The question of who actually invented the steamboat is of academic interest only. It may have been “Poor John Fitch”; it may have been Rumsey; it may have been any one of a number of inventors whose supporters, from time to time, break into print with elaborate accounts of steamboats that operated successfully before the Clermont waddled her way to Albany. For all practical purposes, however, the history of successful steam navigation can be said to have started in 1807 when the Clermont astounded the rivermen by proceeding up the Hudson, against wind and tide, at the unprecedented speed of very nearly 5 miles an hour.
Unfortunately, the power of steam as applied to navigation did not immediately commend itself to the attention of the naval authorities. It was not until 1814 that an appropriation was secured from Congress that would permit the construction of a naval vessel propelled by steam. The War of 1812 was raging and it was desirable to build a boat that would assist in coast defense work, particularly in relation to the harbor of New York.
Robert Fulton designed the new craft which was called the Demologos. For the period, it was of Gargantuan size, 2,475 tons with a length of 156 feet and a beam of 56 feet. It was of catamaran construction having two separate hulls; the engine being in one hull, the boiler in the other, and the paddle wheel in the well between. Her armament consisted of thirty 32-pounders which were intended to discharge red-hot shot.
Large pumps were carried, which were intended to throw heavy streams of water upon the decks of the enemy with a view to disabling the foe by wetting his ordnance and ammunition. A submarine gun was to have been carried at each bow to discharge shot weighing 100 pounds, at a depth of 10 feet below the waterline. (R. H. Thurston.)
Although the war ended before the Demologos was placed in service, she demonstrated her practicability in several trial trips on the waters of New York Harbor. She was taken to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and used as a receiving ship until June 4, 1829, when an explosion completely terminated the career of the first steam naval vessel ever to be built by any government.
With the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, the war with England ceased, and interest in the steam navy waned for a time. Officers, proud of their white-winged frigates, were loath to believe that a filthy steam engine could ever become a factor in naval strategy. However, the smoke of commercial boats, plugging up and down the rivers and bays, independent of tide and wind, threw a pall across the sun that even the most hardened shellback had to regard. In 1822 the Navy Department purchased a small steam galiot, the Sea Gull, of 100 tons for use with Porter’s “Mosquito Fleet,” but it was not until 1835 that the modern steam navy can be said to have been born.
In that year, Mahlon Dickerson, then Secretary of the Navy, reminded the Board of Naval Commissioners that on April 29, 1816, Congress had authorized the construction of a steam vessel. He requested the board to prepare the necessary plans and specifications and submit them for the approval of the President.
The construction of the hull of a steam vessel presented no particular difficulty. But the construction of the engine was a different matter. The board itself confessed its incompetence to select and supervise the installation of a steam engine. It requested permission to secure the services of a competent engineer. On February 19, 1836, Dickerson confirmed the appointment of Charles H. Haswell in the following letter.
Navy Department
February 19, 1836
Sir:
In your letter to the Commissioners of the Navy yesterday, you offer to furnish draughts of a high and low pressure steam engine and boiler, on different elevations, suitable for the steam vessel now constructing by the Government of the United States, for the purpose stated.
You are therefore appointed for the term of two months, to make such draughts and report the same to the Board of Naval Commissioners for which you will receive a compensation of two hundred and fifty dollars.
Mahlon Dickerson
To Mr. C. H. Haswell, Washington.
On July 12, 1836, Haswell was appointed to the position of Chief Engineer of the Fulton. This appointment gave him the distinction of being the first engineer to be regularly appointed by the Navy Department, the engines of the Demologos having been handled by the men from the Fulton works.
Charles Haynes Haswell was born in New York City, May 22, 1809. His father was Irish and his mother was from the Barbados. He received his basic education at Joseph Nelson’s Collegiate Institute and in 1828 entered the works of James P. Allaire.
