SHIPPING.-NAVY-YARD.

373

ever, Massachusetts has the superiority over New-York, though both fall short of the State of Maine. The returns for 1837 give the following results:

The reason of this difference is, that in Maine and Massachusetts ships and smaller craft are built for other ports besides their own, though these require a considerable supply, especially Portland, Portsmouth, Newburyport, Salem, Marblehead, Boston, and Plymouth, all of which have ships engaged in distant voyages, as well as in the coasting trade and fisheries, to a great extent.

The bay and harbour of Boston are among the finest in the world. The bay contains about seventy-five square miles of space, with upward of 100 islands and rocks above water, to vary the aspect of its surface, and to protect the shipping within, by acting as breakwaters against the Atlantic Sea. It receives into its waters four rivers: the Charles, the Neponset, the Mystic, and the Manniticut, besides other smaller streams. The harbour, which is at the extremity of this bay, is capable of containing, at anchor and alongside the wharves, at least 1000 ships, without inconvenience to any from want of room; and there is abundant draught of water for the largest vessels, as line-of-battle ships pass up with ease to the Navyyard, which is beyond the portion of the harbour occupied by the merchant ships and coasting vessels.

The Navy-yard is situated at Charlestown, one of the many suburbs of Boston, though first settled in 1630 by Governor Winthrop's company, before Boston was founded. It has at present 8500 inhabitants, and ten places of public worship, a spacious market, an almshouse, three banks, and many other public edifices, so that it is a large town in itself, but is only regarded as a suburb of Boston. The Navy-yard here occupies about 60 acres of area; and as Charlestown is seated on a neck of land, or peninsula, like Boston itself, the Navy-yard is placed at its extremity. It is thus surrounded on three of its sides by water, and on the fourth by land, where it is enclosed by a fine granite wall inside, and abutting upon which are most of the storehouses and magazines connected with the establishment, as well as a fine mansion and gardens for the residence of the naval officer in command, as superintendent of the whole.

In our visit to the Navy-yard we had the pleasure to be accompanied by this officer, Commodore Downes, who, with great courtesy and kindness, accompanied us personally over the whole of the works, as well as on board the ships of war then lying there to refit. One of the finest dry-docks in the world is contained in this Navy-yard. It is built entirely of hewn granite, executed in the

best style of masonry. The dock is 341 feet in length, eighty in breadth, and thirty in depth, and is consequently large enough to receive the largest ship in the British or American navy. There are two sets of moving gates at the entrance, which is sixty feet across, each of which gates weighs fifty tons. Outside there is a floating gate, built like an ordinary vessel, sixty feet long, fifteen feet wide, and thirty feet high, weighing about 300 tons, and requiring nineteen feet water to float it. This floating gate contains timber enough to build a ship of 400 tons' burden, and from three to four thousand dollars worth of copper sheathing and bolts have been used on it. The turning gates at high water sustain a pressure equal to 800 tons; and the dock itself is emptied of its water, when required to be made dry, by means of an hydraulic apparatus, worked by a steam-engine of sixty-horse power, which discharges twelve hogsheads at every stroke of the pumps, and completely exhausts the dock in a few hours.

The ropewalk of the Navy-yard is one of the finest I ever remember to have seen. It is nearly half a mile in length, two stories in height; it is built entirely of the same beautiful granite as that used in the construction of the dry-dock, and is roofed with iron and slate. The window-shutters are all cased with iron, and the whole is rendered fireproof. Some very recent and excellent improvements have been introduced into the machinery here, by a native American engineer, Mr. Treadwell, by which a steam-engine at one end of the building is made to furnish the requisite power for performing all the operations of rope-making, with very little aid from the labour of men, from the first combing of the hemp and spinning it into threads, to the tarring and twisting the yarn, and the winding of the whole into the hawser or the cable required.

