise, for having settled a
question of such vital importance. The marine engineer has
thus been encouraged to renew his efforts to perfect the steam-
engine, without fear of rivalry from a motor depending on
the dilatation of atmospheric air by heat."
Though Ericsson was able in after years to speak so philoso-
phically concerning his defeat in the matter of the caloric ship,
we may be sure that the experience at the time was most
bitter and humiliating. Nothing better illustrates his energy
and force of character, and his unfailing confidence in his own
mechanical conceptions, than the fact that he still continued
his labors upon his caloric engine. Tlie triumphant assertion
of his friends that " the age of steam had closed ; that of ca-
loric had opened," was falsified, lie was compelled to submit
to the gibes of his etiemies and the laughter of a world that
takes no account of efforts whose results are for the future :
but he was not discouraged. When told that the name of his
friend and associate in the caloric enterprise, Mr. John B.
Kitching, stood very low in Lombard Sti-eet in consequence of
his connection with this invention, Ericsson indignantly I'eplied
APPLICATIOKS OF THE HOT-AIR PEINOIPLE. 199
that the caloric was " a boon to humanity, and was another step
in the progress of man ordained by God."
On April 23, 1863, in a letter to the London Builder, he
had said :
The caloric engine is destined ere- long, its opponents notwithstand-
ing, to be the great motor for manufacturing and domestic purposes, be-
cause of its entire freedom from danger alone. It is destined assuredly
to effect much in dispensing with physical toil with the laborer. The
artisan of moderate means may place it in his room, where it will serve
as a stove while turning his lathe, at the same time purifying the at-
mosphere by pumping out the impure air and passing it off into the
chimney. In fine, it will heat, toil, ventilate, and always remain harm-
less. All this will soon be exhibited in practice and save critics from
racking their brains to discover theoretical mistakes and practical im-
perfections.
The caloric engine was finally made available for many com-
mercial purposes, but its inventor was obliged to postpone fur-
ther attempts to supersede steam. The radical vice of all air-
engines employing a cylinder and piston, is the necessity for
using very large engines and very high heat in order to se-
cure the necessary difference of temperature between tlie two
sides of the piston. This speedily burns out the machine, as
iron becomes red hot at 650° C. Lubricants are decomposed,
packing destroyed, and, by the expansion of the metal, joints are
loosened and the whole structure weakened. But partial suc-
cess came only at the end of efforts and struggles on the part
of Ericsson such as would have discouraged anyone but an in-
ventor. "What he endured is told in this letter addressed l)y
liim to his associates in the caloric enterprise, Messrs. Stough-
ton, Tyler, and Bloodgood, January 16, 1865.
You will not be surprised to learn that for want of means I have, after
prolonged struggles, at last been compelled to abandon the prosecution
of the invention which formed the subject of our several agreements
four years ago. Whilst I refrain from dwelling on the painful disap-
pointment I experience in being thus forced to abandon the grand idea
of the wire system which, together with that peculiarly simple arrange-
ment of inverted cylinders, formed the principle of the improved caloric
engine which you joined me in prosecuting, I feel bound emphatically
to state my conviction that this extraordinary system of obtaining mo-
tive power will some day be perfected.
200 LIFE OP JOHN EKICSSON.
I repeat now what I stated to you at our first interview, that on the
principle of the improved caloric engine under consideration more
motive power may be obtained from a mess of metallic wires of two
feet cube than from a whole mountain of coal, as applied in the present
steam-engine. Every experimental trial made has more than realized
my anticipations as regards the_ rapidity and certainty of depositing
and returning the caloric on this remarkable system. The practical
adaptation alone has presented difficulties. In justice to myself, allow
me here to remind you that I have had no funds at my disposal for
making experiments. The large test engine intended for the London
Exhibition was built in all essential features like my original thirty-inch
cylinder engine, that being deemed complete, the difference being main-
ly the application of two pairs of cylinders. The engine of the caloric
ship, again, was a perfect copy of the large test-engine, differing only
in size and in having four instead of two pairs of cylinders. The mag-
nitude of the ship and the consequent heavy responsibility forbade the
slightest deviation from the engine which had been found to work satis-
factorily. Accordingly, and most unfortunately, not a single point was
gained by these undertakings, not a step was made in advance. The
small engine built at Springfield indeed established an important fact.
It corroborated my opinion that the inverted single-acting cylinders
were indispensable to practical success. It has naturally been supposed
by the public that I have had ample— enormous — funds at my disposal
for making experiments, and hence that the resources of the veiy prin-
ciple of the new motor have been exhausted. How utterly at variance
with fact are these suppositions ! Except as stated in the small Spring-
field engine, no funds have been expended experimentally, and therefore
the improved caloric engine, with its inverted cylinders and wire regen-
erator, this day stands where it did when you first witnessed the opera-
tion four years ago. But though unavailable for practical purposes it
yet rests on immutable physical laws which by money, labor, and pa-
tience will assuredly secure a great boon to mankind. There can be
little doubt that $50,000, about ten per cent, of the cost of the caloric
ship, expended in, experiments would teach the proper practical appli-
cation of the wire system to obtain that available force which so far has
not been properly realized.
Truth and candor compel me now to notice that dimng the four
years in which I have labored unceasingly in a common cause, for a joint
benefit, I have been left wholly unsupported by those holding the largest
interest in the patent. I have during that period defrayed expenses
and incurred liabilities exceeding $30,000 in the prosecution of the
patents in which I hold very little more than one-fourth interest. I de-
sire to be distinctly understood not to abandon the invention in which
we are mutually interested. I only stop for want of funds — without
money I can do nothing, and my only capital is my intellect and my
time. Try what you can do. I am ready to work with all my energies.
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIR PRINCIPLE. 201
Only furnish funds, and we will show practically that bundles of wires
are capable of exerting more force than ship-loads of coal.
In the mean time I find myself on the verge of ruin. I must do
something to obtain bread and vindicate to some extent my assumed posi-
tion as the opponent of steam. Accordingly I have determined to return
to my original caloric engine. The plan is less brilliant — less startling
— but as it proved to yield power practically twenty years ago, so it will
again. At any rate, it cannot fail to be suflSciently useful to save its
author from starving. I am sanguine, you know, and I therefore expect
confidently to succeed on my old field. If so, I may yet take up the
invention in which you have an interest, on the principle which compels
metallic threads to yield more force than mountains of coal. Thus I
may once more devote individual means and exertions to a common in-
terest.
Thus, with many heartburnings, Ericsson, through force of
sheer necessity, abandoned his efforts to further develop liis
caloric system as a universal motor to supersede steam. Tlie
spirit of prophecy was upon him, but he prophesied to deaf
ears. He believed then, as he had believed for a quarter of a
century at least, what is now generally accepted, that the dis-
placement of the steam-engine is essential to future industrial
progress. To the British Association for the Advancement of
Science, Sir Frederick Bramwell declared, in 1888, that those
who should attend the centenary of the Association in 1931
" would see the present steam-engines in museums, treated as
things to be respected and of antiquarian interest, by the en-
gineers of those days, such as were the open-topped steam
cylinders of Newcomen and of Smeaton to ourselves, and that
the heat engine of the future will probably be one independent
of the vapor of water."
Ericsson had not lost the confidence of his friends, not even
of those whose money had been spent in his caloric ventures thus
far, and in the end those who continued to assist him had no
reason to regret their confidence. "With their help he built
four little engines with 15-inch cylinders, costing $500 or $600
apiece, and intended for lecture- room models ; an engine of 16-
inch cylinder, sent to France, and one of thirty inches intended
for the Crystal Palace Exhibition in New York. Eight other
models and test engines were built at a cost altogether of $18,-
400, and patents for improvements were issued dated July 31,
202 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
1855, and December 14, 1858. The engines of the steamer
wei'c covered by a patent issued in 1851.
Within three years of his announcement to his associates, in
January, 1855, of liis determination to make the caloric engine
a source of profit, Ericsson's manufacturers were able to repoi't
that the "caloric engine is no longer a subject of experiment,
but exists as a perfect, practical machine, daily at worii in
manufactures and diversified uses." By the end of 1857 the
work of introducing the perfected engine had begun witli do-
mestic motors of 6 and 8-incli cylinders, and seven large estab-
lishments were at work upon their construction.
IText came the 12-inch engine. This was an excellent
pumper and could do light rotary work. It was succeeded by
the 18-inch cylinder engine with power sufficient to drive two
or three printing presses. This was followed by the 24-ineh
cylinder, capable of doing most hoisting woi-k and exhibiting
au increase of power in excess of the increased consumption of
fuel. Finally, before the end of 1858, an engine with a
cylinder of thirty-two inches in diameter was built and set np
in one of the Government warehouses in New York for hoist-
ing work.
Five years before (1853) Ericsson had agreed to build a
caloric engine of sixty horse-power for the "Washington Navy
Yard, but he does not appear to have been called upon to do
so. Still earlier than this, in 1848, Mr. Sargent had suggested
that he should build a fifty horse-power engine for exhibition
in Washington. To this suggestion he . replied : " I must ob-
serve in regard to the caloric that if I had any confidence in
justice at Washington I would not hesitate to build the fifty
horse-power engine, but I well know that I am as likely to be
cheated as patronized there — you know that too."
A thousand caloric engines were sold within two years, and
soon more than three thousand were engaged in working printing
presses, and hoisting-gear for warehouses, docks, and ships ; in
mines and mills ; for pumping, irrigating land, and supplying
villages with water ; in various operations on farms and plan-
tations, and in numerous other mechanical employments. If
it was found inadequate to move a great ocean steamer with
sufficient speed, it was satisfactorily tested in the propulsion
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIK PRINCIPLE. 203
of boats and pleasure yachts ; in short, wherever a limited,
economical, safe, independent, and self-managed motive-power
was required, Ericsson's caloric engine was in demand.
The Fitchburg Railroad of Massachusetts reported that a
caloric engine belonging to them had pumped in one year
1,600,000 gallons of water at an expense of $25 for fuel and
oil, and $25 for the time of an engineer. The New York Cen-
tral Railroad, which had forty-eight of the engines in use, report-
ed that they performed an "incredible amount" of labor for
the "small quantity of fuel consumed." One engine, at an ex-
pense of eleven cents a day, was doing the work of five men
who received $125 a month, or $5 a day. An attempt was
made to substitute the caloric engine for the horses then used
in drawing their cars through the city of New York. The
New York Evening Post, the IIartfo7'd Times, the Dutch Re-
form, Messenger, and forty newspapers altogether, employed
this motor and sounded its praises the country over. Stimu-
lated by the interest in caloric, a little paper called The Ericsson,
and having for its motto " Improve on Improvements," was
started in 1853, in Fond du Lac, Wis., then a place of two or
three thousand inhabitants.
Caloric engines were also in extensive use on the sugar plan-
tations in Cuba and in the Southern United States ; they were
at work abroad in England and Ireland, and especially in Swe-
den, several establishments in this last country having engaged
engines under license, the inventor with characteristic generos-
ity making over the proceeds of his royalties in Sweden to his
sister living there.
At the agricultural fair of Ostergothland, the most impor-
tant province of Sweden, the first prize was awarded, in Janu-
ary, 1859, to an Ericsson caloric engine. The Swedish journals
particularly noticed that this engine, in its present efficient form,
differed altogether from that of the " caloric ship," and that it
resembled in essential features the engines elaborated and built
by Captain Ericsson in London, between the years 1827 and
1833. A working model of one of these engines was carried
from London to Stockholm in the spring of 1833, by Colonel
Nils Ericsson, brother of the inventor. It was pointed out as a
remarkable instance of the correctness of first conceptions that
204 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Captain Ericsson, after spending thirty years of intense laboi',
should find himself just where he started. The striking feat-
ure of the new engine, aside from the novel principle involved,
was the mode by which the supply-air was introduced into the
machine, and in this it was identical with the model engine al-
luded to. The singular achievement, recognized by engineers,
of effecting the very dissimilar requisite movements of supply
and working pistons by one crank-pin dates back to 1833, and
the idea of placing the fire within the cylinder was practically
exemplified by Captain Ericsson in London, as long ago as
182Y.
The distinguishing merits of the engine were its economy,
portability, simplicity, and non- liability to explosion. Added
to this, is the superior advantage, in certain localities, of requir-
ing no water. In Texas and California it was used for pur-
poses of irrigation ; in Louisiana for the operation of cotton-
gins, on account of the diminislied risk of fire and freedom
from explosion. One caloric engine is reported to have ex-
ploded in Cuba, but the exact cause of the explosion was never
ascertained.
The hot air engine was found of special value in lighthouses.
It required no water, and water is liable to freeze in exposed
situations and to fail altogether in others. Its freedom from
the danger of explosion, the ease with which it could be man-
aged by the ordinary light-keeper, and the service it rendered
in heating his quarters also commended it to favor, though it
was more bulky than the steam-engine, and cost fifty per cent,
more. Ericsson examined carefully into the question of apply-
ing it to canal boats, but decided that it had too little power in
proportion to its bulk and weight.
For similar reasons his plans for using it as a motor for
horse-cars were not caiTied out. Its most ingenious application
was to the work of compressing air so that it could be conveyed
from a reservoir wherever it was needed. It was applied in
this way by an establishment in New York employing five or
six hundred hands with sewing-machines. Ericsson was very
much amused by his experience with a handsome factory girl
who invited him to a competition. She ran her sewing ma-
chine with her foot, against the caloric engine, and " me,"
APPLICATIONS OF THE HOT-AIR PRINCIPLE. 205
said he, in telling the story, "if she didn't beat me to fits."
But as his engine could run all day and all night her defeat was
certain in the end.
I iind no evidence that Ericsson ever gave attention to the
study of electricity, though he did invent, in 1859, an " improve-
ment in actuating and regulating the speed of telegraphic in-
struments " by compressed air, conveyed to the telegraphic in-
struments in diffei'ent rooms of a building, from a central
motor. " Allow me to remind you," said Ericsson, in a letter
to one of his Swedish friends, " that I am an engineer and
designer rather than an inventor. Is the capacity for con-
struction gained during the experience of a lifetime, an in-
vention ? Edison, in his ignorance, discovers or invents ; Erics-
son, acquainted with physical laws, constructs." This was
not said in any spirit of disparagement toward Edison, for
whose talents and accomplishments Ericsson had the liighest
respect.
CHAPTER Xni.
THE REGENERATIVE PRINCIPLB.
Eeceipts for Patent Fees. — ^Report on the Hot-air Engine by Dr. F.
A. P. Barnard. — Application of the Regenerative Principle by Sir
"William Siemens. — Faraday's Continued Faith in It. — Its Applica-
tion to the Steam-engine. — Professor E. N. Horsford's Investigation
of the Caloric Engine. — Its Progress During Thirty Years. — ^Erics-
son Receives the Eumford Prize.
ASIDE from marine motors, Ericsson expended altogether
about $60,000 upon twenty-five test machines while per-
fecting the caloric engine. His accounts show that more than
one-half of this sum was returned in patent fees in a single
year, after the invention was on the full tide of success. He
had parted with interests in it from time to time until at length
he retained only one-half, but his books record the receipt of
$16,555.21 from this half in 1860, after deducting payments
for the cost of collecting. This shows a total receipt of $35,-
000 for patent fees during the year, and the price received pre-
vious to this for partial interests indicates that the patent-right
as a whole was valued at $100,000. In a letter to Mrs.
Stoughton, dated October 31, 1870, Ericsson said : " Edwin
[Mr. Stoughton], during conversation when he last called at
36, did me the great injustice of hinting that I ' never com-
plete anything.' The fact is that I never leave an invention
while anything can be done to it within my power (or within
the power of man ?). Since he advised me to abandon the ca-
loric engine I have perfected fifty-six inventions, all carried
into practice. Upward of three thousand caloric engines have
been built in the meantime, the patent having yielded more
than $100,000. Do me the favor to impress all this on the
mind of my unjust friend."
The attempt to apply the hot-air engine to the purpose of
THE EEGENEEATIVE PKINCIPLE. 207
navigation was economically a failure, but as a means of edu-
cation to Ericsson it was worth far more than it cost, as the
sequel will show. Even after this failure was recorded, Robert
Hunt, F.K.S., in his " Supplement to lire's Dictionary of Arts,
Manufactures, and Mines," declared that "we may, notwith-
standing this result, safely predict, from the investigations of
Messrs. Thomson & Joule, that the expansion of air by heat
will eventually, in some conditions, take the place of steam as a
motive power."
Sir William Siemens told the British Association in Au-
gust, 1882, that "the gas or caloric engine combines the condi-
tions most favorable to the attainment of maximum results, and
it may reasonably be supposed that the difficulties still in the
way of their application on a large scale will gradually be re-
moved." " Before many years have elapsed," he said further,
" we may find in our factories and on board our ships engines
with a fuel consumption not exceeding one pound of coal per
effective horse-power per hour, in which the gas-producer takes
the place of the somewhat complex and dangerous steam-boiler.
The advent of such an engine, and of the dynamo machine,
must mark a new era of material progress at least equal to that
produced by the introduction of steam-power in the eai-ly part
of our century."
Sir "William spoke from experience, for he had spent many
years of his life in seeking to apply the regenerative principle
which so fascinated Ericsson, and was a firm believer in its ef-
fectiveness. Commencing his studies into the application of
heat fifteen years after Ericsson, he had the advantage of the
sounder theories concerning its nature established by the in-
vestigations of Joule in England and Mayer in Germany,
during the years from 1842 to 1849. Siemens contended that
Ericsson's partial failure with his respirator or "regenerator"
was due to a mistake in its application, resulting from an accept-
ance of the mistaken theory of the nature of heat, current at
that time, and a consequent neglect to provide sufficient heating
apparatus. This is also the explanation of Dr. Fi'ederick A.
P. Barnard, LL.D., late president of Columbia College, New
York. Speaking of Ericsson's early engine, with the " regene-
rator," Dr. Barnard says :
208 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSOK.
" The engine, it will be seen, was remarkably simple in con-
struction. It also performed very well in practice, so far as its
performance was merely a question of mechanics. But it
failed because the heating arrangements were inadequate to the
demand made upon them. Mr. Ericsson did not expect to be
dependent on his furnaces for the supply of more than a mod-
erate fraction of the heat which each 8uccessi\e charge of air
was to receive. It was his anticipation that the regeneratoi's
would serve to transfer so large a quantity from each charge to
the next that it would be necessary to provide for a little more
than the always inevitable loss by mere radiation. This antici-
pation was not realized and in fact could not be, since no ac-
count was taken of the large amount of heat necessarily trans-
ferred into work.'' *
At the time of his invention of the hot-air engine Ericsson
held the opinion that equal increments of heat produced equal
increments of power, whatever the medium used, and that the
i-esulting force suffers no diminution ; so that the effects may be
reproduced indefinitely by transfer from one medium to another,
or from one portion of the same medium to another portion.
Whatever the loss of heat in an engine from radiation and con-
duction there was, according to this theory, no loss from the ex-
ertion of power. Eumford's experiment in boiling water with
heat generated by friction dates back to 1798, but the doctrine
of the mutual convertibility of heat and mechanical action, or
of heat as a mode of motion, was only gradually establishing
itself while Ericsson's thoughts were occupied with his inven-
tions, and it was not until 1862 that Professor Tyndali com-
menced the series of lectures that did so much to make the
theory generally known.
In a paper read before the London Institution of Civil En-
gineers, session of 1883-84, on " Heat and its Mechanical Appli-
cation," Professor Fleeming Jenkin, F.E.S., said of Sir William
Siemens : " The fact that such a man spent so many years of
his life in endeavoring to adapt the regenerator to the internal
combustion engine served to show, what I believe to be certain-
* Paris Universal Exposition, 1867, Machinery and Processes of the Indus-
trial Arts and Apparatus of the Exact Sciences. By Frederick A. P. Barnard,
LL.D., U. S. Commissioner.
THE EEGEKEEATIVE PRINCIPLE. 209
]y the truth, that in that idea lies the future of internal com-
bustion in general ; that by the application of the regenerator
we shall be .able to so much lower the temperature of rejec-
tion as in a marked manner to increase the efficiency of the
engines."
The fact that such a man as Ericsson gave so many years
of his life to the study of this expedient, and that he believed
in it to the end, has equal significance.
Sir William Siemens applied the regenerative principle to
the steam engine, taking out his first patent for his improve-
ments in this line December 22, 1847. His biographer tells us
that he did not claim the regenerative principle as an original
discovery, but "it was looked upon by engineers as unsound in
principle, and its application had very little beneficial result.
Mr. Siemens saw not only its theoretical correctness, but its
great practical value, and the wide success it afterward at-
tained fully justified his views. The regenerative principle
was undoubtedly sound, and he had devoted ten or twelve of
the best years of his life to its application. During this time
he had the support of many eminent engineers, the practical
aid of two of the best manufacturing firms in the country, and
the funds of a powerful commercial association. Neither theo-
retical knowledge, nor practical experience, nor ingenuity, nor
skill, nor money, nor perseverance, nor influence was wanting.
But in spite of their promised advantages, the regenerative
steam-engine would not supplant the simple machine of "Watt." *
The final result was the application of the Siemens regener-
ative furnace to mechanical operations, for which a high tem-
perature is I'equired, such as smelting and glass and pottery
manufacture.
During the years of experimental research devoted to this
improved engine, Siemens met with the difficulties that had
assailed Ericsson in the way of " leaks, destruction of working
parts, undue consumption of fuel, imperfect action and so on."
In the Siemens' regenerator the exhaust steam deposits its heat,
to be taken up by the cold water on its way from the condenser
to the " hot well." It was found that the gases escaping from
the furnace at a temperature of 4,000° F. could be cooled
• Life of Sir William Siemens. By William Pole. Vol. i., p. 79.
14
210 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
down in a regenerator to between 200° and 400°. Siemens
provides for the passage of heated vapor, or vapor and steam,
and atmospheric air through regenerators of fire brick laid
with open spaces. Of his furnace Dr. Siemens said : " The
greatest heat that can be produced by direct combustion of
colie and air is about 4,000° F. But with my regenerative fur-
nace I sliould have no difiiculty in going up to 10,000°, in fact,
to any degree the material composing the furnace can be made
to stand."
The most intense terrestrial combustion that we can com-
mand. Professor Tyndall tells us, is that of oxygen and hydro-
gen, and the temperature of the pure oxy-hydrogen flame is
8,061° C.=14,542° F. The sun Siemens considered to be a gi-
gantic specimen of one of his own regenerative gas furnaces.
He likened its action to that of a centrifugal blowing fan,
revolving with enormous velocity and drawing in upon its polar
surfaces the gaseous matters circulating in a highly attenuated
state in space ; subjecting them to enormous friction and ex-
pelling them at the solar equator at a temperature estimated by
Ericsson at 4.035.584° F., to commence anew the cycle of
change.
The entrance of Siemens upon a line of investigation fol-
lowed by Ericsson fifteen years before him is interesting testi-
mony to the fascinations of the regenerative theory. Michael
Faraday seems never to have lost faith in it, for the last lecture
he ever delivered was on the Siemens regenerative furnace.
This was June 20, 1862, or nearly thirty years after his at-
tention had first been directed to the principle involved in it by
Ericsson's invention of 1833. As early as 1838 Ericsson had
conducted a series of experiments with a view to adapting the
regenerative principle to the steam-engine, as Siemens did later
on. Though the result hoped for was not accomplished, it was
found that most valuable use could be made of the heat then
wasted in condensing the steam, and the surface condenser
was the result. The latest patent for this was taken out in the
United States in 1849, and it is described in Ericsson's " Con-
tributions to the Centennial Exhibition," chapter xxix.
The extent to which the efficiency of the marine engine has
been increased by this device is illustrated by an example
THE KEGEKEEATIVE PEINCIPLE. 211
quoted by Mr. W. T. Harvey, before the Engineering Section
of the Bristol, England, Naturalists' Society, showing that a
vessel, the Juno, saved nine and a half tons of coal per voyage,
or nine per cent., by a change from a jet condenser to the sur-
face condenser, the engines vporking at the same pressure, thirty
pounds, indicating the same liorse-power, 1605, and making the
same speed, 14.1 knots.
In 1887 the German Bureau of Statistics estimated the
power of steam-engines then at work as the equivalent of forty-
six million horses or a thousand million men, double the work-
ing population of the earth. Four-fifths of this power has
been brought into action during the last quarter of a century,
or since Ericsson terminated his labors upon the caloric engine.
In his " Contributions " (p. 443) Ericsson tells us that " steam
engineers, finding by the extraordinary demand for caloric
engines that very moderate power was a great desideratum,
have perfected the steam-motor until it almost rivals the ca-
loric engine in safety and adaptability ; consequently, the
demand for caloric engines has been greatly diminished of late.
Yet this motor can never be superseded by the steam-en-
gine, since it requires no water, besides being absolutely safe
from explosion. There are innumerable localities in which an
adequate quantity of water cannot be obtained, but where the
necessities of civilized life call for mechanical motors; hence
the calorie engine may be regarded as an institution insepar-
able from civilization."
