The resignation of the famous French naval designer M. Dupuy de Lôme according to Van Nostrands in 1859

Ron van Maanen

The picture below was published in Harper’ Weekly 9 February 1861. 

Thanks to the fact that nowadays more and more books are digitized we are able to read books that are some times for decades no longer available for the public for several reasons. That’s quite a pity while these books contains useful information while the archives are destroyed, incomplete or nor accessible. In his book for politicians and merchants Martin described all the countries part of the so-called civilised world. If available he published information dealing with the armed forces and the merchant trade shipping.

p. 566. “Resignation of M. Dupuy de Lôme. In the French naval world the news of the day is the resignation of the Chief Constructor of the Fleet, M. Dupuy de Lôme, who has thrown up his office and gone to canvass a seaboard constituency. It is presumed that he could not get on with the present First Lord, Rigault de Genouilly. Most of the large wooden screw vessels, and all |the ironclads, with the exception of the Couronne and a few floating batteries built by Lemoine, were constructed by M. Dupuy de Lôme. The resignation is kept dark, as there is no naval architect to replace the engineer who applied steam to the navy when he built the Napoleon, and plates to frigates when he built La Gloire. The state of the French fleet for the present year is thus set down: Ships, 2; frigates, 19; corvettes, 9; coastguards, 7; floating batteries, 26 total, 63 ironclads. Of screws there are 241, or 15 ships, 10 frigates, 21 corvettes, 60 avisos, 70 gunboats, 35 transports and 2 specials. To this force must be added 61 paddle-wheelers and 100 sailing vessels. Of the ironclads we may remark, that the two ships, the Magenta and Solferino, are not so large, and are by no means such formidable vessels as the largest type of frigate, represented by the Ocean, which is now ready for sea. M. Dupuy de Lôme designed five of these frigates before leaving office the Friedland, Marengo and Suffren, laid down a couple of years ago. and the Richelieu hardly commenced. The Ocean will carry more guns than the Magenta, and she is more thickly plated; besides this, she has four fixed turrets on each corner of the central battery, each armed with an 11-inch gun. The Minister of Marine, when he defends his budget next week, will perhaps furnish some details respecting his department. Army and Navy gazette.”

Source
Van Nostrands’s Eclectic Engineering Magazine, volume I, 1869, p. 758.