Volume Xiv Part 7 (1/2)

If the result of this battle between the ”Monitor” and the ”Merrimac”

marked a turning-point in the naval aspect of the Civil War, it wrought a no less marked change in the standing and fortunes of her designer.

Some of his engineering efforts had not met with the success for which he or his friends had hoped. The engines of the air-s.h.i.+p, while a success as a piece of mechanism, were so enormous and heavy that she had to be considered as a commercial failure, and the venture was not repeated; the deplorable accident on the ”Princeton” was by some held to be in part chargeable to Ericsson, though a later and full knowledge of the circ.u.mstances shows that such was in no wise the case. Again, Ericsson, as an experimenter and pioneer, was by some considered as a dreamer, and before the ”Monitor” was completed there was no lack of croakers who prophesied failure or who openly ridiculed the idea. This condition was of course natural. In many ways Ericsson was ahead of his age; and, again, it must not be supposed that he avoided mistakes or that all of his work fully realized the expectations which were based upon it. Furthermore, Ericsson's spirit was proud, and he was little disposed to accept criticism from those whom he felt to be unqualified to pa.s.s adequate judgment on his work, while he was especially impatient under the system by which government work was done. He was therefore but little disposed to pleasantly submit to the exasperating delays and interferences with his work which arose from the methods of doing public business, and it is no more than the simple truth to say that during the preceding years the relations between Ericsson and the officials of the Navy Department had often become seriously strained, and they were seldom in cordial accord regarding the various questions which arose in connection with his public work.

With the demonstration made by the ”Monitor,” however, the att.i.tude of the public changed in a moment, and Ericsson was hailed on every hand as a public benefactor. He received the thanks of Congress on March 28, 1862, and of the Legislature of the State of New York a little later.

Besides these, he was the recipient of numbers of memorials and mementoes, and of such praise in every form as might well have disturbed the equilibrium of a mind less well balanced. In all this change of public opinion, the one thing which must have given him the deepest satisfaction was the change in the att.i.tude of the naval authorities at Was.h.i.+ngton. He was now considered as one whose ideas had demonstrated their right to serious and respectful attention, and a large fleet of vessels of the monitor type was ordered, similar to but larger than the prototype, and containing such minor changes as experience had suggested. Yet even this was not accomplished without objection. The officers of the navy were accustomed to the old type of wooden s.h.i.+p, and were slow to realize that naval war was, after all, an engineering problem, and that the ideas of the engineer must now be subst.i.tuted for those which had been sanctified by long ages of past experience. Still, the demonstration was too convincing to admit of serious question, and Ericsson and his a.s.sociates in business were busily occupied during the remainder of the war in the design and construction of a numerous fleet of vessels of the monitor type.

Ericsson's work during this period was enormous. One design followed another in quick succession, while work of supervision and inspection and cares of a business nature all combined to make a burden which would have broken down a nature less determined and self-centred, and a body less inured to physical endurance and sustained nervous tension.

This prodigious load was not so much but that he found time to devote to the needs of other nations, and in 1862 he offered to construct for the Chilian government a monitor similar to those under construction for the United States, while later a similar offer was made to the Peruvian Government. With the close of the Civil War Ericsson found still further time to devote to the introduction of this type of vessel into foreign navies, and a considerable part of his time seems to have been occupied with projects of this character, and more particularly with the question of the naval defence of his native land. As regards the introduction of wars.h.i.+ps of the monitor type, the results were not so p.r.o.nounced as might have been expected, and while the influence of the idea is seen in the practice of every maritime nation in regard to the construction of its wars.h.i.+ps, still, for the most part, the leading nations preferred to make application of the idea in their own way rather than order such vessels direct from their original designer. Yet in not a few cases the original type was faithfully copied, though it is not always clear to what extent Ericsson himself may have had direct contact with their designs. In 1866 the Swedes were able to test the first of a small fleet of monitors built after Ericsson's plans. This was called the ”John Ericsson,” and was armed with two 15-inch guns presented to Sweden by Ericsson himself. Later, in 1868, he designed for Spain and superintended the construction of thirty small gunboats for use in Cuban waters.

For nearly ten years now Ericsson had devoted most of his energies to the art of war. It was a time of change and unrest. Heavy guns and armor had brought about a complete break with the past. The torpedo, which had made its appearance in crude form during the Civil War, was attracting more and more attention, and questions of naval offence and defence and of the best governmental policy were attracting the serious attention of all whose duty led them into relation with such matters. Into this problem in its broadest aspects Ericsson threw himself in the early 'seventies with all the ardor of his younger days.