In a letter written to Professor E. K". Horsford, then Rum-
ford Professor in Harvard University, Ericsson said :
New Yobk, January 19, 1861.
Snt : Your letter to Mr. Sargent, which indicates that you are in-
vestigating the origin and development of the caloric engine, induces
me to present to you the enclosed table relating to the compression of
atmospheric air. The relations of volume, temperature, and pressure
expressed in this table you will find somewhat different from the result
of Eegnanlt's and Joule's investigations on the subject — I will not
question the theoretical accuracy of their deductions but I claim that
my table, as it records what actually takes place during compression on
a large scale, is of more value to practical engineering. It is proper to
add that the leading facts exhibited in this table were established by
the writer long before the commencement of the investigation of the
212 LIFE OF JOHN EKIC8S0N.
distinguished savants alluded to. The trial of the caloric engine of
1833 clearly pi'oved that a compression of ten pounds to the square
inch above the atmospheric pressure caused an elevation of temperature
of more than 80°. At that time, you will remember, Dalton's theory
prevailed, which admitted only 50° increase of temperature for reducing
atmospheric air to half volume. It is proper further to observe that
the inclosed table, which I request that you will do me the honor to ac-
cept, is founded on actual results produced by long-continued compres-
sion with cylinders varying from thirty to one hundred and thirty-eight
inches diameter.
I annex a very brief explanation, as you will comprehend the nat-
ure of the table at a glance.
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
J. Eeicsson.
Propessob Hoesfokd.
Tracing the progress of the caloric engine during a period
of thirty years, from its first suggestion to the final completion
of the work upon it in 1858, we find that it originated in the
flame engine, described in the paper sent to the Institution of
Civil Engineers, London, in the year 1827. This had two cylinders
with a piston in each cylinder. In 1837 a fly-wheel and re-
generators were added, and in 1839 two pistons were put into
one cylinder, one a supply piston and the other a working
piston, and a device was added for compressing the air at the
instant of its passage from the supply cj'linder to be heated.
Next, through a series of experimental engines, the grand thirty-
inch engines of the caloric ship were evolved. In 1855 the
supply piston was changed so as to work in equilibria at the
time when the working piston was nearly stationary, and
in 1856 was added the quickened motion at the conclusion of
the inward stroke of the supply piston. Finally, in 185S,
came a device to keep the lubricated surface of the cylinder
at a temperature below that at which the oil suffers injury, by
turning upon it an alternating blast of cold air. Thus was an-
swered the objection that the hot-air engine could never be
made successful because of the impossibility of securing the
lubricants from destruction. The ingenious combination of
movements in this engine so excited the admiration of Pro-
fessor Horsford as to lead him to say: "It is difficult to con-
ceive of a higher theoretical and mechanical triumph."
THE EEGENEKATIVE PEINCIPLE. 213
The engine consisted of a single horizontal cylinder. To
one end of this fire was applied, and at the other end were two
pistons alternately approaching and receding from each other,
in such a manner as to produce internal pressure during the
outward stroke of the outer piston. Both pistons were con-
nected to the same crank-pin, and the peculiar and contrary
motions of the two pistons were produced by lever movements.
The solution of the problem of imparting motion to the two
pistons required compliance with nine distinct conditions, and
tlie result was one of the most remarkable mechanical concep-
tions of our time. " It is as impossible," said Professor Ilorsford,
" to go into detail with each of Captain Ei'icsson's air engines
as it would be to review the discussions of the caloric engine in
which Ericsson, Rankine, Joule, Napier, Kegnanlt, Barnard, !N"or-
ton and a crowd of other writers, French, German, English, and
American, have taken part. Iso one who comprehends the
action of Stirling's earlier engine, or of Ericsson's of 1833
or 1837 — which, with the regenerator attached, would do an
amount of duty to which it was utterly inadequate with the
regenerator detached ; or of the action of the caloric engine of
1858, or of Wilcox's, which with the escape and supply ports
closed, and the air of the working cylinder i-eturned alternately
to and received from the supply cylinder, will run for a long
time after the fire has been withdrawn — can now doubt, that
upon the main point, the function of the regenerator, the claim
of Ericsson had been sustained."
Wilcox's engine was a reproduction, in 1859-60, with some
modification in details, of Ericsson's engine of 1837 with fly-
wheel and regenerator. The earlier caloric engine of 1833 was
the first of a series on the different plan of alternately heating
and cooling a body of compressed air witliout the use of a re-
generator. " In comparing the earlier with the later engines,"
said Professor Horsford, " there is a marked development of
the capabilities of the principle, and corresponding progress in
invention." *
* These quotations are from the address accompanying the presentation by
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences of the Eumford premium of a
gold and silver medal " awarded to John Ericsson for his improvement in the
management of heat, particularly as shown in his caloric engine of 1858.''
214 LIFE OF JOHN EKICSSOK.
If Ericsson's caloric engine did not realize all his sanguine
expectations, it certainly accomplished a great work, and its in-
ventor had the satisfaction of knowing tliat he alone had met
with any considerable success in the attempt, so frequently
made during the previous half century, to substitute another
motor for the steam-engine. Canada, by a special act of Par-
liament, granted Ericsson the privilege of a patent for his ca-
loric engine, " as if the said John Ericsson had been a subject of
Her Majesty, and resident of this province." In announcing
the result in a letter from Toronto, May 21, 1861, a fi-iend
said : " In the passing of this bill nothing gave me more pleas-
ure than the just tribute paid to your talents and energy. The
Legislature generally is opposed to special legislation, and have
made an exception in your case. I do not hesitate to say that
no other man would have obtained it but yourself, and the
ground of it was your untiring zeal in the cause of science,
and the great benefit the whole world derive f I'om the exer-
cise of your talent and energy. For once, at any rate, merit
lias carried the day."
In his address in 1888, before the British Association, al-
ready referred to. Sir Frederick Bramwell said :
The ■working of heat engines without the intervention of water, by
the combustion of gases arising from coal and water, is now not merely
an established fact, but a recognized and undoubted commercially eco-
nomical means of obtaining motive power. Such engines, developing
from one to forty horse-power, and worked by ordinary gas supplied by
gas-mains, are in most extensive use in printing-works,' hotels, clubs,
theatres, and even in large private houses, for the working of dynamos
to supply electric light. But, looking at the wonderful j)etroleum indus-
try, and at the multifarious products which are obtained from the crude
materials, is it too much to say that there is a future for motor-engines
worked by the vapor of some of the more highly volatile of these pro-
ducts — true vapor — not a gas, but a condensable body capable of being
worked over and over again ? Numbers of such engines, some of as
much as four horse-power, are now running, and are apparently giving
good results — certainly excellent results as regards the compactness and
lightness of the machinery.
Ericsson was a pioneer in this field, and his caloric engine
opened the way for the coming revolution, not only by its direct
agency, but still more effectively in the way that most useful in-
THE KEGENEEATIVE PRINCIPLE. 215
ventions accomplisli their object, by stimulating further inven-
tion and suggesting improvement in the line of the original
investigation. In spite of the wonders accomplished by niodein
machinery, serious and well-founded objections are urged against
it on ethical grounds, for its tendency is to destroy the individ-
ual initiative and to lessen independence of character. For
thousands of little work-shops, each the centre of moral in-
fluences out of which have developed our best types of citizen-
ship, we have substituted a single great manufactory where the
principle of the interchangeability of parts is applied to the
artisan aS well as to his products. Each workman is one of a
thousand, so shaped to pattern that any one may be substituted
for any other. The factor of individuality, so essential to man-
ly development, is thus, so far as possible, eliminated.
No man understood this tendency of modern mechanical
development better than Ericsson. " The close observer of
labor-saving machines," he said,* " is well aware that of late
years the legitimate bounds have been passed, and that we are
rapidly encountering the dangers of intellect-saving machines,
by introducing mechanical devices for effecting everything
which hitherto has been the result of the healthful combination
of intellect and muscular effort. At this moment hundi-eds of
thousands of human beings are employed in working a treadle
or turning a crank, vacant spectators of what their muscles ef-
fect ; not the least tax on their intellect. Unfortunately, the
number of persons thus occupied is being augmented with a
rapidity only known to those who study the records of mechan-
ical invention. It is needless to speculate on the effect upon
our race which this dispensing with intellect, and the substitu-
tion of monotonous muscular labor, will produce in course of
time. The evil is manifest.
" It will be asked, ' is there no remedy ? ' A motor of such
properties that it can follow the thousand mechanic denizens
into their corners would obviously meet the difficulty. It is
claimed that the caloric engine possesses these properties. It
works as well when made to exert the power of one man as
that of twenty. It is actuated by the air of the surrounding
atmosphere and requires no engineer ; it can be managed by
* Letter to the editor of the London Times, May 23, 1860.
216 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
any person of common intelligence ; is wholly free from dan-
ger ; the cost of fuel which it consumes artiounts to less than
five per cent, of .the manual labor employed to exert equal
force." Again he says: "The steam-engine requires water,
which prevents its use in millions of instances in which we want
motors to relieve human drudgery. We cannot trust that dan-
gerous agent to the care of our wives and children, but the ca-
loric engine we safely may. We can turn the key to the room
which contains it, and the humble artisan may, without appre-
hension, ply his tool while this harmless servant turns the
crank and cooks his food." •
Five years later, when his triumplis in other fields had
made his name universally known, Ericsson said (November,
1865) : " The satisfaction with which I place my head on the
pillow at night, conscious of having through my little caloric
engine conferred a great boon on mankind — -though the full
importance of that boon will not be understood until the lapse
of perhaps another century — is far greater than any satisfaction
the production of an engine of war can give.''
" The division and subdivision of functions," says Prince
Krapotkin, one of the most conspicuous representatives of the
modern socialistic element, " have been pushed so far as to
divide humanity into castes almost as firmly established as
those of old India. First the broad division into producers
and consumers ; little-consuming pi-oducers on the one hand,
little-producing consumers on the other hand. Then amid
the former, a series of subdivisions, the manual worker and
the intellectual worker, sharply separated ; and agricultural
laborers and workers in manufactures. Amid little-producing
consumers are numberless minute subdivisions, the modern
ideal of a workman being a man or a woman, a boy or a girl,
without the knowledge of any handicraft, having no conception
whatever of the industry in wliich he or she is employed, and
only capable of making all day long and for a whole life, the
same infinitesimal part of something ; from the age of thirteen
to that of sixty pushing the coal cart at a given spot of the
mine, or making the spring of a penknife, or the eighteenth
part of a pin. The working classes have become mere ser-
vants to some machine of a given description ; mere flesh-and-
THE KEGEISfERATIVE PRINCIPLE. 217
bone parts to some immense machinery ; having no idea about
how or why the machinery is performing its rhythmical move-
ments. Skilled artisanship is swept away as a survival of the
past which is condemned to disappear. For the artist who for-
merly found aesthetic enjoyment in the work of his hands, is
substituted the human slave of an iron slave."
It was against this tendency, constituting so great a danger
to modei'n society, that Ericsson struggled, and with intelligent
purpose, as the letter I have quoted shows. He had a profound
sense of the dignity of labor ; his early years had been spent
among working people, and those of the very best class ; and
though he found but little leisure for the polite interchanges of
" society" and had as little taste for them, his heart and his
hand were always open to " plain people."
One hundred years ago when Benjamin Thompson was
made a Count of the " Holy Roman Empire" he chose for his ti-
tle the name of the place, Eumford (now Concord), N. H., from
which he fled sixteen years before to escape the coat of tar and
feathers in preparation for him, because of his supposed hostil-
ity to the local sentiment of opposition to the rule of England.
Among the numerous proofs he gave of magnanimous forget-
fulness of this episode in his history is to be numbered the
gift of $5,000 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
to found a prize, bearing his name, for the most important dis-
coveries in light and heat.
Though the prize was founded in 1796, it was not until f ortj'-
three years after that the Academy, in 1 839, found anyone who
was in its judgment worthy of the award. Then the gold
and silver Rumford medals were bestowed upon Robert Hare,
of Philadelphia, whose subsequent wanderings in the unscien-
tific ways of spiritualism have not diminished his earlier credit
as a chemist and philosopher. To Hare, the prize was granted .
in recognition of his invention of the oxy-hydrogen blow-pipe,
and his improvement in galvanic apparatus. Another interval of
twenty-three years elapsed before it was proposed to bestow the
prize a second time, though the fund had meantime increased
to nearly thirty thousand dollars, and a still larger sum, the pro-
ceeds of its investment, had been expended, under authority of
the State Court, in ways not contemplated in the oi'iginal gift.
218 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
In 1860 the suLject of bestowing the Eumford prize upon
John Ericsson was bronglit to the attention of the Acad-
emy. Tlie question as to his title to it was referred to the
standing committee of the Academy having this matter in
charge. At the five liundred and sixth meeting of the Acad-
emy', held two years later, April 6, 1862, Joseph Lovering,
Ilollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at
Harvard College, from a majority of the Eumford Commit-
tee presented the following report :
The Eumford Committee, having examined the subject of hot-air en-
gines, and the recent improvement in their construction made in Amer-
ica, ask leave to report as follows :
The Eumford Committee does not recommend that the Academy
should award the Eumford premium for the alleged recent improve-
ments of Mr. Ericsson in the hot-air engine, nor for his engine as at
present constructed.
MoEEiLii Wtman, Joseph Lovebing, Joseph WiniiOce.
Cambridge, April 8, 1863.
On behalf of himself and Daniel Treadwell, a former Eum-
ford Professor, E. N. Ilorsford, presented the following :
The minority of the Eumford report :
That they dissent from the opinion of the majority, in that they be-
lieve the improvements in the caloric engine of Mr. Ericsson which he
brnught out in 1858 are such as to entitle him to the Eumford Medal.
They see the evidence of high inventive talent, of patient thought
and prolonged and persevering experimental research, in the practical
solution on a large scale of the various problems underlying the hot-
air engine, especially in the compact arrangement of the supply and
working pistons, the telescopic tube, the flre-pot and the regenerator in
a single cylinder, thereby economizing heat and space ; in the device
foi' protecting the lubricating material of the packing of the working
piston, by exposing it at each stroke to the current of entering cold air ;
and in the system of cranks, rock-shafts, bars and their connecting rods
by which the varied, complicated, but necessary motions of the supply
and working pistons are regulated and connected with each other and
the fly-wheel.
The minority recommend that the Eumford Medal be awarded to
Mr. Ericsson for his improvements in the management of heat, particu-
larly as shown in his air engine of 1858.
E. N. HoKSFOBD, Daniel Teeadwell.
Cambridge, April 8, 1863.
THE KEGENEEATIVB PRINCIPLE. 219
Thus were two professors of mathematics, one of Harvard
and the other of the Naval Academy, and one physician, ar-
rayed iu judgment against two Rumford Professors, both cele-
brated for inventive capacity and experience. Wlio should
decide ? The two reports were received and the question of
choosing between them was discussed by their authors, the
merits of the hot-air engine being the subject of controvers}-.
The discussion was continued at an adjourned meeting on April
22, 1862, and again at a meeting held May 13th, when Professor
Louis Agassiz, Drs. Jacob Bigelow and Charles Pickering of
Boston, Benjamin Peirce, Professor of Astronomy and Mathe-
matics at Harvard, and Messrs. Washburn and Guy joined iu
the discussion. This controversy between practical invention
and theoretical criticism was so earnest and determined that
it was decided to refer the question to the annual meeting
for settlement. Finally, at an adjourned annual meeting, held
on June 1, 1862, on motion of Professor Horsford, seconded
by Professor Treadwell, this resolution was finally adopted :
Resolved that the Eumford premium be awarded to John B.*
Ericsson for his improvements in the management of heat, particularly
as .shown in his caloric engine of 1858.
The account here given of the award of the Rumford Medal
to John Ericsson in 1862 somewhat anticipates this event in
the order of chronology, yet it belongs naturally to a period
occupied with studies destined to be laid aside for a time, and
only for a time, in deference to the demands of the most im-
perative public obligations.
* The resolution is thus recorded in the published minutes of the Acad-
emy.
CHAPTER XIV.
PERSONAL HISTORT.
Ericsson's Associates and Friends. — His Interest in European Politics.—
He Meets with an Accident. — Submits to a Surgical Operation. —
His Physical Condition. — His Acquaintance with Professor J. J.
Mapes.— His Favorite Aiithors. — His Mathematical and Linguis-
tic Acquirements. — His Belations with Mr. Delamater. — Personal
Anecdotes. — His Physical Vigor. — Hopes to Live a Century.
WHEN we pass beyond the limits of Ericsson's workshop,
we find very little to record concerning his movements
during the twenty years succeeding his removal to 'New York,
in November, 1839. For a portion of this time his associate,
Mr. John O. Sargent, was residing in Washington, and inter-
course with him was maintained by a correspondence devoted
chiefly to the dry details of business. Succeeding Mr. Sargent
as Ericsson's legal adviser came Mr. Edwin Wallace Stonghton,
whose connection with the important patent cases of Goodyear
and others, soon after his admission to the bar in 1840, had
brought him into prominence in this line of pi'actice. The ac-
quaintance with Mr. Stoughton, begun hi 1850, continued until
his death in 1882. Ericsson's accounts show that Mr. Stough-
ton not only invested to a moderate extent in his caloric ven-
tures but helped him to tide over some of his pecuniary diflS-
culties while at work on his hot-air engine in 1865-56. Their
relations, originally those of . attorney and client, extended
to personal friendship and social intercourse. Mr. Stoughton
was fond of his joke, and though Ericsson was less given to
jesting himself, he enjoyed humor in others, and when they
were together a jolly laugh would upon occasion well up from
the depths of the capacious lungs that filled his expansive
chest. He would occasionally drop in upon Mr. and Mrs.
Stoughton for an evening's chat. European politics were
among the topics of discussion during the Crimean war, and he
gave vigorous expression to the sympathy he felt, in common
PERSONAL HISTOKY. 221
with his countrymen, in tlie eflforts o£ the allies to weaken the
power of Russia. As Ericsson was a Knight of the Order of
Vasa he was familiarly spoken of by the Stoughtoiis as " Sir
John," and among his letters are found numerous notes from
Mr. Stoughton thus addressed. That he occasionally respond-
ed in the same vein is shown by this letter :
" Sir John Ei-icsson " presents liis compliments to Lord Counsellor
Stoughton, and regrets inexpressibly that previous engagement will
prevent Lis having the honor of meeting the Judges of the Court of Ap-
peal, Tuesday next.
If anything could add poignancy to the regret which Sir John feels
at being prevented from putting his feet under the mahogany — more
properly the oak — of the Lord Counsellor, it is the fact that such a rare
selection of the Learned's feet will be under the same on this momen-
tous occasion.
Hash Squabe, April 6, 1867.
LoBD Counsellor Stoughton.
Sometimes Ericsson would take a Thanksgiving dinner
with his friends, the Stonghtons, and this New England festi-
val appears to have been the only one that received his hom-
age. It was on Thanksgiving day in 1854 that he lost the
second finger of his right hand while superintending some work
at the Delamaters', and he had, ever after, a superstition con-
cerning the observance of the day. If, as sometimes happened,
he lost sight of the calendar it was only necessary for his sec-
retary to hold up an admonitory finger with " Remember,
Captain ! " and the answer came promptly, " Ti'ue, I forgot ; no
work on Thanksgiving." On the day he found such occasion to
remember, Ericsson was overseeing some work at Delamater's.
Noticing one of the men reaching forth to steady a vibrating con-
necting-rod, he shouted, " Be careful ! you will lose your hand ! "
Involuntarily his own hand went out, and his finger dropped
upon the floor. Picking it up, the owner turned to his friend,
Delamater, who stood by, exclaiming, " See, Harry, what I have
done ! " Dropping the severed finger into his pocket, and tj--
ing a piece of tape around the stump to stop the hemorrhage,
he got into a carriage, drove home, and sent for a surgeon.
When the doctor came a further amputation was found necessary.
Refusing to take ether, the wounded man held out his maimed
hand, and calmly looked on while the surgeon operated.
222 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
That evening, a friend, Professor Mapes, called, alarmed by
the reports he had received of the accident. He found Erics-
son busied at his drawing-board with the pencil in his left
hand. Answering the anxious inquiries concerning his condi-
tion, he said, quietly, " I expect to be obliged to use my left
hand hereafter, and thought it best to commence practising
with it."
This anticipation was, fortunately, not realized, for the
hand did its owner good service for thirty -five years longer.
About this time Ericsson was greatly disturbed by the ap-
pearance of an angry swelling on the right-hand side of his jaw.
This proved to be a malignant pustule. The physicians con-
sulted agreed in the opinion that an operation was necessary,
but to this Ericsson objected because of the disfigui'ement that
would I'esult, declaring that he would much rather die than be
so scarred. Finally, a young doctor was found who was confi-
dent of his ability to cure without the knife. This was Dr.
Thomas M. Markoe, then an assistant of Dr. Delafield, of ISTew
York, and since one of the best-known practitioners in jSTew
York. Dr. Markoe's treatment resulted so satisfactorily that
his patient soon recovered, and he naturally conceived a warm
regard for the young physician.
The partner of Mr. Stoughton was Mr. "William Dodge, the
son-in-law of Ericsson's old friend, Professor James J. Mapes,
and the husband of Mrs. Mary Mapes Dodge, the editor of the
St. Nicholas Magazine, New York. Professor Mapes was an
inventor, as well as chemist of reputation, and a civil engineer
lioldiiig high I'ank as an expert in patent cases. The acquain-
tance with him began soon after Ericsson's removal from Eng-
land, and their relations were cordial and intimate.
The professor's house was one of the veiy few where the
busy engineer was accustomed to visit, and he was a favorite in
the household, the children running to meet him when his well-
known ring was heard at the door. By the family of Professor
Mapes Ericsson is remembered as a most genial and kindly
man, who had an exceptional faculty for interesting himself in
what interested others. Professor Mapes was accustomed to
propound to him his chemical theories, especially one he held
concerning the " progression of the primaries," and for this at
PERSONAL HISTOEY. 223
least he always found a sympathetic listener in Ericsson, and
one whose qnick apprehension and intelligent comment were of
service in clarifying his own ideas. Ericsson being a foreigner
by birth, his thorough command of English, and his exact use
of words and terms was a subject of remark. It could hardly
be otherwise, however, with a man so precise in all things, after
a daily experience for over twenty-five years with a language
lie had learned in his youth.
When Professor Mapes changed his residence to Newark,
N. J., Ericsson extended his visits to that place, a rare instance
upon his part of enterprise in the line of social accomplish-
ment. Plis calls were usually made on Sunday afternoon, and
he was fond of discussing philosophy with Professor Mapes,
wlio was accustomed to say that Ericsson was the only man of
whose intellectual ability he stood in awe. The professor con-
sidered himself an adept in mathematics, but acknowledged his
master in Ericsson, who was one of the few in JSTew York at
that day familiar with the " Mecaniqne Celeste" of La Place.
Two copies of La Place's great woi'k were to be found in Erics-
son's library ; one a five-volume edition in the original French,
published '^ An YII" (1797), when the author was a plain citi-
zen of the Eepublic, the other Bowditch's translation, pub-
lislied in 1829, and bearing the name of " Marquis de La
Place" on the title-page. The last was Ericsson's working
copy, and it shows tlie marks of study, it being his custom to
underscore what he wished to recall, with a red or black lead-
pencil and mark a reference to it on the fly-leaf.
Ericsson also kept among his favorite authors Bishop Hoi s-
ley's edition of Sir Isaac Newton's complete works, the fiivst
two volumes printed in 1779. The treatise " Philosophise Nat-
uraiis Principia Mathematica" in the third volume was one of
his favorite studies, and he always found delight in reading it.
In the fourth volume he has marked some of Newton's obser-
vations on the nature of light, and his declaration of the ab-
surdity of the theory of innate gravity, and more especially the
discourse on light and color. In this Newton declares that
though he has argued the corporeity of light, it was " without
any absolute positiveness." Under this statement Ericsson has
drawn a line in red pencil and appended to his reference to
224 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
several pages he lias marked along the margin the words " very
interesting." Newton's remarks concerning the propagation of
light by vibrations in the ether attracted his particular atten-
tion, for the reason that he had some theories of his own con-
cerning the ethers, holding that there were several. On this
subject he used to engage in lively discussions with Professor
Mapes. Ericsson was a most entertaining talker upon any sub-
ject that occupied his attention, and he was utiusually fluent
in speech, few men exceeding him in rapidity of utterance.
He read French but could not speak it. He knew something
of Spanish and Greek and could get along in these languages
with the help of a dictionary. That he had some knowl-
edge of German is indicated by this extract from a letter to
Mr. Epes Sargent concerning a translation by his brother,
Ericsson's special friend :
My DEAit Sakgbnt: The great poet having kindly forwarded his
"Last Knight " I am going to discharge the pleasing duty of thanking
and complimenting him. The knowledge of the German displayed in
his translation amazes me. I have " Der letzte Eitter " before me and
find with admiration that in description your brother actually excels the
original ; but as German sentiment cannot be rendered into English,
the spiritual part falls a little short, though not much. John has im-
mortalized himself.
