Bil R
Private
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Location
- Massachusetts
Hello Gentlemen,
George and John those are excellent posts. The Mobile was the first of the 'lesser known' Confederate ironclads that I researched in detail. At the time I was in Philadelphia which gave me extended access to the various archives and collections there. The resulting file of primary source information on this vessel now extends to four pages and a little over 4,200 words. And I have not yet included George's details about the CoE contract above (most interesting), various 'Vessel Papers' citations, and the Waterman account of her withdrawal from Berwick Bay up the Atchafalaya. First, some essential details:
Mobile - Class 1 vessel
Designer: William Cramp, Stephen Flanagan
Builder: William H. Cramp & Son
Location: Philadelphia (Kensington), PA
Keel Laid: 1 August 1860, Hull No. 92
Launched: October 1860
Registry & Enrollment, Commissioned, Merchant: 8 December 1860
for S. & J. Flanagan, intended for Mobile, New Orleans and Havana trade
Acquisition & Cost: Seized 23 May 1861 as prize and sold private,
purchased 14 August 1861 by CSN, $5,000
Gunboat Conversion: August through December 1861
Designer: Lieut. Shepperd, CSN, John Roy
Location: Berwick Bay, off Brashear City (Morgan City), LA
Ironclad Conversion: October 1862 through May 1863, incomplete
Designer: Lieut. I. N. Brown, CSN, Weldon & McFarland, Acting CSN
Builder: Confederate States Navy
Location: Below Yazoo City, MS
Commissioned, Naval: 1 December 1861, decommissioned 1 August 1862
Fate: Burned and sunk 23 May 1863 below Yazoo City, MS
Rate: Blockade runner, gunboat, wooden protected, ironclad
Service: Intended for Mississippi River and Gulf coastal areas
Specifications:
Hull:
Tonnage- 282 7/95ths tons, 450 tons gross
Length- 139 ft. 6 in. deck, 145 ft. oa
Beam- 28 ft.
Depth of Hold- 7 ft. 9 in.
Draft- 6 ft. 6 in. load line
7 ft. 6 in. deep
Notes: Wooden hull, built of white oak with iron fastenings and
copper bottom, billet head, round stern, one deck
Masts & Rig:
Two masts, topsail schooner rig
Notes: Reported to have three masts in February 1862 which may
have been fitted during her gunboat conversion. All masts and rig
removed prior to her withdrawal from Berwick Bay.
Engines:
Built by Reanie, Neafie & Co. (Penn Works), Philadelphia, PA,
Engine No. 311:
1 vertical, direct acting engine, 32 in. diameter, 28 in. stroke
Boilers:
Built by same:
1 low pressure, return flue, tubular boiler 12 ft. 6 in. long by
7 ft. 7 in. wide, 7 ft. 7 in. high, firebox 6 ft. long by 8 ft. wide,
2 furnaces
Propulsion:
1 screw, 8 ft. diameter, four blades, 4 ft. 3 in. tip, 18 ft. pitch,
angled 62 degrees, hub 20 in. long, weighs 3,487 lbs.
Notes: Engine 100 hp, inverted cylinder, jet condensing, generates
84 rpm at 30 psi, shafts made of wrought iron, bedplate 8 ft. 5 in.
by 4 ft. 4 in., air pump fitted with two force pumps, propeller shaft
24 ft. 5 in. from hub to cylinder center, from cylinder center to
firebox face 9 ft. 10 in. or 34 ft. 3 in. from hub to firebox face, est.
