Matt's Model Boats

Mr. Telford's on the Intended Cumberland Canal; and Mr. Chapman's Further Observations Thereon  contains information about sailing flats as well as the ports which they visited. It is reported, on page 14, that sailing flats conveyed cargoes between Carlisle and Liverpool. Sailing flats, by crossing the Irish Sea, are claimed to have transported salt from the ports of the River Weaver to Dublin. An attempt is made, on page 21 of the third volume of Glossary of the Technical Terms Used in the Evidence Taken Before the Royal Commission of Labour , to draw a distinction between barges and lighters but it is concluded that the two types of vessel were indistinguishable from one another. Flats are described as lighters that were longer than canal boats and are reported, on page 22, to have been propelled by sails or by steam-engines. Sailing flats, on page 22, are claimed to have been designated as barges. It is reported, on page 24, that flats were boats that operated along the nav...

Pará -class monitos relied upon plates of wrought-iron and a backing of tropical hardwood, which covered the sides as well as the turrets of the river-craft, to resist the blows that they received from the batteries of the Paraguayan Army. Four and a half inches of wrought-iron plates, which were attached to fifteen-inches of solid timber, protected the sides of the fighting vessels. Six-inches of wrought-iron, which was backed by ten-inches of tropical hardwood, protected the turret from missiles. Humaitá, which was also known as Humayitá, prevented the Imperial Brazilian Navy from ascending the Paraguay River. A division of ironclads, which was stationed between Curupayty and Humaitá, awaited reinforcements from Brazil. Pará -class monitors, which arrived on the Paraguay River in the February of 1868, had been unable to participate in the earlier engagements that had occurred between the Allied armies and the forces of Francisco Solano López. A new division of ironclads, which includ...

Passaic -class monitors, which were built to the designs of Captain John Ericsson, were ironclads that mounted their guns in a single turret. Rear-admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont and Rear-admiral John Adolphus Dahlgren, during the time in which they commanded the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, directed the actions of the second generation of Ericsson batteries.  Passaic -class monitors, in the January of 1863, received their baptism of fire upon the waters of the Great Ogeechee River.  CSS Atlanta , which was an iron-cased ram that had been built upon the hull of a gun-runner, was blockaded by USS Passaic  at the time in which the Ogeechee River Expeditions were occurring. Fort McAllister, which had been established at Genesis Point, exchanged fire with the ironclads on more than one occasion.  CSS Rattlesnake , which was also known as  CSS Nashville , was destroyed by a  Passaic -class monitor while it took shelter beneath the batteries of Fort McAllis...