ve.[8]

[Illustration: Figure 4.--DESIGN FOR AN UNRIGGED FLOATING BATTERY
proposed by James Marsh, Charleston, South Carolina, March 14, 1814.]

Through the courtesy of the trustees of the National Maritime Museum,
Greenwich, England, the Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen, Denmark, and the
Statens Sjoehistoriska Museum, Stockholm, Sweden, the author has been
able to illustrate in this article the designs of some of the early
floating batteries.

In the last quarter of the 18th century and later, the Danes had built
sail-propelled floating batteries or blockships, which were employed in
the defense of Copenhagen. The British built at least one sail-propelled
battery, the _Spanker_, in 1794. This was a scow of very angular form
with overhanging gun-deck, bomb-ketch-rigged, and about 120 feet overall
42-foot 4 inches moulded beam and 8-foot depth of hold. She is said to
have been a failure due to her unseaworthy proportions and form; the
overhanging gun deck and sides were objected to in particular. She is
called a "Stationary Battery" in her plans, which are in the Admiralty
Collection of Draughts, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.

Controversial Descriptions

The contemporary descriptions of the Fulton _Steam Battery_ do not
agree. This was in part due to differences between the dimensions given
out by Fulton during the negotiations with the Federal Government, and
after the ship's construction was authorized. From the context of
various statements concerning the projected vessel, such as that of the
naval officers, the changes in the intended dimensions of the ship can
be seen. For example, the officers state the model and plan shown them
would produce a battery carrying 24 guns (24- and 32-pdrs.), and a letter
from Fulton to Jones,[9] shows she was to be 138 feet on deck and
55-foot beam. The final reported dimensions, given by the Supervisory
Committee,[10] are 156 feet length, 56 feet beam, and 20 feet depth.

In addition there are a few foreign accounts which give dimensions and
descriptions. The most complete was probably that of Jean Baptiste
Marestier, a French naval constructor who visited the United States soon
after the end of the War of 1812 and published a report on American
steamboats in 1824.[11] The _Steam Battery_ is barely mentioned though a
drawing of one of her boilers is given. Marestier made another report on
the American Navy, however. Extensive searches have been made for this
in Paris over the l