steamers of about 3,000 tons, and gives us an advantage in those of larger sizes. But these advantages can only be arrived at by concentrating the material at one place, to be there worked into its several conditions, freed from the costs of transportation and many separate profits which must otherwise be borne in converting ore from its original state into plate and bar iron fit for use.

The objects thus proposed to be accomplished are such as present themselves most favorably to the Navy Department. By the erection of building-yards for iron ships, and docks of large capacity sufficient for the building of large iron steamers adapted for commercial and war purposes, and in giving the Government preference in time of peace and absolute control in time of war, they promise to supply a great want to the naval service particularly, as well as to the country at large. These things are necessary to our respectability and security in peace, and our safety in war. How they can be practically secured, at the smallest cost and with the least risk, is a subject which asks the consideration of our thoughtful statesmen. The requirements of this company seem to me to be moderate in amount for the purposes to be obtained, and the plans they propose seem to be such as will, if carefully guarded and properly executed, entail little risk of loss to the Government.

I feel only authorized, however, to speak strongly of the great value and almost absolute necessity to the Government of such facilities as are here offered, and while I will hereafter endeavor to suggest, in obedience to your resolution, some system to be perfected under your deliberations for the establishment of lines of ocean steamers, adapted, as far as may be, for commerce in time of peace and for naval militia in time of war, I cannot assume, even under the sanction of your resolution, to point out or recommend to what extent, in what manner, or under what safeguards the Government should afford its assistance to these objects. This is wholly for the representatives of the people, with whom is the power and the responsibility.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, GEO. M. ROBESON, Secretary of the Navy.

Hon. SCHUYLER COLFAX,

Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.

Proposals to create iron-ship building yards and docks, by which iron naval and commercial steamers can be built as cheaply in the United States as in Europe; and to establish semiweekly transatlantic steamers without other subsidy than the postages arising from mail matter, as now authorized by law.

OFFICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL STEAMSHIP COMPANY, Washington, March 6, 1871. SIR: The International Steamship Company, incorporated by the State of New Jersey, and duly organized with full legal powers to carry out the acts hereinafter named, hereby propose to contract with the United States as follows, namely:

The said International Steamship Company will forthwith erect at a suitable place, having deep-water frontage, secured from running ice in winter, an iron-ship building yard, with capacity to construct, build, and equip the largest naval and commercial steamers or sailing vessels. The said building-yards shall be inclosed, and within the limits shall be not less than three building-docks, having capacity to float steamers and sailing vessels of 10,000 tons. The said docks shall be of the most improved construction, with improved means for inlet and exhaust of water, that vessels of large class may be built therein and floated without the risk of launching. Around and contiguous to the said docks shall be the workshops and machinery, suitable and requisite for constructing steam-engines from the largest to the smallest size, for marine and other purposes, as also for fitting, erecting, and putting together the frames, the exterior and interior

parts to form the complete hulls of vessels of any and of all kinds to be built within the said docks.

There shall be within the said yard one or more "blast" or other furnaces of the most improved form for smelting, in which ores of such kinds as the best experience or highest science shall demonstrate can be blended to make iron of the greatest possible firmness and strength, in every respect, from which may be constructed shafts and working parts of engines which shall be reliable against any known strain of weather in using marine engines.

There shall also be furnaces for the blending of ores to form iron plates, slabs, and frames for special purposes of naval and commercial use.

There shall be rolling-mills for making angle frames, beams, bars, brackets, and other forms necessary to perfect the interior framing and arrangements of the largest iron-clad naval and commercial steam and other vessels.

There shall be rolling-mills capable of making plates of the greatest length and width to which they can be wrought, for the exterior and interior plating of steamers and other vessels.

There shall be one copper rolling-mill capable of producing such special forms of bar, slab, and sheet copper as are specially required for naval purposes.

The blast-furnaces and other preliminary works to form the iron into pigs and blooms shall be on ground sufficiently elevated, and so arranged as to pass the iron, in its different conditions, on tramways, by its own gravitation, to the rolling-mills and steamhammers, and thence to the workshops and docks, that labor, power, time, and space may be saved, and the greatest economy be arrived at in all construction progressing in said building-yards.

There shall be one or more founderies for casting ordnance from iron made from blended ores, lighter in the mass, but superior in strength and force to ordnance now used.

There shall be such other sheds, workshops, and machinery as may be necessary for the creation of iron structures needful to the Government, or for transportation, or other uses.

There shall be within the said yard such workshops for the preparation, putting to gether, and erecting in place on board ship, such wood ship-carpentry work, joiner's work, masting and spars, rigging, sail, and other work, as shall be requisite to complete and equip, ready for sea, the steamers and vessels to be built in said yard.

