the
project was successful--no doubt remained that a floating battery,
composed of heavy artillery, could be moved by steam. The Commissioners
returned from the exercise of the day, satisfied that the vessel would
answer the intended purpose, and consoled themselves that their care had
been bestowed upon a worthy object.

But it was discovered, that various alterations were necessary. Guided
by the light of experience, they caused some errors to be corrected, and
some defects to be supplied. She was prepared for a second voyage with
all practicable speed.

On the fourth of July she was again put in action. She performed a trip
to the ocean, eastward of Sandy Hook, and back again, a distance of
fifty-three miles, in eight hours and twenty minutes. A part of this
time she had the tide against her, and had no assistance whatever from
sails. Of the gentlemen who formed the company invited to witness the
experiment, not one entertained a doubt of her fitness for the intended
purpose.

Additional expedients were, notwithstanding, necessary to be sought for
quickening and directing her motion. These were devised and executed
with all possible care.

Suitable arrangements having been made, a third trial of her powers was
attempted on the eleventh day of September, with the weight of
twenty-six of her long and ponderous guns, and a considerable quantity
of ammunition and stores on board; her draft of water was short of
eleven feet. She changed her course by inverting the motion of the
wheel, without the necessity of putting about. She fired salutes as she
passed the forts, and she overcame the resistance of the wind and tide
in her progress down the bay. She performed beautiful man[oe]uvres
around the United States' Frigate JAVA, then at anchor near the
light-house. She moved with remarkable celerity, and she was perfectly
obedient to her double helm. It was observed that the explosion of
powder produced very little concussion. The machinery was not affected
by it in the smallest degree. Her progress, during the firing, was
steady and uninterrupted. On the most accurate calculations, derived
from heaving the log, her average velocity was five and a-half miles per
hour. Notwithstanding the resistance of currents, she was found to make
headway at the rate of two miles an hour against the ebb of the East
River, running three and a-half knots. The day's exercise was
satisfactory to the respectable company who attended, beyond