A description of the navy yard at Washington made by Anne Newport Royall in 1823

Anne Newport started her journey through the United States from Alabama 1 July 1823. Her description of the navy yards is perhaps even more useful as others thanks to the fact she was a female, which gives quite interesting remarks.

P. 140: “The navy yard is a complete work-shop, where every naval article is manufactured : it contains twenty-two forges, five furnaces, and a steam-engine.- The shops are large and convenient; they are built of brick and covered with copper to secure them from fire. Steel is prepared here with great facility. The number of hands employed vary ; at present there are about 200. A shipwright has $ 2,50 per day, out of which he maintains his wife and family if he have any. Generally wages are very low for all manner of work; a

p. 141: common labourer gets but 75 cents per day, and finds himself. The whole interior of the yard exhibits one continual thundering of hammers, axes, saws, and bellows, sending forth such a variety of sounds and smells, from the profusion of coal burnt in the furnaces, that it requires the strongest nerves to sustain the annoyance. The workmen are as black as negroes, and the heat of the furnaces at this season of the year, (June.) is insupportable to one not accustomed to it. The whole is one scene of activity, not one is idle. After amusing myself with those sons of thunder, I was gratified with a sight equally new to me;- this was an inspection of a forty-four gun frigate. It was lying up, under cover, completely out of water. This was really a curiosity to me, having never seen a ship of any sort, with the exception of a small merchant ship, at Alexandria. Its amazing length, its great height from the bottom to the top, afforded sufficient matter of wonder. I had a very indistinct idea of a ship, till seeing this; but I lost half the pleasure, in the total absence of the rigging, as they were unable to draw her under cover, without divesting her of this incumbrance. The greatest disappointment to me was the width: I had expected to find those vessels not so narrow in proportion to the length; but until l can see one properly rigged for sea, I shall never have an accurate idea of a ship of war.- I saw one more on the stocks, at which men were at work. I found in the yard three hundred cannon, thirty-four and forty-two pounders, with two brass pieces; and was told there was a large quantity of arms in the armory, which were kept in excellent order. After several unsuccessful attempts, I was unable to get into it. Of them, therefore, I can say nothing. The navy-yard is enclosed with a very high wail, and no one can be admitted without the permission of the commandant: I found some difficulty, although furnished with a letter, through the politeness of Mr. Seaton, editor of the National Intelligencer. The interior is guarded by a centinel, who parades before the gate, day and night, with his gun erect in his arms. Besides himself, a large eagle, cat out of solid stone, guards the

p.142”: outside: it looks down from the top of a magnificent gate, which opens for the admission of strangers, an well as the workmen who may have occasion to pass. While beholding this eagle, I could not help upbraiding him for his cowardice, in suffering the British to pass unmolested under him, and his ostensible bunch of arrows, tolling him, at the same time, that he deserved to be disfranchised for this dastardly conduct of his. Directly fronting the gate, on the inside, stands the monument erected to perpetuate the memory of the brave men who fell at Tripoli. This monument, which is of marble, was executed in Italy, by eminent artists. It is a small Doric column, embellished with suitable emblems, crowned with an eagle in the act of flying. The pillar rests on a base, sculptured in basso relievo, representing Tripoli, its fortress, the Mediterranean, and our fleet, in the fore ground. On each corner stands an appropriate figure, elegantly executed; one representing Colombia directing the attention of her children to History, who is recording the daring and intrepid actions of the American heroes. The third represents Fame, with a wreath of laurel in one hand, and a pen in the other. The fourth represents Mercury, or the god of Commerce, with his cornucopia and caduceses. This is all the trophy Potomac can boast. Besides this part of the navy-yard which is enclosed, there are a great number of houses on the outside, which likewise take the name of the “navy-yard.” These contain stores, shops, and private families. In the midst of them stand the barracks. The barracks are enclosed by a handsome brick wall, 400 feet in length, 50 wide, and 20 in height; the ground within is level, and neatly gravelled, while the apartments for the marines, line the wall; the Colonel’s house stands at the head of the barracks, surrounded with a neat shrubbery, and a handsome spot of ground in which he keeps the marines at work, when not on duty. These men are mustered twice in the day, accompanied by an elegant band. Col. Henderson, the present commandant, waited upon me through the establishment, ordered the men to parade, and the band

p. 143: to play. He is of middling age, and a man of genteel manners.”

Source

Sketches of Historyy, life, and manners in the United States. New Haven, 1826.