The Memoirs of Charles H. Cramp

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES "*, f n THE MEMOIRS OF CHARLES H. CRAMP THE MEMOIRS *f OF CHARLES H. CRAMP BY AUGUSTUS C. " " Author of Life of Paul Jones," History of Andrew Jackson,' " Life of Sir William Johnson," Etc. PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1906 COPYRIGHT, 1906 BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia V i to I (3 a. PREFACE r IT is not often that the memoirs of a man cover the history of threescore years of active manhood. Still more rare is it that the period covered happens to be the most fruitful of ? progress known in the annals of mankind. And yet more remarkable, even to the point of the E unique, is it that such a career, in such an epoch, should be inextricably interwoven with the history of one of the fairest arts and one of the most fascinating sciences, Naval Archi- tecture and Ship-building. All this is true of the subject of this memoir, Charles Henry Cramp. Such phrases as "prominently identified with" or "an acknowledged leader in" his sphere of creative activity do not adequately express Charles H. Cramp 's personal and professional relation, or rather his individual \ identification, with the maritime and naval his- T tory of his country. Those phrases applied to tf his status and his rank would be commonplace. iii PREFACE His impress is far deeper than that, and the association of his name and his personality with the art and its triumphs have become a symbol. The generation of naval architects and shipbuilders among whom he began his life-work sixty years ago have long since passed away. Of them all he stands alone, the only surviving link that binds the romantic memories of wood and canvas to the grim realities of steel and steam. Even the generation that knew him in the middle of his long and fruitful career is gone. He is the only man who has alike de- signed and built ships for the navy of the Civil War and for that of to-day, alike for the navy that fought at Charleston and Fort Fisher and for the navy that won Santiago and Manila Bay, twoscore years asunder ! In all the history of our country there has never been an- other professional career like his. No other man ever made such an impress as he upon the life, welfare, and progress of the nation. No other man, without ever holding a public office, has so indelibly left his mark upon our greatest and most vital public interests as he has done. He has passed from the sphere of member- iv PREFACE ship in his profession and has become its ex- ponent. His name is a synonym for the art in which he has so long been master, and the men- tion of his personality instantly suggests the science whose triumphs he has so often and so well won. This status and this rank are by no means limited to our own country. Mr. Cramp is as familiar in London as in Philadelphia; as well known in Tokio and St. Petersburg as in New York or Washington. Undoubtedly, the first impression one will derive from the study of Mr. Cramp's career and character as mirrored in his acts and his writings is his singleness of purpose, fixity of resolve, and directness of method. These are, in fact, his distinctive traits, and to them, throughout his long and arduous life, all others have been rigorously subordinated. If he ap- pears to be exacting of others, he is yet more so with himself. It is not to be expected that in a life so long, in an experience covering lit- erally the scope of the civilized world, and in a range of endeavor so wide and diversified, all could be plain sailing. On the other hand, few men have encountered more or greater obsta- PREFACE cles. No man ever faced them more cheerfully or combated them with more sanguine pluck. If he did not always triumph over them, it was because they were insurmountable, or because those upon whom he relied for a proper share in the sum-total of effort failed him. He himself never left undone anything that a clear head could devise or a resolute will strive for. But with all his singleness of purpose, fixity of resolve, and directness of method in professional pursuits, Charles H. Cramp, as a member of society at large, is a man of the broadest vision and most comprehensive cul- ture. Intent as he may be upon his work, he ' l never takes the shop home with him, ' ' as the saying is. He has always possessed the happy faculty of laying down his burdens at the close of each working-day to find mental recreation in social occasions, in general literature, art, and the higher order of social amusements. A clever writer in a magazine sketch of him many years ago said, "Charles H. Cramp knows more about more things than any other man of his time!" Unlike most epigrams, this is true, and in terse