Ericsson's library was limited to a few hundred volumes,
nearly all on scientific and professional subjects ; the three or
four novels appearing among them had evidently strayed out
of place or belonged to some assistant, hungering for a bit of
fiction to relieve so much grim reality. His reading was al-
most entii'ely confined to works connected with his special
studies, the leading engineering and scientific periodicals, and
two or three Swedish papers. Speaking once of the journals
he received from Sweden, he said: "It is a perfect enjoyment
to read, in my leisure moments, these papers. I always feel
then as if I were in my dear Sweden. You don't know, per-
haps, that I never read Swedish books."
Captain Ericsson disliked to be called a mathematician,
though he was proud of the title of geometrician. He was ac-
customed to say that the ordinary raatliematieian had no rea-
soning power, or he would not disguise his processes in symbols
PERSONAL HISTOEY.
225
that nobody but one of his own class could understand. It was
his theory that articles upon mechanical subjects should be so
written that a school-boy could understand them. The sytnbols
are only required in the process of the higher matliematics,
such as those of astronomy. A letter addressed to one of his
clients by Ericsson shows at once his methods of calculation
and his opinion upon the subject of confusing ideas with sym-
bols. He said :
Ne-w York, September 13, 1864.
My Deak Sib : The proper thickness of a square cast iron plate will
be obtained by the following :
Multiply the side in feet (or decimals of a foot) by i of the pressure
in pounds, and divide by 850 times the side in inches. The quotient is
the square of the thickness in inches.
60"
3,600nx301b. =
108.Q00 = 27,000
4
5 X 27,000 :
: 1.62"
135.000 _/^-^.
51,000
thickness of a square plate
60 X 60" with 30 lb. press-
ure.
5 feet.
850 X 60 = 51,000
For circular plate.
Multiply \\ of the diameter in feet by i of the pressure on the plate
in pounds. Divide by 850 times ii of the diameter in inches.
: 3.92 X 21,202 = 83,111 = 2.02 V 2.02 =
850 X 47.1 = 41,035
1.42" thickness of 60" disk and
30 lb. pressure.
area 2,827 x 30 lb. = 84,810 = 21,202
diameter
60 X 11 = 47.1"
14
Yours very truly,
J. Ebicsson.
A great mathematician would cover half a dozen sheets with figures
to solve the above problem.
15
226 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
With ■ Mr. Cornelius H. Delamater, the engine manufac-
turer and proprietor of the Phcenix Foundry, New York,
Ericsson continued in intimate relation for a longer time than
with any other man. Mr. Delamater was a clerk in this foun-
di'y when it began work on the engines of tlie Princeton, in
January, 1842, and his acquaintance with Ericsson grew out of
the latter's relations to this establishment. He liad the great-
est confidence in Ericsson's ability, and the highest admiration
for his character, and when fortune favored him was always
ready to assist in carrying on his enterprises. Their friendship
was founded upon mutual respect and mutual advantage, and
though their relations became at times somewhat strained,
owing to Ericsson's hasty temper, there was a solid foundation
of good will to settle down upon after the tempest had blown
over.
Mr. Delamater's interest in the success of their joint under-
takings, as well as good will toward his associate, would at
times tempt him upon the dangerous ground of criticism.
Ericsson was a severe censor of his own work, and as he had
Exhausted criticism before his work reached the macjjine shop,
he was not accustomed to invite any favors in that line. It
was not absolutely impossible to convince him that he was
wrong, but the successful attempt came as near as possible to
a solution of the lyceum problem as to the result of an encoun-
ter between an immovable obstacle and an irresistible force.
Doubts and suggestions already disposed of in his own mind so
often returned to him through the fears of others, that he be-
came accustomed to treat criticism with indifference.
On one occasion when Ericsson was finally convinced that a
piece of mechanism he had spent much time upon was defect-
ive, he sent it flying across the room and against the mantel-
piece, to the serious disturbance of its offending internal econo-
my. This was the only announcement he made as to his con-
clusion concerning it. He demanded the most rigid observance
of every detail in the drawings provided for the guidance of
his workmen, and they were hugely delighted when they found
in one case where they had been furnished with designs for a
piece of mechanism requiring the introduction of gas, that "tlie
old man " had omitted to include the vent-hole in his otherwise
PERSONAL HISTORY. 227
complete drawing. Such instances of oversight were so rare as
to be a subject of comment forever after. Generally Ericsson
was quite safe in saying, as he was accustomed to do when sug-
gestions were offered to him, " Plave you my drawing ? "
" Then follow that." Mr. Watson, the editor of the Engineer,
New York, tells this story of him :
Charles Nelson, at one time draughtsman in the Old Novelty
Works in this city, had charge of the engines of the Columbia, designed
by Captain Ericsson, and when the engines were done it was customary
in those days to get the length of the piston-rod from the engine itself,
so that there would be no mistake in cutting the keyway on the piston-
rod. Nelson was down in the Columbia's cylinder with a baton about
fourteen feet long, getting clearances, etc., when Captain Ericsson came
on board by chance and stood right over him. He roared out : " What
are you doing there, sir ? "
" Getting the length of the piston-rod, Captain Ericsson."
" Is it not on the drawing, sir ? "
" Yes, sir."
"Then why do you come here with sticks, sir? Go and get the
length from the drawing, sir. I do not want you to bring sticks when
the drawing gives the size."
Charles Bernard, an old New York engineer, recently told us of
another similar instance of Ericsson's accuracy. John Mars was putting
in the engines of the old Quinnebaug, and one of the details was a small
connection as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Mars tried to get it in its
place for a long time, but failed, and finally went to Ericsson and told
him the rod could not be got in. Ericsson said :
" Is it right by the drawing? "*
"Yes, sir," said Mars.
" Then it will go in," said Ericsson ; iind when Mars tried it again it
did go in.
Mr. Watson further says of Captain Ericsson :
An incident as to his leniency and consideration for others may be
related here. The foundry foreman of a certain marine engine works in
this city said he once made a large casting for a surface condenser for
Captain Ericsson, and it was so peculiar in some respects that the pro-
prietors of the work and the foreman of the foundry would not guaran-
tee it. They feared it would crack by shrinkage strains across the cor-
ners. Ericsson said he would guarantee it, but when it was cast and
had thoroughly cooled, it was found to be cracked just where it was ex-
pected to. Ericsson was notified, and came down to look at it.
" Can you make another one with what you know now ? " said Erics-
son. The foreman said he thought he could.
228 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
"Make me another one," said Ericsson, and that was all there was
about it.
Incidents like these, varying only in kind, could be related end-
lessly, for in his long life of constant professional activity he was al-
ways coming in contact with workmen and others, and was always the
principal actor.
Ericsson was unquestionably the foremost man of his time in his
profession, and while he was careful of his reputation and jealous of
his standing as an engineer, he was not jealous of individuals or others
in the profession, unless, indeed, they went out of their way to stir him
up ; then he was relentless. We have heard Captain Ericsson mention
many well-known American engineers and their work ; he always gave
credit where it was due.
Ericsson was thoroughly familiar with the practical details
of machine work, but it was his custom to give the most exact
directions for carrying out his plans and leave their execution
to others. When on rare occasions he did interfere, it so dis-
turbed the routine of the work-shop that he lost more than he
gained. He was not a " mechanic," as Stockton called him, but
an engineer; that is "one devoted to the science and the art of
utilizing the forces and materials of nature," and directing those
who handle machinery or the tools of some craft. The only ma-
chines he employed himself were those of the scientific investi-
gatoi- ; tlie only tools, those of the designer and draughtsman.
Like most men of aggressive convictions, Ericsson was more
fond, when talking upon subjects he understood, of presenting
his own ideas than of listening to what was said in reply, for
every man, as Euripides says, "occupies himself with that in
which he finds himself superior." He was never given to gos-
sip of any sort, although sufficiently vigorous at times in his
denunciation of those who angered him. To the ordinary top-
ics of conversation he was indifferent. The policies of Gov-
ernment, especially as related to questions of armament, occu-
pied his thoughts, but with politics in the lesser sense he never
concerned himself, and it is doubtful if he ever .voted during
the forty years of his American citizenship. He prided him-
self upon his physical vigor, as he had good reason to do. It
displeased him to note the signs of advancing age, and when
gray hairs announced the unwelcome advent of his declining
half century, he invoked the aid of art to deceive time. He
PEESOKAL HISTOEY. 229
made no concealment of the fact, however, explaining to his
friends that he did not dye for their benefit but to gratify his
own aesthetic taste. He disliked, he said, to see his gray locks
reflected from his mirror.
The barber, who came once a week, on one occasion so over-
emphasized his art that Ericsson, while entertaining a visitor
soon after, found himself the object of unusually critical obsei'-
vation. When the visitor had bidden him good-by he ques-
tioned his assistant as to the cause and was told that the barber
had transformed what nature intended to be a Scandinavian
brown into an oriental black, making a most comical alteration
in the appearance of the great engineer, and doing violence to
the scriptural declaration that we cannot make one hair black
or vphite. So the barber was sent for and kept at work until
Ericsson was restored to himself.
He would occasionally visit the theatre and that he was not
indifferent to the charms of histrionic art is shown by a
little circumstance. When Fanny Kemble was giving her
readings in this country in 1858, she applied through a friend
to Ericsson asking him to design for her a reading-desk to
meet certain requirements. When it came to the question of
paying for it, the gallant Captain wrote a polite letter to the in-
termediary, asking Mrs. Kemble to accept the service, as an
expression of his high appreciation of her contributions to the
art of dramatic interpretation.
To this Mrs. Kemble replied saying : " I wish you would
present my compliments to Captain Ericsson and tell liim I am
very grateful to him for his great courtesy and kindness. His
letter will be treasured among my collection of valued auto-
graphs and my table preserved and honored among my goods
and chattels as the most magnificent piece of furniture could
never deserve to be."
Delving in a dusty heap of engineering designs and calcula-
tions, I came upon a paper which seems to shine out from the
mass like a diamond from its kindred carbon of the coal-heap.
It was a list of forty Swedish songs in Ericsson's delicate hand-
writing, which was as dainty as a woman's when he wrote care-
fully. There were two copies of the list. One contained the
titles in Swedish ; the other the Swedish names with a transla-
230 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
tion in English. Aniong the titles were such as these : " And
Woman's Destiny is Certain," " Resolve and Act are One with
Woman," " Who are You, My Girl « " " It is so Sweet in
Spring," " Young Lady, in Your Springtime," " 1 Possess Such
a Handsome Wife," " Give Me while yet My Wife," " And
Sunset Parts," " O Robert, Cruel is Our Parting,'' " Bacchus
Calls His Lamb."
." E'en in our ashes burn the wonted fires." Here was the
busy engineer who had governed his life, as nearly as possible
to all appearances, by the exact calculations of machine work,
turning aside, as he neared the end of his third score, to revive
his recollections of the songs he had no doubt sung in the days
when he indited sonnets to the Northern Lights from under the
shadows of the Jemtland forests. It would be a great mistake
to infer from this sober narration of engineering achievement
and scientific study that John Ericsson had any sympathy with
the chemist, wlio refused to marry because his analysis of wom-
an detected in her composition nothing beyond a combination
of sundry salts with water. His reasons for living solitary, in-
stead of following the admonition to '" dwell together in fami-
lies," were sufficient, but they by no means implied indifference
to woman. That he had a high appreciation of the obligations
of marriage is shown by this letter addressed to a young bride-
groom :
New York, July 20, 1860.
Mt Deab Sjb : Your notice was too short to admit of my being
present at the very interesting ceremony at Christ Church last Wednes-
day. A reluctant absentee on the solemn occasion, allow me now to
offer my cordial congratulations. Not simply do I hope that you may
enjoy all happiness, which married life under favorable circumstances is
80 well calculated to bestow. I am delighted to find that all commend
your choice, yet I cannot refrain from giving you as a friend advice not
to expect too much of your wife. Bemember well that you will yourself
fail to meet the just expectations of her whose destiny is now entwined
with your own, and whose happiness in life is now so completely at your
mercy. Pardon this phrase, which I select with a friend's anxious desire
that you should duly contemplate your high responsibility at the very
outset of your, so to speak, new experience.
Yours truly,
John Ericsson.
PERSONAL HISTOKT. 231
Ericsson had a hope that he might prolong his days well on
to the completion of a century, but as to that he had no anxiety.
His only wish was to retain to the end his capacity fov work,
since with him idleness was misery. He had no resources out-
side of his absorbing devotion to work, and as is the case with
all men whose lives are prolonged, those in whom his deepest
affections centred nearly all passed away before him. Domes-
tic relations he could hardly have been said to have had at all.
In his way an admirer of women, he was never willing to meet
them on their own terms, for he regarded them rather in the
light of a diversion for his leisure than as companions in the
serious matters of life. The experiences of his early manhood
are hidden in obscurity, for he remorselessly destroyed nearly
all the letters and documents relating to his career previous to
the year 1861, when his success was established. Here and
there comes a flash of light to reveal his characteristics, but
nowhere do I find any indication of a purely sentimental or in-
tellectual relation to the opposite sex. He was kindly, he was
generous, he was considerate, and in his relations to his kin
most affectionate, as his letters show, but the attempt to accom-
modate himself to feminine sensibilities assumed with him a
place among the less important duties of life.
As some of Ericsson's most intimate friends were lawyers,
it is evident that he had no prejudice against the members of
the legal profession. Yet his experience with courts had not
predisposed him in favor of professional methods and the end-
less worry and expense attending the defence of his rights
against infringement had given him a dread of litigation. On
one occasion when a steamship company refused to pay his
modest bill of five hundred dollars, for showing them how to
remedy a defect in one of their engines which was beyond the
skill of their own engineers, he was persuaded to bring suit.
All went well until he received the necessary summons to ap-
pear as a witness. To this he refused to respond, and let his
case go .by default rather than submit himself to the badgering
of the lawyers. Had the rule of ancient Greece prevailed, and
suitors been required to plead their own causes, he would have
won almost any case, for he was a master of persuasive dis-
course upon any subject that he understood. He was more than
232 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
once the victim of the ignorance concerning mechanical ques-
tions prevailing, especially in former years when courts and
juries were more easily misled in technical matters by resem-
blances that did not indicate perfect similarity. "When Ericsson
came to New York Professor Mapes was almost, if not quite,
the only consulting engineer in the city, and professional
knowledge had hardly passed beyond the period when a phys-
ician was considei'ed competent, after a week's study in a li-
brary, to design the capitol at Washington, and when it was
easy for a man who knew a little more than his neighbors to
persuade them that he knew everything.
CHAPTER XV.
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOR.
Ericsson's Preparation for His Great Work. — His Struggles with Profes-
sional Jealousy. — Dealings with the Navy Department Previous to
1861. — Presents Two Sub-aquatio Systems of Attack to the Emperor
of the French. — History of Armored Vessels. — Outbreak of the Civil
War. — Prompt Action of the Confederate Authorities. — Ericsson
Offers His Services to President Lincoln. — Is Called to Washing-
ton. — Dramatic Interview with the Board on Armor-Clads. — The
Monitor Ordered.
*' Tj^ ACH thing, both in small and in great, fulfilleth the task
-L^ which destiny has set down," and it is only when we
discard the theory of chance or accident, that the history of such
a man as Ericsson becomes clear to us. Then, through all the
seemingly tangled web of circumstance, we are able to trace the
evidences of over-ruling purpose, and to see how incidents, ap-
parently without connection, stand in orderly relations one to
another as essential parts of an intelligent design. Ericsson's
early training on the Gdta Canal ; his studies of artillery and
of military engineering in the camps of Jemtland ; his obser-
vation of the behavior of raft-like structures in the storms
sweeping over the Swedish lakes ; his experience in the difficult
and but little understood work of marine construction, in the
handling of men and choice of material ; his unceasing studies
into the possibilities of applying old principles in new ways,
and his constant effort to emancipate himself from the slavery
of routine — all these were to have a part in the great work
involving the interests of a nation, the hopes of humanity.
All the strength and experience gathered by the exercise of
his great powers for nearly half a century were needed now, to
meet the strain of a demand to which no other living man was
adequate, for whatever part others may have borne in the
234 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
events succeeding the election oi. Abraham Lincoln, in 1860,
the contribatiou of John Ericsson to the cause of National
Unity was as unique as it was important.
When the storm ■which had been gathering through so many
years of political commotion burst over Fort Sumter, in the
spring of 1861, Ericsson was in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
lie had the constitution and the vital force of a man of forty ;
an experience in actual accomplishment such as few acquire
even in the longest lifetime, and this experience was of a nat-
ure to make his services of the greatest value to his adopted
country. Yet no place could be found for him at a time when
the public security demanded the services of every man capable
of assisting it. High commissions in the military service
were obtained by men whose lives had been spent in making
speeches or manipulating politics, and they were bestowed on
foreigners of every degree of military experience or inexperi-
ence. Search lights were turned in all directions to discover
men who might aid the Government ; but not a ray of light
fell upon John Ericsson.
The difficulty was not that he was unknown, but that he
was too well known — at least at Washington, and in those bu-
reaus of the Navy Department with which his abilities and his
experience would naturally associate him. Since his work in
1842-^3 upon the Princeton, he had been engaged more or less
with Government matters ; but with the bureaus he was no
favorite. From their point of view he was a failure. They
preferred the safe waters of precedent, while it was his mission
to sail the high seas of discovery. Without judging between
them, it is sufficient to say that Ericsson and the Government
officers, to whom he looked for approval, were seldom in ac-
cord.
Writing to Sir John Burgoyne during the Crimean War,
Brunei, the great engineer, said : " You are the first profes-
sional man of high official rank I have met with ready to assume
the possibility of a man who is neither E.E. nor E.N. [Koyal
Engineer or Hoyal Navy] having an idea worth attending to."
Brunei had taken to the Lords of the Admiralty a sugges-
tion, prompted by his anxiety to assist his adopted country in
the contest wherein it was allied with his native France. This
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOE. 235
suggestion was rejected without a hearing, as the suggestions
of Ericsson and so many others liave been rejected from time
to time by these Lords Paramount of official stolidity. From
boards Brunei turned to brains and made his appeal to
Palraerston, who referred his proposition for report to Sir
John Bnrgoyne, inspector of fortifications, lieutenant-general
and second in command of the British forces in the Crimea.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, enclosing a favorable report,
Burgoyne suggested that in dealing with the eminent engineer
" there was need of the exercise of tact, arising from his
thorough independence, which rather requires that he should
be courted than merely given permission to work out his plans,
and his great dislike to negotiate with the authorities of the
Admiralty."
'No man knew better than Sir John how the interests of the
Government are sacrificed to the conceit of office ; to the dis-
position of small men in large places to make arrogance supply
the place of ability. In a letter to Brunei, General Burgoyne,
speaking from large experience, thus explained the secret of
the antagonism so often arising between public officers and men
of ability in private station who seek to serve the Government :
First, there is our own jealousy, pride, and conceit, of which you all
complain, and with much reason, originating in a false idea that we
should be admitting a culpable want of knowledge in our own business
by obtaining assistance from others ; then another false conception,
that because in all these things there are certain military considera-
tions involved, of which civilians must be comparatively ignorant, there-
fore it is that only a military man can devise them ; whereas it is
generally much more easy for us to make you masters of the military
conditions, than to obtain from yon what is necessary for the rest.
At the same time there is usually great fault on the side of the ci-
vilian projectors ; they put us down for a set of ignoramuses and do not
admit that there can be any military considerations that can be of the
least consequence, or that they do not know by intuition. Hence the
most outrageous propositions, which the projectors, however, cling to
with pertinacity, and call us bigots, narrow-minded, and fools because
we will not adopt them.*
Here is an explanation of some of Ericsson's difficulties.
As a civilian, seeldng to influence naval administration, he
* Life and Correspondence of Sir John Burgoyne, pp. 365-66.
236 LIFE OF JOHK EEICSSON.
realized tlie disadvantages of what is known to military men
as fighting on exterior lines. He was often thwarted by inter-
ference with his plans, as in one instance whereof he bitterly
exclaims, in a private letter : " In the name of God is not
my position cruel? The scoundrels have prevented my fur-
nishing plans or giving directions ; and now that they have
failed, they attribute this failure to having worked to my
plans ! " This was no uncommon experience with him.
"In the name of common sense," he says in another letter,
" should an engineer's experiments militate against his works
intended for practical purposes ? If so, experiment should be
conducted by those only who are incapable of constructing any-
thing. Am I not the originator and founder and perfector of
war steamers, under-water machinery and entire system ? Did
any of my screw- engines ever fail ? Expeeiments with con-
densers, fresh-water apparatus, boilers, etc., etc., are matters
apart that must not be confounded with engines huilt iov prac-
tical purposes. I say damned is the injustice of calling him
' wild ' who has originated with his wildness and perfected war
propulsion ! " This is vigorous language, but no more vigorous
than Ericsson's experience justified.
" You have heard me say," he writes again, " that no man
can tell by any process of reasoning how a new form of boiler
may answer. I have always contended that the subject is not
suscejitiile of previous determination. Not so with the new
form of engine to be worked by steam already generated ! I
profess to be able to determine that point on mechanical data.
In that respect I never was mistaken, for out of some fifty dis-
tinctly different forms of steam-engines I never yet failed in a
single instance ; with steam at command I have always pro-
duced a perfect working engine. All the world predicted fail-
ure in the case of that most novel form of engine of the Prince-
ton. But all the world pi'oved wrong, but mark, I had the
steam furnished by boilers of hiown and approved form."
These letters were written seven yeai's before the outbreak
of the American Civil "War had directed universal attention
to Ericsson's signal ability. From them, and from other let-
ters, it appears that he was striving to impress his views
upon the Navy Department at "Washington and was met by a
INCEPTIOW OP THE MONITOR. 237
spirit of hostility and distrust which paralyzed his efforts to
serve the country. Even his sober statement as to what experi-
ence had made possible to him was gauged by the capabilities
of feebler men ; the giant was accused of extravagance because
he would not limit his powers of performance to those of the
dwarfs. It was supposed that two years would be required to
build a war steamer, and Ericsson's offer to do the same work
iu eight months subjected him to suspicion. Concerning this
he wrote to Mr. Sargent, saying :
New York, April 30, 1854.
My dear Sabgent : I have your letter of the 17th, relative to your in-
terestiug interview with the Secretary of the Navy. I feel a little net-
tled at the Hon. Secretary's doubting my statement as to the time of
building the Ericsson. Please present to him the enclosed document
on the subject.
I note that the Secretary thinks my assertion that a screw steamer
may be built in eight months a " wild " one. After he has perused the
document alluded to, he will think otherwise. Did I promise to build
such a vessel in five months he would be justified in thinking me wild,
though he could by no means prove his position. Should I, however,
promise to do the work in six months it would be quite possible for me
to redeeni such promise. The steamship Massachusetts, without extraor-
dinary exertion, was built, hull, engines, and all, and under steam in
six months.
The machinery of a screw steamer contrasted to the gigantic eight-
cylinder engine of the caloric ship, is absolutely insignificant. Indeed,
had I the entire control of building, I should feel impatient at spending
more than five months in building a screw engine.
One word as to my promise to build a vessel that would blow half a
dozen English or French screw ships out of the water. Dobbin will
scarcely find it so difficult to repress his merriment at the suggestion as
did Mr. Lord,' of the British Admiralty, on my proposing to them the
applicatioh of the propeller to their men of war exactly as the thing is now
done. Priyput me in the right with the Hon. Secretary. I do not pro-
pose to build the destructive vessel, I only say that in eight months
such a vessel could easily be constructed.
Yours very truly,
J. Ericsson.
John O. Sabgbnt, Washington.
He was at this time perfecting his system of " sub-aquatic
attack," and his ill-success at Washington no doubt had its in-
240 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
iluence in prompting him to turn liis attention elsewhere, as it
will be seen that he did.
In a confidential letter written to John Bourne, Ericsson
said : " The great importance of what I call the sub-aquatic sys-
tem of naval warfare strongly presented itself to my mind in
1826. Yet I have not during this long interval communicated
my ideas to a single person, excepting Emperor Napoleon 111.
What I knew twelve years ago, he knows with regard to the
general result of my labors, but the details remain a secret
with me. The monitor of 1854 was the visible part of my S3's-
tem, and its grand features were excluded from its published
drawings and description." " The plan I sent to the Emperor,"
he says, in another letter, " was the result of my study from
youth. An impregnable and partially submerged instrument
for destroying ships of war has been one of the hobbies of my
life. I had the plan matured long before I left England. As
for protecting war engines for naval purposes with iron, the
idea is as old as my recollection."
