Naval Construction in 1813

NAVAL CONSTRUCTION IN 1813.

Messrs. Editors : -- I have been thinking that if the British

Admiralty knew how fast we can work on this side of the At-

lantic, when a fleet or a fortress is to be taken, it may be they

would have given an order for enough vessels of light draught

of water to have taken Cronstadt during the present season,

and perhaps have ended the war at once.

[p. 161] It has been said that what has been done once can be done

again.

The schooner Sylph, carrying 14 guns, 4 long 32's, and 10

6's, was built on Lake Ontario during the war of 1812, in the

short space of two weeks. On the same day on which she was

launched, the masts were put in, and the rigging over the mastheads ; on the second day, she was rigged, manned, and the

guns mounted ; her mainmast was 127 feet long, her mainsail

had over 90 feet hoist ; she had a lug foresail, with 2 bonnets ;

her standing jib had also 2 bonnets ; she had a fore topsail and

topgallant-sail, with a foreyard of 60 feet, a square-sail that

spread the yard and reached the deck ; a main gaff topsail, and

main-topmast staysail, completed her suit of canvas. On the

third day after launching she was ready for a cruise. One hun-

dred of this class of vessels could be built now in the same

length of time, inasmuch as the facilities are much greater now

than they were then. So thinks an

OLD SALT ON THE LAKES.