CHAPTER IV

NAVAL PREPARATION

AT the time trouble with France began the United States had no armed vessels whatever, if we except a few small revenue cutters manned by crews of half a dozen each. Five vessels only of the Revolutionary navy had outlived the vicissitudes of the war, and these had been disposed of long before, the last survivor having been the frigate Alliance, which was sold in 1785. The officers and men, too, of the Revolutionary navy and marine corps had of course been disbanded. One or two of the officers were employed by the Treasury Department on the revenue cutters, and others were in the merchant marine. Some of them were to reënter the national service later when the new navy became established.

No sooner had the old navy disappeared than the need of such a force began to be appreciated. In 1785 two American merchantmen were seized by Algerine pirates and their crews enslaved. Jefferson, then minister to France, began at once to urge the necessity of a naval force to protect American commerce in the Mediterranean. His efforts, however, were not effectively seconded. A committee of Congress in 1786 and a Senate committee in 1791 reported favorably on the subject, and in 1790 and

1791 estimates of the cost of building frigates were obtained by the Secretary of War and submitted to the Senate, but nothing came of these movements. It was not until after the capture by the Algerines of eleven more vessels in 1793 that any decided action was taken by the government. A bill providing for six frigates, four of forty-four guns each and two of thirty-six, was reported in the House of Representatives, January 20, 1794, which passed both houses of Congress and received the President's signature March 27. Opposition to the bill was strong, and it was only allowed to pass when so amended as to include the condition that all work on the ships should cease in case of peace being concluded with Algiers. This condition was met by the treaty of September 5, 1795. Nevertheless, by the supplementary act of April 20, 1796, the completion of three of the frigates was authorized. An act of June 5, 1794, provided for ten galleys, if "necessary for the protection of the United States," but the necessity did not arise.1

The vessels built under the act of March 27, 1794, were designed by, or under the direction of, Joshua Humphreys, a shipbuilder of Philadelphia, who was no doubt the best man in the country for the purpose. His good sense and foresight inaugurated a policy in naval construction which has been gen

1 Naval Chronicle, ch. ii; Naval Affairs, vol. i, pp. 5, 25; Report Senate Committee, vol. iv, p. 5; Statutes at Large, vol. i, pp. 350, 376, 394, 453; Benton's Debates of Congress, vol. i, pp. 473–482; Naval Institute, September, 1906, pp. 1002, 1003.

erally, though not always, adhered to ever since; that is, the wise policy of building the best and most powerful vessels of their class. Humphreys' views are set forth in his correspondence. He had been interested in the subject from the time a new navy had first been proposed, and in January, 1793, had written to Robert Morris, then in the Senate: "Ships that compose the European navys are generally distinguished by their rates; but as the situation and depth of water of our coasts and harbors are different in some degrees from those in Europe, and as our navy for a considerable time will be inferior in numbers, we are to consider what size ships will be most formidable and be an overmatch for those of an enemy; such frigates as in blowing weather would be an overmatch for double-deck ships, and in light winds to evade coming to action; or double-deck ships that would be an overmatch for common double-deck ships, and in blowing weather superior to ships of three decks, or in calm weather or light winds to outsail them. Ships built on these principles will render those of an enemy in a degree useless, or require a greater number before they dare attack our ships. Frigates I suppose will be the first object, and none ought to be built less than 150 feet keel, to carry twenty-eight 32pounders or thirty 24-pounders on the gun deck and 12-pounders on the quarter-deck. . . . Frigates built to carry 12 and 18-pounders, in my opinion, will not answer the expectation contemplated from