To Members of Congress : 
 
 The promoters of the Tehuantepec Ship Railway have 
 insisted upon the presentation to Congress of a bill contain- 
 ing a provision for a subsidy to that enterprise. 
 
 Should such a bill pass it will entirely prevent the Nicar- 
 agua Canal Company from securing capital, as no private 
 enterprise can compete with the United States in such an 
 undertaking. 
 
 As the canal is perfectly feasible, and involves no fea- 
 . tures of experimental trials or doubtful ^piechanical con- 
 trivances, it can hardly be to the interest of the country to 
 expend money from its treasury in a very questiwi;ifcl<e/ ven- 
 ture at a time when it will thereby arrest a |)racticable and/^y 
 highly important work. The French 'Company is fairly 
 launched, and an attempt to construct an effective ship rail- 
 way will not in the slightest degree avert the operations of 
 that company, the railway scheme not commanding sufficient 
 respect. 
 
 Should Congress charter both the Tehuantepec and Nicar- 
 agua companies without subsidy, leaving them to find capi- 
 tal as they may, the result will not be doubtful, except 
 possibly as between the Nicaragua canal scheme and the 
 Panama one, for which a large amount has already been 
 subscribed, giving to it a great advantage. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 S. L. PHELPS. 
 
 Washington, D. C., 
 
 February 8, 1881. 
 
 ijO. 
 

 The topographical features of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec 
 will determine many of the difficulties to be overcome in 
 constructing and operating a ship railway. 
 
 General Barnard’s surveys for an ordinary railway across 
 it, and those of Commodore Shufeldt for a ship canal, in 
 both of which surveys every pass was subjected to examina- 
 tion, show that tlie highlands between the two oceans, where 
 practicable lines for either undertaking were found, are only 
 about 19 miles in width, and that the elevation to be ovei- 
 come is 754 feet, while the air-line distance aci*oss the Isth- 
 mus at that place is 143.5 miles. 
 
 The passages from the elevated plains to the Pacific are 
 through narrow gaps in ranges of hills, showing rugged 
 limestone peaks of 1,500 to 2,000 feet altitude, and the 
 descent is abrupt to the Pacific plains, which are about 20 
 miles in width and from 70 to 230 feet in elevation. It is 
 then about 100 miles from the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos 
 River, along the line of their surveys, to the mountain 
 ranges. In this distance the railway and canal lines are in 
 the broad alluvions and valley of that river. 
 
 General Barnard’s ascending grades from the Gulf of 
 Mexico involve 60 feet per mile, with sharp curves, deep 
 cuts, heavy fills, and tunnels. In the descent to the Pacific 
 he followed tortuous mountain streams to obtain a grade of 
 55 feet per mile in a running distance of 10 miles, the dis- 
 tance gained in a right line being about 5 miles. The canal 
 descent found most practicable was through a different gap 
 and on a large curve, with grades of 80 feet per mile in a 
 distance of 8 miles. 
 
 The profiles of these gaps show grades of from 113 to 150 
 feet per mile. 
 
 Under such conditions, what would the construction and 
 operation of a ship railway involve ? 
 
 ^ in 1^1 
 
4 
 
 \ 
 
 The first inquiry is, what ships are to be transported? 
 Clearly, the heaviest vessels in use anywhere. Such ships 
 will be employed in the long voyages between ports of the 
 Atlantic and of the Pacific, and such are now employed be- 
 tween California and China. 
 
 Weig^lits to be Carried. 
 
 The displacement of a number of steamsliips in service 
 indicate weights of ship and cargo reaching from 9,000 to 
 1*2,000 tons, their length being from 450 to 500 feet and up- 
 wards. Hence ability to carry a ship and cargo weighing 
 12,000 tons is necessary. Without it the railway will be a 
 failure. 
 
