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H. Wager Halleck , A. M. , Lieut. of Engineers, U. S. Army ., Elements of Military Art and Science; or, Course of Instruction in Strategy, Fortification, Tactis of Battles &c., Embracing the Duties of Staff, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery and Engineers. Adapted to the Use of Volunteers and Militia., Chapter 7: sea-coast defences..—Brief description of our maritime fortifications, with an Examination of the several Contests that have taken place between ships and forts, including the attack on San Juan d'ulloa, and on St. Jean d'acre (search)
n night; and that Nelson, notwithstanding, could see nothing of the enemy himself, and hear nothing of them from merchant vessels, we may judge of the probability of waylaying our adversary on the broad Atlantic. The escape of another Toulon fleet in 1805; the long search for them in the Mediterranean by the same able officer; the pursuit in the West Indies; their evasion of him among the islands; the return to Europe; his vain efforts subsequently, along the coast of Portugal, in the bay of Biscay, and off the English channel; and the meeting at last at Trafalgar, brought about only because the combined fleets, trusting to the superiority that the accession of several reinforcements had given, were willing to try the issue of a battle — these are instances, of the many that might be cited, to show how small is the probability of encountering upon the ocean an enemy who desires to avoid a meeting, and how little the most untiring zeal, the most restless activity, the most exalted p
Rebellion Record: a Diary of American Events: Documents and Narratives, Volume 9. (ed. Frank Moore), Foreign accounts of the fight. (search)
China seas, at the Cape, in the Channel again? What a wonderful vessel! The Flying Dutchman was a galliot compared with her! What a wonderful captain, to be always pursuing and never caught! And certainly the simple feat of keeping at sea in all weathers for two years without intermission, or breaking down, or repairs, may well strike with admiring wonder a public accustomed to read in their naval intelligence of powerful squadrons docking and repairing after six weeks cruise in the Bay of Biscay or the North sea. Let the captain of the Alabama have his due by all means. Without reference to Federals or confederates, let us, as Englishmen, do justice to smart and skilful seamanship wherever we find it. But let not the nation that once owned a Nelson sink to paying equal homage to a sunk Alabama and a surviving victor. To worship success is bad enough; to worship the remains of a runaway smuggler and a nimble-heeled buccaneer because he has come to a legitimate end, is something
Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 7. (ed. Reverend J. William Jones), chapter 6.47 (search)
mblem at her peak, the token of the nationality of the vessel, and announced her The Stonewall --ever to be remembered name, given at the baptismal font of the Bay of Biscay. Certain preliminaries, the shipping of men, assignment to specific duties, &c., having been gone through with, the deck was soon cleared of the various artmusic, though it comes from nature's roughest cut, whose melody touches the soul and causes a responsive vibration of the tenderest chords of the heart. The Bay of Biscay, whose normal condition is that of a boisterous sea, lay like a mirror, reflecting the bright rays of the sun; while balmy air, fanned into the gentlest of brevere gale. To run the risk of being wrecked on the iron-bound coast of Spain, should the hoped for port not be reached, was preferable to being swamped in the Bay of Biscay. From the best data available, under the circumstances, an imaginary position was assigned the vessel and a course determined upon, which it was hoped would l
Jefferson Davis, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, Chapter 31: (search)
and Silas Deane were sent to France as commissioners to look after the interests of the colonies. In the years 1776 and 1777 they became extensively connected with naval movements. They built, purchased, equipped, and commissioned ships, all in neutral territory, even filling up blank commissions sent out to them by the Congress for the purpose. Among expeditions fitted out by them was one under Captain Wickes to intercept a convoy of linen ships from Ireland. He went first into the Bay of Biscay, and afterward entirely around Ireland, sweeping the sea before him of everything that was not of force to render the attack hopeless. Deane observes to Robert Morris that it effectually alarmed England, prevented the great fair at Chester, occasioned insurance to rise, and even deterred the English merchants from shipping in English bottoms at any rate, so that, in a few weeks, forty sail of French ships were loading in the Thames, on freight, an instance never before known. In the
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), U. S. S. Constitution, or old Ironsides, (search)
bor of Marblehead. She was in great peril there from her pursuers. These were kept at bay by a quickly gathered force of militia, infantry, and artillery, and she was soon afterwards safely anchored in Salem Harbor. Thence she went to Boston, Gold box presented to Bainbridge by the City of Albany. where she remained until the close of the year. At the end of December (1814) the Constitution, still under the command of Stewart, put to sea. Crossing the Atlantic, she put into the Bay of Biscay, and Stewart's medal. then cruised off the harbor of Lisbon. Stewart sailed southward towards Cape St. Vincent, and, on Feb. 20, 1815, he discovered two strange sails, which, towards evening, flung out the British flag. Then Stewart displayed the American flag. By skilful management he obtained an advantageous position, when he began an action with both of them; and, after a severe fight of about fifteen minutes in the moonlight, both vessels became silent, and, as the cloud of smok
Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History (ed. Benson Lossing), Haraden, Jonathan 1745-1803 (search)
Haraden, Jonathan 1745-1803 Naval officer: born in Gloucester, Mass.. in 1745. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War he entered the navy: later was made captain and placed in command of the Pickering. He captured a British privateer in a night attack in the Bay of Biscay, and defeated another one, of 140 men and forty-two guns. Subsequently he took three armed vessels one after another. It is said that during the war he captured almost 1,000 cannon. He was himself captured with all his ships by Rodney, the English commander in the West Indies, in 1781. He died in Salem, Mass. Nov.26, 1803.
