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Of I
The
Princeton
Disaster
By John M. Taylor
If Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Secretary of the Navy John H. Lehman, Jr., were to lose their lives in an accident involving a new weapon system—and the same mishap came within an ace of killing President Ronald Reagan as well—headlines would scream the news the world over. With this in mind, we can readily appreciate the immensity of just such a disaster that unfolded in 1844 on board the USS Princeton—in her day, the most advanced warship in the world.
Because of the tragedy that occurred on her decks, and because she never demonstrated her full potential in combat, the Princeton's many innovations are largely overlooked today. But the features of her design were remarkable for any vessel built before the Civil War. The 600-ton steam sloop had an iron hull, a screw propeller that made her far less vulnerable to enemy fire than paddle steamers, and an engine room located below the waterline, removed from the line of fire.
The ship owed her existence to two individuals: one an engineer, the other a sailor-promoter. The man responsible for the Princeton's advanced design was John Ericsson, who is best remembered as the inventor of the Civil War ironclad Monitor. However, Ericsson had been designing ships and propulsion systems two decades before the attack on Fort Sumter. Ericsson had arrived from Europe in 1839 and settled in New York City. Trained as an engineer in his native Sweden, he first gained a reputation in England. There, he invented a steam-driven fire engine, improved the design of the screw propeller, and sought to refine the steam-propulsion engines of his day. Temperamental and sometimes abrasive, Ericsson nevertheless combined a high degree of creativity with a sharp eye for the practical.
Ericsson’s collaborator in developing the Princeton was Captain Robert F. Stockton, U. S. Navy, the officer who would command her on the ill-fated excursion. Stockton was from a prominent New Jersey family; his grandfather had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He had served under Commodore John Rodgers during the ; War of 1812, and in the naval war against the Barbar) > States, he had participated in the capture of-two enemy - vessels. Stockton also had fought two duels while serving in the Mediterranean. An able seaman, he apparently combined a degree of impetuousness and bravado with hi* J naval skill. In partnership with Ericsson, Stockton bid sue- [_ cessfully on a Navy contract for an experimental warship’t Because he was a prominent political supporter of Pres1' : dent John Tyler, in addition to being a competent naval I officer, it was a foregone conclusion that he would com' ■ mand the Princeton. Indeed, Stockton had once been offered the post of Secretary of the Navy by President Tyler’ The Princeton was launched at the Philadelphia Nav’> Yard on 5 September 1843, and, in the spirit of the tiro6' \ was christened with a bottle of American whiskey. By atH large, the public appears to have been considerably it11' pressed with the ship’s virtues. The absence of pad' j dlewheels was widely remarked upon, as was the fact tha‘ f her anthracite-burning engines made almost no smokC’ , The Princeton was equipped with sails as well, but seems: rarely to have used them. The Navy’s first screw steal1' j warship had a phantom-like quality as she steamed along at 12 knots without visible means of propulsion.