The " grand features," excluded from the published draw-
ings of the monitor offered to Napoleon, were apparently those
pertaining to Ericsson's system of under- water attack. After
his death I found among his papers two autographic drawings,
shown here in fac-simile. In his " Contributions," Captain
Ericsson speaks of them as " unfortunately lost," alluding,
perhaps, to more finished drawings. Those given here show
clearly the ideas developed on the Destroyer of 1878. The
emergency of our Civil War did not call them forth, and
they were no doubt reserved for an occasion that did not
arise until declining years warned their author that there
was danger that they might die with him. They would
have been developed promptly enough in the event of an
attack by a naval power upon either Sweden or the United
States.
The original inspiration to Ericsson's studies in naval de-
fence was the protection of his native Sweden against foreign
aggression, and especially against the encroachments of Kussia,
whose hostility to Sweden was among the vivid recollections of
his early youth. His letter was sent to Napoleon, September
26, 1854, through the Swedish Consul at New York, and the
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOR. 241
Swedish Minister in Paris. Conceruing his purpose in lajing
the matter before the Emperor, he says : " My object was to
cause the destruction of tiie fleets of the hereditary enemy of
my native land. Strange to say, no sooner did my communica-
tion reach its destination, than news came tliat the fleet at Se-
bastopol had been voUintarily consigned to those subaqueous
regions which I had had in view. Deeply regretting what had
occurred, I ceased to labor in the matter until our civil war
broke out, when I took it up with great enthusiasm and finally
elaborated some points of detail ; cautiously waiting, however,
to move until England and France should, by overt act, es-
pouse the cause of our enemies — a cause which involved the
perpetuation of the bondage and a firmer riveting of the
shackles, for another century, of four million of persons whose
only crime was their color, the inevitable consequence being
that at the end of that century this fair portion of our planet
would have contained some forty millions of bondsmen. But
the echo of tJie guns at Hampton Eoads had its eifect. It
was deemed imprudent to send fleets of wooden vessels among
enemies so fertile in mechanical expedients and so enterprising
as the Americans."
"I imagined," he said further, in a letter to Assistant-Secre-
tary Fox, of the ITavy Department, " that I had a very valu-
able idea and kept it secure accordingly."
The Emperor of the French does not appear to have been
sufficiently impressed with this idea to make use of it, and the
receipt of the plans was simply acknowledged with the usual
formal reply of courteous thanks as follows :
Monsieur: The Emperor has himself examined with the greatest
care the new system of naval attack which you have submitted to him.
His Majesty directs me to have the honor of informing you that he has
found your ideas very ingenious and worthy of the celebrated name of
their author ; but the Emperor thinks that the result to be obtained
would not be proportionate to the expenses or to the small number of
guns which could be brought into use. Although not disposed to make
use of your inventions the Emperor appreciates all their merit, and di-
rects me to thank you for this interesting communication.
The plans and desci'iption sent to the Emperor were accord-
ingly put aside, and the dust of nearly seven years had accumu-
242 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON,
lated upon tliem before another motive appealed to Ericsson
witli sufBcient strength to induce him to make them available
for the purposes of warfare. " This motive," as he explains,
" was that of s6rving the Union cause by constructing vessels
capable of defeating the Merrimao and other Confederate iron-
clad vessels."
In July, 1861, Mr. Delamater, who had been Ericsson's as-
sociate in so many of his engineering enterprises, wrote to him
from Washington, saying : " I am treated well : have had two
evening interviews with Mr. Secretary Welles, one of them
alone in my own room, yet I have no expectation of any con-
tract or immediate good to result to me or to us from my pres-
ent sta"y. I am remaining to finish off Mr. Isherwood if possi-
ble, which I think I owe it to my country to do. Mr. Welles
seems to have taken a fancy to me and I have avoided pressing
any special purpose, and altogether my position appears to be
strangely disinterested. Am to see Mr. Welles this evening at
his request. I have given Isherwood an Irish hoist, and if I
only knew who in the navy to aid, might almost finish the
job."
As Ericsson and Delamater had various interests together it
does not follow that this visit had any relation to the proposed
iron-clads. Indeed, the allusion to Ericsson's old antagonist,
Mr. Isherwood, chief of the Naval Bureau of Steam Engineer-
ing, would indicate that it was to the work of his department
that Mr. Delamater's efforts were directed.
The subject of iron-clad vessels had at that time just begun
to attract the attention of Congress, and no appropriation for
building such vessels was 3'et available. In his report dated
July 4, 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Gideon Welles,
called attention to the efforts of foreign governments, and par-
ticularly France and England, to provide themselves with
" floating batteries or iron-clad steamers " adding- ; " I would
recommend the appointment of a proper and competent board
to inquire into and report in regard to a measure so important,
and it is for Congress to decide whether, on favorable report,
they will order one or more iron-clad steamers, or floating bat-
teries."
The submission of Ericsson's plans to the Emperor Napo-
INCEPTION 01' THE MONITOB. 243
leon had been followed the next year, 1855, by the appearance
in the attack upon Kinburn, during the Crimean War, of three
Fi-encli floating batteries clad with i^^-inch plates, the Lave,
the Devastation, and the Tonnante. Three years later, in 1858,
Napoleon ordered the construction of four armor-plated steam
frigates. La Oloire, L^ Invincible, La Normandie, and La Cou-
ronne. These were all the armored vessels France had in coni-
niission at the beginning of 1861. Two others, the Solferino
and Magenta, had been launched, and twelve more were on the
stocks. England had at sea her Warrior, Black Prince, De-
fence, Resistance, and Royal Oah, with five other armor-clads
launched and eleven more under way. This refers to sea-go-
ing vessels only. None of these ships had ^ny resemblance to
the vessel suggested by Ericsson to Napoleon in 1854, except
in their significant departure from the precedent of wooden
walls, upon which so ranch reliance had hitherto been placed.
Tlie conditions calling for armor plating had actually ex-
isted for forty years, or ever since the introduction, in 1819, by
one of the soldiers of the First Napoleon, General Henri Jo-
seph Paixhans of the system of firing explosive shell directly
at an object, instead of from mortars on an ascending and de-
scending curve througli the air, as before.*
The attention of the British Admiralty was called in 1834-
35 to the advisability of adopting Iron for ships of war. Iron
* In response to a letter from Rear-Admiral S. B. Luce, U. S. N. , claiming
this invention for General George Bomford, U.S.A., whose "columbiad"
was known at an earlier date, Ericsson wrote this letter :
New Tokk, Deoemher 10, 1885.
Deak Admiral . Shortly after my arrival in this country, 1839, I became
intimately acquainted with Colonel Bomford and Commodore Perry. The
latter had just returned from England and France, where he had studied
naval ordnance under instructions from the Navy Department. The result
of his journey was considered very important at the time, as he brought a full
report of the success of the then recent labors of General Paixhan ; he also
brought complete drawings of Paixhan's perfected shell gun, which was at
once adopted by the Navy Department at Washington for the two large pad-
dle wheel steam frigates, Mississippi and Missouri, then being constructed.
I had frequent interviews with the two United States officers mentioned,
as I brought plans of a screw steamship-of-war, for which Congress at once
granted an appropriation. Of course General Paixhan's brilliant invention
and its important bearing on naval warfare was frequently adverted to dur-
244 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
targets were ordered to be prepared at Woolwich for experiment
with a 32- pounder smooth-bore gun at a I'ange of only thirty
yards. Iron was condemned as a result of these experiments,
and the Admiralty fell back upon the old wooden walls, as the
only vessels calculated for the purposes of war. This decision
against a change retarded everything in the shape of progress
until the adoption of iron-clads in the French JSTavy compelled
England to follow the lead of Napoleon in 1855.*
As early as 1845 an American engineer, Mr. E.. L. Stevens,
had undertaken to experiment with armor, and in the year that
Ericsson sent the model of his monitor to France had begun, as
has been already stated, the construction of an iron-plated ship.
The results of shell-firing upon naval warfare were not
made apparent imtil the Crimean War. Then IS^apoleon III.,
who prided himself upon his knowledge of artillery, was greatly
chagrined to find how much the French navy was at a disad-
vantage in the contest with the Russian forts in the Black Sea.
If he did not take Ericsson's plans, he certainly adopted the
suggestion of armor defence and built five armor-clads, England
following in humble imitation with an equal number on the
same general plan. The guns at this time had so much the
advantage that the Eussians were able to steam into Sinope and
in a single morning destroy the Turkish fleet, to shut out Sir
Charles Napier from Cronstadt, and to defy the allied fleets at
Sebastopol. Of the British experience in the Black Sea Lord
Dundonald, one of the bravest sailors that ever trod a quarter-
ing the said interviews, yet Colonel Bomford in my presence never claimed
the new gun as his invention.
In connection with coast defence the ' ' columblad '' was often spoken of, a
gun particularly described in the enclosed extract from Colonel Benton's
Ordnance and Gunnery, published at New York, 1867. I also enclose a
brief extract from Appleton's Cyclopedia of 1864, vol. xii. , page 145.
With reference to the ' ' bomb cannon " for firing hollow shot charged
with powder, I beg to observe that during my early studies of artillery, pre-
vious to 1820, such a gun was not even then regarded as a novelty.
I have deemed the foregoing explanation necessary in answer to your as-
sumption that I have, in my Century article, inadvertently deprived General
Bomford of the credit of being the originator of a system known in Europe
before his time. I am, Admiral, yours truly,
J. Ericsson.
* Fairbairn on Iron Ship Building.
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOE. 245
deck, asserted that the Knssian shells made it impossible to
continue the vessels under fire, and it was considered no dis-
grace to declare, after three shells had exploded in one ship, it
was not possible to find men "fools enough to stand to the
guns." " The man who goes into action in a wooden vessel is
a fool," said Sir John Play, " and the man who sends him there
is a villain.''
The Confederate Secretary of the Navy in 1860 was Mr.
Stephen E. Mallory, of Florida, who had served for several
years in Congress as Chairman of the Naval Committee. He
had been, as we have seen, a champion of Ericsson, and in a
speech in Congress, made in May, 1858, had shown intelligent
appreciation of the revolution in naval warfare accomplished by
the Princeton. Mr. Malloiy was much better informed in nau-
tical matters than Mr. Welles, Secretary of the Navy in the
Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln, and more prompt to recognize the
changes in naval warfare. Two months before the Federal
Secretary of the Navy had made his halting suggestion to Con-
gress on the subject of armored vessels the head of the Con-
federate naval service had spoken on the same subject in these
distinct terms, in a letter to the Chairman of the Confederate
Naval Committee dated May 8, 1861 :
I regard the possession of an iron-armored ship as a matter of the
first necessity. Such a vessel at this time could traverse the entire
coast of the United States, prevent all blockade, and encounter, with a
fair prospect of success, their entire navy. If, to cope with them upon
the sea, we follow their example, and build wooden ships, we shall have
to consti'uct several at one time, for one or two ships would fall an easy
prey to their comparatively numerous steam frigates. But inequality of
numbers may be compensated by invulnerability, and thus not only
does economy, but naval success, dictate the wisdom and expediency of
fighting with iron against wood without regard to first cost.
Naval engagements 'between wooden frigates, as they are now built
and armed, will prove to be the forlorn hopes of the sea, simply contests
in which the question, not of victory, but of who shall go to the bottom
first, is to be solved. Should the committee deem it expedient to
begin at once the construction of such a ship, not a moment should be
lost.
Mr. Mallory's action was as decided as his words. "Without
waiting for an appropriation, on July 11, 1861, he approved
246 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
plans submitted to him by Chief Engineer William P. William-
son, Lieutenant John M. Brooke, an ex-officer of the United
States Navy, and Naval Constructor John L. Porter. These
plans provided for raising and altering into an iron-clad, the
U. S. frigate Merrimac, of 3,500 tons and 40 guns. This had
been burnt and sunk at the Norfolk Navy Yard when it was
abandoned in April, 1861. With but one establishment in the
South capable of furnishing her armor, the Tredegar foundry,
the work upon the Virginia, as she was reehristened, was slow,
and in this delay Ericsson found his opportunity.
On August 3, 1861, President Lincoln approved an act of
Congress, authorizing the appointment of a Board asked for by
Mr. Welles. An advertisement inviting proposals for iron-
clad steam vessels was issued from the Navy Department, and
August 8th Commodores Joseph Smith and Iliram Paulding
and Commander Charles H. Davis were appointed a board to
examine plans. Twenty-six daj's later Ericsson prepared the
letter to President Lincoln which follows, as appears from a
copy of it in his handwriting found among his papers :
New Yoke, August 29, 1861.
Sib : The writer, having introduced the present system of naval pro-
pulsion and constructed the first screw ship of war, now offers to con-
struct a vessel for the destruction of the rebel fleet at Norfolk and for
scouring the Southern rivers and inlets of all craft protected by rebel
batteries. Having thus briefly noticed the object of my addressing you,
it will be proper for me most respectfully to state that in making this
oflfer I seek no private advantage or emolument of any kind. Fortu-
nately I have already upward of one thousand of my caloric engines in
successful operation, with affluence in prospect. Attachment to the
Union alone impels me to offer my services at this fearful crisis — my
life if need be — in the great cause which Providence has called you to
defend. Please look carefully at the enclosed plans and you will find
that the means I propose to employ are very simple — so simple, in-
deed, that within ten weeks after commencing the structure I would en-
gage to be ready to take up position under the rebel guns at Norfolk,
and so efficient too, I trust, that within a few hours the stolen ships
would be sunk and the harbor purged of traitors. Apart from the fact
that the proposed vessel is very simple in construction, due weight, I re-
spectfully submit, should be given to the circumstance that its projector
possesses practical and constructive skill shared by no engineer now
living. I have planned upward of one hundred marine engines and I
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOR. 247
furnish daily, working-plans made with my own hands of mechanical
and naval structures of various kinds, and I have done so for thirty
years. Besides this I have received a military education and feel at
home in the science of artillery. You will not, sir, attribute these
statements to any other cause than my anxiety to prove that you may
safely entrust me with the work I propose. If you cannot do so then
the country must lose the benefit of my proffered services. If, on the
other hand, you decide to act, please telegraph and I will at once wait
upon you in Washington. I respectfully submit that in the former oa.se
you return the plans, honored with your signature, to testify that I have
discharged the duty of laying this important matter before you.
I cannot conclude without respectfully calling your attention to the
now well-established fact that steel-clad vessels cannot be arrested in
their course by land batteries, and that hence our great city is quite at
the mercy of such intruders, and may at any moment be laid in ruins,
unless we possess means which, in defiance of Armstrong guns, can
crush the sides of such dangerous visitors.
I am, sir, with profound respect, your obedient servant,
J. Ebiosson.
To His Bxcellenqy Abraham: Lincoln, President of the United States.
It is not for me, sir, to remind you of the immense moral effect that
will result from your discomfiting the rebels at Norfolk and showing
that batteries can no longer protect vessels robbed from the nation, nor
need I allude to the effect in Europe if you demonstrate that you can
effectively keep hostile fleets away from our shores. At the moment of
putting this communication under envelope it occurs to me finally that
it is unsafe to trust the plans to the mails. I therefore respectfully
suggest that you reflect on my proposition. Should you decide to put
the work in hand, if my plan meets your own approbation, please tele-
graph and within forty-eight hours the writer will report himself at the
White House.
It was fortunate for Ericsson that the naval board on iron-
clads were so ignorant as they were of the subject committed
to their decision. Beyond a general distrust of and prejudice
against armored vessels they had no opinion concerning them,
and no predilections in favor of any special system. Embarked
upon unfamiliar waters, they were ready to listen to anyone
who offered to pilot them safely into harbor. In their report
to the Secretary of the IS'avy, dated September 16, 1861, they
frankly said : " Distrustful of our ability to discharge this
duty, we approach the subject with diffidence, having no ex-
perience and but scant knowledge in this branch of naval archi-
248 LIFE OF JOHK ERICSSON.
tecture." Their disposition was to favor vessels for coast and
liarbor defence, as undoubtedly formidable adjuncts to fortifica-
tions on land. " For river and harbor service," they declared,
" we consider iron-clad vessels of light draught or floating bat-
teries, thus shielded, as very important." Their final conclusion
was to meet the immediate demand by calling for " vessels in-
vulnerable to shot, of light draught of water, before going into
a more perfect system of large iron-clad sea-going vessels of
war." So far, then, their disposition was in favor of such a
vessel as Ericsson proposed.
The three vessels the Board recommended for adoption
were the Ericsson floating battery ; a broadside vessel of 3,296
tons, afterward known as the Ironsides, and the Galena. The
plans for this last vessel were presented by Mr. C. S. Bushnell,
of New Haven, Conn., who was subsequently associated with
Ericsson in building the Monitor. Telling tlie story of his ex-
perience with the Board Mr. Bushnell said, in a letter written
some years ago to Secretary Welles :
The Board examined hundreds of plans, good and bad, and among
others that of a plated gunboat called the Oalena, contrived by S. H.
Pook, now a constructor in the navy. The partial protection of iron bars
proposed for her, seemed so burdensome that many naval officers warned
me against the possibility that she might not be able to carry the weight
of her armament.
I met Mr. C. H. Delamater on the steps of Willard's Hotel in 'Wash-
ington just after I had secured the contract for the Galena. When I
told him that several naval men doubted whether the vessel would be
able to carry the stipulated amount of iron, he advised me to consult
the engineer Captain John Ericsson, of !New York, as one whose opinion
would settle the matter definitely and with accuracy. Acting upon the
advice of Mr. Delamater, I went to New York on the following day and
laid the plans of the Oalena before Captain Ericsson, asking whether
the vessel would be able to carry the specified armor. I gave him the
data necessary for his calculations and he told me to call the next day
for his reply. This I did and received the answer. " She will easily
carry the load you propose and stand a six-inch shot at a respectable
distance."
At the close of this interview Captain Ericsson asked me if I had
time just then to examine the plan of a floating battery, absolutely im-
pregnable to the heaviest shot or shell. I replied that this problem had
been occupying me for the last three months, and that considering the
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOR. 249
time required for construction, the Oalena was the best result I had
been able to obtain.
He tlien produced a small, dust-covered box, and placed before me
the model and plan of the Monitor, explaining how quickly and power-
fully she could be built, and exhibiting with characteristic piide a
medal and letter of thanks received seven years previously from Napo-
leon III. For it appears that Ericsson had invented this battery dur-
ing the Franco-Eussiaa War, and out of hostility to Russia had pre-
sented it to France, hoping thus to aid in the defeat of Sweden's
hereditary foe. The invention, however, came too late to be of service
and was preserved for another issue.
I was perfectly overjoyed when, at the close of the interview. Cap-
tain Ericsson entrusted the box with its precious contents to my care.
You doubtless will remember my delight with the plan of the Monitor, as
I followed you to Hartford, where you were spending a few days, and as-
tounded you by saying that the country was safe because I had found a
battery which would make us masters of the situation, so far as the
ocean was concerned. I left New York that night and went to Hart-
ford direct, without stopping at my home in New Haven, so eager was
I to save time in bringing this great discovery to the knowledge of the
Navy Department.
You were much pleased and urged me to lose no time in presenting
the plan to the Naval Board at Washington. I at once secured the co-
operation of wise and able associates, in the persons of the late Hon.
John A. Griswold, and John P. Winslow, of Troy, both friends of Gov-
ernor Seward (Secretary of State) and large manufacturers of iron
plates, etc. Governor Seward furnished us with a strong letter of in-
troduction to President Lincoln, who was at once greatly pleased with
the simplicity of the plan, and agreed to accompany us to the Navy De-
partment at 11 A.M. the following day, and aid us as best he could.
He was on hand promptly at 11 o'clock — the day before your return from
Hartford. Captain Fox (Assistant Secretary of the Navy) together with
a part of the Naval Board were present.* All were surprised with the
novelty of the plan. Some advised trying it ; others ridiculed it. The
conference was finally closed for that day by Mr. Lincoln's remarking :
"All I have to say is what the girl said when she stuck her foot into
the stocking, It strikes me there's something in it ! " f
The following day Admiral Smith convened the full board, and I
presented as best I could the plan and its merits, carefully noting the
remark of each member of the board. I then went to my hotel quite
sanguine of success, but only to be disappointed the following day.
• Several naval officers were also present unofficially.
f Mr. Bushnell was given a pasteboard model of the Monitor, admirably
illustrating the easy method of training the guns by rotating the turret. It
was this that struck Lincoln, and which he held in his hand when he re-
marked about the girl and her stocking.
250 LIFE OF JOHN EEIOSSOW.
For during the hours following the last session I found that the air had
been thick with oroakings that the department was about to father an-
other Ericsson failure.
Never was I more active than in proving that Ericsson had never
made a failure ; that on the contrary he had built for our Government
the first steam war propeller ever made ; that the bursting of the gun
was no fault of his, but of the shell, which was not made strong enough
to prevent its flattening up with the pressure of the explosion behind it,
making the bursting of the guu unavoidable ; * that his caloric principle
was a triumphant success, but that no metal had yet been found to util-
ize it on a large scale. I succeeded at length in getting Admirals
Smith and Paulding to promise to sign a report advising the building
of one trial battery provided Captain Davis would join with them. On
going to him I was informed that I might "take the little thing home
and worship it, as it would not be idolatry, because it was in the image
of nothing in the heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters
under the earth."
One thing only yet remained to be done. This was to get Ericsson
to come to Washington and plead the case himself. This I was sure
would win the case, and so informed you, for Ericsson is a full electric
battery in himself. You at once promised to have a meeting at your
own room if I could succeed in inducing him to come. This was ex-
ceedingly doubtful ; for so badly had he been treated, and so unmerci-
fully maligned in regard to the Princeton, that he had repeatedly de-
clared that he would never set foot in Washington again.
Nevertheless, I appeared at his house next morning precisely at nine
o'clock, and heard his sharp greeting :
" Well, how is it ? "
"Glorious," said I.
" Go on ! go on," said he with impatience. "What did they say ? "
"Admiral Smith says it is worthy of the genius of an Ericsson."
The pride fairly gleamed in his eye.
" But Paulding— what did he say of it ? "
" He said it was just the thing to clear the rebels out of Charles-
ton with.''
"How about Davis?" he inquired, as I appeared to delay a mo-
ment.
" Captain Davis," said I, " wants two or three explanations in detail
that I couldn't give him, and Secretary Welles wishes you to come right
on and make them before the entire board in his room at the Depart-
ment."
" Well, I'll go, I'll go to-night.'-
* Mr. Bushnell might have said further that it was not Ericsson's gun
that burst, but the one Stockton had copied from it, and which had, in some
way, been so injured in the forging that the crystals were of abnormal size.
Nor was it reinforced as Ericsson's gun was.
INCEPTION OP THE MONITOR. 251
From that moment I knew that the success of the affair was assured.
You remember how he thrilled every person present in your room with
his vivid description of what the little boat would be, and what she
could do, and that in ninety days time she could be built, although the
rebels had already been four months at work on the Merrimac with all
the appliances of the Norfolk Navy Yard to help them. You asked him
how much it would cost to complete her. Two hundred and seventy-
five thousand dollars he said.
Then you promptly turned to the members of the Board, and one by
one asked them if they would recommend that a contract be entered into
for her construction with Captain Ericsson and his associates. Each
one said, " Yes, by all means." And then you told Captain Ericsson to
start her immediately ; and the next day in New York a large portion of
every article used in her construction was ordered, and a contract im-
mediately entered into between Captain Ericsson and his associates and
T. F. Rowland at Greenpoint, for the most expeditious construction of
the most formidable vessel ever made.
It was arranged that after a few days I should procure a formal
documentary contract from the Naval Board, to be signed and executed
by the Secretary of the Navy, Captain Ericsson, and associates.
I i-egret that this part of the matter has been misunderstood and
misjudged, as though you had made terms heavier or the risk greater
than you ought. The simple fact was that after we had entered upon
the work of construction, and before the formal contract had been
awarded, a great clamor arose, much of it due to interested parties, to
the effect that the battery would prove a failure and disgrace the mem-
bers of the Board for their action in recommending it.
For their own protection, therefore, and out of their superabundant
caution, they insisted on inserting in the contract a clause requiring
us to guarantee the complete success of the battery, so that in case
she proved a failure Government might be refunded the amounts ad-
vanced to us from time to time during her construction. To Captain
Ericsson and myself this was never an embarrassment. But to Mr.
Winslow, as indeed to Mr. Griswold also, it seemed that the Board had
asked too much. But I know that the noble old Admiral Smith never
intended that we should suffer. And among the many fortunate things
that the nation had occasion to be grateful for — like the providential
selection as President in those dark days of the immortal Lincoln, who
knew how to select a man for the head of the navy who united diplo-
matic skill and judgment with absolute promptness, with a private
Secretary [Mr. W. Faxon], who never left his desk at night with a thing
undone that could hf> done to assure success that day — was the appoint-
ment of Admiral Smith to the charge of the Navy Yards, who always
seemed to sleep with one eye open, so constant was his watchfulness
and' so eager his desire that the entire navy should be always in readi-
ness to ido its part in the overthrow of the Kebellion.