The said yards, docks, founderies, sheds, and workshops shall at all times give preference to the work of the Navy Department, and when necessity requires the same to be completed in less time than has been agreed for by contract or otherwise, such facilities and numbers of men shall be forthwith provided therefrom as said yards can supply, and as the Secretary of the Navy shall deem adequate, and at no additional cost, except for the excess in numbers of men and of material employed and used; and whenever the United States shall be involved in war, the Government thereof shall have absolute right of control to the exclusion of all other than its own work for naval and military purposes.

The International Steamship Company shall, as soon as the workshops, docks, furnaces, and rolling-mills are sufficiently advanced therefor, commence the construction of a fleet of iron steamships, six of which shall be of not less than 3,500 tons, and of superior speed to the steamers now engaged in carrying the mails to Europe. Six more shall be of equal speed to any steamers engaged in transatlantic mail service, and of not less than 3,000 tons.

Two of said steamers shall be ready for service in eighteen months, two more in twenty-four months, and the whole number shall be complete and upon the routes which shall be determined for their service between the said company and the Post Office Department, in thirty-six months from the approval hereof.

Each steamer owned by the company shall be subject to the use of the Government of the United States, when required by public necessity, upon paying such fair remuneration therefor as shall be fixed by arbitrators mutually chosen, if not first agreed upon by the company and the department of Government requiring such use.

For the erection of the building-yards, docks, and other structures, the International Steamship Company will issue five thousand bonds of $1,000 each, having twenty years to run, bearing 6 per cent, annual interest, payable semi-annually by gold coupons, the payment of which shall be secured by a mortgage in trust to the Secretary of the Treas ury of the United States, and be provided for by a sinking fund to arise from the payment of the said company of 5 per cent. annually upon the amount of work done and paid for in the said yard after the same shall be completed. The said mortgage bonds as issued shall be deposited with the Secretary of the Treasury, and as required for payments in the aforesaid purposes shall have the following indorsement on each: "This bond is secured by a mortgage duly executed upon the ship-building yards, piers, docks, workshops, houses, furnaces, rolling mills, machinery, tools, implements, and lands of the International Steamship Company, and the payment provided by a sinking fund of 5 per cent. upon the work which may be executed and paid for annu.

ally in the said yard, out of which said fund the interest is to be paid semi-annually, and the collection and payment thereof is hereby guaranteed by the United States." The said guarantee shall be signed by the United States Treasurer. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Navy shall act as a "commission for the delivery of the said bonds, and such amount shall be delivered monthly as the company require and show to be applicable to the payments for and in the said property as it progresses in development in its several parts to completion.

To guard against any advance of money by the United States, and to more rapidly accumulate the sinking fund, there shall be reserved from all payments to be made by the Navy Department for repairs or work done 10 per cent., in addition to the 5 per cent. tax before provided, which said amounts shall be deposited in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the sinking fund of the company until the said sinking fund shall be equal in amount to the amount of the outstanding bonds.

The said commission shall have power to enforce the collection of the money provided for by the 5 per cent. rate upon the annual amount of work done in the yards, and the Secretary of the Navy shall have authority to retain the amount of 10 per cent. upon all work done for the Navy at prices satisfactory therefor, and a refusal on the part of the company to pay the same at the time provided shall be cause, at the discretion of the said commission, to foreclose the mortgage and sell the said property, or to take possession thereof on the part of the United States.

The interest upon the said bonds shall for the first three years be advanced by the United States, but shall be repaid in its whole amount by the said company in equal portions, divided through the remaining term, until the bonds aforesaid are paid and discharged and the company released from all liability under the said mortgage.

The President of the United States shall appoint to the special service of inspection of said building-yards, docks, buildings, and machinery, an officer of the navy competent therefor, whose duty it shall be to report, monthly, the progress and condition of said works, and to inspect and report upon all steamers intended for ocean mail service, and to report annually to the Secretary of the Navy, to be laid before Congress, such improvements or suggestions therefor in the construction and management of steamers and sailing vessels as will, in his judgment, tend to increase the commercial marine of the United States.

Respectfully submitted,

Hon. GEORGE M. ROBESON,

Secretary of the Navy.

AMBROSE W. THOMPSON, President International Steamship Company.

Explanatory memoranda of the International Steamship Company, relative to the production of iron steamships, cost of iron and of ships, our ability to compete in these with Great Britain; advantages to the Government and the people.

The proposed iron-ship building yard contemplates the creation of all the facilities necessary to build and equip iron or wooden ships of any size required for naval or commercial purposes.

To economize in cost of material and handling, there will be blast-furnaces for smelting the finer ores, to produce iron of superior tensile and resistive strength; puddling furnaces for the conversion of pig and scrap metal into blooms; rolling-mills for bar, angle, and plate iron, as also for armor plates. These several departments of work to be connected by tramways, over which material in its different conditions will be borne by its own gravity, from department to department, until it is in its finished form, and whether of bar, angle, beam, or plate, still borne on in the same manner to the bending or planing machines contiguous to the building-docks, where it will be lifted by the traveling carriages or cranes, and lowered directly to place in the forming vessel laid in exact level in the building-docks.

