p. 16: “Our next visit was to the dock-yard, which is about a mile distant from the town, and conveniently situated on the eastern branch of the Potomac. We were admitted, without difficulty, by the sentry, who said, with much indifference, that “He guessed we were at liberty to see any part of it we pleased.” Of this permission, of course, I was delighted to avail myself, as it was the first opportunity I had had enjoyed of comparing the American dock-yards with establishments of the same nature in England. The area is about forty acres in extent, a considerable portion of which is unoccupied, although the gun-wharf and ordnance stores are contained within its bounds. The commissioner, or captain, has a small house near the entrance. I could observe no other residences belonging to officers. The workmen
p. 17: being absent, I was prevented from inspecting the store-houses. There were two frigates on the slips; one, in progress of building, was to be called the Susquehana. She was constructed on the latest and most approved principles of the American builders, and was to mount 60 guns. Her timbers were close together, and her shape remarkable for very full bow, and a perfectly straight side. She had a round stern, but its rake and flatness, combined with the judicious construction of her quarter-galleries, gave it quite the appearance of being square. The Potomac, another heavy and clumsy looking 60 gun frigate, was hauled up on ways, in a cradle called Commodore Porter's inclined plane; an expedient, intended to save the expense and inconvenience of dry docks, for examining the bottoms of vessels where there is little tide. She was partly suspended by cables and partly by shores : the hauling up had been easily accomplished, but the ground having afterwards
p. 18: given way under her stern, the inclination of the plane had been altered, and I very much doubt whether she will ever be got down again. This in the United States, where rigid economy is so much the order of the day, is likely to make the inclined plane very unpopular. I next went on board the Congress, of 38 guns; she had been newly coppered, and was lying along-side the yard, having been lately hove down there. These were the only ships in or near Washington. In this place, they have a foundry of iron-tanks, for the supply of vessels not under the rank of frigates. They have likewise a machine, containing a partial application of steam to the making of blocks. The shell is formed of several pieces which are bolted together, and said to be stronger than those which are made by the famous engine, at Portsmouth. The operation is undoubtedly much less complicated. The sheds, or rather houses, under which they build their ships, are not of an approved construction. I visited the
p. 19: mast-house, and observed that the section of a made mast of their line of battle-ships does not differ materially from that of our own. My expectations had been so much raised by the reputation which America bears in Europe with respect to maritime affairs, that I left the yard with feelings of extreme disappointment. As I passed out of the gates, my attention was attracted by a monument which faces the entrance. It was erected to the in memory of some officers, and bore an inscription declaring it to have been mutilated by Britons at the taking of Washington. At the capture of this city, many excesses were undoubtedly committed, but I have been assured that there are no grounds for this particular accusation. Let it however in justice be observed, that this is the only public inscription or memorial which I saw in the United States, of a nature calculated to wound the feelings of a stranger.”
Source
Fred. Fitzgerald de Roos. Personal narrative of travels in the United States and Canada in 1826. London, 1827.