It is proper to explain here that there was one feature of the earlier plans which were submitted to Napoleon III. in 1854, which he did not embody in the ”Monitor,” and which, indeed, was omitted from all published plans and descriptions of the system given out in former years. This was a system of submarine or subaqueous attack, which, he states in a letter to John Bourne, had attracted his attention since 1826. The time now seemed ripe for the presentation and development of this idea, and he accordingly developed his designs for a torpedo, and for a method of firing it under water from a gun carried in the bow of a boat, and suitably opening to allow the discharge of the torpedo projectile. This was Ericsson's so-called ”Destroyer” system, and was embodied finally in a boat called the ”Destroyer,” which he built in company with his friend, Mr. C.H. Delamater, and with which he carried on numerous experiments. In the end, however, the system did not commend itself to the naval authorities, and the ”Destroyer” was left on her designer's hands, an instance of difference of opinion between Ericsson and those charged with the duty of naval administration, and with no supreme test of war to provide opportunity for the determination as to which were the more correct in their judgment. With the ”Destroyer,”

and his work in connection with her, closes the record of Ericsson's connection with the advance in naval construction.

During these later years of his life it must not be supposed that he was less busily occupied than in earlier life. His was a nature which knew no rest, and to the last day of his life he was literally in the harness. Only brief mention however can be made of some of the more important lines of work which interested the closing years of Ericsson's life.

In connection with his naval designs, he devoted much study to the improvement of heavy ordnance, both as to the gun and its mounting. In particular, his mounting of the guns in the ”Monitor” was quite original, and the friction arrangement for absorbing the recoil was a great improvement over methods then in use, and served as a model for many copies and adaptations of the same principles in later years by other designers. In 1863 he also designed and built for the acceptance of the Government a forged 13-inch wrought-iron gun. While his design was an advance on those of the day, the demands on the makers of iron forgings were more than could be successfully met, and the gun developed some slight cracks in the test, which prevented further developments on this line. Ericsson always maintained that the tests to which this gun was submitted were unfairly severe, and he showed how the defects could be remedied by a steel lining. But the Naval Bureau of Ordnance insisted that this should be done at his own expense, and as he had already lost some $20,000 on the gun, he was unwilling to proceed farther, and the matter was allowed to lapse.

Throughout his entire career the improvement of the steam-engine occupied a large share of Ericsson's attention, and in particular was this the case in connection with his naval designs. From the ”Princeton,” in 1841, to the ”Destroyer,” in 1878, there succeeded one long series of types and forms of steam-engine, each in his opinion the best adapted to the circ.u.mstances of the case. Naturally, opinions differ, and he was brought into compet.i.tion with other able engineers, and his designs were often called into question or subjected to criticism. In 1863, in compet.i.tion with Chief Engineer Isherwood of the navy, engines were designed for twin s.h.i.+ps, the ”Madawaska,” afterward known as the ”Tennessee,” and the ”Wampanoag,” afterward called the ”Florida.” This was a battle royal of types and modes of application of the power of the steam-engine to the propulsion of s.h.i.+ps. The result was a victory for Isherwood, although the ”Madawaska,” which was first subjected to trial, made a speed higher than any wars.h.i.+p at that time afloat. This was exceeded by the ”Wampanoag” a short time later; but neither engine was of an enduring type, and after a time the machinery of the ”Madawaska” was removed, and she was repowered with a later type of machinery, and long did service as the ”Tennessee” in the list of wooden frigates of the navy. The ”Florida” was too expensive to maintain in commission, and the special circ.u.mstances which had called her into existence having pa.s.sed by, she was laid up at New London, and never again saw active service.

Keenly as Ericsson was interested in the steam-engine, it must be admitted that he always showed a more profound interest in some form of engine which should be able to displace it with a superior efficiency; and hence his long series of efforts relating to the flame-engine, the caloric engine, the gas-engine, and finally the solar engine,--with either steam or heated air as the medium for carrying the heat. During the last years of his life some of his most patient and careful study was given to the perfection of a solar engine, or engine for utilizing directly the heat of the sun instead of that of coal or other carbon compounds. Besides this direct line of study and experimentation, he gave during these years much thought to various scientific problems connected with solar energy, the tides, gravitation, the nature of heat, etc., etc. A plan for deriving power direct from the tides, improvements in high-speed engines for electric-lighting purposes, further improvements in his hot-air engine in small sizes for commercial purposes,--these are some of the further lines of work which occupied the attention of his closing years.