The building-docks will be constructed parallel to each other, with sufficient space between for the erection of workshops and sheds, under which will be the planing, punching, bending, and other machines, to form and finish the material to fit it to special positions. These docks will be of sufficient size in length, breadth, and depth to erect, build, and float out the largest naval ships, iron-clads, and commercial steamers. By these facilities the following results can be obtained:

1st. Iron of superior quality to any made or used in Great Britain in the construction of steamships and steam machinery. This will be reached by the blending of certain ores, which can be obtained plentifully, and be borne by water cheaply to the location of the building-yard. These blended ores will produce iron of from 75,000 to 85,000 pounds tensile strength, while the best iron used in Great Britain, made from native

ore, is only 45,000 pounds tensile strength to (in each case) the square inch; and for resistive strength the blending of other ores, the product of Pennsylvania, an iron can be produced in like manner of upward of fifty per cent. resistance greater than that of Great Britain.

2d. Greater economy of cost in material and in ship construction. In material, as now worked, pig metal is made at the special locality of the ores or coal. It is then sold at a profit, (and a large one,) subjected to transportation to the puddling furnaces, where it is converted into blooms; again disposed of at a profit upon cost of pig and of puddling labor; again sold and transported to the "bar" or "plate" rolling-mills; again sold at a profit upon cost and labor, to the ship-builder. In reaching the latter its cost to him has been increased by these distinct freights upon the entire mass, and by five different profits, and through this has obtained a value or cost so much in excess of that which the foreign builder pays that he has up to this time had the entire advantage, and to so great an extent as to render competition seemingly almost impossible. When closely investigated this seeming impossibility disappears. This may be shown by the following:

The net average cost of pig iron to the producer of the best quality in Great Britain is about $14 to the ton. The cost to ship-builders for bar, angle, and plate-iron is, on an average, about $45 per ton; being an advance of cost upon the pig for conversion of that into this bar, angle, and plate, of about 220 per cent. The net average cost to the producer of the best pig in this country is about $17 per ton, and the average value or price to the ship-builder for bar, angle, or plate has been about $80 per ton, which is an advance about 370 per cent. upon the net cost of the pig. This difference of 150 per cent. upon cost of converting pig into the forms of iron named between Great Britain and here is due to the causes already pointed out, viz: transportation from place to place to be progressively advanced to the required condition, and the rates of profit added upon respective costs of each state.

By condensing the several processes into one locality, as contemplated, this difference of 150 per cent. will disappear; and if we assume that pig iron will continue to cost $17 per ton, and add the same rate of advance for its conversion as shown for England, gained to us by the facilities named, we have a cost for the bar, angle, and plate of $54 40 instead of the present average of $80 per ton. It is believed the pig cost can be reduced to about $15 per ton; but allowing the $17 and this rate of advance, we are then but 21 per cent. higher in the cost of our iron than in the cost of iron in Great Britain. But there is a marked difference in the articles. The iron thus produced here bears a tensile strain of 75,000 to 85,000 pounds to the square inch, while that of Great Britain will bear but 45,000 pounds tensile strain to the square inch. We have thus an iron of from 75 to 80 per cent. greater strength on an average. This will permit of a reduction of one-third in the weight of iron used in the ship, and leave the ship 17 per cent. stronger than if made of the usual weight of British iron. This more than equalizes the cost of material, giving us actually an advantage of $6 67 per ton less cost in the material of the ship than in England. This adds greatly in equalizing the cost of labor in construction, and largely increases the earning power of our ships by their ability to carry one-third more dead weight of freight.

In construction, an iron ship to be durable and perfect for sea purposes should be an inflexible, unyielding mass. If not, the yielding or working portion loosens the butts and seams, and the continued working cuts the rivets as effectually as if shears were applied. If this cutting occurs at or near a butt the plate will start, rendering the loss of the vessel nearly inevitable if distant from port. The inflexibility required is readily obtained by good material and workmanship, but is peculiarly liable to be lost by a strain in launching, from defective launching "ways or slips," from being checked thereon.

Abroad great efforts have been made to guard against disaster from these causes by constructing the most solid "building-slips." These are formed by driving piles, which reach to the solid earth-bed or rock, from the inland initial point of the building the entire distance into the water, until the vessel, as launched, is water-borne. On the top of these piles cut stone is laid solidly up to the under side of the launching ways. These slips are so costly that not one has yet been constructed in this country, nor is it desirable that any should be, for reasons which will directly appear.