The Allaire works were located on Cherry Street, New York City, the oldest steam engine works in the city. Allaire himself had been a brass founder, and in addition to being a clever mechanic was said to be one of the few men capable of assembling the engines that were being shipped from England. In 1815 he had bought out the Fulton works, moving the machinery a year later to his brass foundry. In 1824 he built one of the first, if not the first, compound marine engine for the Henry Eckford. This engine had a 12-inch high-pressure and 24-inch low-pressure cylinder with a stroke of 4 feet.
Haswell became chief draftsman and designer of the Allaire works. In 1837 he was responsible for the design and construction of the steam launch Sweetheart. This launch, about 30 feet long, was complete with a beam engine of 4-inch bore and 12-inch stroke. He also lengthened the gig of the sloop of war Ontario and fitted to it an engine and boiler converting it into a steam launch.
Naturally, with his training and experience at the Allaire Works behind him, Haswell was well equipped to design and supervise the construction of the engines for the Fulton. It is pertinent to note, however, that while the commissioners readily recognized Haswell’s technical accomplishment, they were skeptical of his practical ability. He soon demonstrated that the commissioners need have no qualms on that score.
The Fulton, the particular object of Haswell’s attention, was 180 feet long, 34 feet 8 inches beam, and displaced at mean draft 1,200 tons. The two engines designed by Haswell were located on the spar deck and were of the horizontal condensing type of a 9-foot stroke and a 50-inch bore. Each engine turned a side wheel 22 feet 9 inches in diameter and 11 feet 6 inches wide, and the engines developed all told about 625 horsepower. The boilers were wagon-shaped of the return flue variety fabricated from copper. They were designed by Charles W. Copeland of the West Point Iron Works. The total cost of the vessel was $229,649.81.
During the winter of 1837-38, the Fulton was put through her paces, and it was found that she was capable of steaming about 12 to 15 knots. Her subsequent history cannot be recounted here. Suffice it to say, she remained in active service until 1842. From 1842 to 1851 she lay in ordinary at the New York Navy Yard. In 1851, her original engines and paddle wheels were replaced with an inclined engine with a Sickel’s cut-off and feathering paddle wheels. She was in ordinary at the Pensacola Navy Yard when the Civil War broke out in 1861 and was captured by the Confederates. They were forced to abandon the yard on May 8, 1862, and administered the coup de grace to the old vessel by burning her.
In 1839 the keels of two more steam vessels, the Mississippi and Missouri, were laid down. These vessels were 229 feet long, a 40-foot beam, and 19-foot draft, with a displacement at mean draft of 3,220 tons. The copper boilers were the double return, ascending flue variety with three furnaces. The Mississippi had two 75-inch by 7 feet side-liver engines while the Missouri had two 62.5-inch by 10 feet inclined, direct acting engines.
Haswell was detached from the Fulton and assigned to duty in New York to assist Charles W. Copeland in the design and construction of the engines for the new vessels. It was while on this duty that Haswell made a significant contribution to the process of fabricating boilers. For the first time in the history of boiler-making he laid out the shape and dimension of each plate using the method of the mold loft for the purpose.
With the Fulton in active service and the Mississippi and Missouri in the process of completion, the engineers who manned these vessels were desirous of obtaining a definite status. Their pay was less than could be obtained in civil life; the lack of tenure of office and irregularities in appointments also contributed to the dissatisfaction. They desired the legal establishment of an engineering corps as a permanent part of the naval organization.
Haswell appealed to Congress to establish an engineering corps and was assisted in his appeal by Gilbert Thompson, a lawyer and business man of Washington, D. C., whose engineering knowledge was limited to “drawing his pay.” On August 31, 1842, Congress passed an act creating a Corps of Engineers and Assistants and providing for a “Skillful and Scientific Engineer in Chief.” The elation that undoubtedly followed the passage of the bill was shortly turned into amazement and disgust when the office of Engineer in Chief was turned over to Thompson.