But the most cunningly devised of all mechanisms, the heart and brain, must sooner or later tire and cease from their labors. The motive energy becomes exhausted, and the mechanism must cease its work. So it was with John Ericsson. In the first hour of the morning of March 8, 1889, Ericsson died. This was within one day of the twenty-seventh anniversary of the battle at Hampton Roads, the event with which the name of Ericsson will always be a.s.sociated, and which has given to it a significance that will never be forgotten. His remains were first interred in New York, and then, in 1890, in accordance with the request of the Swedish Government, they were returned with impressive services to his native land, where they now rest. In his death he received his highest honors, for his remains were conveyed across the Atlantic by the U.S.S. ”Baltimore,” one of the new s.h.i.+ps of the navy specially detailed for that service, and on both sides, in the United States and in Sweden, the event was marked with every honor and ceremony which could indicate the significance of his life and services for his adopted land and for the world at large.

The two pieces of work which perhaps will be most permanently linked with the name of Ericsson are the screw-propeller as a means of marine propulsion, and the ”Monitor” as a type of wars.h.i.+p. In addition to these, however, his life-work was rich in results which bore direct relation to many other improvements in the broad field of marine engineering and naval architecture. Of these a few of the more important may be mentioned, such as the surface condenser, distiller, and evaporator, forced draft for combustion, placing machinery of wars.h.i.+ps below the water-line, and their protection by coal, ventilation by fan-blowers, together with a vast variety of items involved in the conception and design of the ”Monitor” as a whole, and in his other naval designs.

In order to appreciate the influence of Ericsson's life and work on the field of marine construction, a brief glance may profitably be taken at this branch of engineering work as it was before Ericsson's time, and as it is now.

The material employed for s.h.i.+pbuilding was almost entirely wood. This was displaced in the 'sixties and 'seventies by iron, which in turn was displaced by steel, so that at the present time, except for special reason, no material other than steel is thought of for this purpose.

With the gradual displacement of wood by iron in the mercantile marine, Ericsson's relation was only indirect. Some of the earlier mercantile vessels in which he was interested were of wood and some of iron. In the field of wars.h.i.+p construction, however, his influence through the ”Monitor” was more direct, especially as to the value of metal armor as a protection against great gun-fire. Still, it is no more than justice to say that with the change from wood to iron which took place during the active part of his life, Ericsson had only an indirect relation, and the change would doubtless have come about at the same time, and in much the same general way as it did, independent of any influence which his work may have had upon the question. Turning to the means of propulsion, we find sails as the main, or almost only, reliance during the early years of the century. The steam-engine operating paddle-wheels had come to be recognized as a possibility, and under certain conditions as a commercial success. The screw-propeller as a means of propulsion was known only as a freak idea, and was without status or recognition as a commercial or practical means for propelling s.h.i.+ps. So far as the screw-propeller was thought of as a means of propulsion, it lay under a suspicion of loss of efficiency due to the oblique nature of its action, and this was supposed to be such as to render it necessarily and essentially less efficient than the paddle-wheel.

Ericsson lived to see the use of sails almost entirely discarded for war purposes, and for mercantile purposes relegated to s.h.i.+ps for special service and of continually decreasing importance. He lived to see the steam-engine take its place as the only means for supplying the power required to propel wars.h.i.+ps, and attain a position of almost equal relative importance in the mercantile marine. He lived to see the paddle-wheel grow in importance and estimation as a means of propulsion only in turn to be supplanted by the screw-propeller, which gradually increased in engineering favor from the days of its obscure infancy until it became the only means employed for the propulsion of s.h.i.+ps navigating the high seas, while it had become a most serious rival to the paddle-wheel even for the purposes of interior and shallow-water navigation,--long a field considered as peculiarly suited to the paddle-wheel and to the engines adapted to its operation.

Regarding the change from wind to steam for the motive-power of s.h.i.+ps, Ericsson did his full share among the engineers of his day, but it would be unfair to many others to claim for him any exclusive or preponderating influence in this movement, and in such matters it is difficult to clearly define the services of any one man. The lines of progress, however, have been in accord with his studies, and his work has certainly had a most direct and powerful influence upon the movement. The most important points of contact between Ericsson's work and these advances were in connection with his introduction of the surface condenser, the use of artificial draft, devices for heating feed water, his studies in superheated steam and its use, and his work in connection with the development of the compound principle in steam-engines, his relation to the introduction of the screw-propeller, and to the use of twin screws at a later time. He also devised and adapted many new types of engines for marine purposes, having respect to the geometrical character of the connections by means of which a reciprocating motion of the piston may be transformed into a rotary motion of the shaft. In particular, he was the first to introduce and show the advantages of engines directly connected to the propeller-shaft, instead of through the more indirect and clumsy modes which others had previously thought necessary.

