Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. Additional notes will be found near the end of this eBook. THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY [Illustration: FARRAGUT’S FLEET PASSING FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP. _From a painting by Carlton T. Chapman._] THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY FROM ITS ORIGIN TO THE PRESENT DAY 1775–1897 BY JOHN R. SPEARS AUTHOR OF “THE PORT OF MISSING SHIPS,” “THE GOLD DIGGINGS OF CAPE HORN,” ETC. WITH MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS MAPS AND DIAGRAMS _IN FOUR VOLUMES_ _VOLUME IV._ NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS MANHATTAN PRESS 474 W. BROADWAY NEW YORK TO ALL WHO WOULD SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I. THE STATE OF THE NAVY IN 1859 1 A Brief Story of the Development of the Warship that was Propelled by both Sails and Steam--The Remarkable Floating Battery of 1814-- Barron’s Idea of a Ram--The Stevens Floating Battery--Ericsson’s Screw Propeller--Stockton and the First Screw Warship--Experiments with Great Guns--Discoveries of Bomford and Rodman--Practical Work by Dahlgren--A Comparison of Yankee Frigates with a Class of British Ships “Avowedly Built to Cope” with them--The Condition of the _Personnel_. CHAPTER II. BLOCKADING THE SOUTHERN PORTS 28 Lincoln’s Proclamation--It was Something of a Task to Close 185 Inlets and Patrol 11,953 Miles of Sea-beaches, especially with the Force of Ships in Hand--One Merchant’s Notion of the Efficiency of Thirty Sailing Vessels--Gathering and Building Blockaders-- Incentives and Favoring Circumstances for Blockade-runners--When Perjury Failed and Uncle Sam was Able to Strike without Waiting for Act of Congress--When Blockade-runners Came to New York and Yankee Smokeless Coal was in Demand. CHAPTER III. LOSS OF THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD 66