19th CONGRESS, 1st SESSION.

Documents accompanying the President's Message.

was lost in a gale on the coast of Cuba, on the fourth of February last. The Beagle and Terrier have been sold under the law of the last session, entitled "An act to authorize the building of ten Sloops of War, and for other purposes." The latter recently arrived at Wil mington, North Carolina, in distress, an was disposed of, at public auction, at that place. The proceeds of the sales of the vessels sold, have been carried to the funds designated by law. The Decoy is still used as a store-ship, but will be sold on her return to the United States. The Sea Gull has been profitably converted into a Receiving vessel, at Philadelphia. Some of the barges have become useless, by decay, and the rest are retained on the Florida station.

The Fox, a schooner of fifty-three tons, is the only cruising vessel remaining, of those purchased under the "Act authorizing an additional naval force for the suppression of piracy."

The paper marked A exhibits the vessels in commission, and the station on which each is employed.

[Sen. and H. of R.

Immediately after the passage of that law, on the 34 March last, measures were taken to obtain such information, not then in the possession of the Department, as was necessary to a safe execution of the power, and this being procured, arrangements were made to send out Captains Bainbridge, Warrington, and Biddle, to make the selection of a site.

They sailed from Norfolk on the 13th of October, and arrived at Pensacola, after a very short passage, on the 25th; lost no time in completing a full examination of the places which were considered most likely to answer for such an establishment; and have made such a selec tion as their intelligence and discretion dictated. Their report was received at the Department on the first De cember, and has been transmitted to, and approved by, you. The orders under which they acted, together with their report, are annexed.

The experience of the Department, and personal observation during the last year, have entirely satisfied me The West India squadron now consists of the frigate that the greater part, if not the whole, of our Navy Cons ellation, corvette John Adams, sioop Hornet, brig Yards, are badly located; and that a very large propor Spark, schooners Grampus, Shark, and Fox, and the tion of the public money, which has been, and continstore ship Decoy, with the barges. The duties assign- ues to be, expended upon them, might have been sav ed to it have been signally accomplished. Several cap-ed, by a wiser location at the commencement. A detures of pirates were made, in the early part of the year, sire to avoid the recurrence of this evil induced me to of which the documents annexed furnish an account. adopt the mode of selecting the site for the Florida NaSince that time, the principal places where piracy exist. vy Yard; a mode in which the best skill would be exed have been diligently watched, and no complaints on ercised, in the absence of all private interests and the subject have been made, to the knowledge of the feelings. Department, for several months past.

Under the law of the last year, entitled "An act 211Captain Warrington, an active, systematic, and enter South Carolina, of St. Mary's, in Georgia, and of the thorizing an examination of the harbor of Charleston, in prising officer, commands in that quarter, and, seconded Coast of Florida, and for other purposes," surveys have as he is, by a commendable zeal and skill in his subordi- been made of the harbors mentioned, and such examinnate officers, it is believed that he will continue to re-ations and surveys of Pensacola and the Coast of Florida press that evil, which has, heretofore, produced so much procured, as seemed necessary to accomplish the objects anxiety and distress. of that law. The expediency of establishing a “Naval Depot" on the Gulf of Mexico, was determined at the last Session of Congress, and an apprópriation made for the purpose. What has been done by the Department, on that subject, will be seen by the preceding part of this report.

There have been thirteen deaths among the officers at tached to that squadron, occasioned by diseases contracted either in he vessels or in the ports of the West Indies.

Against danger from this cause, the commanding officer was particularly instructed to be upon his guard, and has, no doubt, been attentive to his orders; but severe exposures are incident to the service, and where so many officers are subjected to them, it must be expected that they will prove fatal to some; especially to those who are not very cautious in guarding their health We have been, however, so far fortunate, as to suffer less, from this cause, in the present than the preceding years, arising probably, in part, from a change in the size and character of the vessels employed; and steady attention is paid to the subject, and such arrangements made, as give the best hopes of lessening the evil. Although sickness has prevailed at Thompson's Island to a dis tressing extent, it has been less severe than heretofore. Two officers have died there, and their deaths are probably not to be attributed solely to the climate.