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 22: (search)
e in Europe, the rigors of winter. Moving now slowly, but dispensing its genial influences more freely, it finally meets the British Islands. By these it is divided, one part going into the polar basin of Spitzbergen, the other entering the Bay of Biscay, but each with a warmth considerably above the ocean temperature. Such an immense volume of heated water cannot fail to carry with it beyond the seas a mild and moist atmosphere. And this it is which so much softens climates there. We knows the shores of Albion in evergreen robes; while in the same latitude on this side, the coasts of Labrador are fast bound in fetters of ice. To pursue Captain Maury's theory a little farther: the flow of tepid waters does not cease at the Bay of Biscay, but continues along the coasts of Spain and Portugal, thence along the coast of Africa, past Madeira and the Canaries, to the Cape de Verdes; where it joins the great equatorial current flowing westward, with which it returns again into the
Raphael Semmes, Memoirs of Service Afloat During the War Between the States, Chapter 30: (search)
The Revenge now disappears from view, as the Surprise had done before her, and the historian takes up the Reprisal, the ship, as we have seen, which carried Dr. Franklin over to France. The Reprisal, having refitted, soon sailed toward the Bay of Biscay, on another cruise. Here she captured several more vessels, and among the rest a King's packet, that plied between Falmouth and Lisbon. When the cruise was up, Captain Wickes went into Nantes, taking his prizes with him. The complaints of tutenant Nicholson, a brother of the senior captain, and a gentleman who subsequently died at the head of the service. Captain Wickes, in command of this light squadron, sailed from Nantes, about the commencement of June, going first into the Bay of Biscay, and afterward entirely around Ireland, sweeping the sea before him, of everything that was not of a force to render an attack hopeless. The linen ships were missed, but many vessels were taken or destroyed. The sensation produced among t
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), C. (search)
re 74 locks on the eastern portion, 26 locks on the Atlantic section, which ends at Toulouse, on the Garonne; 100 locks in all. The surface of the canal is 64 feet broad; the bottom, 34 feet; the depth, 6 feet 4 inches. The canalboats are 80 feet long, 18 feet broad, draw 5 feet 4 inches of water, and carry 100 tons. The canal cost $6,000,000. The canal of Charolais unites the Loire and Saone, which, at one place, approach within eighteen leagues of each other, and fall into the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean respectively. The project was agitated as early as 1555, and various surveys and reports were made, as well as several commencements attempted. The lavish expenditure upon the buildings and parks for the personal aggrandizement of Louis XIV, delayed the works of public utility, and it was not till near the end of the last century that it was opened. Its length is 114.322 metres. The canal uniting the Somme and the Scheldt was undertaken in 1776 and completed i
Knight's Mechanical Encyclopedia (ed. Knight), L. (search)
ant rivers of France. This tower is 182 1/2 English feet in hight, and is built in the Ornante Renaissance style of the period. It was commenced under the reign of Henry II., in 1584, and finished in that of Henry IV., in 1610. The architect was Louis Le Foix. The commercial city of Bordeaux is situated upon the river 70 miles from its mouth, and at the time the lighthouse was built it had another special value, as it was a part of the projected chain of watercourses connecting the Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean. This was effected shortly afterward by the canal of Languedoc, which is 150 miles in length, and unites the Garonne with the Mediterranean. The island rock on which the tower is built is dry only at low water, at which time a surface of 1,500 x 3,000 feet of rock is exposed. Upon this the circular base of the tower is founded, being 135 feet in diameter, and built up solid, except a cistern for fresh water and an opening for the stairs, which commences at hig
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