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Upon the best constructed slips there are two intervals of time when the rigid mass of the vessel in launching meets the danger of destructive strain. The first is at the moment the stern or launching end quits the support of the launching "slips" or ways," before it is borne up by its own buoyancy in the water. In this case the strain is felt nearly midway in length and for about one-third downward of the depth. There is probably not one instance in which an iron ship has not, in launching, from this strain parted some, and often many, of the midship transverse line of rivets.

The second is at the moment when the stern bearings take the water and lift the ship, or that portion of her, from the ways, leaving her center unsupported, except by the longitudinal strength of the vessel; the whole weight being borne by the bow part yet on the ways, and the buoyancy of the stern part supported by the water. There

are known instances of losses of iron ships traceable directly to strains of this kind. One occurred only last spring, when a nearly new steamer, of about 2,300 tons, broke in two while entering the river Mersey, and sunk in deep water, almost within sight of Liverpool. Another, a passenger steamer, plying between London and a northern port of Great Britain, while steaming on her route, broke almost in her center, each end sinking immediately. Although wooden vessels, from the greater elasticity of material, are not so subject to these accidents in launching, they are by no means free from them. In the launching of the United States war steamer Roanoke an accident of this character occurred, by which she was so much damaged that it cost $80,000 for repairs, which did not and could not give the original strength. Ship-builders consider the risk and cost of launching as equal to five per cent. upon the value of the ship.

To test whether an iron ship could be so built and floated as effectually to guard against breaking rivets or loosening seams, the British admiralty caused an iron armor-clad ship, the "Achilles," of 6,079 tons, 380 feet long on the water line, 400 feet long over all, to be built in one of the dry-docks of the Chatham navy yard. This vessel was completed in 1863, the water was let in, the vessel floated from her bearings without any strain whatever, and when I made inquiry in 1866, had not, as I was informed, ever leaked “a perceptible drop of water.”

This dry-dock was converted into a building-dock;" along the lines on each of its sides, and parallel thereto, rail tracks was laid down, upon which two steam carriages on each side were placed, with a steam-engine, boiler, and crane to each. These carriages move up and down the tracks, taking up and carrying to their proper places and holding in exact position till secured the heaviest frames, beams, plates, or armor, in the most rapid and easy manner, vastly abbreviating the time and labor required for such work when carried on with the usual appliances.

To make clear the advantages of building in docks it will be necessary to refer for a moment to the position of the vessel while being built. On the "building-slips" it is necessary that the keel should be laid at an angle of about one in twelve, to gain the gravity movement or launching "way." In a ship of the length of some of those recently built (the Italy and others) of 420 feet, this requires the shore or bow end of the keel to be elevated 35 feet above the level of the stern. As these vessels average 30 feet in depth, it is seen that lifting or hoisting is required for every heavy article entering into construction of from 30 to 65 feet, and that great delay and labor are caused in adjusting to angles to cause the uprights to be true verticals to the keel. It will be seen that building in docks gives the following advantages:

1st. The ship lies on an even keel, and all the work can be fitted and arranged rapidly by plumb-lines.

2d. There is no strain in launching, as the vessel is lifted from the building supports by letting the water into the docks.

3d. The superintendent or foreman can, from sides or upper edges of the dock, have all the workinen, both within and without the vessel, before the decks are laid, under their eyes, thus preventing loitering or dilatoriness in the work.

4th. No material is required to be raised to great heights and remain suspended till angles are adjusted, all being simply lowered and instantly adjusted by levels and perpendiculars.

5th. An admitted saving of 15 per cent. in cost of labor and time of construction. The British admiralty have no "building-docks" especially constructed as such, but several dry or "graving" docks have been adapted to the purpose. Laird's "Birkenhead Works," opposite Liverpool, has one, but it is too small for the construction of the large steamers just come into use, and with which we must compete for trade and commerce. All the other building-yards of Great Britain still use only the solid building-slips already described.

It follows from these facts that if we commence the building of iron ships with facilities in advance of Europe, and with better material, that we shall very soon regain our commerce. By such facilities we can now fairly compete with the builders of Scotland or England, as may be shown by the following comparison of ships of equal capacity. Estimating the cost of the English ship at the exact prices paid at this time for the best work in sterling money, allowing the present rate of exchange, or paying for the same at the gold rate-say five dollars to the pound sterling in England-for an English steamer of 3,000 tons, and estimating for the same size vessel built of the best American iron, made from blended ores yielding a metal of 75,000 to 85,000 pounds tensile strength to the square inch, giving such weight of said iron as will build a steamer 17 per cent. stronger than the British iron of 45,000 pounds tensile strength to the square inch, it will require 1,792 pounds to the ton measurement for the hull of the ship; of the American iron of 75,000 pounds to the square inch, it will require 1,195 pounds to the ton measurement.

English ship of 3,000 tons:

1,792 pounds iron to ton, at £9 per ton. Labor on ship, £4 108. per ton.

$108,000 67,500