The station at that place having been found unhealthy, a surrender of the buildings occupied by the War Department, at Pensacola, was obtained for the purpose, and arrangements made early in the Spring, for the removal of the stores, &c. to them. An order for the transfer was issued on the 24th of May, to be sent by the Decoy; but an unexpected accident delayed the sailing of that vessel until the 13th July, and she had an unusually long passage of between forty and fifty days. The transfer has since been made, and Pensacola is now the rendezvous of the squadron, and will continue so: the site for a Navy Yard and Depot having been selected, at that place under the act of Congress, entitled "An act authorizing the establishment of a Navy Yard and Depot on the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico."

A detailed statement of the surveys of Charleston and St. Mary's, to be accompanied by a chart, is now preparing, by the officers who were employed on that duty, may be communicated in the progress of the Session, should it be wished, and will be some guide in forming an opinion “on the expediency of establishing a Navy Yard, at either of those places, for the building and repairing of sloops of war and other vessels of an inferior class.'

There are still, perhaps, one or two places on the Coast of Georgia and South Carolina, which it would be proper to survey, but the appropriation is expended. These surveys, with others which have, from time to time, been made under the direction of the Department, have, to a certain extent, been useful, but they have also been very expensive, in proportion to their usefulness. Made under special appropriations, and special acts of Congress, the officers, and other means for their execution were to be collected at the time, and all the expense of organizing those means to be encountered at the commencement of every survey, and to be disposed of at its termination; a large part of the appropriations has necessarily been expended for this purpose; and I would respectfully suggest, that a more regular and systematic, and, therefore, economical plan, should be adopted. Our whole coast ought to be surveyed. The acquaintance with it, of our best informed men, both on land and water, is much more superficial than it ought to be. There is scarcely a mile of it which is thoroughly known. Hence our commerce, and the interests of our Navy, suffer greatly, even in time of peace, and, in war, are unnecessarily hazarded. The last war exhibited, in

Documents accompanying the President's Message.

Inconveniencies having been, heretofore, felt, in the Fisheries to the North, particularly in the Bay of Fundy, and on the coast of Newtoundland, it was thought that The schooner Porpoise will sail in a few days to join the presence of a public vessel might be useful there. the squadron, and will carry orders for the frigate Bran- The schooner Porpoise, under the command of Master dy wine to return to the United States, with the view to Commandant Parker, was, therefore, sent, early in prepare her for a cruise in the Pacific, to relieve the fri- June; and, after making an examination, throughout gate United States, in the course of the coming Sum- the line of fisheries, as far North as 55° 9 of latitude, mer. It would, probably, be better not to lessen the returned to New York, on the 25th of October. The force now in the Mediterranean, but it cannot be avoid-reports of Captain Parker have been satisfactory, and ed, unless such an appropriation should be made, as to enable the Department to put another frigate or ship of the line in commission.

Our naval force in the Pacific still consists of the frigate United States, the sloop of war Peacock, and the schooner Dolphin, under the command of Captain Hull. Our commerce in that Ocean having suffered severely from the war between Spain and South America, being alternately the prey of those who used the flag of both parties, a determination was formed to recommend Due attention has been paid to the Agency for recapsuch an increase of our force as would be sufficient to tured Africans, and vessels, from time to time, sent to command respect, and security for our interests, on eve-it, and to accomplish the objects of the laws for the sup

19th CONGRESS, 1st SESSION.

Documents accompanying the President's Message.

pression of the Slave Trade. No information has been received of our flag being used in that trade, although it continues to exist, and it is to be feared that some of our Citizens are engaged in it. The situation of the Agency has not been materially changed since the last communication respecting it.

