is enthusiastic as to very small craft and
somewhat restrained as to large boats. A few projects are under
development for double-hull craft, power and sail, of over 90-foot
length, including an oceanographic research vessel. In general, however,
the performance of double-hull boats has shown that Chapman's estimate
of the type was reasonably correct and that there are limitations,
particularly in maneuverability in the double-hull craft that could have
been found by reference to the history of past experiments with the
type.

NAVAL STEAMERS.

THE DEMOLOGOS; OR, FULTON THE FIRST.

At the close of the year eighteen hundred and thirteen, Robert Fulton
exhibited to the President of the United States, the original drawing
from which the engraving on Plate One is sketched, being a
representation of the proposed war-steamer or floating-battery, named by
him, the Demologos. This sketch possesses more than ordinary interest,
from the circumstance that it is, doubtless, the only record of the
_first war-steamer in the world_, designed and drawn by the immortal
Fulton, and represented by him to the Executive, as capable of carrying
a strong battery, with furnaces for red hot shot, and being propelled by
the power of steam, at the rate of _four_ miles an hour.

It was contemplated that this vessel, besides carrying her proposed
armament on deck, should also be furnished with submarine guns, two
suspended from each bow, so as to discharge a hundred pound ball into an
enemy's ship at ten or twelve feet below her water-line. In addition to
this, her machinery was calculated for the addition of an engine which
would discharge an immense column of water upon the decks, and through
the port-holes of an enemy, making her the most formidable engine for
warfare that human ingenuity has contrived.

The estimated cost of the vessel was three hundred and twenty thousand
dollars, nearly the sum requisite for a frigate of the first class.

The project was zealously embraced by the Executive, and the national
legislature in March, eighteen hundred and fourteen, passed a law,
authorizing the President of the United States to cause to be built,
equipped, and employed, one or more floating batteries, for the defense
of the waters of the United States.

The building of the vessel was committed by the Coast and Harbor Defense
Association, to a sub-committee of five gentlemen, who were recognized
by the Government as their agents for that