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BUREAU OF STEAM ENGINEERING

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

Bureau of Steam Engineering, November 3, 1869. SIR: I was appointed to take charge of this bureau March 17, 1869, at which date seventeen wooden ships had returned from sea and were laid up at the various navy yards, their machinery unfit for service, two only of this number being under repairs, viz., the Juniata, at the Philadelphia navy yard, and the Lancaster, at the navy yard, Norfolk. Of the sea-going iron-clads not one was in a condition to be sent immediately to sea. The machinery of a large number of the vessels in the several squadrons was also reported as requiring repairs more or less extensive. Many of these vessels have since returned home.

All work in the navy yards pertaining to keeping the machinery of vessels in a fit condition for service, except on the Juniata and Lancaster, had been for some time suspended, and all vessels were being laid up in the condition in which they returned. In point of fact, there was not a sufficient number of men employed in the engineering department of any of the yards to prevent the machinery from deteriorating. Had this state of affairs continued, it is evident that the machinery of all the vessels then at the navy yards, and of other vessels returning from active service and laid up, would have become totally disabled.

The appropriation for the bureau for the fiscal year 1869–770 was only $650,000, while the unexpended balance of previous appropriations was very small, making the available means of the bureau for the remaining portion of the fiscal year 1868–69, and for the fiscal year 1869–70, about $800,000. From this amount it was the intention of my predecessor to pay for machinery being constructed under contracts made during the war and not yet completed, viz., one pair of engines known as the 100-inch diameter of cylinders, and boilers for the same; one pair of engines known as the 60 by 36-inch cylinders, with accompanying boilers-these engines and boilers were being built by the Corliss Steam Engine Works, at Providence, Rhode Island. Messrs. John , Roach & Son, of the Morgan Iron Works, of New York, were building three sets of engines and boilers of the 60 by 36-inch cylinder class, and D. McLeod, esq., of the South Brooklyn Iron Works, one set of engines and boilers of the same class. Upon the completion of these engines and boilers according to the terms of the several contracts there would have been due the builders $424,068. There were also being built, under contract with several parties, machinery and tools for the various navy yards, on which, upon completion of the work, there would be due $345,992, making an aggregate of $770,060 for engines, boilers, tools, &c. Out of the funds of the bureau this left only $30,000 available for the repairs of machinery of vessels on foreign stations and at the yards, the purchase of oil, stores, tools, &c., and for the pay of the mechanics and laborers employed in the engineering departments of the several yards.

With these facts before me the attention of the bureau was first directed toward obtaining information as to what progress had been made in the work under contract, the amount to be done, what payments, if any, were due, and the best disposition that could be made of the machinery. With these objects in view the department ordered a board of officers to visit the establishments of the several contractors and to report, in accordance with instructions, whatever information on the above points it obtained. Upon the reception of the report of this

board it was determined, under instructions from the department, to stop all further work on the engines and boilers, remove them from the workshops of the contractors in their then unfinished condition to the navy yards, cancel the contracts, and settle with the contractors. This course was adopted, first, for the reason that none of these engines or boilers were needed or likely to be for a long time. Second, the money that would be required to meet the future payments on these contracts could be more advantageously used in making necessary repairs to machinery already afloat. The sum of $259,068 40 was found to be due on this machinery when work was ordered to be suspended, upon deciding to pay which the contracts were settled and cancelled, and the machinery removed to the navy yards, at a cost of $15,475. This left an unexpended balance from this source of $149,524 60, to be devoted to the more immediate and pressing necessities of the service.

In relation to the tools building for the several navy yards that had been contracted for previous to the 4th of March, 1869, it was decided by the department to allow the contractors to complete and deliver them, but the payments to be deferred until Congress should make the necessary appropriations therefor. With the funds rendered available. by cancelling the contracts for machinery and deferring the payments on tools, the bureau proceeded with all due vigor to repair the machinery of vessels laid up, and of others ordered to be prepared for service.

Since the date referred to at the beginning of this report, fifteen vessels have returned from the different squadrons and been placed under repairs on the Atlantic coast, and four at Mare Island, on the Pacific coast, making thirty-six in all undergoing repairs at this time in the various navy yards. In addition to these, the machinery of nine ironclads and also of seven new vessels, which were in an advanced state, has been completed ready for sea. Of the vessels under repairs, niné lave had their boilers condemned and removed and new ones ordered to te placed on board, while extensive repairs have been and are being nade to their machinery.

The steam power of the frigate Colorado has been increased by the addition of two extra boilers, selected from those in store, and two auxiliary boilers, also selected from those on hand, are being prepared for each of the frigates Minnesota and Wabash, while their engines are being thoroughly refitted and repaired.

Three of the four iron-clads now on the stocks at the navy yards, viz., the Colossus, at New York, the Massachusetts, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and the Oregon, at Boston, have been received in an unfinished condition, and the contractors settled with. It is estimated that an expenditure of $70,000 will be required to complete the machinery of each of these vessels. In the case of the fourth, the Nebraska, at the Philadelphia navy yard, the contractors for her machinery-Messrs. Pusey, Jones & Co., of Wilmington, Delaware-will have unsettled. claims amounting to $40,000, should it be decided to carry their contract to completion.

It is reasonably certain that a large number of the vessels on foreign stations will also require new boilers and extensive repairs to their machinery on their arrival home.

By order of the department four of the eight boilers of the Tennessee (formerly the Madawasca) have been removed, and orders have been given to remove four of the eight boilers from the Florida, (formerly the Wampanoag,) for the purpose of affording additional room for the storage of coal and stores, and for the better accommodation of the crew.