one raked chimney 4 ft. diameter by 20 ft. high above firebox
Protection:
Machinery spaces, gunboat: Boiler lowered in hull, timber bulk-
head built around machinery consisted of 12 in. square beams covered
in one layer of railroad iron
Ironclad conversion: Reported that the casemate construction was
complete and awaiting iron plating or rail when burned; vertical
sides without knuckle conforming to hull shape like Arkansas; ends
angled at 35 degrees and to be armed with two pivot guns and two
broadside guns
Armament:
Fitted with: one 8 in. shell gun forward, one 32 pdr. rifle aft, and
two small 32 pdr smoothbores
Boats & Fittings:
1 launch, 1 yawl boat
Officers & Crew:
Lieut. Shepperd, CSN, about 40 men, later transferred to man
Arkansas
General Comments - The Mobile was built as a coastal passenger freight vessel intended for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. She was also provided with additional equipment that would allow her to work as a towboat or 'work' boat on the lower Mississippi. This is alluded to in the following description from the 'Philadelphia Inquirer': ..She has a donkey engine on deck, with supplementary boiler for hoisting cargo, with patent steam pump attached, with a capacity for throwing 800 gallons per minute, which can be used for extinguishing fires, pumping out vessels or wrecking purposes. She is also provided with a large and efficient double-acting force pump, situated at the forward part of the boat, which can also be used for extinguishing fires or pumping out the vessel. She is well fitted with anchors and chains and everything else requisite for a sea-going vessel... This was also noted in the 'New Orleans Daily True Delta' upon arrival: ...The Mobile, though intended to ply between this city and New Orleans, is capable of being readily employed for other purposes, a valuable part of her machinery being an apparatus for pumping out sunken ships... As George described above, I was not aware that she had actually been contracted by the Corps of Engineers for work at the Southwest Pass. After she was seized, sold and re-registered as a Confederate merchant there are two documented runs into New Orleans, one into Galveston and one into Mobile.
Regarding her gunboat conversion she was fitted with four guns as per John Roy's diary and Mallory's report. Besides lowering the boiler and protecting the machinery with an ironed wooden bulwark, she received an additional sheathing of the main deck with pine plank from aft her fore hatch to the main mast. Shot racks were placed below, bulkheads were fitted below to create shell rooms, store rooms, a head, a magazine and officer berths. In addition the rails were cut down in 'wake of her forward and aft pivot guns'. I would not be surprised if she was fitted with a third, light mizzen mast while in Berwick Bay. It would enhance her speed, assist in handling and give the impression from a distance, that she was a larger vessel than she was. Semmes had done this already converting the 2-masted Habana into the 3-masted Sumter. The cutdown rails would certainly give the reported (1 February 1862) appearance of a 'long, low steamer'. According to Waterman's account, if I recall correctly, Lovell ordered the withdrawal of all useful vessels from Berwick Bay to Vicksburg upon the initial bombardment of the lower forts. He gives a rather colorful account of the difficulties encountered in navigating a flooded Atchafalaya covered in thick overgrowth. They could barely keep their funnels clear, much less any additional rigging. It took them four days to make the Mississippi north of New Orleans. The A.B. Segar had been left behind, but the group included the Mobile, St. Marys (f. Herron, built 1862), and mailboat St. Marys (built 1858, l. Alexandria). Upon arrival at Yazoo City, she was employed as a guard boat until her crew was tapped to help man the Arkansas.
After being decommissioned, Brown selected her for conversion into an ironclad. She was relatively new, had good machinery already protected, was shallow drafted, screw propelled, armed and would need minimal modifications. Lacking a drydock, or even a flattened beach to careen a vessel, Brown probably would have extended a vertical casemate directly up from her hull sides like the Arkansas. She has too narrow to have angled sides. There is a voucher to pay for a Marsilly carriage in 1863 suggesting at least two broadside guns. I would imagine the pivot end guns would have fired through three ports and her funnel would have remained aft as originally placed. Her main deck after conversion would have been about a foot above waterline and partial bulwarks or railings would have remained fore and aft. She would have been a smaller version of the Arkansas.
References - The details discussed above come from the ORN, the NA (M346, M909, RG41, RG45, RG109) various Philadelphia and New Orleans newspapers, Cramp Collection at the Independence Seaport Museum and the Franklin Institute Special Collections. The last mentioned possessed a Cramp Table of Offsets that begins with the aft half of hull 107 - Bahia Honda, built in 1862. That vessel was built for a Cuban merchant for similar trade as the Mobile and was slightly larger. Comparing her lines to later built Cramp steamships shows a remarkable similarity in shape and form. I have come to believe that naval architects are like artists and have a consistent 'style or appearance' to their vessels, almost to the point that one can identify a builder by carefully looking at an image. If you want to know the Mobile's hull form look at the Bahia Honda, Zabiaka and other Cramp vessels of the era. They had consistent round sterns, narrow sharp bows and a sheer that descends to about a third of the hull and then begins to rise again. I believe that Table of Offsets book has now joined the other Cramp's material at the Independence Seaport Museum. The Reanie, Neafie & Co. workshop book is located in the Mariner's Museum.
I hope this is helpful.
