The Daily Dispatch: November 14, 1861., [Electronic resource]

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Sail and steam.

--If the old blowhards of a quarter of a century ago could rise from their graves, they would weep and wail over the innovations which steam has introduced in the naval profession. A Rear Admiral of the French Navy, in a late work on the navies of France, truly says that "the employment of steam has done away with much of the hardship of the profession. There is no longer that continual struggle with the elements."--There is, therefore, no longer any necessity for the seamanship which that struggle required and developed, nor that lofty courage and endurance which grow out of hardship and peril. The consequence is that while ships have become more perfect and powerful machines, seamen have deteriorated, and become mere stokers and ferrymen. The South will suffer no injury from this change, because it can build a navy upon the models of existing improvements, and man it without requiring for that purpose thoroughbred sailors, of whom it has very few. At the same time, the facilities which steam affords an enemy for sudden descent upon an exposed sea coast will require us to pay more attention to land batteries, and keep up a strong coast guard.