Posted inMaritime & Naval History

Modern British Battleships

HMS Eagle underway, circa 1930's.

A navy no more than anything else may stand still, it either is being improved or is deteriorating. The British Government, for instance, which under the limitations of armament was authorized to build the two battleships, has tried to improve on the old model, there being no restrictions pertaining to the design but only with regard to gun caliber and tonnage. The improvements made are said to render the old type obsolete, for one thing because they concentrate forward overwhelming gun power.

The following description of more obvious features indicates the departure in construction that has been made:

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

January 24, 1862 – Men Wanted for the Gun Boats

A gentleman in DeKalb county, Indiana, writes to us that he is ready to serve Uncle Abe by entering the gunboat service, and inquires for the rendezvous. We have had several letters of the same import. In reply, we say that Cairo is the place. If our friends want to serve their country in earnest, let them call at once upon Commodore Foote, at Cairo. They will find him a most estimable man—a gentleman, in every sense of the the term, a son of old Connecticut, who is a stranger to fear, who believes in fighting, who has been under hot fire several times in his life, who is also cool, deliberate, judicious, earnest; whose whole soul is in this war, and who will, provided he can get ordnance and men, force the rebels to make quicker time from Columbus than the chivalric South Carolinians made from Tybee.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

January 2, 1862 – The Mortar Fleet

Sailors standing by the 13-inch mortar on a Union mortar boat.

The principal naval recruiting in New York, at present, is for Commodore Porter’s mortar fleet. The two rendezvous are thronged with brawny sailors of all nations, but chiefly Americans. Applicants seems to be attracted, rather than repelled, by the prospect of hazardous service. Every kind of sea-going talent is wanted for this expedition, and a sailor can obtain the position of master’s mate, gunner’s mate, seamen or ordinary seamen, just according to his qualifications.

Posted inMaritime & Naval History US Civil War

December 15, 1861 – The Sailors at Cairo

The Cairo correspondent of the St. Louis Republican writes :

The seamen who lately arrived from the East, and who are now quartered on the receiving ship Maria Denning, are a queer set, haying customs, thoughts and, expressions peculiar to themselves. They attract considerable attention when allowed on shore. Directly, on their arrival, while they were being transferred from the cars to the boat, some of them picked up a little; boy, about knee high, a bright little fellow who was just beginning to talk, stuffed him in a mess chest and smuggled him in board. They tattoed the youngster with their marks, and took such rough care of him as they could. When asked where they got him, they swore that he belonged to them, and that they had brought him from the East. The “old man,” however, was not satisfied, knowing their tricks by experience. He took the little fellow on shore, bought him a cap and feather, with other “fancy fixings” and after a time found his home, restoring him to his anxious mother.