All the best,
Bil
George and John those are excellent posts. The Mobile was the first of the 'lesser known' Confederate ironclads that I researched in detail. At the time I was in Philadelphia which gave me extended access to the various archives and collections there. The resulting file of primary source information on this vessel now extends to four pages and a little over 4,200 words. And I have not yet included George's details about the CoE contract above (most interesting), various 'Vessel Papers' citations, and the Waterman account of her withdrawal from Berwick Bay up the Atchafalaya. First, some essential details:
Mobile - Class 1 vessel
Designer: William Cramp, Stephen Flanagan
Builder: William H. Cramp & Son
Location: Philadelphia (Kensington), PA
Keel Laid: 1 August 1860, Hull No. 92
Launched: October 1860
Registry & Enrollment, Commissioned, Merchant: 8 December 1860
for S. & J. Flanagan, intended for Mobile, New Orleans and Havana trade
Acquisition & Cost: Seized 23 May 1861 as prize and sold private,
purchased 14 August 1861 by CSN, $5,000
Gunboat Conversion: August through December 1861
Designer: Lieut. Shepperd, CSN, John Roy
Location: Berwick Bay, off Brashear City (Morgan City), LA
Ironclad Conversion: October 1862 through May 1863, incomplete
Designer: Lieut. I. N. Brown, CSN, Weldon & McFarland, Acting CSN
Builder: Confederate States Navy
Location: Below Yazoo City, MS
Commissioned, Naval: 1 December 1861, decommissioned 1 August 1862
Fate: Burned and sunk 23 May 1863 below Yazoo City, MS
Rate: Blockade runner, gunboat, wooden protected, ironclad
Service: Intended for Mississippi River and Gulf coastal areas
Specifications:
Hull:
Tonnage- 282 7/95ths tons, 450 tons gross
Length- 139 ft. 6 in. deck, 145 ft. oa
Beam- 28 ft.
Depth of Hold- 7 ft. 9 in.
Draft- 6 ft. 6 in. load line
7 ft. 6 in. deep
Notes: Wooden hull, built of white oak with iron fastenings and
copper bottom, billet head, round stern, one deck
Masts & Rig:
Two masts, topsail schooner rig
Notes: Reported to have three masts in February 1862 which may
have been fitted during her gunboat conversion. All masts and rig
removed prior to her withdrawal from Berwick Bay.
Engines:
Built by Reanie, Neafie & Co. (Penn Works), Philadelphia, PA,
Engine No. 311:
1 vertical, direct acting engine, 32 in. diameter, 28 in. stroke
Boilers:
Built by same:
1 low pressure, return flue, tubular boiler 12 ft. 6 in. long by
7 ft. 7 in. wide, 7 ft. 7 in. high, firebox 6 ft. long by 8 ft. wide,
2 furnaces
Propulsion:
1 screw, 8 ft. diameter, four blades, 4 ft. 3 in. tip, 18 ft. pitch,
angled 62 degrees, hub 20 in. long, weighs 3,487 lbs.
Notes: Engine 100 hp, inverted cylinder, jet condensing, generates
84 rpm at 30 psi, shafts made of wrought iron, bedplate 8 ft. 5 in.
by 4 ft. 4 in., air pump fitted with two force pumps, propeller shaft
24 ft. 5 in. from hub to cylinder center, from cylinder center to
firebox face 9 ft. 10 in. or 34 ft. 3 in. from hub to firebox face, est.