Aside from his relation to the screw-propeller, perhaps no item of his work in connection with the steam-engine is of more importance than the surface condenser, with its variant forms in the distiller and evaporator. If Ericsson had done nothing else, his claims to recognition and remembrance as an engineer and benefactor might have been well founded on his work in this connection. As it is, the fact that he was so largely instrumental in their perfection and adaptation to marine uses is wellnigh forgotten in the brighter light of his other achievements.

Regarding Ericsson's relation to the successful introduction of the screw-propeller, little need be added to what has already been said.

Whatever may be urged regarding dates and patents or earlier years in which the screw-propeller was used, it is a fact that in 1833-35 it was not recognized as an accepted mode of propulsion. While known as a possibility, it had no standing in the engineering practice of the day.

A few years later it was recognized as an accepted mode of propulsion and had gained a permanent and definite place in the practice of the day,--a place which has continued to grow in importance until its earlier rival, the paddle-wheel, is almost on the brink of relegation to museums of antiquities, except possibly for rare and special shallow-water uses. A careful and dispa.s.sionate study of the facts, so far as they can be known at the present time, seems to indicate clearly that of those who were concerned in successfully adapting the screw-propeller to the needs of marine propulsion and in laying the foundation for these changed conditions, especially in the United States, none was so prominent as Ericsson, or so fairly deserving of the chief credit; and with this judgment the mature thought of the present day seems to agree with little dissent.

Turning to a consideration from a similar point of view of Ericsson's services in connection with wars.h.i.+p design and construction, note may be first taken of the condition of the art of naval warfare in the years 1840-50, or when Ericsson first began his labors in this field.

The material used was wood, the means of propulsion sails, with some thought of steam-engines and paddle-wheels; the means of offence were cast-iron guns large in number but small in size, the largest being 9 or 11 inches in diameter and throwing a sh.e.l.l of some 75 or 130 pounds weight, while the means of defence consisted solely in the ”wooden walls,” and modern ideas regarding armor had not even appeared above the horizon.

Ericsson's contributions to the art of naval warfare are embodied in the ”Princeton,” the ”Monitor” and its cla.s.s, and the ”Destroyer.” In the ”Princeton” the material used was wood, and in the ”Monitor” and ”Destroyer” iron, following simply the developments of the age. In the three the means of propulsion was by screw-propeller. In the ”Princeton”

the means of offence were two 12-inch wrought-iron guns, as already noted. In the ”Monitor” and its type the means of offence were two 11-inch smooth-bore cast-iron guns, followed later by larger guns of 13 and 15 inches of similar type. In the double-turreted monitors four such guns were of course installed. In the ”Destroyer” the means of offence was a single gun for discharging a torpedo under water at the bow. On the ”Princeton” the means of defence consisted still in wooden walls, while in the ”Monitor” and its cla.s.s the change was profound and complete. The essential idea of the ”Monitor” was low freeboard and thus small exposed surface to the s.h.i.+p herself, combined with the mounting of guns in circular revolving turrets, thus giving an all-around fire and on the whole making possible an adequate protection of the exposed parts of the s.h.i.+p and providing for the combination in maximum proportions of armored protection and heavy guns for offence. On the ”Destroyer” the means of defence consisted simply in a light deflecting deck armor forward, the vessel being intended to fight bows on and depending on her means of offence rather than defence, which were made quite secondary in character.

The ”Monitor,” however, was Ericsson's great contribution to the art of naval war, and with it his name will always be a.s.sociated. It broke with the past in every way. It reduced the number of guns from many to few, two or at most four; it reduced the freeboard from the lofty topsides of the old s.h.i.+p-of-the-line to an insignificant two or three feet, and thus made of the target a circular fort and a low-lying strip of armor. It placed the guns in this circular fort and covered it with armor thick enough to insure safety against any guns then afloat, and thus, as perfectly as the engineering means of the day would permit, insured the combination of offensive and defensive features in maximum degree. It cleared away at one stroke masts, sails, and all the lofty top-hamper which since time immemorial had seemed as much an essential feature of the fighting s.h.i.+p as the guns themselves. It transformed the design of the fighting s.h.i.+p from the older ideals expressed in the American frigate ”Const.i.tution,” or the English ”Victory,” to the simplest terms of offence, defence, and steam motive-power. It made of the man-of-war a machine rather than a s.h.i.+p, an engine of destruction to be operated by engineers rather than by officers of the ancient and traditional type.