I had seen some of the best ropewalks in England, both in the royal dockyards, and in the private establishments of London and other ports; but I remember nothing equal to this of Boston, either in the beauty and perfection of the building and the machinery, or the admirable uniformity of strain in every strand and every fibre of the rope produced; or the finished roundness, smoothness, and flexibility of the largest hawsers and cables, of which several were submitted to our examination, both in progress and completed.

The large sheds used in the dockyards of England to cover ships while building are also used here; and at the present moment there were three of such buildings, covering two frigates and a lineof-battle ship now constructing beneath them. Two noble vessels of the latter class lay alongside the yard, there being water enough for the largest ships to lie close to the wharves at low-water springtides, and never touch the ground. These ships were the Columbus and the Ohio, both fitting out for foreign stations; and these we were invited to inspect. The Ohio was built in New-York in 1820, the Columbus in Washington in 1819. They are both called

74's, but, like our ships-of-war of the same class, they carry more guns than they are rated at. The Ohio has 54 feet beam, and is nearly 7 feet high between decks. Both carry about 86 guns, 48-pounders on the main and lower deck, and 24-pounders on the quarterdeck and forecastle. Everything about them was on a larger scale than in our English 74's; and their crews, especially, more numerous and more efficient, 800 men and boys being the complement of either, besides the officers. The men being all obtained by voluntary enlistment, enables the commanders to choose only efficient hands; and their crews are, therefore, all picked men. The boys are, by a recent law of Congress, apprenticed for a term of years, with their own consent and that of their parents, to the navy, and are taken great care of in their training.

We were shown the schoolroom of the Columbus, in an enclosure on the main deck, close to the bows, and underneath the forecastle, where about 50 of these boys were receiving instruction, in reading and writing, from their masters. The discipline is quite as strict as in the English navy; but, as impressment is never resorted to to procure men, there is no necessity for that restraint on their intercourse with the shore which is imposed by the fear of their desertion; for, in general, they are so much more comfortable in ships-of-war than in merchant vessels, from receiving as good pay and provisions, with less hard work and better accommodations for sleeping, with the advantage of medical attendance when needing it, that it is rather a privilege to get a berth in a ship of the navy, where none but the best men are received; and the discharge of a dissatisfied seaman is often sufficient punishment, as there are never wanting candidates ready to fill his place.

The American navy comprises at present 1 three-decker of 120 guns, the Pennsylvania, built at Philadelphia, and said to be the largest ship in the world, capable of mounting 150 guns, though rated at only 120, and probably carrying no more at present; 11 two-deckers, rated as 74's, though all capable of carrying from 80 to 90 guns each; 18 frigates, of 64, 44, and 36 guns respectively; 16 sloops, of 24 and 18 guns each; and 10 schooners, of 12 and 10 guns each, making altogether only 56 vessels of every class; and yet, small as it is in the number of its ships, its efficiency is so great, and the skill of its officers and seamen so conspicuous, that it is superior in actual force to any other navy in the world, except that of Great Britain, and would not shrink, single-handed, from a contest with it, gun for gun and man for man, with a great probability of being the victor.

This is easily accounted for, without supposing the American officers or seamen to be at all more brave than the British, which I do not believe they are, and which even the Americans themselves would hardly pretend to say. It is enough to admit that, in point of courage, there is no difference between the Anglo-Saxon race

of England and their descendants in the United States; but, admitting them to be equal in this respect, the Americans have a great advantage over us in every other particular.