252 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
I am confident that no native-born child of this country will ever
forget the proud son of Sweden, who could sit in his own house and
contrive the three thousand diiferent parts that go to make up the com-
plete hull of the steam battery Dictator, so that when the mechanics
came to put the parts together not a single alteration in any particular
was required to be made. What the little first monitor and the subse-
quent larger ones achieved is a part of history.
One of my associates — as noble and generous a man as it is the lot
of one ever to meet on earth — John A. Griswold, has gone to his rest,
and fast shall we each and all follow, but it may be a pleasure to those
who should love our memory to find with your preserved records of those
trying times this memorandum of the unrecorded private negotiations
that resulted in the opportune meeting of the "cheese-box" on a raft
with the ponderous Merrimac at Hampton Boads March 9, 1862.*
Ericsson proceeded to Wasliington on the night of Septem-
ber 13, 1861, arriving there tlie next morning after the tedious
journey in ill-ventilated and over-crowded cars, vsrhich was the
penalty of a summons to the capital in those days. With
him journeyed the usual crowd of soldiers hastening to join
their regiments ; office-seekers, loaded down with testimonials as
to their "claims ; " civilians of every grade — eager to enlighten
the Government with their wisdom, to assist it witli offers of
service, or to woi-ry it with crude suggestions as to the conduct
of the war. To the authorities of Washington the great en-
gineer was only one of the motley gathering of patriots, to
whose suggestions, to whose entreaties, and to whose reproaches
even they had grown accustomed and indifferent. He proceed-
ed at an early hour upon his arrival in the capital to the Navy
Department. Describing his reception there, in a private letter
he says :
New York, November 16, 1877.
Mt Dear 8ib : I enclose extract of Mr. Bushnell's letter to Ex-Sec-
retaiy Welles concerning the Monitor. As Mr. B. only relates his own
personal experience, I have to add that on going to Washington and
entering the room occupied by the Board over which Commodore
Smith presided I was very coldly received, and learned to my surprise
that said Board had actually rejected my Monitor plan, presented by Mr.
Bushnell. Indignant, my first resolve was to withdraw, but a second
thought prompted me to ask why the plan was rejected. Commodore
* This is printed from a MS. copy found among Ericsson's papers.
INCEPTION OF THE MONITOR. 253
Smith at once made an explanation showing that the vessel lacked sta-
bility. This warmed me up, inducing me to enter on an elaborate dem-
onstration proving that the vessel had great stability. My blood being
well up, I finished my demonstrations by thus addressing the Board :
"Gentlemen, after what I have said, I deem it your duty to the
country to give me an order to build the vessel before I leave the
room."
The three commodores then entered into some conversation among
themselves which I did not take note of, at the conclusion of which I
was asked to call again at 1 p.m. On making my appearance Commodore
Paulding called me into his room and in a very cordial manner asked
me to repeat my explanation about the stability of the vessel. I com-
plied, having in the meantime drawn a diagram presenting the question
in a very simple form. My explanation lasted about twenty minutes, at
the end of which the frank and generous sailor said :
" Sir, I have learned more about the stability of a vessel from what
you have said than I ever knew before."
Commodore Smith then desired me to call again later in the day.
On making my second appearance I was asked to step into Secretary
Welles's room, who briefly told me that the commodores had reported
favorably and that accordingly he would have the contract drawn up
and sent after me to New York, desiring me in the meantime to proceed
with the work. I returned at once, and before the contract was com-
pleted the keel-plate of the intended vessel had already passed through
the rollers of the mill. Little did I dream that the contract would con-
tain a clause compelling my associates to guarantee the success of the
vessel, and in ease of the stipulations about invulnerability, etc., etc., not
being fulfilled, to refund the money advanced by the Department dur-
ing the progress of the work. Had Secretary Welles on calling me
into his room told me that such a guarantee would be demanded, the
Monitor would not have been built.
One word more. The Monitor was brought under the enemy's guns
at Hampton Eoads before the last instalment of the contract had been
paid !
The foregoing will enable you to form your own judgment as to the
merit due to the Navy Department in the Monitor matter. Let me ob-
serve, however, that in building other vessels I was warmly and cordially
supported by the Assistant Secretary, Mr. G. V. Fox.
Yours very truly,
J. Ebicsson.
P.S. — I have had neither time nor inclination to make a fair copy of
the foregoing communication in my own hand.
Captain E. P. Doeb, Buffalo.
CHAPTER XYI.
BUILDING THE FIRST MONITOR.
Partnership with Messrs. Bushnell, Winslow, and Griswold. — Interview
with Thomas F. Rowland. — Laying the Keel of the Monitor. — -
Building and Launching of the Vessel. — Mishaps by the Way. —
Herculean Labors. — Doubts and Criticisms of Commodore Smith.
— Payments for the Vessel Delayed. — Cost and Profit.
IN a letter written April 25, 1862, Ericsson said : "A more
prompt and spirited action is probably not on record in
a similar case than that of the Navy Department, as regards
the Monitor. The committee of naval commanders appointed
by tlie Secretary to decide on the plans of gunboats laid before
the Department occupied me less than two hours in explaining
my new system. In about two hours more the committee had
come to a decision. After their favorable report had been made
to the Secretary I was called into his office, where I was detained
less than five minutes. In order not to lose any time the Sec-
retary ordered me to ' go ahead at once ! ' Consequently,
while the clerks of the Department were engaged in drawing up
the formal contract the iron which now forms the keel-plate of
the Monitor was drawn through the rolling mill." This was
said at a time when the country was all aglow with the success
of Ericsson's opportune little vessel, and it does not conflict
with the fuller statement of a later date in the last chapter.
The keel was laid October 25, 1861, steam was applied to
the engines December 30th, the Monitor * was launched Jan-
* The origin of the name Is explained by this letter to Gustavus V. Fox,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy :
New York, January 30, 1862.
Sir : In accordance with your request, I now submit for your approbation
a name for tlie floating battery at Greenpoint. The impregnable and aggres-
sive character of this structure will admonish the leaders of the Southern Re-
bellion that the batteries on the banks of their rivers will no longer present
BUILDING THE FIEST MONITOE. 2S5
uary 30, 1862, and practically completed February 15, 1862.
She went on her first trial trip and was turned over to the
Government February 19, 1862. Slie was put into commission
under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, U.S.N.,
February 25, 1862. Her steering gear was adjusted on a
second trial ; on her third, March ith, she tried her guns, and
a board of naval oificers who conducted the trial reported fa-
vorably upon her performance. Professor MacCord, who was
Ericsson's assistant at the time he built the Monitor, has given
some interesting particulars of the circumstances attending its
constnietion.
Ericsson followed it with keen and critical eye until the launch, and
then his visits to the ship-yard became infrequent. As the "Monitor
type" of engine had already been fully tested in the Judith, the Bay-
light, and in other vessels, he contented himself with the report of
the Government engineers on the one in the new battery. When the
trial trip came, neither engine nor steering gear worked properly, and
one of the daily papers made it the text of a " crushing " article under
the heading of " Ericsson's Folly." Her designer was called an incapa-
ble schemer, and sternly rebuked for the sin of wasting the resources of
the country.
The motive engines were not in proper adjustment, the steering
gear would not work freely, and between the two the vessel proved un-
manageable.
The events of that dismal day must have vexed Ericsson's very soul,
but the manner in which he bore them was strikingly characteristic.
Had they been trifling things he would have been exasperated, as his
custom was, and exasperating, too, when small affairs went wrong ; but
under heavy burdens his broad shoulders never bent, and he looked al-
ways squarely in the face of grave misfortunes with calm and resolute
eyes. It is true that on his return to Franklin Street, where he then
resided, there was a somewhat portentous cloud upon his face, and no
wonder ; but it was not the forerunner of a storm.
barriers to the entrance of the Union forces. The iron-clad intruder will
thus prove a severe monitor to those leaders. But there are other leaders who
will also be startled and admonished by the booming of the guns from the im-
pregnable iron .turret. "Downing Street" will hardly view with indifference
this llast " Yankee notion," this monitor. To the Lords of the Admiralty the
new craft will be a monitor, suggesting doubts as to the propriety of complet-
ing those four steel clad ships at three and a half million apiece. On these
and many similar grounds, I propose to name the new battery Monitor.
Your obedient servant,
J. Ericsson.
256 LIFE OF JOHN EEIOSSOlf.
The drawings, for whose accuracy the drauglitsman was re-
sponsible, were found to be correct and tlie erroi- was traced to
a superintendent of the engine woi'ks, wliom Captain Ericsson
had once described as " too stupid to make a bhindei-." His er-
ror was so quickly rectified that it alone would not have delayed
the vessel. The rudder was found to be somewhat over-bal-
anced, the weight forward of the rudder-post being too great.
It was not the time nor was Ericsson the man to indulge in
idle speculations as to the cause of this error, but, says Pro-
fessor MacCord, " had he adopted the remedy suggested to him
it is morally certain that the battle between the giant and the
pygmy would not have occurred when and where it did. This
remedy was neither more nor less than the replacing of the
balanced rudder by one of different form. I do not know
■where the idea originated, nor do I say that any formal pro-
posal was made, but in some way the Captain became aware of
an intention of the naval authorities to have the vessel put in the
dry-dock and fitted with a new rudder. The hot Scandinavian
blood flushed his cheek, his ej'es gleamed, his brow darkened ;
and this time the storm broke in all its fury. "With the full
volume of his tremendous voice, and with a mighty oath, he
thundered : ' The Monitor is mine, and I say it shall not be
done.' Presently he added, in a tone of supreme contempt :
' Put in a new J-udder ! They would waste a montli in doing
that; I will make her steer just as easily in three days.' My
recollection is that it was done in less time. No change in the
rudder was even thought of, and the change in the steering-
gear was the simplest possible. . . . Considering how pre-
cious were the moments then, the suggestion of a new rudder
might well excite his indignation and disgust. But the Captain's
wrath was chiefly roused by the idea of any oflBcial interference
w'ith the vessel, as yet unpaid for and wholly in his own hands ;
which was perfectly natural in view of his treatment by the
Government in this and other matters."
To add to the chapter of blunders. Engineer Stimers on the
trial trip temporarily disabled both gun-carriages by turning
the compressor wheels the wrong way. Far the most impor-
tant of these mishaps, that fixed the hour of the Monitor's ap-
pearance at the very crisis of fate, " was the trouble with the
BUILDING THE FIRST MOWITOE. 257
Bteei'ing-gear, though from the simplicity of the remedy it might
appear the most iiisignijBcant ; and it was this that brought
into tlie boldest relief the prominent traits of the Captain's
character. His keen mechanical instinct, quick decision, firm-
ness of resolve, his fiery spirit, his energy in action, were all
conspicuous ; but all these were dominated by self-reliance and
his pride in originality.
" He loved to do his own work in his own way, and his
fertility of expedient was something marvellous ; to quote
his own words on another occasion, ' If I ever do get into
a scrape, I know exactly how to get out of it ; ' and men un-
like him, as most men are, were more likely than he to follow
the lines laid down by others. He had said, ' The Monitor
is mine,' and his she was, in another and to him a far dearer
sense ; from turret to keel-plate, from rudder-shoe to anchor-
well, every distinctive feature was the creation of his brain,
every detail was stamped with the evidence of his handi-
work."*
Under the hand of the master the work upon the battery
was pushed to a speedy completion, in spite of miscarriages that
would have been fatal to less able management. " They are
amazed at Washington," wrote Mr. Griswold on January 8th,
"that within the hundred days the battery will be com-
pleted."
Ericsson was officially notified, by letter dated September
21, 1861, that his proposition for an iron-clad gunboat had been
favorably reported upon, and the actual contract for the con-
struction of the batteiy was agreed upon October 4, 1861. On
September 27, 1861, by formal contract with Messrs. Bushnell,
Griswold & Winslow, he stipulated that all net profits or losses
were to be divided equally among the four, the three associates
agreeing to advance all money needed for the construction of
the vessel. It was also agreed that in the event of the further
construction of similar batteries the same division of loss or
profits was to be made.
There was at this time at Greenpoint on the East River,
* Ericsson and His Monitors, by Professor Charles W. MaoCord (formerly
Chief Draughtsman for Captain John Ericsson), North American Review,
October, 1889.
258 LIFE OP JOHN EEIOBSON.
opposite New York, a j'oung man named Thomas F. Rowland,
wiio had just commenced business as a ship builder. He was
full of energy and enterprise, anxious to identify himself with
Government work, and had visited Washington with the model
of a vessel he proposed to build, having a turret mounted on a
railroad turntable. Though he carried with him an influen-
tial letter of introduction, he was not able to get near enough
to the Secretary of the Navy to present his plan until he met
Mr. Welles one evening at Willard's Hotel ; then he had the
satisfaction of securing a prompt hearing, and an equally
prompt rejection of his proposals. On his return to New York,
Mr. Rowland was invited by Captain Ericsson to call upon him
at his oflice in Franklin Street. There he was shown the model
sent to Napoleon in 1854, and satisfied that he could claim no
priority for his idea of a turret. He was next informed of the
order received from the Government for an iron-clad battery.
Then turning to him, Ericsson said, " You want money ; I want
fame. You can do the mechanical work on this vessel in your
ship-yard, but it is my conception, and it must be understood
that it was built here in my parlor." After some discussion it
was agreed that 7i cents a pound should be paid for the work
upon the hull, and on October 25th an agreement to that effect
was entered into between John Ericsson and his associates, and
Thomas F. Rowland, Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint,
New York.
Another account states that on the day preceding this in-
terview three strangers had appeared at Mr. Rowland's works
and sounded him upon the subject of the price he would
charge for building the hull of an iron vessel, suggesting 4^
cents per pound. When he called upon Ericsson the next
day he found the great engineer with head and body bent
over his drawing-table absorbed in his work upon the Monitor
plans. Glancing from his work for an instant, Ericsson said
abruptly :
" Tom, my boy, what are you going to charge me to build
my iron vessel ? " Thinking of his previous interview with his
interrogators, who proved to be Messrs. Winslow, Griswold &
Bushnell, Rowland answered at a venture: "Nine cents a
pound." "Tut, tut, Tom ! " cried Ericsson, without lifting his
BUILDING THE PIEST MONITOR. 259
eyes from his work, " it must be done for 7^ cents ; " and this
was the price agreed upon.
The contract with Mr. Rowland stipulated that the work
was to be done to the satisfaction of Captain Ericsson, who re-
served the right to determine what number of men should be
employed, and the number of hours they must work to com-
plete the conti'act in the shortest possible time, this being " in
consideration of the liberal price paid."
Work was commenced on the day the contract was signed,
October 25, 1861. The vessel was launched at Mr. Rowland's
risk, and to prevent it from plunging under water when it slid
from the ways, he constructed large wooden tanks to buoy up
the stern as it entered the water. The turret was entrusted to
the Kovelty Iron Works, and all the machinery to Delamater
& Co. By this division of labor work was hastened, still fur-
ther time being gained by pushing the men night and day.
The vessel in all of its parts was designed by Ericsson. Hull,
turret, steam machinery, anchor-hoister, gun-carriages, etc., all
were built from working drawings made by his own hands, fur-
nishing the rare example of such a structure in all its details
emanating from a single man. " The allegation that I received
aid in designing the Monitor, and other work during the war,"
said Ericsson, in a letter of May 28, 1877, to General George
B. McClellan, " is absolutely false. The entire labor of pre-
paring the original working plans was performed by myself,
every line being drawn by my own hand.''
The details were sufficiently nutnerous. Besides keeping
the several establishments at work, the terms of the agreements
with Mr. Rowland and the Novelty Works required that they
should be provided with the material which they were to put
into shape for the hull and the turret-plates, bars, rivets, etc.
Everything had been so carefully arranged by the able engi-
neer that no trouble or delay was experienced in carrying out
his part of the undertaking. Within one hundred working
days from laying the keel-plates of the hull, the vessel was com-
pleted and the engines put in motion under steam. No greater
despatch is recorded in the annals of mechanical engineering.
The battery would have been finished even sooner than it was
had the Government been more prompt in its payments under
260 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
tlie contract, and enabled the contractors to keep a larger part
of tlieir force busied nights as well as days.*
Though the work was done in haste it was not done care-
lessly or incompletely. Time was saved, not by neglect of
necessary finish but by simplifying the design of the vessel in
every way to meet the required conditions. Thus the hull was
merely an iron tank, with the sides sloping, instead of being
rounded, so as to admit of employing ordinary mechanics un-
der proper supervision. Good workmen were scarce, for the
dominant military spirit had called to the field of battle the
best men in every calling. While the work progressed at
Greenpoint, L. I., Ericsson was there every day superintending
it, and nearly all day. In the early morning, before going to
the ship-yard, and far into the night after his return, he was
occupied at his desk, drawing plans, preparing specifications,
and conducting a constant correspondence with the Navy De-
partment and others. A story is told in this connection illus-
trating his extraordinary physical strength. During one of his
visits of inspection he tripped over a heavy bar of iron. Turn-
ing to two workmen, he asked them to remove it ; but they
said it was too heavy. Nettled at this refusal, and as if in con-
tempt for the excuse, he made no reply, but stooping he picked
up the bar with his own hands, carried it without assistance
across the shop, and threw it on a scrap-heap. Amazed at this
display of energy on the part of a sexagenarian the men pro-
cured assistance at noon time and weighed the bar, finding that
it showed upon the scale nearly six hundred pounds.
From Ericsson's desk the drawings, numbering at least one
hundred, went directly to the. workshop, without waiting to be
traced. Yet the plans were none of them mere copies from
* A similar feat had previously been performed in England, according to
Sir Thomas Brassey, when in 1855-56, during the Crimean war, three iron-
clad floating batteries of 3,000 tons burden and 300 horsepower, the Thunder-
bolt, Erebus, and Terror, were built by private ship-yards in three months.
What he includes in the term built he does not explain however. The
Monitor was a vessel of 776 tons. Her extreme length was 173 feet;
breadth, 41i feet; depth of hold, 11 J feet; draught of water, lOJ feet;
inside diameter of turret, 20 feet ; height of turret, 9 feet ; thickness of
turret, 8 inches; side armor, 5 inches; deck plating, 1 inch; diameter of
propellers (2), 9 feet ; diameter of steam cylinders, 36 inches ; length of
stroke, 26 inches.
BUILDING THE FIRST MONITOR.
261
existing models. Everything had to be contrived anew, to meet
the wholly novel conditions of life in a submerged structure.
Even the waste of the ship's crew was gotten rid of by an in-
genious contrivance, with an air-pump attached. By this
means the natural law of hydrostatics was so far overcome as
to admit of openings in the hull below the water-line. "Waste
matter was dropped into a pipe closed at the lower end. The
upper end of the pipe was then shut, the lower end opened in
its turn and the force-pump turned on, driving out the water
in the pipe with its contents. A ship's surgeon who omitted
an essential part of this ceremonial found himself suddenly pro-
jected into the air at the end of a column of water rushing up
from the depths of the ocean and pouring into the ship.
The Original Monitor.
It was estimated by Isaac Newton, the first engineer of the
Monitor, that she contained at least forty patentable contriv-
ances. Ericsson was urged by Mr. Newton to secure patents
for these, but he declined to do so. He was strangely neglect-
ful all through life of this means of protecting his property
rights. Numerous as were his patents, they by no means rep-
resented the full measure of his ingenuity, and many of them
were taken out to secure for himself, as well as for others, the
right to use his own inventions.
Ericsson's inventions were not. the result of waking dreams,
but of the studious application of the resources of a mind well
stored with engineering and mechanical lore to the solution of
new problems. He did not disregard precedent or experience,
but he compelled them to his service instead of following them
with blind obedience. It was his habit to wait until he was
262 LIFE OF JOHN EEIOSSON,
ready to present his engineering conceptions in practical form
before announcing them. Tlius thej had opportunity to ripen
in his mind and to gain in clearness and completeness with
growing experience. The conception of a Monitor, as part of
his mental history, was nearly half a century old when it was
put into execution to meet the exigencies of war.
" You assume correctly," he wrote to Mr. G. V. Fox, on Oc-
tober 5, 1875, "that the plan of the Monitor was based on the
observations of the behavior of timber in our great Swedish
lakes. I found that while the raftsman in his elevated cab-
in experienced very little motion, the seas bi'eaking over his
nearly submerged craft, these seas at the same time worked
the sailing vessels nearly on their beam ends."
Working as he did, from first to last, upon plans already
matured in his own mind, if they were not committed to paper,
Ericsson always resented the imputation that his Monitor must
be an imperfect vessel because it was built in haste. "No im
provement," he said in 1867, " has been made in the original
Monitor. On the contrary, that vessel was both theoretically
and practically a more perfect vessel for defence than any of
the numerous monitors afterward built by me, excepting only
the pilot-house." This was said in a letter written by his sec-
retary at his dictation, and concluding as follows :
" Respecting this structure, Captain Ericsson particularly
directs me to say, in reply to your impertinent insinuation that
the present pilot-house of the monitor vessels is not his inven-
tion, that it originated with him and was perfected by him, and
that whoever insinuates that this structure in its conception,
theory, and every part of its detail, is not the invention of Cap-
tain Ericsson, utters a gross falsehood."
An entry in Ericsson's diary showed that in August, 1861,
previous to the acceptance of his plaiis by the Navy Depart-
ment, he spent a day in planning a stationary pilot-house to be
placed on the top of the revolving turret.* Time did not admit
of the introduction of this feature into the original Monitor,
and it was reserved for use in those of later construction. The
complications involved in adapting it to its intended position,
* A copy of this entry was published by Captain Ericsson in the Army and
Navy Journal.
BUILDING THE FIRST MONITOR. 263
as well as the lightness of the original turret, made it necessary
to adopt the necessary expedient which was justly subjected to
the criticism of those who had to fight the Monitor. It is not
true, however, that the plan of putting the pilot-house on top
of the turret was first suggested by the engineer of the Monitor,
after the vessel had gone into action.
Necessary changes were made in the plans of the vessel as
the work progressed, to meet the emergencies of the time, and
when she was completed slight defects were discovered, but
these were easily remedied. The constructor was favored with
numerous suggestions for change and supposed improvement,
none of which were heeded.
Ericsson's work during that three months was herculean.
Nerves and sinews needed to be of steel. The least halting,
even trifling delay, confusion of mind, or weakness of body, and
the story of Hampton Roads might not have been written. It
was well for the United States that the question how to build
an impregnable fighting vessel was entrusted to an engineer
of such versatility, thorough experience, and freedom from
prejudice in favor of existing forms. The entire resources of
modern engineering knowledge were thus brought to bear upon
the solution of the problem of an impregnable battery, armed
with guns of the heaviest calibre then known, hull shot-proof
from stem to stern, rudder and propeller protected against the
enemy's fire, and above all having the advantage of light
draught.
It was proposed to build a vessel that could navigate the
shallow Southern rivers, and the draught was limited to eleven
feet. This absolutely compelled the adoption of the plan
of a sunken hull. It was manifestly impossible to carry the
weight required to protect a high-sided vessel. The adoption
of a covered cylindrical turret followed logically, from the
necessity for protecting guns and gunners. The plan of revolv-
ing this turret on a vertical axis, was adopted to secure an all-
around fire while the vessel remained stationary, as it was
clearly impracticable to manoeuvre the battery in narrow
rivers. The slight draught of the vessel brought the propeller
and rudder near the surface ; to protect these the deck was
extended over the hull at the stern and also at the bow, where
264 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
the anchor, hanging in a cylindrical well, could be lowered and
lifted by machinery within the hull without exposing the
crew.
The steam machinery, as well as the quarters of the crew,
were located below the water-line to protect them against shot,
and they were further protected by extending the armored part
of the vessel some distance over the sides. With this overhang,
shot could not reach the vulnerable hull. Thus, as J. Scott
Russell in his work on "Naval Architecture" declares, the
Monitor is " a creation altogether original, peculiarly American ;
admirably adapted to the special purpose which gave it birth.
Like most American inventions, use had been allowed to dic-
tate terms of construction, and purpose, not prejudice, has
been allowed to rule invention." The monitors are, Mr.
Russell further says, " successful by the rigidity and precis-
ion with which they fit the end and fulfil the purpose which
was their aim. By thus frankly accepting the conditions he
could not control, the American did his work and built his
fleet."
The Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, who rep-
resented the Navy Department in the construction of the
Monitor, was Commodore Joseph Smith, a noble sailor who
had grown old in the service which he entered as a midship-
man in the year 1809. He had been an officer for more than
half a century, was thoroughly in sympathy with the traditions
and prejudices of his profession, and though the earnest elo-
quence and able demonstration of Ericsson had for the moment
convinced his judgment, there was an under-current of doubt,
and this kept him constantly uneasy and distrustful. " The
old Commodore is fidgety at times," wrote one of Ericsson's
friends from "Washington, " and may provoke yon by his own
anxieties, but he has confidence in you, and he has no confi-
dence in anybody else. So give the old man his tether, and
let him fret a little when he feels like it."