The Princeton's ordnance was almost as revolutionary 1 as the ship herself. In addition to 12 short-range caf' ronades, she mounted on her foredeck two of the largeS. I guns afloat at that time: 12-inch columbiads capable 0f hurling 225-pound balls a distance of up to four miles. H j the fashion of the day, each gun had a name: “Oregon f and “Peacemaker.” I
As designed by Ericsson, the Princeton would havt mounted only the “Oregon" on her foredeck. But Stock ton wanted two guns, so a Philadelphia foundry forged:l j second one which Stockton called the “Peacemaker.” ^ the face of it, the “Peacemaker” appeared to be ^ stronger of the two; it was a foot thicker at the breech tha" its counterpart and weighed some 9,000 pounds more. H11 j gun forging was something less than a science, especial') in the case of an enormous weapon like the “PeaCe ; maker,” which may well have been the biggest gun afMr j Strong appearances did not necessarily guarantee stron- | bonding in naval guns. j
Interest in the Princeton was at a high pitch in FebruaO , 1844, when the ship made her first visit to Washingt0"' j D.C. Crusty old John Quincy Adams wrote in his diaO that Congress had adjourned to examine the visitor, ) war steamer and sailing vessel combined, with the steaf machinery of Ericsson’s propellers all within the hull
148
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the pSsel ” Adams was among the VIPs who sailed down lobb °t0niac on a demonstration cruise—a bit of Navy tintes'”8’ TllC mi8hty “Peacemaker” was fired three vited mspir'n8 awe among the visitors. Adams was in- 28 F h*1 3 Second excursi°n as well, this one scheduled for on] e 'uary- He declined but appears to have been one of list..handful who did. President Tyler headed the guest cee 07 w‘dower President was accompanied by his fian- tati’ .Wold Julia Gardiner, and her father. Represented UaVld Gardiner of New York- Dolley Madison was Hart r,arKi so were Senators John C. Calhoun and Thomas Abei penTton' Cabinet officers included Secretary of State tiler ■ .Upshur> Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gil- Th>and Secretary °f War William Wilkins. giniae Princeton weighed anchor from Alexandria, Vir- Weatn at 1and stood south down the Potomac. The as theer‘pVaS mdd’ and the guests watched in amazement Then ,Peacemaker” fired three great balls downstream, "sun aC assernblagc moved below decks, where a groa'pi|Uous collation” had been prepared. The tables WbenC Under their load of fowl, fruit, and hams; in a day of j.n° navy was “dry,” wine was in abundance. South Princ °Unt Vernon, George Washington’s home, the the CT PUt a*X)ut lor the return t0 Alexandria. While, in Currist>r S °* ?ne °hserver> “wit and mirth and every cir- NaVv:ipCf of gratification pervaded,” Secretary of the ‘faker’’ - mer su8Sested a final firing of the “Peace- a§reed . 'n *lonor °f George Washington. Captain Stockton Presi(1and Ied a group of guests back toward the foredeck, his fU(nt Ty|er started to go along but then turned back; ter enUfe w,‘fe remembered him saying that he was “betA yaSed below—indeed, he was.
P°undsUn ^reW *oaded the “Peacemaker” with about 25
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pl°S|() ’ a'ld Stockton himself pulled the lanyard. The ex hired 1 todowed shook the entire ship and shroudec
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in smoke. As the smoke cleared, a scene of
'ts left A (Tcamage was revealed. The gun had burst alonj S|ne, showering lethal scraps of flying iron upon thi
crowd. Secretary of State Upshur lay dead, killed instantly by a fragment. Dead also was Secretary of the Navy Gilmer, who had served in his post for only two weeks. Six other fatalities included Congressman Gardiner; his watch had stopped at the moment of the tragedy—-1606. When Julia Gardiner attempted to reach the foredeck, a woman stopped her. “You can do no good,” she was told. “Your father is in heaven. Julia fainted and did not recover until after the Princeton reached Alexandria. Many others were injured, some of them critically. Senator Benton later recalled seeing the gun fire, then remembering nothing else until he regained consciousness, suffering from a burst eardrum.
An investigation was ordered, of course, but the results were inconclusive. A board of inquiry exonerated Captain Stockton and his crew, calling them “gallant and well trained, who had been in positions of possible danger each time the “Peacemaker” had been fired. Although the gun had been defective, there was no ready explanation of why it had exploded with a 25-pound charge after successful firings with up to 50 pounds of powder.
Washington officialdom went into mourning after the disaster, but the tragedy served to bring President Tyler and his fiancee even closer. The two determined to go ahead with their wedding plans, and they were married in New York City on 26 June 1844, some four months after the explosion that had taken the life of the new First Lady’s father.
The final casualty of Captain Stockton’s ill-starred excursion was the Princeton herself. From the outset, she had been the brainchild of Ericsson and Stockton, and whatever support she might have gained within the Navy’s hierarchy vanished in the smoke of the exploding “Peacemaker. After a five-year period of lackluster service in the fleet, the Princeton was decommissioned and broken up for scrap at the Boston Navy Yard on 17 July 1849. President Tyler, who had almost met his maker at the hands of the “Peacemaker,” outlived the hard-luck warship by a dozen years.
er 1984
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