The expenditures during the year, so far as yet known, are $12,900 31, and it will be necessary to make an additional appropriation for its support, in the course of the present session. The number of Africans sent to it will be greatly increased in the next three or four months. A decision of the Supreme Court in the case of the General Ramirez, placed under the control of the Government from 125 to 130, who were brought into Georgia, and arrangements are making to send them to the Agency.

[Sen, and H. of R.

taken, the first appropriation should be for fifteen or eighteen months,

2d. By reducing the number of heads, under which the appropriation for the service is made, and continuing those heads permanently.

It would be more practicable, under this arrangement, than it now is, to make the investigation and preserve a rigid accountability.

The appropriation, so far as the Contingent is concerned, has been, within the two last years, changed, and the sum appropriated, ordered to be expended, only, on the contingencies of the year in which the bills were passed.

Two difficulties have arisen, which it is my duty to mention:

1st. Much of the year had expired before the law was The paper G shows the naval officers who have died passed, and the Agents and Pursers informed of it; they since the 1st December, 1824. It contains the names of of course had, until that time, paid the money and transsome of the most promising, active, and meritorious, at mitted the accounts, under the old forms. An effort the head of whom is that of Commodore M'Donough. has been made to correct this unavoidable error, and to His loss is deeply to be deplored, both on account of the settle the accounts by the principle laid down in the splendid services he has performed, and the useful ex-law, but it has proved very ineffectual. It is next to ample of private and public worth, which he exhibited impossible to retrace the items, and place them under their proper heads; and, where money has been paid, on debts really due by the Government, for the preceding years, it could not be recovered.

to his brother officers.

Paper H shows the resignations during the present

year.

Paper I is a Report of the Expenditures for the Naval Service during the year.

The estimates for the ordinary service of the ensuing year will be found in the papers marked K.

Should any, or all of the objects recommended in this report find favor with Congress,additional appropriations, to a small amount, will be required. The form of the estimates is the same as that of last year, both being dictated by the understanding which the Department has of the wishes of Congress on the subject. The reasons for any change which exists in the amount of any of the items, will be found in this report.

In the 2nd place, many of our officers are on foreign stations, and at such a distance from the Seat of Government, that their claims in preceding years could not be transmitted for settlement, until after the passage of the existing law, and therefore, when presented, payment was denied to them. The Department had no right to use the appropriation for the satisfaction of any claims which originated before the beginning of the year.

Yet the claims were just; the Government owed the money; the debt was honestly and fairly contracted under the law, as existing and known to the Department and officer. The effect on the service and the individual, has been severely felt.

Another difficulty which has been encountered, and to which legislative attention will, no doubt, be directed, at no distant period, is that of procuring and enlist. ing seamen. Our vessels are sometimes detained by it an inconvenient length of time, occasioning much additional expense, and depriving us of their active service at sea. The higher wages, and stronger inducements held out by the merchant service, and the temptations presented by other Governments, are the active causes which produce this state of things, at this time.