By order of the department the four-bladed screw propellers have

been removed from the Severn, Guerriere, Pensacola, Ossipee, Ticonderoga, Shenandoah, Nantasket, Swatara, Resaca, Congress, California, Tennessee, Nipsic, and Kansas, and instead thereof two-bladed screws were substituted in all except the Severn, to which vessel a Mangin screw was applied. These changes were made with a view of increasing the efficiency of the vessels under sail, reserving the reduced steam power to be used in entering and leaving port and in calms. The trial of the Mangin screw as applied to the Severn having proved unsatisfactory, it has been removed and a two-bladed screw put on.

In view of the decreased amount of work performed in the navy yards, resulting from the reduction of the hours of labor from ten to eight under the recent act of Congress, and the difficulty of procuring skilled and reliable workmen at some of the yards, the bureau entered into contract with Messrs. Merrick & Sons, of Philadelphia, for the complete repair of the machinery of the Brooklyn and its erection on board the ship. In its decision of this matter the bureau was also controlled to some extent by the desire to have a practical test as to whether the repairs to the machinery of naval vessels could not be made in less time and at less cost by well-known reputable engine establishments than if done in the government workshops, especially where, as in this case, the repairs are extensive.

It will be found to be true economy to place the machinery of every naval vessel in complete order, and at all times to maintain it in that condition ready for any emergency.

All the navy yards, except the Pensacola yard, have been visited by the chief of the bureau, the engineering department of each inspected, and the vessels under repairs examined. This became necessary n order to obtain a knowledge of the facilities for doing work at each yarl and of the manner in which the several departments were being con ducted.

The usual yearly contracts for supplies for the engineering departmen of the navy were not made during the fiscal year 1868-'69, nor has an been made for the present fiscal year, in consequence of the smallness a the appropriation. The consumption has been restricted wherever pos sible, and, with some necessary purchases, the supplies left from previous years have thus far sufficed.

The estimates for the next fiscal year will be found in the accompanying papers, marked A, B, and C. These estimates are the lowest for which the necessary operations of the bureau can be performed, and include no provision for extraordinary contingencies, nor do they include any provision for the deficiency needed to carry on the work until July 1, 1870.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

J. W. KING, Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.

Hon. GEO. M. ROBESON,
Secretary of the Navy.

BUREAU OF PROVISIONS AND CLOTHING.

BUREAU OF PROVISIONS AND CLOTHING,
Washington, November 1, 1869.

SIR: I have the honor to submit, in compliance with instructions, estimates marked A, B, C, and D, and schedules and statement marked E,

F, and G, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871. No estimate is made for clothing, as the balance on hand is considered sufficient for the next fiscal year.

I deem it proper to renew the recommendation of my predecessor in office for an increase of the salaries of the clerks to paymasters of navy yards and stations, and to paymasters and inspectors in charge of provisions and clothing at navy yards and stations, so as to place them, in regard to pay, on an equality with other clerks in navy yards, whose duties are not more arduous or responsible than theirs.

The recent order of the department requiring semi-monthly, instead of monthly payments, to the mechanics and others employed in navy yards, has greatly increased the labor of paymasters' clerks.

The policy, and indeed justice of supplying sailors, on their enlistment in the navy, with an outfit of clothing, free of cost to them, has been before so forcibly represented to the department, that I only deem it necessary to allude to it. The necessity of making some provision of this kind for the sailor is daily becoming more apparent, and I most earnestly recommend the measure to the favorable consideration of the department, as one well calculated to promote the best interests of the navy.

It is proposed to issue to the crews of vessels on some of our foreign stations coffee in the berry, in lieu of the ground coffee generally in use in the navy. But as coffee, in the process of roasting, loses considerably in weight, I would suggest that the ration of coffee, when issued in the unroasted berry, be increased to one and one-fourth ounces; the ration of ground coffee being one ounce per day for each person. Coffee roasters, it is believed, can be attached to the galleys of vessels with but little expense.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

EDWARD T. DUNN,

Hon. GEO. M. ROBESON,

Secretary of the Navy.

Chief of Bureau.

BUREAU OF MEDICINE AND SURGERY.

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, November 6, 1869.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report, together with estimates of the amount required for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871.

The estimates presented include the necessary cost of supplying the civil force, and the furniture for two new hospitals now in process of construction, one at Annapolis, Maryland, and the other at Mare Island, California; both of which will be completed within the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871.

In March, 1867, the last appropriations were made for "surgeons' necessaries and appliances," and for "contingent." Up to the present time the unexpended balances under those appropriations have been sufficient for the demands upon them, and will continue to meet the wants for the current fiscal year, although a larger demand is made upon the appropriation "surgeons' necessaries and appliances," by the recent practice of furnishing the officers' families with medicines and medical attendance.

RECEIVING SHIPS.

Pursuing the system heretofore adopted of per-capita estimates, and assuming the number to be employed during the term covered by the estimates to be twelve thousand, an appropriation will be required of seventy-two thousand dollars, upon the basis of an expenditure of six dollars per man, for all causes involving the disbursement of the funds of this bureau.

I submit tabular statements of sick, &c., compiled from the reports of sick from the different naval stations within the United States, and from vessels on home and foreign service, for the year ending December 31, 1868:

Statement of sick, compiled from reports of sick from the naval stations in the United States, and from vessels in commission on home and foreign stations for the year ending December 31, 1868.

Percentage of deaths to whole number of

cases treated.