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Description of the USS Monitor
By: Franklin Thompson, Union Soldier, Fortress Monroe
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Battle
at Hampton Roads, Virginia
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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The first real object of interest which
presented itself was the "Monitor" lying off Fortress
Monroe. It reminded me of what I once heard a man say to his
neighbor about his wife; said he, "Neighbor, you might worship
your wife without breaking either of the ten commandments."
"How is that?" asked the man; "Because she is not the likeness
of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in
the waters under the earth." So thought I of the Monitor.
There she sat upon the water a glorious
impregnable battery, the wonder of the age, the terror of rebels,
and the pride of the North. The Monitor is so novel in
structure that a minute description will be necessary to convey
an accurate idea of her character.
She has two hulls. The lower one is
of iron, five-eighths of an inch thick. The bottom is flat,
and six feet six inches in depth - sharp at both ends, the cut-water
retreating at an angle of about thirty degrees. The sides, instead
of having the ordinary bulge, incline at an angle of about fifty-one
degrees. This hull is one hundred and twenty-four feet long,
and thirty-four feet broad at the top. Resting on this is the
upper hull, flat-bottomed, and both longer and wider than the
lower hull, so that it projects over in every direction, like
the guards of a steamboat. It is one hundred and seventy-four
feet long, forty-one feet four inches wide, and five feet deep.
These sides constitute the armor of the vessel. In the first
place is an inner guard of iron, half an inch thick. To this
is fastened a wall of white oak, placed endways, [sic] and thirty
inches thick, to which are bolted six plates of iron, each an
inch thick, thus making a solid wall of thirty-six and a half
inches of wood and iron. This hull is fastened upon the lower
hull, so that the latter is entirely submerged, and the upper
one sinks down three feet into the water. Thus but two feet
of hull are exposed to a shot. The under hull is so guarded
by the projecting upper hull, that a ball, to strike it, would
have to pass through twenty-five feet of water. The upper hull
is also pointed at both ends. The deck comes flush with the
top of the hull, and is made bomb-proof. No railing or bulwark
rises above the deck. The projecting ends serve as a protection
to the propeller, rudder and anchor, which cannot be struck.
Neither the anchor or chain is ever exposed. The anchor is peculiar,
being very short, but heavy. It is hoisted into a place fitted
for it, outside of the lower hull, but within the impenetrable
shield of the upper one. On the deck are but two structures
rising above the surface, the pilot-house and turret. The pilot-house
is forward, made of plates of iron, the whole about ten inches
in thickness, and shot-proof. Small slits and holes are cut
through, to enable the pilot to see his course. The turret,
which is apparently the main feature of the battery, is a round
cylinder, twenty feet in interior diameter, and nine feet high.
It is built entirely of iron plates, one inch in thickness,
eight of them securely bolted together, one over another. Within
this is a lining of one-inch iron, acting as a damper to deaden
the effects of a concussion when struck by a ball - thus there
is a shield of nine inches of iron. The turret rests on a bed-plate,
or ring, of composition, which is fastened to the deck. To help
support the weight, which is about a hundred tons, a vertical
shaft, ten inches in diameter, is attached and fastened to the
bulk-head. The top is made shot-proof by huge iron beams, and
perforated to allow of ventilation. It has two circular port-holes,
both on one side of the turret, three feet above the deck, and
just large enough for the muzzle of the gun to be run out. The
turret is made to revolve, being turned by a special engine.
The operator within, by a rod connected with the engine, is
enabled to turn it at pleasure. It can be made to revolve at
the rate of sixty revolutions a minute, and can be regulated
to stop within half a degree of a given point. When the guns
are drawn in to lad, the port-hole is stopped by a huge iron
pendulum, which falls to its place, and makes that part as secure
as any, and can be quickly hoisted to one side. The armanent
[sic] consists of two eleven-inch Dahlgren guns. Various improvements
in the gun-carriage enable the gunner to secure almost perfect
aim.
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Bird's
eye view of Hampton Roads, Virginia
From the Collections of The Mariners' Museum
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The engine is not of great power, as
the vessel was designed as a battery, and not for swift sailing.
It being almost entirely under water, the ventilation is secured
by blowers, drawing the air in forward, and discharging it aft.
A separate engine moves the blowers and fans the fires. There
is no chimney, so the draft must by entirely artificial. The
smoke passes out of gratings in the deck. Many suppose the Monitor
to be merely an iron-clad vessel, with a turret; but there are,
in fact, between thirty and forty patentable [sic] inventions
upon her, and the turret is by no means the most important one.
Very properly, what these inventions are is not proclaimed to
the public.
Nurse and Spy in the Union Army: The Adventures
and Experiences of a Woman in Hospitals, Camps, and Battle-Fields
by Sarah Emma E. Edmonds
Posing as a man, Sarah Emma E. Edmonds participated in the Civil
War as a soldier under the name of Franklin Thompson. A Canadian,
she joined the 2nd Michigan Infantry in 1861 and was sent to
Washington, D.C. Franklin Thompson served as a field nurse,
orderly, and spy. She eventually left the army after the Battle
of Vicksburg and wrote a book of her adventures, published in
1865. Historians feel the majority of the accounts to be true
with a little embellishment to entice readers.
While stationed at Fortress Monroe, Edmonds claims to have witnessed
the Monitor in the Hampton Roads harbor. She probably
saw it, but the above account was most likely re-written from
later articles on the ship. The account seems detailed to have
been written by a field nurse. The excerpt does relate basic
information about the Monitor that was well known during
the Civil War. This unique ship was the topic of conversation
and prose for months after she sank.
Go to Main Category:
The Revolutionary Union Ironclad Monitor
Go to other documents in this category:
John Ericsson: Life Before the
Monitor
Report on Ironclad Vessels
Development of the Monitor
Naming of the Monitor
What Circumstances Dictated the
Monitor's Size and Peculiar Construction?
Chronology of the USS Monitor
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