fashion it conveys a por- trayal of his intellectual make-up. Mastery of vi PREFACE the literature of his own profession, rich and varied as it is, forms but a small part of Mr. Cramp's mental equipment. To all these at- tainments add the lessons and observations of wide travel and constant association with lead- ing minds and controlling personalities at home and abroad, and the result is a perfectly equipped, all-round man of affairs. During his whole active career Mr. Cramp has held positions of command. At the age of nineteen he began to direct operations and as- sume responsibilities ; and such status he has maintained for threescore years, with con- stantly increasing volume of operations and incessantly growing weight of responsibility. But through all he has kept the even tenor of his way, neither elated by triumphs nor de- pressed by reverses, and guided always by an inflexible integrity and a scrupulous honesty that are proverbial. vii CONTENTS r CHAPTER I PAGE Early Shipbuilding in Philadelphia and Colonies Paul Jones Joshua Humphreys Alliance Truxtun Em- bargo Decade following War of 1815 Rebecca Sims Inauguration of Packet Lines Thomas P. Cope Decay of Eastern Trade in Philadelphia Auction Sales of Car- goes 11 CHAPTER II Birth Relatives High School Magnetic Observatory Note on Davidson Surf-boats for Mexican War First Propeller Tug Sampson Shipbuilders of New York and Philadelphia Clipper Ships, 1850 Zenith of American Carrying Trade Crimean War Cunard Line Liberta- dor Armored Ships Board Appointed to Take Charge of Appropriation to Build Them Account of New Iron- sides The Monitor Speech of Bishop Simpson Sub- Department of Navy Light-draught Monitors Sinking of the First Collapse of Sub-Department Rebuilding of Yazoo, Tunxis and Others Miantonomah Origin of Fast Cruisers Evolution of Modern Marine Engineer- ing in this Country 39 CHAPTER III Foreign Commerce in 1865 The Clyde and George W. Clyde, and Introduction of Compound Engines Com- merce of 1870 Merchant Marine Lynch Committee Mr. Cramp and Committee Lynch Bill American Steamship Company Visit to British Shipyards John Elder British Methods Interchange of Methods Mer- chant Marine, Continued Dingley Bill Defects Act of 1891, Providing Registry for Foreign Ships St. Louis and St. Paul Extract from Forum Remarks on Arti- cle Committee of Shipbuilders and Owners New Bill Introduced by Frye and Dingley North Atlantic x CONTENTS CHAPTER III (CONTINUED) PAGE Traffic Association New Shipyards Tactics of North Atlantic Traffic Association Our Navigation Laws, North American Review Mr. Whitney Unfriendly Leg- islation Mr. Whitney's Letter Effects of Letter Mr. Cramp's Letter to Committee of Merchant Marine International Mercantile Marine 97 CHAPTER IV Condition of Navy after Civil War Admiral Case's Fleet Virginius Scare Huron, Alert and Ranger Secretary Hunt First Advisory Board Secretary Chandler Puritan Class Finished Steel Hon. J. B. McCreary and Appropriation Bill for New Navy Members of Sec- ond Naval Advisory Board Standard for Steel for New Ships Chicago, Boston, Atlanta and Dolphin Secretary Whitney Beginning of New Navy, by Charles H. Cramp Baltimore, Charleston and Yorktown Pur- chase of Drawings by Navy Department Commodore Walker Premium System Mr. Whitney'sViews Pre- miums Paid Attack on System Secretary Tracy War College Paper Classifying Bids 154 CHAPTER V Armstrongs Russian Warship Construction Arrival of Cimbria at Bar Harbor Visit of Wharton Barker to Shipyard Visit of Captain Semetschkin and Commis- sion to the Yard Purchase of Ships Newspaper Ac- countsCaptain Gore-Jones Mr. Cramp's Account of Operations Europe, Asia, Africa and Zabiaca Popoff and Livadia Visit to Grand Duke Constantine Anni- versary Banquet in St. Petersburg of Survivors of Cim- bria Expedition Object of Visit to Russia Mr. Dunn and Japan Contract for Kasagi Jubilee Session of Naval Architects in London Visit to Russia Corre- spondence with Russian Officials Visit to Armstrongs' Japanese Warship Construction Coming Sea Power Correspondence with Russian Officials Invited to Rus- sia Asked to Bid for Warships Our Ministers Abroad Construction of Retvizan and Variag Maine 205 ILLUSTRATIONS r PAGE CHARLES H. CRAMP Frontispiece CLIPPERSHIP MORNING LIGHT 12 CLIPPERSHIP MANITOU 24 CRUISER YORKTOWN 36 MONITOR TEHROR 48 CRUISERS BALTIMORE AND PHILADELPHIA 60 CRUISER NEWARK 72 CRUISERS PENNSYLVANIA AND COLORADO 84 CRUISER COLUMBIA 96 ARMORED CRUISER BROOKLYN 108 ARMORED CRUISER NEW YORK 120 BATTLESHIP NEW IRONSIDES 132 BATTLESHIP IOWA 144 BATTLESHIP ALABAMA 156 BATTLESHIP MAINE 158 BATTLESHIP RETVIZAN IN COMMISSION 180 BATTLESHIP RETVIZAN DOCKING 192 CRUISER VARIAG 204 AMERICAN LINER ST.

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