Lincoln began to walk along the length of the dry dock to take a better look at the ship. Lamson followed. Sharpe and a chagrined Fox stayed behind. Fox looked after Lincoln as he walked along the dry dock. “He loves anything mechanical, you know. He has a surprisingly good nose for what works and doesn’t.” Fox said. “And if it weren’t for him, I don’t know how I could have blown the cobwebs out of the Navy Department’s old-fashioned bureaus. My God, they would still be happy to be accounting for every cannonball fired in the War of 1812 if we hadn’t shaken them up enough to make the teeth rattle. Luckily, Dahlgren left the Yard in superb shape and gave us a model to bludgeon the rest of the departments with. We’d be in desperate shape if it were not for Dahlgren and the guns he’s developed over the years. I tell you, the British are jealous of his guns.”
Sharpe said, “Captain Hancock thinks not.”
“Hancock? How do you know Hancock?”
“We had dinner last night at the Ebbitt Grill. He arrived late. I had just taken the last table, and invited Hancock and his guest to join me. It was a very interesting evening.”
“The hell you say. That Limey bastard is like a Mississippi catfish-a magnificent bottom feeder. He sucks up every bit of information he can about the Navy and especially our monitors. So, tell me what he had to say.”
Fox listened intently to Sharpe’s recounting of the evening’s conversation and said, “Dwarfed by the Warriors, did he say? Well, it’s lucky for HMS Warrior that she has not met USS Passaic. Let me tell you something, Sharpe, about the new naval warfare. A broadside ship like Warrior has to go to great effort to maneuver itself to fire on its opponent. The entire ship has to be positioned for the shot. A monitor’s revolving turret aims the guns in any direction regardless of the position of the ship. We can wrap a turret in 10 inches of good American steel while a broadside ironclad so far has rarely been able to mount more than 4.5 inches because that armor belt must run most of the length of the ship and form a casemate as on the Warrior and on our New Ironsides. The latter is the only such broadside ironclad that we built and that was in the initial competition for designs that included the Monitor. The fact that we have built no more broadside ironclads is a good indication of which we think is the more successful design. The monitors also have a low freeboard, making it difficult for a broadside ship to hit the hull at all. The broadside ship, on the other hand, is nothing but a big target.”
Both looked down the dry dock at the sound of laughter from a crowd. Lincoln stood in the middle of a hundred Yard workers and had them in stitches. Fox smiled, “The working people and the sailors love him. He’s not afraid to talk to them and what he says makes sense. Not only that, they know he cares for them.”
“Yes, the feeling among the troops is largely one of affection, despite the die-hard McClellan worshippers. A thousand stories of his kindnesses circulate throughout the Army. He talks to the men when he visits the Army, too. I’ve heard them laugh just like this.”
Fox added, “He’s just the same with the seamen of the fleet. The stories of him are legion. One I can vouch for. I got it from the chief of hospitals here in Washington. After Gettysburg, he insisted on visiting every hospital in the city and Alexandria, and they were overflowing with the wounded. Not just ours but rebels, too. He said he wanted to shake every man’s hand. The surgeon protested that there were thousands of men. Lincoln said to point the way, and so help me, the surgeon stated flatly he shook every hand, even visited the rebels. Afterward, to get the feeling back in his hand he chopped a small pile of cordwood outside one hospital ward. The orderly picked up every single chip to keep as a souvenir. Now, here’s the truly remarkable thing. The surgeon swore that after he was done, Lincoln raised the ax straight out by the end of the haft and balanced it there for the longest time. His arm did not shake a bit. Never saw anything so remarkable.”
They could see Lincoln tip his hat and move back down the dry dock toward them.
“Gus, I think I will take the good captain of the Gettysburg away from you for a few hours. I want him and the good colonel to see someone.”
BRITISH EMBASSY, WASHINGTON, D.C., 11:00 AM, AUGUST 7, 1863
Hancock walked with Wolseley through the embassy’s valiant attempt at a rose garden. He plucked a fungus-ruined bud and waved it at the one-eyed man. “Dreadful climate. We are rated a tropical post, you know? Such a country for weeds and blights. Makes you pine for the rose gardens of England. Well, the climate and blights seem to match these rude people, I must say. Perhaps it is what draws the Irish.”
Wolseley had zero interest in roses or gardens. “I’m used to it after Burma and India. I prefer the cool Canadian summers, though, but I tell you I would much rather be campaigning in an Indian summer than bored to tears in cool Canada.”
Hancock tossed the bud away and brushed his hands off. “I take it your opinion of the Yankees has changed since your last visit.”
“Well, they are not a lovable people, to be sure. I like the Southerners, I must admit, though not enough to care about their Confederacy for itself. The source, indeed, of most of my good wishes arise from my dislike of the people of the United States, taking them generally, and my delight at seeing their swagger and bunkum rudely kicked out of them.”6
“What did you think of our simple colonel of infantry at dinner last night, Wosleley? Damned well-informed if you ask me.”
Wolseley had also been thinking about last night’s dinner companion. “Did you notice, Hancock, that he did not let slip anything of importance? His account of the battle did nothing but add to the impression that their Army has put itself in good order. Did you also notice that when you had delivered your talking points, his questions put a finger on critical points of imperial policy toward the United States.”
“Well, I must admit, it was as if I had been speaking to Mr. Fox at their Navy Department or Mr. Dana at their War Department. His question about their monitors was too close to the bone.” Hancock may have been outclassed by Sharpe, but he knew his business.
“The Navy does not like to publicly admit that we are worried about the American monitors. Yes, we have Warrior and Black Prince and the two smaller 6,000-ton broadside ironclads Defence and Resistance, but the Americans already have eight of their Passaic class monitors, with more building, and two large broadside ironclads similar to our Defence class. Their building program is enormous at every major port on the East Coast and on the Ohio River as well. They have twenty hulls of a powerful shallow-draft monitor, the Casco class, which should be completed this autumn. There is a Canonicus class monitor with seven ships, and a Milwaukee class with five ships, all due next year. The point is that the Americans do not have to have an open-ocean Navy; their mission will be to defend the ports, waterways, and coasts, and their smaller size and shallower drafts will be ideal for these waters.
“And what is abuilding in England? Three ships of the Prince Consort class and three more of the Royal Oak and Hector classes. All of them are broadside ironclads. None of them are the low-silhouette, turreted monitor types. And the Royal Oak is just a converted wooden ship with iron armor. We have only two turret ironclads building now, Royal Sovereign and Prince Albert. Do you realize the Americans have 10 inches of good armor on those turrets? All of our ships have armor belts only of 3 to 4.5 inches. We have learned from our Confederate contacts and from the American press that in the battles in Charleston Harbor, the turrets have been well nigh invulnerable.”