perforation of the overhanging deck, near the bow, first claims our attention. The object of this well being to protect the anchor when raised, it is lined with plate iron backed by heavy timbers, besides being protected by the armor-plating bolted to the outside of the overhang. It should be noticed that this method proved so efficient that in no instance did the anchor-gear receive any injury during the several engagements with the Confederate batteries, although nearly all of the monitors of the Passaic class were subjected to rapid fire at short range in upward of twenty actions. It will be remembered that the unprotected anchor of the Merrimac was shot away during the short battle with the Congress and the Cumberland. Having described the method of protecting the anchors, the mechanism adopted for manipulating the same
dinal section through the center line of the battery, which, for want of space on the page, has been divided into three sections, viz., the aft, central, and forward sections, which for ready reference will be called aft, central, and forward.
Referring particularly to the upper and lower sections, it will be seen that the hull consists of an upper and lower body joined together in the horizontal plane not far below the water-line. The length of the upper part of the hull is 172 feet, beam 41 feet; the length of the lower hull being 122 feet, beam 34 feet. The depth from the under side of deck to the keel-plate is 11 feet 2 inches, draught of water at load-line 10 feet.
Let us now examine separately the three sectional representations.
Forward Section. The anchor-well, a cylindrical
1. AFT SECTION. LONGITUDINAL PLAN THROUGH THE CENTER LINE OF THE
ORIGINAL “MONITOR.”
through the hawse-pipe ; a statement suggesting that this flooding was the result of faulty construction, whereas it resulted from gross oversight on the part of the executive officer,—namely, in going to sea without stopping the opening round the chain-cable at the point where it passes through the side of the anchor-well.
The pilot-house is the next important object represented in the forward section of the illustration now under consideration. This structure is situated 10 feet from the anchor-well, its internal dimensions being 3 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 8 inches wide, 3 feet 10 inches high above the plating of the deck; the sides consisting of solid blocks of wrought iron, 12 inches deep and 9 inches thick, firmly held down at the corner by 3-ineh bolts passing through the iron-plated deck and deck-beams. The wheel, which by means of ordinary tiller-ropes operates the rudder, is placed within the pilot-house, its axle being supported by a bracket secured to the iron blocks as shown by the illustration. An ordinary ladder resting on the bottom of the vessel leads to the grated floor of the pilothouse. In order to afford the commanding officer and the pilot a clear view of objects before and on the sides of the vessel, the first and second iron blocks from the top are kept apart by packing pieces at the corners ; long and narrow sight-holes being thereby formed extending round the pilothouse, and giving a clear view which sweeps round the entire horizon, all but that part which is hidden by the turret, hardly twelve degrees on each side of the line of keel. Regarding the adequacy of the elongated sight-hole formed between the iron blocks in the manner described, it should be
remains to be explained. Referring to the illustration, it will be seen that a windlass is secured under the deck-beams near the anchor-well. The men working the handles of this mechanism were stationed in the hold of the vessel, and hence were most effectually protected against the enemy’s shot, besides being completely out of sight. The Confederate artillerists were at first much surprised at witnessing the novel spectacle of vessels approaching their batteries, then stopping and remaining stationary for an indefinite time while firing, and then again departing, apparently without any intervention of anchor-gear. Our examination of this gear and the anchor-well affords a favorable opportunity of explaining the cause of Lieutenant Greene’s alarm, mentioned in a statement recently published by a military journal, concerning a mysterious sound emanating from the said well during the passage of the Monitor from New York to Fort Monroe. Lieutenant Greene says that the sound from the anchor-well ‘ ‘ resembled the death-groans of twenty men, and was the most dismal, awful sound [he] ever heard.” Let us endeavor to trace to some physical cause this portentous sound. The reader will find, on close examination, that the chain-cable which suspends the anchor passes through an aperture (“hawse-pipe ”) on the after side of the well, and that this pipe is very near the water-line ; hence the slightest vertical depression of the bow will occasion a flow of water into the vessel. Obviously, any downward motion of the overhang will cause the air confined in the upper part of the well, when covered, to be blown through the hawse-pipe along with the admitted water, thereby producing a very discordant sound, repeated at every rise and fall of the bow during pitching. Lieutenant Greene also states that, apart from the reported sound, the vessel was flooded by the water which entered
FLOATING CIRCULAR CITADEL. Submitted to tlie French Directory in 1798.
SIDE ELEVATION OF A FLOATING REVOLVING	PROPELLER- BLOWER- SMOKE- TURRET.	PILOT- ANCHOR-
CIRCULAR TOWER.	WELL PIPES• stacks.	house, well.
Published by Abraham Bloodgood in 1807.	SIDE ELEVATION AND DECK-PLAN OF THE “MONITOR.”
SIDE ELEVATION AND TRANSVERSE SECTION (THROUGH THE CENTER LINE OF ITS REVOLVING SEMI-SPHERICAL TURRET) OF AN IRON-CLAD STEAM-BATTERY. Plans of which were submitted by Captain Ericsson to Napoleon III. in September, 185J.
76