Fortunately for the progress of naval steam navigation, the tenure of office of the lawyer-engineer was brief. He bowed himself out of office by the endorsement of one of the strangest systems of forced draft and smoke elimination that has ever been recorded. Thompson ordered the 7-foot diameter vertical smokestack of the Missouri replaced with two vertical 3.5-foot diameter flues. One of these was led horizontally under the deck to the wheel-house and discharged there the products of combustion. It was expected that the paddles would create a suction which would act in the manner of an induced draft fan. The paddle wheels failed to perform their anticipated function. The flues were too small and the boilers were abaft the engines and shaft; consequently the gases were compelled to go against the current due to the motion of the vessel.
Haswell protested against the whole fantastic idea. However, when it failed, in the presence of invited Cabinet members, Thompson was not long in selecting a scapegoat. Haswell was suspended because he had “not used sufficiently inflammable material in lighting fires.” Later, when reinstatement was offered on the condition that he apologize, he refused, stating that he would “rather suffer injustice from another than be unjust to himself.” Has- well’s vindication was not long in arriving. In December, 1843, he was called back to become Engineer in Chief of the Navy.
A man of broad scientific attainments himself, Haswell was always ready to assist the experiments of others even though he was skeptical of their practical value. He gave every assistance to Lieutenant W. W. Hunter who formulated a scheme for eliminating the vulnerable wheelhouses or paddle boxes which were an essential part of the steam vessels of the time. In his experiments, the paddle wheels were placed on a vertical axis, the idle arc of the circumference being within the hull surface. The scheme had theoretical advantages. Practically, it failed because too much power was absorbed in churning the water inside the cases. The development of the screw propeller put a quietus on experiments along the line of the Hunter wheel.
Also, during Haswell’s term of office, the Princeton was completed. This vessel sponsored by Captain Richard F. Stockton and designed by John Ericsson possessed many novel features. She was the first screw steam war vessel ever built. She was the first to have all the machinery under the water line. She was the first naval vessel with boilers designed to burn anthracite coal. She was the first naval vessel to have forced draft fans. Her engines, of the vibrating piston type, were directly connected to the shaft.
While progress was being made in the physical equipment of the Navy, Haswell was equally intent upon the improvement of the personnel. He was successful in having the power of appointing the Engineer in Chief and chief engineers transferred from the Secretary of the Navy to the President who could appoint by and with the advice of the Senate. This enabled Haswell to rearrange the chief engineers on the basis of merit rather than upon the basis of seniority. He next secured an order for all assistant engineers to appear before an examining board to determine their rating.
These steps were made necessary by the irregular manner in which engineers were inducted into the Navy. They were all taken from civil life and their experience and education varied. Further, while in the service, some had exerted themselves in an attempt to increase their professional knowledge, whereas the mental inertia of others prevented them from taking any positive action. The “star-chamber” examinations undoubtedly created many enemies for Haswell; on the other hand, they did much to increase the morale of the corps. Young and ambitious men no longer felt that the dead weight of seniority would prevent them from rising in the service.
Not content with the improvement of the personnel, Haswell was desirous of improving methods. He prepared a list of recommendations which were approved by the Secretary of the Navy and issued as a general order of February 26, 1845. This order defined the responsibilities of the engineer afloat and the precautions that were to be taken in operating and caring for naval machinery. For 50 years this order remained the basis for naval steam instruction.
Haswell was not only an organizer and executive but he was also an engineer of rare ability and inventive genius. In an attempt to prevent corrosion in boilers, he caused zinc slabs to be placed in the boilers of the Princeton. This occurred in 1846 and it is interesting to note that 30 years later the idea was tried out in England as a new invention.
On March 3, 1847, a naval appropriation bill was approved which authorized the building of four steam vessels at the approximate cost of $500,000 each. Secretary of the Navy John Y. Mason on March 22 ordered a board consisting of Commodores Morris, Warrington, and Smith; Engineer in Chief Haswell; Naval Constructors Grice, Lenthall, and Hartt; and Copeland, civilian expert, to assemble and take under consideration the design of the new vessels.
The board recommended that two large vessels similar to the Mississippi and two smaller steamers of about 2,100 tons displacement be built. These vessels were to be built of wood and it is evidence of Haswell’s vision that he was the only member of the board who advocated building even one of the vessels of iron.