In the first place, their ships of each class are larger, more roomy for action, more airy for health, and much greater attention is paid in them to the accommodation and comfort of the seamen than in English ships-of-war. In the second place, their ships are more amply fitted and supplied in every description of naval stores. There is no stinting, as in the British navy, of rope, canvass, spars, plank, blocks, tar, paint, and every other requisite for immediate and complete repair of everything requiring it. In the third place, their officers are all thorough-bred seamen, rocked on the ocean from their boyhood, and attaining to their respective ranks only by hard service and distinguished merit, regulated also by seniority; while in the British navy, sons of the aristocracy mount up with rapidity from midshipmen to post-captains, often without seeing any service to give them experience, while lieutenants, over whose heads they walk in promotion, remain unhonoured and neglected, whatever the length of their services or the extent of their claims as officers and seamen. In the fourth place, the crews, instead of being dragged unwillingly on board by impressment, and there mingled with the jailbirds, as they are called, the sweepings of the police-offices and prisons, with only a portion of the ship's company, are here formed of thorough-bred and efficient able seamen, which compose the entire crews of the American navy, got together by the inducements of good pay, good provisions, good treatment, and liberty to leave the service or renew their engagements at the end of the three years for which they first entered.

The American navy, efficient as it is in the excellence of its ships, is not overburdened, like the English navy, with hosts of superfluous officers. Instead of having at the rate of one admiral for every ship in commission, it has no admirals at all; and of the rank which corresponds to this in their navy, namely, commodores, there is only one to each station in which they may actually have a squadron, while the rest of the officers are just in proportion to the numbers required for their ships, and no more. The list for 1838 comprises the following:

with a corresponding proportion of surgeons, pursers, sailing-masters, and warrant-officers. The expense of the whole is less than one million sterling per annum; the actual cost in the last year, including the whole of the naval service, expenses of the navyyards, ship-building, stores, repairs, buildings, and gradual improvements, being only 3,864,939 dollars.

ENVIRONS OF BOSTON.-BUNKER HILL.

377

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Environs of Boston.-Bunker Hill.-Dimensions and Cost of the Bunker Hill Obelisk. -Town of Chelsea and Richmond Hill.-Brookline, Brighton, and Cambridge.Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plains, and Milton Hill-Beauty and Advantages of these Rural Retreats.-Mount Auburn, the Cemetery of Boston.-Description of its Grounds and Prospects.-Imposing Ceremony at Consecration Dell.-Citizen engaged in preparing his own Grave.-Comparison of Mount Auburn with Père la Chaise.Tomb of Hannah Adams.-Death, Interment, and Monument of Spurzheim.

THE environs of Boston, among which Charlestown and the Navyyard may be numbered, contain many other interesting objects well worthy of a traveller's inspection, and, consequently, of a brief description. Among these are the celebrated Bunker Hill and its monument, Chelsea, Cambridge, Brookline, Brighton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Milton Hill, and, though last, not least, the beautiful cemetery of Mount Auburn.

Bunker Hill, the scene of the celebrated battle of June 17, 1775, during the American Revolution, is situated not far from the Navyyard, the eminence being 113 feet above the level of the harbour. It still retains some portion of the redoubts and intrenchments thrown up on that memorable occasion, though the traces of these are growing fainter every year. To keep this battle-ground, however, constantly before the eyes of the American people, it was determined to erect on the hill a granite obelisk of a sufficient size to be seen by all ships entering the harbour, and of sufficient solidity to last to the latest posterity. Having raised by subscription about 60,000 dollars, and being confident that if more were required the rest could be as easily obtained, the projectors of this undertaking first purchased the land on the hill, the area of which is about 15 acres, for 24,000 dollars. The foundation-stone of the obelisk was then laid by the lamented General Lafayette, on the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1825, just fifty years after the fight was won; and the attraction of the occasion and the person combined drew together from all parts of the United States the largest assembly ever seen in Boston.

The design of the obelisk was to make it 30 feet square at the base, 15 feet square at the summit from whence the sloping to a point was to commence, and 220 feet in height. On this scale it was begun, and of the 80 courses of Quincy granite of two feet eight inches in thickness, of which the whole obelisk was to consist, 14 only were completed; by which time not only had all the funds subscribed been expended, but an additional 20,000 dollars raised by a mortgage of the land. There the work was suspended; and although the architect, Mr. Willand, generously subscribed VOL. II. 3 B