THE BUILDING OF THE "MONITOR."



iii a statement recently published lby a military journal, concerning a mysteri-
tuls sounlld emanating front the said well during the passage of the Jlotfitor
from New York to Fort Monroe. Lieutenant Greene says that the sound
from the anehor-well "resembled the death-groans of twenty mlen, and was
the most disinal, awful sound [lhe] ever heard." Let us endeavor to trace to
some plhysieal cause this portentous sound. The reader will find, oii close
examiniation, that the chain c(able which suspends the anchor imasses through
an aperture (" hawse-pipe") oln 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 ull)er l)art of the
well, wheii covered, to be blowni through the bawse-pipe along with the ad-
mitted Water, thereby producing a very discordant sound, repeated at every
rise and fall of the bow (luring pitc-hintg. Lieutenant Greene also states that,
apart from the reported sound, the vessel was flooded by the water which
entered 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 clhaini-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
it) 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-inclh bolts passing through
the iron-plated (leek and deck-beams. The wheel, which by means of ordi-
nary tiller-ropes operates the rudder, is placed within the pilot-house, its axle
being supported by a braeket secured to the iron blocks as shown by the illus-
tration. An ordinary ladder resting on the bottom of the vessel leads to the
grated floor of the pilot-house. 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 pilot-house, 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 bornle in mind that an opening of five-eighths of an inch affords a vertical
view 80 feet high at a distance of only 200 yards. More is not needed, a fact
established during trials instituted by experts before the constructor delivered
the vessel to the Government. Unfortunately the sight-holes were subse-
quently altered, the iron blocks being raised and the opening between them
increased to such an extent that at sea, to quote Lieutenant Greene's report,
the water entered "with such force as to knock the helmsman completely
round from the wheels It may be shown that but for the injudicious increase



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