It fell to the lot of Haswell to design the engines of two of the vessels, the Powhatan and the San Jacinto. The Powhatan was equipped with two inclined, direct acting, condensing engines with vertical air pumps. A novelty was introduced in engine framing, the frames being of wrought iron built up on the box girder principle. Also, for the first time, Worthington pumps were initiated into naval service. However, the engines of the Powhatan are not primarily worthy of notice because of the novelty of their design, but rather because of the manner in which they were designed. All the drawings were made by Haswell’s own hands and were built up from details without a previous general assembly drawing.
The San Jacinto, the second of the vessels whose engines were designed by Haswell, proved to be his nemesis. Like the Princeton she was fitted with a screw propeller. Unfortunately, the hull designers could not visualize cutting a hole in the stern post large enough to permit the projection of the propeller shaft. They located the shaft some inches to one side of the center line of the keel which, as any student of mechanics can see, introduced an undesirable moment. This design also led to a patent controversy with John Ericsson. Further the location and space limitations imposed upon Haswell handicapped him in the design of the engines. These so-called “square engines” were placed athwartship with the cylinder heads in contact over the crankshaft. The connecting rods reached backwards and downwards on each side of the cylinder to take hold of the cranks.
There can be no doubt but that there were serious faults in the design of the San Jacinto. The design of steam vessels had not reached the status of an exact science and there seems to [have been a lack of accord between the hull and engine designers. Be that as it may, Haswell during his tenure of office as Engineer in Chief had made many enemies. He had set high standards for the Engineering Corps and forced the personnel to live up to them. Naturally, those who fell by the wayside were only too glad to “get” the Engineer in Chief when the opportunity presented itself. The criticisms were of sufficient volume and from sufficiently influential sources to reach the White House. In November, 1850, Charles B. Stuart of New York was appointed Engineer in chief and Haswell was reduced to head of the list of chief engineers and ordered to assume the duty of superintending the installation of the San Jacinto’s machinery. He was removed from this position when a board which had convened to study the design of the San Jacinto reported adversely upon the engines in general and the location of the propeller shaft in particular.
During this time, Haswell had been suffering from ill health. In fact, he was physically unfit when reordered to the San Jacinto when she was being put in commission. He felt he should resign but was persuaded to defer action until after his arrival in Spain where he was assured he would, if his condition had not improved, receive sick leave. By an unhappy combination of circumstances the leave was never received and Haswell sick, disgusted, and mentally depressed, quit the ship and returned to his home. For this action he was dropped from the rolls of the Navy on May 14, 1852.
It is unfortunate that Haswell should have terminated his naval career so unpleasantly. He was not only an engineer but a cultured gentleman and there is no doubt that his social position did much in the early days of the steam service to raise the status of the engineer officers. But his greatest contribution to steam naval service was his insistence that his associates possess talents of a high order. He built a solid foundation for the Engineer Corps upon capable personnel; his successors had only to erect the superstructure.
★
You ask me if I think it pays to be a naval officer. It depends. It depends on whether or not you are prepared to play the game. “Obedience to the law is liberty.” If you keep the law, it pays. If you have the courage of your convictions, it may not pay. If you play the game; if you always keep a month’s pay on the books; if you put nothing else ahead of your profession; if you pocket your opinions, it pays. Otherwise it may not....
The naval profession is much like the ministry. You dedicate your life to a purpose. You wear the garb of an organized profession. Your life is governed by rules laid down by the organization. You renounce the pursuit of wealth. In a large measure you surrender your citizenship; renounce politics; and work for the highest good of the organization. In the final analysis your aims and objects are quite as moral as any minister’s, because morality consists in the conservation of the best interests of civilization, and you are not seeking your own good, but the ultimate good of your country. You train the men under you to be good and useful citizens, and, like the minister, what you say must conform to the rules of the organization.—L. P. Lovette, “Naval Customs, Traditions, and Usage,” quoting from “Letters of a Retired Rear Admiral to his Son,” by Captain A. P. Niblack, U. S. Navy.