One of the most serious inconveniences under which the Department labors in the administration of the concerns of the Navy, is the time at which the appropriation bills are passed by Congress. They are passed in the short sessions, late in February, and, in the long sessions, generally in May, so that, during a period of from onefourth to a third of the year, the Department is left without funds previously appropriated, and must, of necessity, permit expenditures not yet legally authorized. Another evil results: It is the will of Congress often to change the wording and character of the appropriation, and, after the bill is passed, it is a month or six weeks The Department has endeavored to escape the evil before the instructions under the new appropriation can by such arrangements as, being within its power, probe given to and acted upon by the Agents. It conse-mised to have most effect. Among them, is that of quently follows, that, for nearly one-half of the year, the placing at each of the principal recruiting stations, a ves Department acts in perfect ignorance of the law under sel not calculated for the sea, but fitted up with the which it is bound to act. Expenditures are made under same comfort, and officered and governed in the same one form, when they ought to have been made under way as if in actual commission, to which the recruit can another. The law is, necessarily, not complied with, be sent, and there kept until he can be transferred to because it is passed after the act is performed. Infinite the vessel in which he is to sail. One or two have alconfusion is created in settling the accounts, and it is im-ready been prepared for the purpose, and others will possible for any talent or any industry ever to have them be, without delay. This arrangement is still matter of rendered and settled, in that plain and simple manner experiment, and the effect may not prove beneficial. in which they ought always to be exhibited, and in which The benefits promised are, that the seamen, assured of they must be exhibited if any efficient control is to be immediate comfort, will more readily enlist; their health had by Congress or the Department, over that branch will be promoted, and the diseases contracted on shore of the service. The accounting officers do all that capa- removed; they will be disciplined and trained, so as to city and labor can accomplish, but they cannot settle an be, at once, useful; fewer desertions will take place; account according to the forms of a law not yet in exis. they can be employed in the yards, should circumstantence; nor can they, every year, alter the items, open ces call for it; and our vessels, when they arrive, and new books, meet the errors resulting from this cause, in discharge those whose service has expired, be again accounts transmitted from a distance, and yet settle the manned, without delay. But the arrangements of the accounts of the year within the year. A remedy might Department, however useful, must be comparatively inbe found in two circumstances: efficient to remove the evils suggested. The remedy rests with the power which can establish permanent re gulations, which will tend both to increase the number of seamen, and bind them more permanently to our pub

1st. An earlier passage of the appropriation bill, or by making the year end on the 1st April, and always passing the bills before that day. If the latter mode be

Documents accompanying the President's Message. [Sen. and H. of R.

Under the authority given by the second section of An allowance book for all the wants of each vessel this law, sale has been made of the whole of the public of the several classes, has been prepared with great care, vessels upon Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain, exby the Board of Navy Commissioners, and approved by cept the ships of the line New Orleans and Chippewa, the Department; a copy of which will be sent to each at Sackett's Harbor, and the schooner Ghent at Erie. of the yards, and be the invariable guide in preparing Almost the whole of the public property at those pla our vessels for sea. If to this were added, a proper arces has also been sold or ordered to be transported to rangement of the buildings, materials, and stores, in the yard, a very small portion of the time now spent in port, would be required, and our vessels be able to render much more service at sea.

the Navy Yards on the Atlantic, and the stations will be broken up, as soon as those orders can be executed, leaving only an officer and one or two men at each, to look after such property as it may be found impossible or inexpedient to remove. For the expense attending these operations, no appropriation was made, during the last session of Congress, the estimates having been preThe annexed letter to the Commissioners of the Navy, sented before the law for the sale of the vessels on the marked L, and their report, marked F, in paper K, will Lakes was passed, or the direction given for the remov show the progress that has been made in executing theal of the stores. It has therefore diminished the conlaw, passed on the 3d March last, "To authorize the tingent fund to an unexpected extent, and created a building of ten sloops of war, and for other purposes."necessity for an addition to the appropriation of the

Documents accompanying the President's Message. [Sen. and H. of R.

present year. It is, however, a temporary expense, and less than is required for the support of those stations, and will avoid the necessity of making estimates for them, after the present year, saving annually about twenty-five thousand dollars.

the next year, for information respecting the office of the Chief Engineer, which subject was also included in the instructions.

The fiscal operations of the Engineer Department, referring to the several subjects to be embraced by this In this first annual report to you, I would respectful report, as above stated, are exhibited in the accompanyly call your attention to the wants of the service, in rela- ing table, marked K. The amounts available, for the tion to discipline, efficiency, and economy. These mat-respective operations, as derived from the appropriations ters have been presented and urged by me in reports to passed at the last session of Congress; the balances of your predecessor and to Congress. To repeat my views former appropriations undrawn from the Treasury, and on them would be superfluous; I therefore respectful- the balances remaining in the hands of the agents on the ly refer you to the reports, particularly those which are 30th September, 1824; the amounts applied to the res dated 24th January, 1824, and 1st January, 1825. pective operations during the year ending on the 30th of September last; the balances undrawn from the Treasu30th of September last; and the amounts of accounts, for disbursements applied to the respective operations during the year ending on the 30th of September last, which have been rendered and settled, are shewn in this table. The aggregate cost of the several Fortifications, and other operations under construction on the 30th of September last, and the amounts requisite for their completion, respectively, are also shewn. The accounts rendered and settled, embrace all the disbursements made under the Engineer Department during the year ending on the 30th of September last, with the exception of a small amount, and exhibit satisfactory evidence of the faithful application of the moneys advanced for expenditure during that period, except the small amount for which accounts have not been rendered, as above stated; of the faithful application of which amount, the reports of the progress of the operations to which it has been applied, leave no room to doubt.