This encouragement to forbearance seems to have been
needed, for the suggestions, doubts, and forebodings showered
upon Ericsson from "Washington, must have been trying to a
man so overwhelmed with the responsibilities of a venture-
some undertaking, in the success of which was involved not
BUILDING THE EIEST MONITOR. 265
only his own reputation but the interests of a nation. Septem-
ber 25, 1861, Commodore Smith wrote :
I am in great trouble from what I have recently learned, that the
concussion in the turret will be so great that men cannot remain in it
and work the guns after a few fires with shot. I presume you under-
stand the subject better than I do.
It would have been well if he could have rested content
with this conclusion, but his own conversion was recent, if
hopeful, and his convictions were too feeble to enable him to
resist the doubting suggestions of others. Ericsson's judguient
upon this point was not founded on theory ; it was the result
of personal experience in firing heavy guns from little huts
while he was an oflficer in the Swedish army. Yet he had the
greatest difficulty in dispelling this obvious fallacy, as to the
effect of firing guns in a turret with muzzle protruding, and it
is not strange that Commodore Smith should have been affected
by it. A few days later, October 11th, he wrote :
I understand that computations have been made by expert naval
architects of the displacement of your vessel, and the result arrived
at is that she will not float with the load you propose to put upon
her, and if she would she could not stand upright for want of stability,
nor attain a speed of four knots. Kelying upon your calculations, I
had no computation of displacement made. I have had some mis-
giving as to her stability as well as sea-worthiness on account of the
abrupt termination of iron to the wooden vessel ; I have thought the
angle should have been filled up with wood thus,
to ease the motion of the vessel in rolling. I be-
lieve when you look into cause and effect you will
come to the same conclusion. But if the whole
thing is to be a failure this will be of little conse-
quence. I am extremely anxious about the success of this battery.
The Government wants some dozen of them if they prove successful.
I want to go to New York, but I am now so aflflioted with rheumatism
I can but barely walk.
This was a personal letter, and in an official communication
dated the same day Ericsson was reminded that, " You are I'e-
sponsible for the successful working of your vessel in all its
parts." Three days later it was suggested that the vessel would
" prove a failure," as the anxious Commodore had calculated her
266 LIFE OP JOHN EKicssoisr.
displacement and found that she would not float. His estimate
of her displacement was thirteen hundred tons ; the actual dis-
placement of the vessel, when launched and in fighting trim,
with her stores, guns, and ammunition on board, was one thou-
sand tons with 321 square feet of immersed midship section.
The Commodore suggested such a ciiange in the vessel as
might in his opinion " save her from the possibility of fail-
ure ; " but which would, in the judgment of her better informed
designer, have sacrificed one of the essential features of his
system.
"I shall be subjected to extreme mortification," wrote Com-
modore Smith in this letter, " if the vessel does not come up
to the contract in all respects ; having taken for granted as
correct your statement of the power and capacity of the battery,
without going into the calculations of weight and displacement,
and relying on the validity of the contract, I assumed a great
responsibility in recommending in haste (to meet the demands
of the service) your plan. Your specifications state the engine
to have a power of four hundred horse. I am advised that
that power will not give the speed you guarantee. I am aware
of your known reputation for scientific and practical skill as an
engineer, hence the reliance I placed upon you."
It does not appear to have occurred to the worthy Commo-
dore that " extreme mortification," trying as that must be,
would be one of the least of Ericsson's sufferings if he should
fail in his great undertaking. And more than this, tliat he
had a claim to honor, and confidence, and consideration beyond
any that mere official position could give him. "With an enor-
mous burden upon him, and every minute intensely occupied,
Ericsson was obliged to deprive himself of necessary rest and
sleep that he might act as schoolmaster for the naval veteran,
and guide his timid steps along the path he was himself tread-
ing with the assurance of ripened experience. On October
11th, he sent to Commodore Smith this essay on stability, which
he found frequent occasion to repeat in his after-experience
with naval experts.
I have the honor of laying before you the enclosed transverse section
of my battery for the purpose of proving its stability. In order to do this
BUILDING THE FIRST MONITOR. 267
in the simplest manner, the vessel is represented as being heeled over one
foot at the extreme beam. By reference to the plan you will find that
at this extent of heeling over, the centre of gravity of the turret with
contents is 3 inches out of perpendicular, while the centre of gravity of
the vessel and machinery, deviates from the perpendicular line If inch
in the opposite direction. The weight of turret being less than one-
third of that of the vessel and machinery, it follows that the latter over-
balances the former, the effect of which is to put the vessel on even
beam. The force required to heel the vessel over as represented on the
plan, you will thus perceive, receives no aid from the leaning of the
turret.
The exact amount of stability we can ascertain by calculating how
much more water is displaced on the low than on the high side of the
vessel. At the heeling over assumed, one foot, that quantity will be half
the area of the vessel at water-line, or ^^2^^ = 2,913 cubic feet, which
divided by 35 (cubic feet per ton) gives 83 tons of water displaced on
one side more than on the other. Now, the centre of gravity of the water
thus displaced is 11^ feet from the centre line, and hence at that point
it would require a weight of 83 tons to heel the vessel as shown. Were
the weight applied at the extreme beam, 46 tons only would be required
— 46 tons is the weight of 690 men (at 15 men to the ton, the usual aver-
age) — and hence to heel my battery over a single foot, 690 men must
stand at the very extreme of the deck. It will be safe to assert that
there is not now in the service of the United States any vessel of equal
size that can compare in stability to the vessel under consideration.
Commodore Smith's reliance upon Ericsson's ability was not
sufficient, however, to dispel his fears. " Excuse me for being
so troublesome," he wrote October 15th, " but my great anxiety
must plead my excuse. I have been urging the Ordnance De-
partment to furnish the guns for your vessel, but the knowing
ones say that the guns will never be used on her." " In a
heavy sea," he wrote again, October 17th, "one side of the bat-
tery will rise out of the water or the sea "recede from it, and
the wooden vessel underneath will strike the water with such
force when it comes down or rolls back, as to knock the people
on board off their feet." Unconvinced by Ericsson's demonstra-
tions, the Commodore ended the discussion of this branch of
the question by a letter dated October 19, 1861, in which he
said oracularly : " We shall see, I have nothing more to say on
the subject but that the Government will fall back on the con-
tract in case of failure."
But even this comfortable assurance was not sufficient to
268 LIFE OP JOHN EEICSSON.
stay his criticism. Returning to the subject October 21st he
said : •' The more I reflect upon your battery, the more I am
fearful of her efficiency." The " overhang " especially was full
of gloomy suggestions, and he was confident that the iron plating
of the batteiy would settle the sides of the wooden vessel be-
neatli " so that her deck would after a time become much
curved and finally break."
The prospect of asphyxia for the dwellers on the battery also
disquieted the Bureau Cliief. "Your plan of ventilation ap-
pears plausible," he wrote, " but sailors do not fancy living under
water without breathing in sunshine occasionally. I propose
a temporary house be constructed on deck which will not in-
crease the weight of the vessel more than eight or ten tons."
In answer to similar complaints of neglect of ventilation the
answer was made that " more attention was paid to the ventila-
tion of the first Monitor than to its fighting qualities." Commo-
dore Smith's letters are quoted, not to reflect upon their author,
but to show the encouragement under which Ericsson labored
during this crisis of his life. !Not a single word of good cheer
appears in the series of letters sent to him from Washington,
but he was kept constantly in mind that his fortune and his
reputation would be the forfeit if he failed to fulfil the utmost
letter of his contract. December 5, 1861, came a letter from
the anxious Commodore saying :
" I saw Mr. Everett to-day, who says your turret will not be
ready to leave his shop short of thirty days. I beg of yon to
push up the work. I shall demand heavy forfeiture for delay
over the stipulated time of completion. Tou have only thirty-
nine days left."
The time stipulated in the contract was exceeded a few
days, for Ericsson was not able to telegraph until January
23d that the vessel was ready for launching. Meanwhile
came a letter, dated January 14, 1862, saying, " the time
for the completion of the shot-proof battery, according to
the stipulations of your contract, expired on the 12th in-
stant."
If the completion of the Monitor was delayed a few days
beyond the date stipulated in tlie c.ontract this fact would
seem to be sufficiently accounted for by this communication
BUILDING THE FIKST MONITOR. ■ 269
addressed to Commodore Smith by Ericsson January 4, 1862 :
" I beg most respectfully to observe that while the principal
outlay has now been incurred in building the battery, only $37,-
500 have as yet been paid by the navy agent, and tliat amount
was not obtained until five weeks after the presentation of your
order. In view of the large amount of funds thus called for
from private sources, my contemplated organization and opera-
tion by what is called night gangs has been to some extent
frustrated."
The total contract price for the vessel was $275,000, and
this was to be paid in five instalments of $50,000 each and one
of $25,000, twenty-five per cent, being reserved from each pay-
meat as security for the completion of the vessel. The war-
rants for the first of these payments of $37,500 ($50,000
less twenty-five per cent.) was drawn by the Navy Department
November 25, 1861, and the others followed one another on
the following dates, viz. : second payment, December 3d ; third,
December 17th ; fourth, January 3, 1862 ; fifth, February 6th.
Finally, March 3d, six days before the fight at Hampton Roads,
a warrant for the sixth and last payment of $25,000 was drawn.
But the dates drawing the warrants and of the actual receipt
of the nioney were so widely separated that the fourth pay-
ment was due before the money for the first had actually been
received. This necessitated advances which Mr. Winslow, one
of the associates, was able to make through his official connec-
tion with a bank in Troy.
An estimate in Ericsson's handwriting, dated December 26,
1861, shows that on that date, and thus before the actual re-
ceipt of the first money on Government account, $158,043.42
had been expended on the battery. A- portion of this was
represented by bills not yet paid. This amount had increased
on February 11, to $180,168, and there was owing, according to
estimate, $14,832, making the total cost, as estimated at that
date, $195,000. The actual figures were $195,142.60, leaving a
net profit of $79,857.40. Of this Ericsson received as his one-
fourth $19,964.35, besides $1,000 for engineering services.
This result was due to the fact that he was not only a skilful
engineer but an experienced constructor and contractor. With
the price of everything changing with the fiuctuations of gold.
270 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
and Government credit in doubt, it was a hazardous business to
estimate upon Government work.
The Bureau of Yards and Docks showed so strong a dispo-
sition to hold the associates in the building of the Monitor to
the strictest letter of their contract that Mr. Griswold, who was
the banker of the concern, naturally became uneasy, and on
February 1, 1862, wrote to Ericsson from Troy, as follows :
I think we should take decided ground with the Navy Department
that before we place our battery in their hands (before it passes from
our possession) we must have the amount due us less the twenty-five
per cent, reservation. Unless we do this there is no predicting when
we shall get our pay. They want the battery at once, and if they take
it the least they can do is to pay what is our due. On all considerations
this should certainly he done.
On February 8th the ever-vigilant Commodore Smith wrote
from Washington an official letter, saying:
I shall submit to the Secretary of the Navy whether or not further
payments shall be approved and drawn for before a test of the vessel
shall have been made, as the contract in regard to time has been for-
feited. I trust the test will soon warrant the payment in full, but the
Secretary must decide. I am aware that you have used your best exer-
tions to forward the completion of the vessel.
Fortunately the Secretary was liberal in his view of the
case, and on March 5th, four days before the contest in Hamp-
ton Koads, Commodore Smith wrote: "I enclose your bill
for the sixth and last instalment approved for $18,750 ($25,-
000 less twenty-five per cent.), and have this day drawn in favor
of the navy agent at New York.for that amount.
The amount reserved was $68,750, and this was not paid,
even by warrant, until March 14, 1862, or nearly a week after
the Monitor had proved her quality in one of the most striking
naval engagements the world has ever known, and the fame of
Ericsson was sounded the world over.
On October 26, 1861, Commodore Smith had written :
You are the last man I desire to contest engineering questions with.
1 am fully aware of your scientific knowledge, skill, and experience. In
the matter of the success of the iron-clad vessels, my anxiety is very
BUILDING THE FIEST MONITOR. 271
great. I make suggestions, offer objections which are only intended for
your consideration, but in nowise to control your action. The respon-
sibility rests with you, and I would not change it if I could. Excuse
my interference thus far, if I have annoyed you, and I will be silent in
future.
The anxiety here expressed was shared by the entire Gov-
ernment, and at Washington every stage in the progress of the
vessel toward completion was watched with tlie keenest inter-
est. The story of the progress of the Confederate ram Vir-
ginia had come througli tlie lines, and if faith in the Moni-
tor was not abounding she was all tlie country had to depend
upon in the coming contest with the Southern iron-clad. It
was with a sigh of relief no doubt that Ericsson's censor wrote
from the Bureau of Yards and Docks on January 29th, just as
the Monitor was completed :
The Merrimac is out of dock and ready for her trial trip. I think
the wrought-iron shot of the Ericsson battery will smash in her 2i-inch
plates, provided she can get near enough to her, while the 9-inch shot
and shells of the Merrimac will not upset your turret. Let us have the
test as soon as possible, for that ship will be a troublesome customer to
our vessels in Hampton Beads.
The criticisms of Commodore Smith, though always well
meant, were sufficiently annoying. In spite of them the high-
est praise is to be given to this gallant sailor for the measure
of faith he had in the Monitor, and his name will be associated
with Ericsson's as that of one who helped him to his opportun-
ity. The character of the man is illustrated by a story told of
him in the account given by Gideon Welles of his experience
as Secretary of the Navy.
On Sunday March 9, 1862, after the despatch had been
received at Washington to the effect that the Merrimac had
come out of Norfolk and destroyed the Cumberland and the
Congress lying off Fort Monroe, Secretary Welles retni'ned
from the Department to his home, and stopping at St. John's
Church, in front of the White House, called out Commodore
Smith who was attending service there. He briefly related
what had taken place and finally said that the Congress, com-
manded by Smith's son, Joseph, had surrendered. " What ! "
272 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON'.
exclaimed the veteran," the Congress surrendered ; then Joe is
dead." The Secretary tried to calm his deep emotion, and told
him that perhaps his son was saved. " Oh, no," he exclaimed,
" you don't know Joe as I do — he never would surrender his
ship." And he did not. He was killed early in the action and
his flag was struck by other hands. To such a father of such
a son much more might well be forgiven.
CHAPTER XVII.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MBRRIMAC.
Professional Ignorance on the Subject of Armored Vessels. — Ericsson's
Mastery of the Subject. — The Monitor Intended for Farragut's Fleet
before New Orleans. — Ordered to Washington. — Stopped en route
at Port Monroe. — Timely Arrival and Encounter with the Merri-
mac. — Turns the Tide of Battle.
WHILE the Confederate Government at Richmond was
paying from its lean treasury the expense of complet-
ing an armor-clad, designed to break the blockade and secni-e
the much-needed recognition of foreign governments, the
Navy Department at Washington was trying to save a portion
of its appropriation of a million and a half by throwing
upon an association of private gentlemen the responsibility for
the success or failure of the attempt which it had expressly
sanctioned to meet the impending danger. Our beneficent
Government assumed toward the man who had already ren-
dered the country such essential service the attitude of the
Oriental despot, who sends his soldiers to the field with the
headsman following after as an admonition to zealous service.
It is all very well for Ericsson to commend the promptness
with which the I^avy Department acted in accepting his ser-
vices. It took good care, through its faitliful servant Commo-
dore Smith, to constantly remind him that the risk was lii.«,
and not tlie Nation's. " The Government requires ninety days in
which to test the vessel," wrote tlie Commodore, September 30,
1861. " So soon as the vessel is ready for service the Govern-
ment will send her on the coast and put lier before the enemy's
batteries in the service for which you intend her. No other test
can be made to prove the vessel and her appointments than
that to which both parties agreed to expose her; in fact, it is
the gist of the intentions of the contracting parties. Tlie plan
274 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSOW.
is novel, and because it is so, the Government requires the de-
signer to warrant its success. Placing the vessel before an
enemy's battery v^ill test its capacity to resist shot and shell —
that is the least of the difBculties I apprehend in the success
of the vessel, but it is one of the properties of the vessel which
you set forth as of great merit. The Government cannot con-
sent to receive the vessel until she shall have been tested in
the manner proposed."
In their report, dated September 16, 1861, the Board pre-
sided over by Commodore Smith had made frank avowal of
ignorance of the subject they were selected to consider, a con-
fession only creditable to them because of its perfect ingenu-
ousness. No such ignorance prevailed in the Confederate
Navy Department, and if the facts were not known at Wash-
ington it was only because our officials there refused to be en-
lightened. In a letter to Commodore Smith's Board, dated
September 3, 1861, Ericsson, speaking from his large experi-
ence,, had said :
In laying before you the accompanying plans and specifications of
an impregnable battery for naval purposes I feel called upon to make
the following remarks :
The wrought-iron ordnance of twelve inches calibre, planned by the
writer already in 1840, practically established the fact that iron plates of
four and one-half inches thickness could not resist projectiles from such
heavy guns. Previous to the experiments at Sandy Hook, which you will
remember were made in 1841 with the ordnance alluded to, I had deter-
mined theoretically that six inches thickness would be required to pro-
tect ships against the same, and that iron-plates without wooden support,
unless made even thicker, could not withstand continued firing. Accord-
ingly, the I'evolving turret of my proposed battery is made eight inches
thick, in addition to which the outward curvature of the tun-et will on
dynamic considerations materially assist the resisting capability of the
iron. Apart from the great strength of the turret, it should be borne in
mind that but few balls will strike so accurately in the centre of the tur-
ret as not to glance off by angular contact. The United States may justly
claim to have been far ahead of the naval powers of Europe, who have
just found out what we demonstrated twenty years ago.
" In respect to the impregnable nature of the battery proposed I
will not enter on a demonstration before one so experienced as yourself.
It will be all-sufflcient merely to ask you to look carefully at the plan.
It will, however, be proper for me to advert to the fact that the iron-clad
vessels of France and England are utterly unable to resist elongated
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEEKIMAC. 275
shot fired from the 12-inch guns of the battery. The 4|-inch plates of
La Oloire or the Warrior would crumble like brown paper under the
force of such projectiles, and at close quarters every shot would crush
in the enemy's sides at the water-line. The opposing broadsides would
be nothing more than the rattling of pebbles on our cylindrical iron tur-
ret, which, by the way, we can make twelve inches thick, as we have
some three hundred tons buoyancy to spare. A small number of these
batteries will make our great Atlantic cities absolutely safe against at-
tack from steel-clad friends on the other side. As for the rebel fleet,
protected by the stolen guns at Norfolk, we can split it into matches in
half an hour ; ajid as for the rebels at New Orleans, we can go and take
a look at their cotton-bags whenever we please if they had a thousand
guns mounted on the shore of their great river.
So far as concerns the statements relating to the respective
powers of armor and of guns, this was not speculation but the
sober rehearsal of facts, and of facts which should have been
understood at Washington. The Emperor Napoleon had al-
ready made his experiments, and the results of the trials of
armor and guns at Vincennes, and of those to which Ericsson
called attention, were part of the naval record. The destruc-
tive effect of shell firing against wooden ships had been demon-
strated at Sinope in 1853, and even a quarter of a century
earlier than this by the Russians during the Greek war of in-
dependence. The naval attack upon Sebastopol had failed,
and the proposed attack upon Cronstadt had been abandoned,
because of the inability of unarmored vessels to stand fire ; while
even the imperfect batteries employed by the French at Kin-
burn, October 17, 1855, had given a foretaste of the quality of
iron-clad s.
The necessity for adopting some new form of meeting the
changed conditions of naval warfare was obvious to every in-
structed observer ; and yet a proposition, coming from an en-
gineer of approved ability in naval construction, and demon-
strated by the strictest application of mathematical formulas,
was objected to because it was " novel." There should have
been ability somewhere in our Naval Administration to deter-
mine the prospective value of Ericsson's plans, and they should
have been either accepted or rejected ; and if accepted, the in-
ventor should have been held but to one condition, which was
the fulfilment of the stipulations of his contract as to the char-
276 LIFE OP JOHN ERICSSON.
acter of the vessel lie was to present for acceptance. The risk
of the result was for the Government to undertake, and espe-
cially at such a crisis.
It is marvellous that Ericsson should have accepted such
conditions after the experience he had had of Washington
methods. Nothing but the spirit to put "life itself" at the
disposal of the Government could have prompted the venture.
Commodore Smith proposed that he should turn his vessel over
to men prejudiced in advance against it, and anxious, not to
demonstrate its value, but to exaggerate to its discredit the ac-
cidents and miscarriages attending the trial of a new and novel
piece of machinery.
It was Providence that decreed the success of the Monitor,
and not the navy. During the period of peace preceding the
war, our navy " was always grasping at the shadow and leaving
the substance. The commodore of the period was an august
personage who went to sea in a great flag-ship, surrounded by a
conventional grandeur which was calculated to inspire a be-
coming respect and awe. As the years of peace rolled on, this
figure became more and more august, more and more conven-
tional. The fatal defects of the system were not noticed until
1861, when the crisis came, and the Service was unprepared to
meet it ; and to this cause was largely due the feebleness of
naval operations during the first year of the war. There seems
to have been a total want of information at the central office of
administration in reference to the existing demands of naval
war, and the measures necessary to put the machine into ef-
ficient operation." *
What a stirring up of dry bones there would have been
could Ericsson have been given absolute control of naval ad-
ministration ! But it was not to be. In spite of all the draw-
backs, perhaps his services were quite as efficient in the sphere
to which he was confined. Thanks to tlie success attending
liim in Hampton Roads, on March 9, 1862, he was able to se-
cure for the United States the unprecedented experience of
producing an entire fleet of war vessels, built on a new system,
and successful for the purpose intended, without expending a
* Professor J. R. Soley, now Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, in Battles
and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. 1. , p. 623.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEREIMAC. 277
single dollar on preliminary experiments. This, too, while
England and France were wasting millions in unsuccessful ef-
forts to adapt their navy to modern conditions. From the
storehouse of his own fertile invention, his own prolific ex-
perience, Ericsson was able to produce, without hesitation or
delay, every requirement for modern naval warfare. This
record of his experiences has shown how complete was his
equipment for the work in hand — so far exceeding that of any
living man. Ilis difficulties, as we shall see, were not so much
in himself as in the inability of others to understand and apply
his far-reaching conceptions.
Fortunately for the country, as well as for Ericsson, there
was in the Navy Department, as assistant secretary, a gentle-
man, Gustavus Yasa Fox, whose experience as a naval officer
on coast survey duty, in command of mail steamers, and in the
war with Mexico, had given him a knowledge of nautical mat-
ters, and whose five years of civil life had dissevered him from
the traditions and prejudices of the naval profession. It would
appear that Mr. Fox was at first indisposed to accept Ericsson's
ideas on the subject of armored vessels, or at least was more
favorably inclined to those originating in the Navy Depart-
ment.
Reporting the results of a visit to Washington, on behalf of
Ericsson's battery, Mr. John F. Winslow wrote from Troy,
January 10, 1862:
While I cannot say that I found Mr. F. unfriendly, still there was at
first a loftiness of manner toward us, and a confidence in the bureau
plan, that was to me amusing ; yet, finding him to be a really able man,
and of controlling influence in matters relating to his bureau, I was de-
termined he should either convert me to the bureau plan, or I would
him to our plan, and therefore devoted all the time I could get him to
appropriate to this object, and after more than five hours' consecutive
discussion of all the points involved, I left him with an admission that
he was only familiar with sailing and defending a ship ; that, as to the
mechanics and architecture incident to a ship or steamer building, he
professed to know but little, and so far as the mechanical and other ar-
rangements of the Ericsson battery were concerned, he would concede to
me that it appeared to embody all the features of success, and if on
trial this was demonstrated, ours would be the plan to be adopted. This
was the substance and meaning of his parting assurances to me, and
278 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSOJST.
though it cost me hours of animated and earnest colloquial effort, yet 1
rnade a convert of him, as I think, and felt abundantly compensated.
Tliis conversion appears to liave been complete, for Mr.
Fox soon became Ericsson's earnest champion, and when tlie
success of his battery was demonstrated, he gave him his un-
varying support, until the termination of his connection with
the Department, in 1866.
Of Mr. Fox, a member of Lincoln's cabinet said :
Fox was really the able man of the administration. He planned the
capture of New Orleans, the opening of the Mississippi, and in general
the operations of the Navy. He had all the responsibility of removing
the superannuated and inefficient men he found in charge, had the
honor of selecting Farragut, and was often consulted by General Grant.
He performed all his duties with an eye only to the requirements of the
hour, and with no view to the advancement of any interest of his own.
