rty small gunboats for use in
Cuban waters.

For nearly ten years now Ericsson had devoted most of his energies to
the art of war. It was a time of change and unrest. Heavy guns and armor
had brought about a complete break with the past. The torpedo, which had
made its appearance in crude form during the Civil War, was attracting
more and more attention, and questions of naval offence and defence and
of the best governmental policy were attracting the serious attention of
all whose duty led them into relation with such matters. Into this
problem in its broadest aspects Ericsson threw himself in the early
'seventies with all the ardor of his younger days.

It is proper to explain here that there was one feature of the earlier
plans which were submitted to Napoleon III. in 1854, which he did not
embody in the "Monitor," and which, indeed, was omitted from all
published plans and descriptions of the system given out in former
years. This was a system of submarine or subaqueous attack, which, he
states in a letter to John Bourne, had attracted his attention since
1826. The time now seemed ripe for the presentation and development of
this idea, and he accordingly developed his designs for a torpedo, and
for a method of firing it under water from a gun carried in the bow of a
boat, and suitably opening to allow the discharge of the torpedo
projectile. This was Ericsson's so-called "Destroyer" system, and was
embodied finally in a boat called the "Destroyer," which he built in
company with his friend, Mr. C.H. Delamater, and with which he carried
on numerous experiments. In the end, however, the system did not commend
itself to the naval authorities, and the "Destroyer" was left on her
designer's hands, an instance of difference of opinion between Ericsson
and those charged with the duty of naval administration, and with no
supreme test of war to provide opportunity for the determination as to
which were the more correct in their judgment. With the "Destroyer,"
and his work in connection with her, closes the record of Ericsson's
connection with the advance in naval construction.

During these later years of his life it must not be supposed that he was
less busily occupied than in earlier life. His was a nature which knew
no rest, and to the last day of his life he was literally in the
harness. Only brief mention however can be made of some of the more
important lines of work which interested the closing years of
Ericsson's