Without an organization of some kind,-without a revision of our penal code, and of our rules and regulary, and those remaining in the hands of agents on the tions, and without a Naval School, tardy amendments may be made in the naval service, and in its administration, but it is in vain to hope for speedy, useful, and very practical changes. The power of the Department is unequal to such objects. Even the exercise of the power properly belonging to it, without legislative aid in other respects, would produce unpleasant excitement and complaints. With the aid which has been heretofore earnestly entreated from Congress, it is confidently believed that a system, more prompt, more efficient, and more economical, could readily be introduced. The experience of the present year has confirmed, most strongly, the views taken, on all the subjects mentioned in the reports to which I refer you.

Very respectfully, &c.

SAM. L. SOUTHARD.

List of Vessels of the United States' Navy in commission, and their stations.

West Indies.
Coast of Brazil.
West Indies.

North Carolina,
Brandywine,

Constitution,

44 S

United States,

44

Pacific.

Constellation,

36

Cyane,

24

John Adams

24

The Fortifications for which plans have been project. ́ed by the Board of Engineers, and which have not yet been commenced, are arranged in the accompanying table, marked I, in three classes, referring to the order in which they should be commenced; and the estimate of the expense of its construction is stated opposite to each.

The Board of Engineers for Fortifications were occupied during the early part of last winter, in completing the memoirs and estimates for the Fortifications projected for the defence of Portland, Salem, Marblehead, Boston, Canonnicut Island, the Patuxent river, and for Bogue Point and the mouth of Cape Fear river, in North Carolina; in preparing an estimate for the repair of Fort Delaware; in examining the plans and models of machiues for removing snags, sawyers, and other impediments of that nature, from the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and in selecting that which they conceived to be entitled to the premium of one thousand dollars, which was offered by advertisement for the plan or model which should be preferred by the Board of Engineers. In the month of March the Board was temporarily dissolved, and since that period, the members have been separately employed in inspecting the Forts on the Gulf of Mexico, Forts Monroe and Calhoun, Fort Delaware, and the Fort at New Utrecht Point, called Report from the Engineer Department. Fort Hamilton, and in examining the Island of NanReport of the operations of the Engineer Department, dur-tucket. ing the year ending on the 30th of September, 1825. ENGINEER Department, November 21st, 1825. Sin: I have the honor to present the following as the Annual Report of the operations conducted under the direction of the Engineer Department, during the year ending on the 30th of September last, and to refer to it, as affording the information required to be furnished, by the instructions contained in your letter of the 3d ult., on the subjects of Fortifications, Internal Improvements, and the Military Academy; and I beg leave to refer to the general estimate of funds required for conducting the operations under the Engineer Department during

The results exhibited in the table marked K, respecting the application to Fortifications, and other operations under construction, of the funds available for the service of the year ending on the 30th of September last, are derived from statements, exhibiting, in minute detail, all the means applied, whether of materials or workmanship, and the cost of each kind, under eah head, respectively. From these statements, and from memoirs and drawings illustrative of them, which are also in the pos session of this Department, the following summary of the operations adverted to, has been collated.

Of these operations, there were commenced this year, the Fortification on Oak Island, at the mouth of Cape Fear River, and that on Bogue Point, near Beaufort, both