Mr. entered the service a poor man, and retired with a fort-
une ; Mr. Fox abandoned a profitable position to assist the Government,
and I'etired from office without a dollar in the world he could call his
It seems to have been the intention at first to send the
Monitor when completed to join the expedition against New
Orleans. For this expedition Farragut received his orders on
January 20, 1862, ten days before the launching of the Monitor,
arriving off the mouth of the Mississippi in his flag-ship Hart-
ford a month later, or after the completion of the battery,
February 6, 1862. Ten days before the battery was finished
Mr. Fox wrote to Ericsson a hasty note, asking :
" Can your Monitor sail (steam) for the Gulf of Mexico by
the 12th inst. ? "
Tiie alarming news of the approaching completion of the
Virginia at Norfolk soon changed this purpose, for on "Wed-
nesday, February 13th, Mr. Winslow wrote from Washington :
" Mr. Fox told us to-day he should be at Fort Monroe on ar-
rival of the battery there, to witness her behavior -in passing
the batteries along Elizabeth Eiver and Craney Island on her
way up to Norfolk. He expects she will leave New York early
next week, and that a vessel will be chartered to convey her to
Hampton Roads." A week later, on February 21st, Mr. Fox tel-
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEEEIMAC. 279
egraplied to Ericsson from Washington : " It is very important
that you should saj' exactly the day the Monitor can be at
Hampton Roads. Consult with Commodore Paulding." Lien-
tenant Worden had hardly left the harbor of New York when
orders came to change the destination of his vessel to Wash-
ington. It was too late ; Commodore Paulding was unable to
overtake him with the tug sent in hot pursuit. Similar
orders were sent to the senior naval officer at Hampton
Roads, Captain John Marston, U.S.N., but he was wise
enough to disregard them, acting upon the military princi-
ple that it is justifiable to disobey an order when it is obvious
that it was given in such ignorance of the facts of the actual
situation, that to carry it out literally would defeat the object
intended.
The Monitor left New York Harbor on the afternoon of
March 6, 1862, in tow of a tug, and accompanied by two naval
steamers, the Currituck and Sachem. The wind was moderate
and the sea smooth, but twenty-four hours later both had so
increased that the waves swept the deck and forced the water
in considerable quantities into the vessel through the hawse-
pipes and under the turret, and broke over the smoke-pipe six
feet high, and the blower pipe, rising here only four feet above
the low deck. This stopped the blowers, and the furnaces hav-
ing insufficient draught, the engine-rooins were filled with gas,
and the engineer, Mr. Isaac Newton, and his assistants were
so nearly suffocated that they were carried into the open air to
the top of the turret, apparentlj^ lifeless.
The machinery being temporarily disabled the hand-pumps
were set at work and the men occupied in bailing until a
smoother sea was reached, the blower-bands repaired, and the
machinery once more set in motion. These mishaps were the
result partly of defects in construction easily remedied, and
partly of want of experience in handling so novel a craft. The
only man on board who thoroughly understood the characteris-
tics of the vessel was Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, U.S.N.,
the naval inspector of iron-clads, who was on board as a pas-
senger only. The officers were : Lieutenants John L. Worden
and Samuel Dana Greene; Masters, Louis N. Stodder and John
J. N. Webber ; Assistant Surgeon, Daniel C. Logue ; Paymas-
280 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
ter, W. F. Keeler ; First Assistant Engineer, Isaac Newton ;
Second Assistant Engineer, Albert B. Campbell ; Third Assist-
ant Engineers, R. W. Hands, M. T. Sunstrnm. The crew of
forty-three men were volunteers.
The diamatic incidents attending the arrival of the Monitor
at Hampton Roads, on the evening of March 8th, have been
fully described in contemporary annals. The story was told to
Ericsson in a letter from Mr. Stimers, as follows :
Ikon-Clad Monitor,
Hampton Roads, March 9, 1862.
Mt Dear Sir : After a stormy passage which proved us to be the
finest sea-boat I was ever in, we fought the Merr'imac for more than
three hours this forenoon, and sent her back to Norfolk in a sinking
condition. Iron-clad against iron-clad, we mancBuvred about the bay
here, and went at each other with mutual fairness. I consider that both
ships were well fought. We were struck twenty-two times, pilot-house
twice, turret nine times, deck three times, sides eight times. The only
vulnerable point was the pilot-house. One of your great logs (nine by
twelve inches thick) is broken in two. The shot struck just outside of
where the captain had his eye, and disabled him by destroying his left
eye and temporarily blinding the other. The log is not quite in two,
but is broken and pressed inward one and a half inch. She tried to
run us down and sink us as she did the Cumberland yesterday, but
she got the worst of it. Her horn passed over our deck, and our sharp,
upper-edged rail cut through the light-iron shoe upon her stem and
well into her oak. She will not try that again. She gave us a tre-
mendous thump, but did not injure us in the least, we were just able
to find the point of contact. The turret is a splendid structure ; I
don't think much of the shield, but the pendulums are fine things,
though I cannot tell you how they would stand the shot, as they were
not hit.
You were very correct in your estimate of the effect of shot upon
the man on the inside of the turret when it was struck near him. Three
men were knocked down, of whom I was one. The other two had to
be carried below, but I was not disabled at all, and the others recovered
before the battle was over. Captain Worden stationed himself at the
pilot-house, Greene fired the guns, and I turned the turret until the
Captain was disabled and was relieved by Greene, when I managed the
turret myself, Master Stoddard having been one of the two stunned
men.
Captain Ericsson, I congratulate you upon your great success ; thou-
sands here this day bless you. I have heard whole crews cheer you ;
every man feels that you have saved this place to the nation by furnish-
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MERRIMAC. 281
ing us with the means to whip an iron-clad frigate that was, until our
arrival, having it all her own way with our most powerful vessels.
I am with much esteem,
Very truly yours,
Captain J. Ericsson, Alban C. Stimbbs.
95 Franklin Street, New York.
In another account Mr. Stimers states that, during part of
the voyage the sea was so high that the gunboats acting as
convoys rolled so much that when they careened in one direc-
tion he could see under the bilge, and when the deck was tow-
ard him he could look down the main hold. " The motion
of the Monitor was so easy and quiet that a glass inkstand
stood upon a polished mahogany case on the table in the
Captain's cabin, during the entire voyage, without slipping.
At the same time the sea washed over the deck in the most
terrific manner. All hands were at one time driven to the
top of the turret by the escaping gas from the furnace fii'es.
During the night the wire tiller ropes came off the wheel,
and all hands were occupied during most of the night in
hauling on the ropes by hand and readjusting them on the
wheel."
The " Greene " referred to in Mr. Stimers' letter was Lieu-
tenant S. Dana Greene, a young officer of the Navy then in his
twenty-third year. He had volunteered to go in the Monitor,
notwithstanding the many gloomy predictions concei'ning her,
and had been ordered to her as executive officer at the request
of Lieutenant Worden. In his account of the voyage of the
Monitor to Hampton Roads, Lieutenant Greene says :
We left New York in tow of the tug-boat Seth Low at 11 a.m. on
Thursday, March 6th. On the following day, a moderate breeze was en-
countered, and it was at once evident that the Monitor was unfit as a sea-
going craft. Nothing but the subsidence of the wind prevented her
from being shipwrecked before she reached Hampton Boads. The
berth-deck leaked in spite of all we could do, and the water came down
under the turret like a waterfall. It would strike the pilot-house and
go over the turret in beautiful curves, and come through the narrow eye-
holes of the pilot-house with such force as to knock the helmsman com-
pletely round from the wheel. . . . The water continued to pour
through the hawse-hole, and over and down the smoke-stacks and blower-
282 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
pipes in such quantities that there was imminent danger that the ship
would founder.*
It was evident that Lieutenant Greene did not agree with
Engineer Stimers' estimate of the Monitor as a fine sea-boat,
and in an official report to the Department, March 27, 1862,
lie said : " I do not consider this steamer a sea-going vessel.
During her passage from New York lier roll was very easy
and slow, not at all deep. She pitched very little and with no
strain whatever. She is buoyant, and not very lively. The
inconveniences we experienced can be easily remedied. But
she has not the steam power to go against a head-wind or
sea. . . . For smooth water operations, such as she was
engaged in on the 9th inst., I think her a most desirable ves-
sel."
In criticising a similar discrepancy of statement between
the engineer and the commander of a later Monitor, concern-
ing the injuries received by his vessel, Ericsson said : "I should
rather trust to the judgment of a skilful practical engineer as to
the real damage done, than to tlie opinion of the gallant com-
manders of these vessels, most of whom know nothing of
mechanical matters. It has often given me pain to think that
our fighting machines are entrusted to officers who know noth-
ing of mechanics, and therefore have no confidence in their
vessels."
In I'eplying to Lieutenant Greene's criticisms upon the
Monitor, he explains that he intended the sight-holes in the
pilot-house to be five-eighths of an inch wide, affording a verti-
cal view eighty feet high at a distance of only two hundred
yards, and this his experiments had shown him was sufficient.
A subsequent alteration in the sight-holes, accounted for the
entrance of water, and for the injury done to the sight of the
commander of the Monitor, by the explosion of a shell from
the muzzle of a gnu not ten yards distant.
Fortunately, the impression that the sight of one eye was
destroyed was incorrect, though Worden will carry the scars
of this fight with him to his grave. The turret of the Monitor
was not carried on revolving rollei-s, but pivoted on the centre
* Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. i., p. 721.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MERRIMAO. 283
and slid on the smooth surface of a flat, hroad ring of bronze,
let in on the deck. Before the vessel left New York, some " ex-
pert " at the Brooklyn Navy Yard inserted a plaited hemp rope
between the base of the turret and the bronze ring, to shut out
the small amount of water entering tiiere. It was expected
that water would work its way through, as it was impossible
to make a water-tight joint under a revolving turret, and
pumps were provided to remove what little water entered. It
was necessary to widen the space between the turret and its
base in order to make room for the rope packing, and as this
washed out the result was the leak around the whole circum-
ference of the turret, sixty-three feet, referred to by Mr. Greene,
through which " the water came down under the turret like a
waterfall." The entrance of water through the hawse-pipe was
not due to faulty construction ; it resulted, Ericsson declared,
" from gross oversight on the part of the executive officer —
namely, in going to sea without stopping the openings around
the chain cable at the point where it passes through the side
of the anchor- well." * During the passage from New York, the
working gear of the turret was permitted to rust for want of
proper cleaning and oiling, and it worked with so much diflfi-
cnlty during the engagement with the Merrimac that, but for
the energy and determination of Engineer Stimers, it might
not have revolved at all.
These are Ericsson's explanations, and such were some of
the difficulties with which he contended in proving the value
of his invention at the outset. Again, the timid ordnance of-
ficers at Washington insisted on limiting to fifteen pounds the
charge with the eleven-inch guns which was subsequently in-
creased to fifty pounds. The wrought-iron shot intended for
the vessel were not used. But for these departures from the
design of Ericsson, Worden could have accomplished the ex-
pected result of splitting " the rebel fleet into matches in half
an hour."
The veteran officer in command of the Merrimac, Admiral
Buchanan, C.S.N., had been badly wounded by a rifle ball
from the shore, during the fight of the day before with the
* See Ericsson's article on "The Building of the Monitor,^' in Battles and
Leaders of the Civil War, vol. i. , p. 730.
284 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
wooden vessels in Hampton Roads. His successor in command,
Lieutenant Catesby Ap E. Jones, says of the Monitor: " She
and her turret appeared to be under perfect control. Her
light draught enabled her to move about us at pleasure. She
once took a position for a short time where we could not bring
a gnn to bear upon her. Another of her movements caused us
great anxiety ; she made for our rudder and propeller, both of
which coidd have been easily disabled. We could only see her
guns when discharged ; immediately afterward the turret re-
volved rapidly, and the guns were not again seen until they
were fired. "We wondered how proper aim could be taken in
the very short time the guns were in sight. It did not appear
that our shell had any effect on the Monitor. Musketry was
fired at the look-out holes. She fired forty-one shots." * No
serious damage was done to his vessel, he reports.
" A Confederate soldier, who from a safe position saw the
fight," describing his experience, says :
And now we are at Newport News. The frigate Cumberland is struck
below the starboard forechains ; she reels, rolls, and goes down. And
the flag of the Congress comes down by the run ; soon she will make a
brilliant bonfire to illuminate the Eoads. And now for the Minnesota.
But just here the pilots insist upon bringing to anchor while yet the
daylight lasts. Our anchor is down under Sewell's Point, our ship un-
scratched by a pin. The fire of the Cumberland had killed two men and
wounded five, and had also carried away the muzzles of two guns, but
we never ceased firing them and the damage was wholly immaterial.
In the early morning, Jones gets under way to finish the Minnesota.
Wa soon descry a strange-looking iron tower, sliding over the waters
toward us, and we dash at it. It is the Monitor, which during the pre-
vious night had come in from sea, and which by the light of the burn-
ing Congress had been seen and reported by one of our pilots.
Nearly two hours have passed, and many a shot and shell have been
exchanged at close quarters with no perceptible damage to either. The
Virginia is discouragingly cumbrous and unwieldy. To wind her for
each broadside fire, fifteen minutes are lost ; while during all this time,
the Monitor is whirling around and about like a top, and by the easy
working of her turret, and her precise and rapid movement, elicits the
wondering admiration of all. She is evidently invulnerable to our
Bhell.
Ouj: next movement is to run her down. We ram her with all our
• Southern Historical Society Papers, vol. xi. , p. 21.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOB AND MEEEIMAC. 285
force. But she is so flat and broad that she merely slides away from
under our stern, as a floating door would slip away from under the cut-
water of a barge ; all that we could do was to push her. Jones now de-
termines to board her ; to choke her turret in some way and lash her to
the Virginia. The blood is rushing through our veins while the shrill
pipes and hoarse roar of the boatswains call " Boarders away ! " But lo 1
our enemy has hauled oflf into shoal water, where she is as safe from our
ship as if she were on the topmost peak of the Blue Eidge. Ten feet
of water against twenty-two. The smoke from our gun was yet floating
lazily away when Catesby Jones remarked to the writer : " The destruc-
tion of those wooden vessels was a matter of course, but in not captur-
ing that iron-clad, I feel as if we had done nothing ; " and yet, he added,
"give me that vessel and I would sink this one in twenty minutes."
Every watch officer in our squadron would engage, under the forfeiture
of his head, with a monitor to sink a Virginia every thirty minutes from
dawn to dewy eve. And this is said in no spirit of boasting. A Nelson
or a Oollingwood, finding the enemy's upper works invulnerable, might
have tried the lower ones ; they certainly would have done something
with the divine inspiration of genius to make the best ship win. But
then. Nelsons and Collingwoods only appear every century or two.
The Monitor was fought with plenty of spirit. She was also fought
with a plentiful lack of judgment and common-sense, and ordnance-
sense. The great radical blunder was in failing to concentrate her fire.
In two instances a second shot, striking near the first, weakened our
shield and caused the backing to bulge inward, and made it very manifest
that a third or fourth shot would have gone through. In these cases the
shot were delivered upon the strongest part of our roof ; and if they had
struck her at water-line, where there was no protection whatever for the
hull (for be it remembered that she had no knuckle), they would have
gone through her as if she had been of paper. A fighting, wide-awake
seaman makes the enemy's water-line his first target, and that proving
invulnerable, the guns and the guns' crew the second. Now, the enor-
mous weight of her shield and battery kept the Virginia all the time
just hovering between floating and sinking ; a very few tons of water
through the hole made by two, or even one, well-aimed shot from the
splendid eleven-inch gun of the Monitor, and the Virginia would have
gone to the bottom in five minutes.
With such a gun, and at such short range, it would be no great feat
for an intelligent side-boy to plant his shot every time in the space cov-
ered by an ordinary straw hat. The Virginia was so large a mark that
almost every shot stmck her somewhere ; but they were scattered over
the whole shield on both sides, and were therefore harmless. To point
her gun in our direction and fire on the instant, without aim or motive,
appeared to be the object. The turret revolving rapidly, the gun dis-
appears only to repeat in five or six minutes the same hurried and
necessarily aimless, unmeaning fire. She could assume and keep what-
286 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
ever position she pleased, for with her short keel and fine engines she
conld play around us like a rabbit around a sloth. Once during the
fight she took such a position that we could not bring a single gun to
bear on her. Why did she not with common-sense keep it, and with
perfect security, deliberately plant her shot where she pleased, almost
to an inch ?
She fired, all told, during the fight forty-one shots (taking her time,
about one fire in six minutes), and any three of them properly aimed
would have sunk us, and yet the nearest shot to the water-line was over
four feet. Our rudder and propeller were wholly unprotected, and a
slight blow fi'om her stem would have disabled both and ended the
fight. Every time the Virginia went to cruise in the Boads under Tat-
nall we bade her an affectionate good-by, we never expected to see her
again. In short, considering that at noon on March 8, 1862, the Moni-
tor was by immense odds the most formidable vessel of war on this
planet, and that our ship was comparatively a ship of glass, and that,
doing us no harm and wholly unharmed herself after four mortal hours
of battle, she runs away and gives us the fight, it is impossible to con-
ceive in what manner she could have been more inefficiently fought.*
"If that splendid invention, as we freely admit she was for
smooth water, had been fonglit as she ought to have been," this
writer concludes, "it might have saved them 50,000 men. En-
gaging our handful with a few brigades, McClellan might have
walked past us to Eichmond with the rest of his army almost
any morning before breakfast."
In justice to the officers commanding the Monitor, First
Lieutenant Worden and then Lieutenant Greene, it should be
remembered that they were forced into a fight immediately-
upon their arrival in Hampton Roads, after a fatiguing sea voy-
age, under singularly trying circumstances, and with a vessel
whose peculiarities they had no time to investigate. "All the
men," wrote Isaac Newton, the engineer of the vessel, " were
nearly exhausted. I, for one, was sick on my back, with but
little hopes of being up in a week, but a short time before the
action." " The Merrimac," he further says, " was entirely in
our power when she hauled off, but orders were imperative to
act on the defensive." The commander of the Merrimac,
Catesby Jones, testified before a naval court that the Monitor
ought to have sunk his vessel in fifteen minutes. Mr. Alban
* Wm. Norris iu Southern Magazine, Baltimore, November, 1874, pp.
181, 182.
BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEBEIMAC. 287
C. Stiiners, speaks of meeting Mr. Jones many times after the
war, and talking over the engagement. On the last occasion,
said Mr. Stimers (1872), he remarked : " The war has been
over a good while now, and I think there can be no harm in
my saying to you that, if you had hit us twice more as well as
yon did the last two shots you fired, you would have sunk
us." *
John S. Porter, naval constructor of the Confederate States,
reported that after the engagements of March 8 and 9, 1862,
he put the Virginia on the dry dock, and found she had ninety-
seven indentations on her armor from shot, twenty of which
were from the 11-inch guns of the Monitor. Six of her top
layers of plates were broken by the Monitor's shot, and none
by those of the wooden vessels. None of the lower layer of
plates were injured.
Mr. Newton's statement concerning the defensive role of
the Monitor is fully confirmed by Assistant Secretary Fox.
In a letter to Captain Ericsson, he says : " I wrote the order
forbidding tlie Monitor going into tlie upper roads to meet the
Merrirnac. "Why ? Because I had pledged McClellan that
the Merrimao should not disturb his military mancenvres, and
to that obligation all naval operations were subordinate. We
fulfilled our duty, and kept her in until she committed ' hari
kari.' " President Lincoln had also given orders that the Mon-
itor should take no risks that conld be avoided.
While the contest in Hampton Roads served to direct the
attention of all the world to the necessity for making a com-
plete cliange in naval armaments, it did not fully illustrate the
possibilities of the monitor system. When his vessel had
passed from the hands of Ericsson, it was beyond his control.
He had done his part in furnishing an impregnable floating
battery, carrying guns that were equal to the task of destroy-
ing the enemy's vessel ; he conld do no more. The wave of
rejoicing which swept over the North was due not so much to
the achievement of the Monitor, fought as she was, as to the
sense of relief at the discovery that the Government had under
its control at least one vessel that could not be destroyed by
* Letter of Alban C. Stimers to Isaac Newton, dated New York, Decem-
ber 15, 1876.
288 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
the Merrimac. The timid counsels prevailing at Washington,
prevented the contest from being brouglit to the issue which
Ericsson intended. Tliough the necessities of the times may
have required this, the result was not less disappointing to
him.
" The Monitor only appears upon the scene," says the Con-
federate writer here quoted, " after we have been on the ram-
page for a whole day ; have cleared out everything in the
Roads — men-of-war, transports, traders, and have done the
enemy all possible injury, material and moral. Stocks fall
ten per cent, in an hour, gold rises faster, and such a panic pre-
vails as was never known before or since."
Secretary Welles, describing a cabinet meeting called by Mr.
Lincoln on receipt of the news of the first day's disaster, says :
" Mr. Stanton said : * ' The Merrimac will change the whole
character of the war ; she will destroy, seriatim, every naval
vessel ; she will lay all the cities on the seaboard under contri-
bution. I shall immediately recall Burnside ; Port Royal must
be abandoned. I will notify the governors and municipal au-
thorities in the North to take instant measures to protect their
harbors. I have no doubt that the monster is at this minute
on her way to Washington, and ' — looking out of the window
which commanded a view of the Potomac for many miles —
' not unlikely we shall have a shell or a cannon-ball from one of
her guns in the White House before we leave the room ! ' Mr.
Seward, usually buoyant and self-reliant, overwhelmed with
the intelligence, listened in responsive sj^mpathy to Stanton, and
was greatly depressed, as indeed were all the members."
It is true that the Confederate writer claims the victory for
the Virginia in this battle: a battle described by him as
" revolutionizing in an instant the whole science of naval war-
fare ; more memorable than any sea-fight of history, more
pregnant of consequences," and one to be " remembered to the
latest posterity as the prominent naval event of our times."
This is not worth disputing over. The prestige of victory was
with the Monitor, and it is that vessel, and not the Merrimac,
that revolutionized naval ideas and influenced naval construc-
tion. The one -was a rnde machine hastily improvised to
* Welles's Lincoln and Seward.
BATTLE BEIWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEKEIMAC. 289
meet an emergency ; the other the expression of the carefully
matured plans of the ablest and most experienced worker in
the field of naval construction. The Virginia* a few weeks
later, and without doing further damage, sank beneath the
waters of Chesapeake Bay, to be thenceforth remembered only
as the antagonist of the Monitor / Ericsson's Battery estab-
lished a type whose influence upon naval construction has not
yet passed away.
"• The Monitor,^'' said Admiral Luce, in a paper read befoi-e
the Naval Institute, April 20, 1876, " was the crystallization of
forty centuries of thought on attack and defence, and exhibited
in a singular manner the old Norse element of the American
Navy ; Ericsson (Swedish, son of Eric) built her ; Dahlgren
(Swedish, hranch of a valley) armed her ; and Worden (Swe-
dish, woi-dig, worthy) fought her. How the ancient skalds
would have struck their wild harps in hearing such names in
heroic verse ! How they would have written them in ' im-
mortal runes ! ' "
" So of the Monitor, Minotaur old Mr. Quincy said to me
it should have been, in its appearance in part of the great meg-
alosaurus or deinotherium, which came out in scaly armor that
no one could pierce, breathing fire and smoke from its nostrils ;
is it not the age of fable and of heroes and demigods over
again ? " f
* This vessel is IndlfEerently known as the Merrimac or Virginia. She
was the U.S. screw steamer Merrimao of 3,300 tons, 40 guns, built in 1855,
and captured with Norfolk, Va , 1861. When she was razeed and converted
into an armored vessel, she was rechristened Yirginia.
\ See Letter of Oliver Wendell Holmes, in The Correspondence of John
Lothrop Motley.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOE.
Congratulations and Applause Following the Success of the Monitor. —
Delight of the Swedes. — Letter from Mrs. Ericsson. — Ericsson's
only Speech. — His Chagrin at the Drawn Battle between the Moni-
tor and the Merrimac. — Exaggerated Hopes and Fears on both
Sides.
FOLLOWING the success of the Monitor, there swept in
upon Ericsson a great tide of congratulation and applause.
All of the " loyal " papers were filled with praises of hiin and
glorification of his Monitor, and of her officers and crew.
"The joyous news was flashed through the North, and now
from Congress and State Legislatures, now from Chambers of
Commerce and Boards of Trade, now from public meetings
and societies convened for the purpose, thanks and laudations
were poured upon the Monitor — Ericsson, her inventor, Wor-
den, her commander, Greene, her executive officer, Newton,
her chief engineer, Stimers, the engineer detailed to accompany
and report upon her, and who worked the turret. All the
officers, in short, and the crew shared the honors. The Presi-
dent, members of his cabinet, many of the diplomatic corps,
officers of both services, and ladles too, crowded to see the new
engine of warfare and to view with their own eyes the place of
the conflict of Hampton Poads."
