A gun crew of 6 to 14 men wrestled with this 5,600-pound gun. To adjust elevation, a crew member placed a handspike on one of the steps (A) and levered the breech (B) up or down; the gun captain slid the quoin (C) in or out.]
Specifications: Length overall: 204 ft. Beam (width): 43.5 ft. Displacement: 2,200 tons Draft: 22.5 ft. Hull: 15 to 20 in. thick Speed: 13-14 knots Crew: 450-470 Armament in 1812: 30, 24-pounders; 22, 32-pounder carronades; two 24-pounder & one 18-pounder bow chasers on the forecastle
1 Quarter boat 2 Quarterdeck 3 Captain’s quarters 4 Captain’s day cabin 5 Officers’ staterooms 6 Bread room 7 Ship’s wheel 8 Wardroom 9 Cartridge filling room 10 Powder magazine 11 Spirit room 12 Cockpit (junior officers’ quarters) 13 Anchor capstan 14 Bilge pumps 15 Shot locker 16 Spar deck (open) 17 Gun deck 18 Berthing deck (crew hung its hammocks on this deck) 19 Orlop deck (storage) 20 Hold 21 Ballast 22 Anchor cables 23 24-pounder guns 24 Long boat 25 32-pounder carronades 26 Galley 27 Sail locker 28 Sand room 29 Rigging blocks 30 Sick bay 31 Forecastle 32 Manger 33 Crew’s head
Sail area, with studding sails (not shown), was more than 43,000 sq. ft.]
1 Flying jib 2 Outer jib 3 Inner jib 4 Fore topmast staysail 5 Foresail 6 Fore topsail 7 Fore topgallant sail 8 Fore royal 9 Fore skysail 10 Mainsail 11 Main topsail 12 Main topgallant sail 13 Main royal 14 Main skysail 15 Spanker 16 Mizzen topsail 17 Mizzen topgallant sail 18 Mizzen royal 19 Mizzen skysail
[Illustration: _Sinking of Union sloop_ Cumberland _by Confederate ironclad_ Virginia (_ex-U.S.S._ Merrimack) _in 1862, by Alexander C. Stuart_.]
_Merrimack_, _Virginia_, _Cumberland_: names that point up the ironies of war. As the steam frigate _Merrimack_ was being launched in July 1855 (_see pages 32-33_), the partially built ship-of-the-line _Virginia_ lay in another part of the yard. It had been laid down and named in the 1820s, a more harmonious time. Even if the old 74 had finally come down the ways, it is not likely that, amidst the sectional acrimony of the 1850s, it would have kept the old name—and certainly not after the secession of the state whose namesake it was.
A year after _Merrimack’s_ launching, the frigate was back in the yard after going aground during its shakedown cruise (when the crew becomes familiar with a ship and problems are ironed out). While workers replaced damaged coppering and repaired the propeller on the big warship, a smaller sail frigate waited its turn.