one raked chimney 4 ft. diameter by 20 ft. high above firebox
Protection:
Machinery spaces, gunboat: Boiler lowered in hull, timber bulk-
head built around machinery consisted of 12 in. square beams covered
in one layer of railroad iron
Ironclad conversion: Reported that the casemate construction was
complete and awaiting iron plating or rail when burned; vertical
sides without knuckle conforming to hull shape like Arkansas; ends
angled at 35 degrees and to be armed with two pivot guns and two
broadside guns
Armament:
Fitted with: one 8 in. shell gun forward, one 32 pdr. rifle aft, and
two small 32 pdr smoothbores
Boats & Fittings:
1 launch, 1 yawl boat
Officers & Crew:
Lieut. Shepperd, CSN, about 40 men, later transferred to man
Arkansas
General Comments - The Mobile was built as a coastal passenger freight vessel intended for operations in the Gulf of Mexico. She was also provided with additional equipment that would allow her to work as a towboat or 'work' boat on the lower Mississippi. This is alluded to in the following description from the 'Philadelphia Inquirer': ..She has a donkey engine on deck, with supplementary boiler for hoisting cargo, with patent steam pump attached, with a capacity for throwing 800 gallons per minute, which can be used for extinguishing fires, pumping out vessels or wrecking purposes. She is also provided with a large and efficient double-acting force pump, situated at the forward part of the boat, which can also be used for extinguishing fires or pumping out the vessel. She is well fitted with anchors and chains and everything else requisite for a sea-going vessel... This was also noted in the 'New Orleans Daily True Delta' upon arrival: ...The Mobile, though intended to ply between this city and New Orleans, is capable of being readily employed for other purposes, a valuable part of her machinery being an apparatus for pumping out sunken ships... As George described above, I was not aware that she had actually been contracted by the Corps of Engineers for work at the Southwest Pass. After she was seized, sold and re-registered as a Confederate merchant there are two documented runs into New Orleans, one into Galveston and one into Mobile.
Regarding her gunboat conversion she was fitted with four guns as per John Roy's diary and Mallory's report. Besides lowering the boiler and protecting the machinery with an ironed wooden bulwark, she received an additional sheathing of the main deck with pine plank from aft her fore hatch to the main mast. Shot racks were placed below, bulkheads were fitted below to create shell rooms, store rooms, a head, a magazine and officer berths. In addition the rails were cut down in 'wake of her forward and aft pivot guns'. I would not be surprised if she was fitted with a third, light mizzen mast while in Berwick Bay. It would enhance her speed, assist in handling and give the impression from a distance, that she was a larger vessel than she was. Semmes had done this already converting the 2-masted Habana into the 3-masted Sumter. The cutdown rails would certainly give the reported (1 February 1862) appearance of a 'long, low steamer'. According to Waterman's account, if I recall correctly, Lovell ordered the withdrawal of all useful vessels from Berwick Bay to Vicksburg upon the initial bombardment of the lower forts. He gives a rather colorful account of the difficulties encountered in navigating a flooded Atchafalaya covered in thick overgrowth. They could barely keep their funnels clear, much less any additional rigging. It took them four days to make the Mississippi north of New Orleans. The A.B. Segar had been left behind, but the group included the Mobile, St. Marys (f. Herron, built 1862), and mailboat St. Marys (built 1858, l. Alexandria). Upon arrival at Yazoo City, she was employed as a guard boat until her crew was tapped to help man the Arkansas.
After being decommissioned, Brown selected her for conversion into an ironclad. She was relatively new, had good machinery already protected, was shallow drafted, screw propelled, armed and would need minimal modifications. Lacking a drydock, or even a flattened beach to careen a vessel, Brown probably would have extended a vertical casemate directly up from her hull sides like the Arkansas. She has too narrow to have angled sides. There is a voucher to pay for a Marsilly carriage in 1863 suggesting at least two broadside guns. I would imagine the pivot end guns would have fired through three ports and her funnel would have remained aft as originally placed. Her main deck after conversion would have been about a foot above waterline and partial bulwarks or railings would have remained fore and aft. She would have been a smaller version of the Arkansas.
References - The details discussed above come from the ORN, the NA (M346, M909, RG41, RG45, RG109) various Philadelphia and New Orleans newspapers, Cramp Collection at the Independence Seaport Museum and the Franklin Institute Special Collections. The last mentioned possessed a Cramp Table of Offsets that begins with the aft half of hull 107 - Bahia Honda, built in 1862. That vessel was built for a Cuban merchant for similar trade as the Mobile and was slightly larger. Comparing her lines to later built Cramp steamships shows a remarkable similarity in shape and form. I have come to believe that naval architects are like artists and have a consistent 'style or appearance' to their vessels, almost to the point that one can identify a builder by carefully looking at an image. If you want to know the Mobile's hull form look at the Bahia Honda, Zabiaka and other Cramp vessels of the era. They had consistent round sterns, narrow sharp bows and a sheer that descends to about a third of the hull and then begins to rise again. I believe that Table of Offsets book has now joined the other Cramp's material at the Independence Seaport Museum. The Reanie, Neafie & Co. workshop book is located in the Mariner's Museum.
I hope this is helpful.
All the best,
Bil