Stimers wrote from on board the Monitor in Hampton
Roads, March 13, 1862 : " You can form no idea of how very
grateful the thousands of people here are to you for having
produced this vessel. General Wool " (then commanding the
Department of Virginia, with headquarters at Fort Monroe)
" told me he considered you the greatest man living. General
Mansfield said to me that our battle was of more importance
than if the whole army of the Potomac had moved success-
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOR. 291
fully against the enemy. We are remarkably popular on shore
here, and I confess it made me very proud when such men as
General Wool and General Mansfield grasped me by the hand
with both their own, and told me they wei-e very proud to make
my acquaintance."
Ericsson's personal friends were naturally delighted at find-
ing all the world joining with them in proclaiming his masterly
ability, already shown in so many ways but so imperfectly
recognized. " God bless you, Captain," wrote Professor Mapes,
on the day after the fight; "you have long deserved the grati-
tude of mankind, and now you have been able to appeal to the
keenest nerve of human susceptibility and they can no longer
withhold the full measure of praise so long and bo justly due
to your genius and assiduity."
From Eome, John O. Sargent wrote, March 31, 1862 :
Private letters received here state that both Washington and New
York were in a state of great consternation when it was known that the
Cumberland and Congress had been sunk, and that the relief when the
achievement of the Monitor was known was indescribable. Your tri-
umph has been complete. The opinion is generally entertained here
that you were on board. I hope not. It is an awful pill for John Bull.
The Times is sneaking about it as usual, and gives the world to under-
stand that the Merrimac was only disabled by " another iron-clad frigate "
— not wishing it to appear that this little gunboat would handle the
Wai-rior or La Gloire as well as the Merrimac. Epes wrote me on March
11th, that the one name on everybody's lips for the last two days has been
Ericsson's. Ericsson is hailed as the great deliverer. The old fogies who
have opposed him are humbled and silenced. Hurrah ! The salvation
of fleets was never carried in so small a compass before. What would not
the Merrimac have done but for the timely appearance of the Monitor ?
Two years later Mr. Sargent wrote from Paris that no
other event of the war had created more excitement and inter-
est in Europe.
From Ericsson's native land came numerous congratulations,
and these he valued most highly. The Consul of the United
States at Stockholm wrote to the Department of State at
Washington, saying :
I have the honor to inform you that the delight of the Swedes in re-
gard to the success of the Monitor in her combat with the Merrimac is
29S LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSOISr.
manifesting itself to-day on 'Change, by the raising of a subscription
for a large and splendid gold medal which is intended to be transmitted
to America and presented to Mr. Ericsson, the constructor of the Moni-
tor. The Swedish Government has had for some time the intention of
enlarging her navy, and for this purpose has had in existence a com-
mittee of scientific gentlemen, whose duty it was to examine and report
upon the best and most practical character of ships for construction ; but
the result of the action between the Monitor and the Merrimac has sud-
denly brought the labors of the committee to a stand, and they have
determined to make no report until the result of further trials with
Ericsson's invention are made known. The contest above alluded to has
joroved most fortunate for Sweden, as it has undoubtedly saved her an
immense outlay in a comparatively useless direction ; hence the Swedes
and the Swedish Government have good reason to be truly thankful to
Mr. Ericsson and the American Government, for having inaugurated a
principle which will in the end save them so much money.
Among Ericsson's English friends was Sir Charles Fox, to
whom he had given his first employment as a civil engineei-,
who was subsequently knighted for his work in connection with
the Great Exhibition in Tlyde Park, 1851, and whose name is
connected with many extensive railroads and other engineering
works. From London Sir Charles sent his greetings to his
old friend, saj'ing :
Spring Garden, London, June 6, 1862.
My Dbab Sir : I have been wishing to write to you for some time
past, to offer you my congratulations on the success of the Monitor,
which I assure you afforded me much satisfaction, as in fact anything
would do which tended to advance the welfare of one whose friendship
I shall always look back upon with much satisfaction as having been
manifested at a period when it was of the greatest value to me and in so
disinterested a manner. Not long since I went to post a letter at Char-
ing Cross, when at the same moment a lady also dropped a letter into the
box. We accidentally looked at each other, when I saw that I was recog-
nized, and upon looking more closely I fouud myself face to face with
Mrs. Ericsson, whom I had not seen for many years. I at once received
the kindest invitation to call upon her at her residence at Kensington, of
which I was not long in availing myself, and was pleased to find your wife
in a small, but very comfortable and nicely furnished cottage. "We spoke
much of you, and I was not a little pleased with the kind expressions with
regard to you which I listened to as they fell from her lips. Mrs. Erics-
son is delighted at your success and reads every account of the Moni-
tor with the deepest interest, and is still venturing to hope that you
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOR. 293
will one day return to England, and afford hei: the opportunity of again
proving the affection which she has ever cherished for you.
If you can, without trouble, occasionally forward me a paper contain-
ing anything of interest respecting yourself, by doing so you will confer
a favor on Your faithful friend,
Chablbs Fox.
Mrs. Ericsson sent her own congratulations as follows :
No. 2, Canning Place, Gloucester Koad,
Kensington Gate, April 3, 1863.
I duly received the illustrated paper announcing the most surpris-
ing intelligence of the result of your genius, which I think has startled
all Europe. Your triumph has at length arrived, at a crisis which must
make your heart palpitate with a pride and Joy almost too exquisite to
endure. You are now on an eminence from which you can survey with
scorn, those in Europe who never gave you a fair field for your talents.
The Times' leading article is fraught with the subject of your success,
and it has come like a thunderbolt upon all nations and I think has
traly verified what you stated in your last letter, " that England would
shortly tremble " at the revolution which would take place in warfare.
Probably you doubt my assurance when I tell you that my gratifica-
tion at your triumph over all the world makes my nights sleepless with
excitement, and though in reality I am not tangibly identified with it, I
am in heart and soul made happy. The word of praise from me would
fall listlessly on your ear when all are proclaiming your achievements, so
good taste dictates I should be silent ; yet, notwithstanding, my sympa-
thies are fully enlisted. My prayer for your success has been granted by
Providence for this proud climax of your reputation, and I feel sure
soon in the midst of the tumultuous roar of praise and idolatry by which
you are surrounded a stray thought of yours will waft its way to my
home.
You are by this time in possession of mine of March 19th, to which
I trust soon to have an answer. With earnest wishes that your health
may be preserved and that every happiness may attend you, I am as
ever, Amelia.
P. S. — A thousand thanks for your kindness in sending me the
paper.
This letter is interesting, not only as a part of Ericsson's
history at this period but because of the light it throws upon
his relations to his wife. The correspondence between them
had reference cliiefly to his remittances for her support, but it
was constant, and occasionally illuminated by flashes of the old
affection which seems never to have died out from tlie heart of
SQ'-i LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
eitlier. All the letters from Mrs. Ericsson found among her
husband's files are endorsed in his handwriting " Duck," the
familiar name by which she was known to him and to her fam-
ily. She was a woman of great kindness of heart but wayward
in disposition. They parted with mutual consent, and as she
would not come to the United States, and he could not return to
England, they never met again.
March 28, 1862, the 37th Congress, during its second ses-
sion, passed this joint resolution :
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled.
That it is fit and proper that a public acknowledgment be made to
Captain John Ericsson, for his enterprise, skill, energy, and forecast, dis-
played by him in the construction of his iron-clad boat the Monitor,
which, under gallant and able management, came so opportunely to the
rescue of our fleet in Hampton Eoads, and perchance, of all our coast
defences near, and arrested the work of deatniction then being success-
fully prosecuted by the enemy with their iron-clad steamers, seemingly
irresistible by any other power at our command — and that the thanks of
Congress are hereby presented to him for the great service which he
has thus rendered to the country.
The Legislature of New York also passed resolutions thank-
ing Ericsson for his great services to the country. These were
handsomely engrossed on parchment, set in a fine gilt frame
on which were depicted the Monitor and its construction, and
presented by a committee of six members of the Legislature.
They ever after hung in a place of honor in Ericsson's house.
Some of the leading engineering establishments and shipbuild-
ing firms also presented a magnificent model of the Monitor
made of gold, weighing upward of fourteen pounds and costing
$7,000. The entire detail of the turret, the machinery, etc.,
was represented' in this model. It proved a white elephant,
however, as its presentation established a " claim " upon the
part of the artist, and after expending $4,000 in answering
these demands, and in keeping this valuable piece of plate in-
sured. Captain Ericsson finally sent it to the goldsmith's to be
melted up. It yielded $600 for its metal and the proceeds
were devoted to charity.
&
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOE. 296
Immediately upon the receipt of the news from Hampton
Koads a special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of the
City of New York was called for March 12, 1862. Ericsson
was invited to attend, and he received the warmest possible
greeting when he entered the Cliamber under the escort of one
of the members, Mr. Prosper W. Wetmore, on whose motion
he was unanimously chosen an honorary member. The Cham-
ber then adopted with great enthusiasm these resolutions offered
by Mr. Charles Gould :
Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York
gratefully recognize, and desire to place on record, their profound sense
of the obligatious under which Captain Ericsson has placed the people
of the United States. To his genius and activity is due their salvation
from a national disgrace, and disasters for which otherwise there could
have been no remedy.
Resolved, That the floating battery Monitor deserves to, and will be
forever mentioned with gratitude and admiration.
Resolved, That the Chamber of Commerce expect that the Govern-
ment of the United States will make to Captain Ericsson such suitable
return for his inestimable services as will evince the gratitude of a great
nation.
Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly certified, be for-
warded to Captain Ericsson and to the President of' the United States.
Captain Ericsson was called upon and delivered a speech —
the only one by him found upon record. A report of this is
entered in the Minutes of the Chamber of Commerce as fol-
lows :
Captain Ericsson, during his remarks, alluding to the voyage of the
Monitor to Fortress Monroe, said :
I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without saying that I look
upon the success of that as being entirely owing to the presence of a
master-mind [Mr. Stimers]. The men were new ; their passage had
been very rough, and the master had to put his vessel right under the
heaviest guns that were ever worked on shipboard. It is evident that
but for the presence of a master-mind on board of that vessel, that suc-
cess could not have been achieved. Captain Worden, no doubt, ac-
quitted himself in the most masterly manner. But everything was
quite new. He felt quite nervous before he went on board. The fact
that the bulwark of the vessel was but one foot above the water-line
was enough to make him so. When I was before the Naval Committee
the grand objection was that in sea-way the vessel would not work. I
296 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
gave it as my opinion that it would prove the most easy-working in sea-
way, and it is an excellent sea boat. The men are supplied with fresh
air, though there is no opening except through the turret, by means of
blowers worked by the engines, and they are perfectly comfortable.
They can remain in the top of the turret in the sea-way ; it is sixty feet
in circumference — quite a promenade. Though the deck is but a foot
above the water-line, the top of the turret is nine feet above ; and here
is the important point, that this vessel is in the sea-way perhaps the
safest vessel ever built. It takes six hundred and seventy thousand
pounds to bring her down. There can be no danger of her swamping.
It is very much like a bottle with a cork in it.
In relation to the point whether the Monitor is capable of taking care
of the Merrimac, let me say that she would have sunk the Merrimac but
for the fact of her having fired too high. If they had kept off at a dis-
tance of two hundred yards, and held the gun exactly level, the shot
would have gone clear through. But Mr. Stimers had the guns ele-
vated a little, and the roof of the Merrimac is so strong that the balls
rebounded. Next time they encounter the Merrhnac they will have the
guns level, and they won't mind if the ball strikes the water, because
the ricochet will take it where they want it. The next time they go
out I predict the third round will sink the Merrimac.
There is another great point. They had fifty wrought-iron shot
which were not used. Captain Dahlgren issued peremptory orders that
they should not be used, and they obeyed those orders. Now, a wrought-
iron shot is one thing, and a cast-iron shot is another. A wrought-iron
shot cannot break. The side-armor of the Merrimac is insuJficient to
resist it. The channel is very narrow, and the Merrimac must follow
it. But the Monitor can go anywhere and take the very best position.
The merchants of New York might well do honor to the
constructor of the Monitor, for through his instrumentality
their anxious dreams of the destruction of their wealth had
been set at rest, and their hope of ilual victory over the rebel-
lious States revived. The news of the repulse of the Merri-
mac had followed hard upon a despatch of General "Wool to
the authorities at Washington, announcing that probably both
the Minnesota and St. Lawrence would be captured, and say-
ing : " It was thought that the Merrimac and Jamestown and
Yorhtown would pass the fort to-night [Sunday, March 8th].
It was also admitted that if the Merrimac prepared to attack
the fort it would be only a question of a few days when it must
be abandoned." As the Comte de Paris says in his history of
our war :
THE SUCCESS OF THE MOJ^flTOB. 297
" All the previsions of tlie Federals, founded upon tlie supe-
riority of their magnificent fleet of wooden vessels, would have
disappeared with the Cumberland and the Congress. The war
would have changed front, and tlie Confederate flag, opening a
new era in marine warfare, would easily have raised the block-
ade which prevented the Slave States from freely procuring
supplies in Europe."
A member of the New York Chamber of Commerce, famil-
iar with the circumstances of that time, afterward wrote to
Ericsson, saying :
I recall the situation in which this city was placed in the opening
weeks of the war growing out of the Eebellion, and when on several
occasions the Mayor of New York (Mr. George Opdyke) called together
in council some of its trusted citizens, eminent in various callings, to
devise means for defending its approaches. The best plan that could
be suggested was to form " rafts " or " floats " of timber which should oc-
cupy the channels and be held in place by anchorage and chains. For
this purpose and to this end considerable sums of money were unof-
ficially expended. It was not then made known to them that you were
engaged on your first monitor — and even had it come to their knowl-
edge, it is doubtful whether, with their lack of scientific information,
their fears would have been allayed.
When the final hour of trial came, and the best efforts of the navy
had been uselessly expended against the Merrimac (the source of all our
anxiety), then it was that the Monitor, almost unknown, with its magic
presence appeared to give victory to our arms and forever make secure
our harbors from a foreign attack. The controlling power of other ves-
sels, soon after constructed on the Monitor plan, redeemed our navy
from the inefficiency and contempt with which it was regarded by our
enemies, as well as the naval powers of the world.
" Great was the joy in the North," says another chronicle
of the times, " when news came that the Monitor had turned
the current of affairs, but greater yet was it in Washington
where boats were laden with stone to be sunk in the cliannel,
in case the Merrimac destroyed her adversaries."
Lieutenant (afterward Admiral) Worden, who commanded
the Monitor, was much disturbed by Ericsson's speech at the
Chamber of Commerce. Two years after the fight, Ericsson's
associate, John A. Griswold, said, in a letter dated from the
national House of Representatives : " I have just liad a call from
298 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
Captain Wordeii. He thinks you did liim injustice in your
Chamber of Commerce remarks for the sake of complimenting
Stimers, and says the ' master spirit ' liad notliing at all to do
with the affair of the Merrimac, was not consulted, and was in
no special way tributary to the result of that combat."
With this opinion Ericsson did not agree. In the only offi-
cial report concerning the action of the Monitor on the 9th
of March, which was in the shape of a telegram from the
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, of that date, to the Depart-
ment, Mr. Fox says : " Lieutenant Worden, who commanded
the Monitor, handled her with great skill, and was assisted by
Chief Engineer Stimers."
Mr. Stimers won upon Ericsson by his absolute faith in the
Monitor, which went much beyond that displayed by those in
control of her. March 24, 1862, he wrote :
I told the Flag (Flag-Officer Goldsborough) my idea of what should
be done as follows : We get under way between two and three o'clock in
the morning, and at five, as daylight commences to break, we would be
alongside of the M&rrimac in Norfolk, throwing in our heavy shot. After
demolishing her we would come back, and if they placed any obstruc-
tions in our way we would tell them to remove them or we would razee
their town with shells. The old gentleman and his Fleet Captain looked
at each other in mutual astonishment and pleasure ; they appeared to
think that it was almost too much of a madcap scheme to be practicable,
but I do not despair of being permitted to put it into practice just as soon
as the embargo upon us is let up, which will be the case as soon as the
one hundred and thirty thousand troops, now arriving, can come and go
again in safety.
Confederate accounts indicate that this plan would have
succeeded, if carried out with energy and skill. The " Commit-
tee on the Conduct of the War," in their report (vol. i., p. 62)
say : ".Had Norfolk been captured during the winter of 1861-
62, and the Merrimac taken possession of or destroyed, the
way to Richmond would have been opened and the fatal delays
of the Peninsula avoided." The failure to accomplish all that
was expected and intended was one of the bitter disappoint-
ments of Ericsson's life. When he first heard of the engage-
ment he exclaimed : " The Monitor ought to have sunk her in
fifteen minutes."
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOR. 299
The Chief Engineer of the Monitor, First Assistant Engineer
Newton, questioned afterwards by the War Committee of Con-
gress why the battle was not more promptly decided against
the Virginia or Merrimao, answered : " It was due to tlie fact
that the power and endurance of the 11-inch Dahlgren guns,
with which the Monitor was armed, were not known at the
time of the battle ; hence the commander would scarcely have
been justified in increasing the charge of powder above that
authorized in the ' Ordnance Manual.' Subsequent experiments
developed the important fact that these guns could be fired
with thirty pounds of cannon powder, with solid shot. If this
had been known at the time of the action, I am clearly of
opinion that, from tlie close quarters at which Lieutenant Wor-
den fought his vessel, the enemy would have been forced to
surrender. . . . But for the injury received by Lieutenant
Worden, that vigorous officer would very likely have badgered
the Merrimao to a surrender."
This want of faith in the 11-incli Dahlgrens was not shared
by Ericsson, and at that period his opinion on a question of
guns was worth more than that of anyone else, and it was justi-
fied by the event. His experience had been large and his
studies exhaustive. Commencing with his training as an ar-
tillerist in the Swedish army, they extended through the period
of his labors in connection with the Princeton and so down
to the date of the completion of the Monitor. His mastery of
this subject was shown a little later on in his complete victory
over united ordnance opinion in England, in a controversy which
he conducted through the columns of the New York Army
and Navy Journal.
But the Virginia had created at "Washington, and through-
out tiie North, an exaggerated fear of her prowess. Hence the
peremptory orders to take no risks, and in war all is risk. So
the help McClellan counted on receiving from the navy on the
opening of his campaign against Eichmond, by way of the
Yorktown peninsula, was denied to him, that the Merrimao
might be watched, instead of destroyed.
As to operating in the James, the Confederate authority
before quoted says : " Possibly we might have taken the Vir-
ginia as far as Harrison's Bar, but such action would have
300 LIFE OF JOHN EEICSSON.
been absurd from every point of view. As the enemy occupied
both sides of the river above, we could neither coal nor provision
her, and would have been compelled to destroy her in a few
days, if she remained so long uneaptured." He says further :
" The truth was that the ship was not weatherly enough to move
in Hampton Roads at all times with safety, and she never could
have been moved more than three hours' sail from a machine
shop. A shell or two amidships, between wind and water (she
had no knuckle) and her career was closed. She drew twenty-
two feet of water, was in every respect ill-proportioned and
top-heavy ; and what with her immense length and wretched
engines (than which a more ill-contrived, spindling, and unreli-
able pair were never made ; failing on one occasion while the
ship was under fire) she was little more navigable than a tim-
ber-raft. Her quarters for the crew were close, damp, ill-venti-
lated, and unhealthy ; one-third of the men were always on the
sick list and were most always transferred to the hospital,
where they would convalesce immediately. She steered very
badly and both her rudder and screw were wholly unprotected.
Every man and ofiicer well understood the utter feebleness of
the ship, and the terrible efiiciency of the enemy's magnificent
fleet. Most of the men had taken, as they supposed, a last
farewell of wives, children, friends, and had set in order their
worldly affairs. All the lieutenants (Catesby Jones excepted)
had several weeks previously partaken publicly of the holy sac-
rament."
Yet throughout the South expectation as to the perform-
ance of the Confederate vessel ran high, and they were as con-
fident as were the Philistines when " they were gathered to-
gether at Shochoh " and sent forth their champion, Goliath of
G-ath, " armed with a coat of mail." In correspondence with
these hopes were the exaggerated alarms that spread through-
out the North, having Washington for their centre. In the
imagination of the excitable Stanton hot shot were already set-
ting fire to the White House. The Me7Timac was first to take
the Capitol, following tlie British precedent of 1S12. Next
she was to levy tribute on New York, and, after raising the
blockade of the Southern ports, she was to rival the splendid
career of the Alabama. She was to secure the possession of
THE SUCCESS OP THE MONITOR. 301
Hampton Roads, which would have made McClellan's penin-
sula campaign impossible, and all other campaigns requiring
the control of the York, the James, and the Appomattox.
Fort Monroe was to be captured and the way opened for for-
eign vessels to the very gates of Richmond. The foreign
friends of the Confederacy were to have their hands so strength-
ened that they could secure the great prize of recognition.
What might have followed had the destruction of the Vir-
ginia coincided more nearly with McClellan's advent on the
Peninsula is suggested by what Pollard in his " Secret History
of the Confederacy " (p. 224) tells us of tlie effect of her self-
destruction when, a few months later, on May 10, 1862, she was
blown up by her commander " within sight of the CuniberlanWs
top-gallant-masts all awash." According to Pollard this catastro-
phe nearly resulted in the surrender of Richmond and created
a public grief so wild and bitter that at one time it was feared
the building in which were collected the departments of the
Confederate Government might be stormed by a mob. The
vessel had been fondly named the " iron diadem of the South,"
and it was counted the equivalent of an army of fifty thousand
men in defence of the Confederate capital.
These expectations and fears may seem exaggerated in the
light of to-day, but, in the Spring of 1862, they were very real
to those who were watching with hope or with dread the career
of the Confederate iron-clad MerrimaG. They contributed
their part to the estimation in which the services of Ericsson
were held, and to tlie confidence in him which placed the build-
ing of an iron-clad navy for the United States at his disposal,
securing for him the control in the important concerns of a
great nation such as has rarely been accorded to a private citi-
zen, however eminent his ability. " The immediate results of
the conflict between the Monitor and the Merrimac,^'' says
Swinton in his " Twelve Decisive Battles," " was obviously the
overthrow of the great projects conceived by the latter vessel,
the salvation of the Union squadron, and the preservation of
the blockade and of Fort Monroe. Its wider result was to fur-
nish to the Union a new engine of warfare, which, rapidly and
cheaply constructed, proved impregnable in defence and irre-
sistible in attack.
302 LIFE OF JOHN ERICSSON.
"The 15-incli gun in the impregnable Monitor turret,
mutters with its deep voice, ' Hands off ! ' to whatever transat-
lantic nation might before have meditated an interference in
the American war. Before the rapidity of the achievement
was comprehended a squadron of monitors patrolled the At-
lantic seaboard, capable of destroying any fleet that might
challenge enti-ance to its harbors. The lesson was not lost
upon foreign ministers, who inclined to think twice before en-
countering this new and terrible engine of defence.
" The story of the battle of Hampton Roads created the
profoundest sensation in the court of evei-y maritime nation.
For months, not only the scientific, but the popular journals
were filled with the discussion of its merits and its meaning ;
the professional naval world was profoundly agitated ; ad-
miralty boards and ministers of marine conned its details ; in
fine, Russia and Sweden promptly accepted the Monitor as the
solution of the naval problem of the age, and followed the lead
of America in reconstructing their navies on that system.
France and England had, unfortunately for themselves, been
committed to the broadside iron-clad before the introduction of
the Monitor, and the enormous sums already laid out — enough
to build many squadrons of monitors — joined to some national
pride, and, in the case of England at least, reinforced by a
wondrous obstinacy of depreciation only to be understood when
one reads such histories as that of the screw-propeller — these
causes prevented the renunciation in France and England of
their iron-clad navies already built, and the substitution of the
turreted Monitor.
" However, in both countries the combat of March 9th was
received with the profoundest study, and was regarded as the
death-stroke to wooden war vessels. In England, on hearing
the news of the battle, the House of Commons, in obedience to
general sentiment, stopped at once the great military project
of building forts at Spithead for the defence of Portland.
The Defence Commission, too, was hastily reassembled for the
special purpose of considering the effect of the ' recent engage-
ment that has taken place in the Chesapeake between the naval
forces of the United States and the Confederates' on the erec-
tion of these forts. The Royal Commission found ' the expres-
THE SUCCESS OF THE MONITOR. '603
sion of opinion which followed the action of the Merrimao
and Monitor,'' and the doubts that took possession of the pub-
lic mind ' thereupon to be not unreasonable.' But when, not-
withstanding these doubts, the Commission had the hardihood
to recommend the construction of the forts, the Government,
again menaced by the House of Commons, was forced to
abandon this position, and the proposed Spithead forts were
given up, reliance being had for defence, in the future, upon
ironclad vessels."
The world had begun to accept the judgment pronounced
npon the Monitor and her creator by the oificer commanding
her antagonist in the Hampton Roads, Catesby Jones, when
he said : " I am one of the admirers of the .Monitor and of
Ericsson. He is a great genius."
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