 The dock to lift such a weight to the level of the railway 
 track must raise the ship, and the car, cradles, and supports 
 to carry the ship, or, in all, say 24,000 tons. The model of 
 the ship must be known, that cradles and supports can be 
 made in advance to accurately fit her form, so as to secure 
 perfect support throughout the vessel’s length. No two 
 ships have the same form, and cradles must be fitted for 
 each vessel carried. These cradles and supports must be 
 immensely strong to sustain a ship towering 50 feet above 
 the car — higher than her width, — and loaded with a heavy 
 cargo. 
 
 Plan of Railway. 
 
 Captain Eads’ plan is to have 6 tracks ; that is, 1 2 rails. 
 Allowing 5 tons pressure upon each wheel under the ship 
 car, there would be required 4,800 wheels. These placed at 
 3 feet, centre to centre, would requii'e 14,400 feet of rails, 
 or 28 rails of 500 feet in length, or 2^ times more than Cap- 
 tain Eads adopts ; and the rails, if under the ship, would 
 hardly be 20 inches apart ! But the central portions, where 
 the weight of the ship is greatest, would require the wheels 
 to be placed in greater proportionate number ; hence still more 
 
5 
 
 rails would be necessary. The pressure for a given area 
 would be at least four times greater than that from any loco- 
 motive in use. 
 
 There is yet another cause of difficulty. When in motion 
 the ship would practically rest upon four points. When cars 
 have 4 wheels, the weight is equally distributed over them ; 
 add 2 wheels, and 4 of the 6 will still carry the load, but 
 the weight will be transferred momentarily accoixling to de- 
 viations in the plane passed over. This source of disaster 
 from over-loaded wheels would be a constant danger. 
 
 Equivalents. 
 
 The weight to be transported is equivalent in amount to 
 the weight of over 1,200 freight cars and their loads. Such 
 a train would extend 8 miles along a railway track, and, on 
 gradients not exceeding 40 feet per mile, would require 60 
 locomotives. For such grades as would be necessary across 
 the Isthmus many more engines would be required, 
 
 Clianjfes in Oradients. 
 
 The ship in view is one-tenth of a mile in length. A 
 change in the inclination of the road-bed from the horizontal 
 to grades of 10, 20, 50, or more feet in a mile would suspend 
 this vessel by the ends while entering upon the new gradi- 
 ent. At • one point the ship’s middle portion would be, in 
 such changes, from 6 inches to 2^ feet, and so on, above the 
 level of the platform car, and would not therefore rest in 
 the cradles at all. A failure to so rest upon them by one 
 inch in the case of a loaded ship would be destruction to 
 .fastenings. It is possible springs might be resorted to 
 where there are 3 or 4 inches of difference in level, and thus 
 a ship might in running a great distance, be gradually got to 
 an inclination of fifty feet or more per mile. But the earth’s 
 surface there admits of no such method. The profiles, as 
 
6 
 
 already stated, show an abrupt character of ascents and de- 
 scents. 
 
 In General Barnard’s railway. route, where traversing the 
 elevated section from the Jal tepee river to the Pacific plains, 
 and involving an ascent on the one side of 437 feet and a 
 descent on the other of 593 feet, the ascents and descents 
 were, respectively, 1,346 feet and 1,221 feet, exhibiting an 
 uneven surface in the elevated land. 
 
 A ship railway must be absolutely straight, and tunnels 
 are out of the question. It is proposed to change direction 
 by use of turn-tables. These must be horizontal, and will not 
 avail in overcoming sharp ascents or descents. If a ship can 
 be hauled up gradients of 115 to 150 feet per mile, then the 
 elevations can be surmounted, provided the ship can first be 
 changed sufiSciently in inclination to the horizontal. This 
 change in inclination would become necessary many times in 
 the distance across the Isthmus. 
 
 Tilting-tahles have been suggested. These must be 500 
 feet long, and must carry, with a pivoting centre, 24,000 
 tons besides their own weight, which would be probably as 
 much more. Such a structure, weighing, with its load, 
 
 48.000 tons, would be a prodigious thing to manage. Think 
 of over one hundred millions of pounds ! 
 
 Change in Direction. 
 
 This would be frequently necessary in that mountain 
 country and can only be effected by use of turn-tables^ which 
 must be 500 feet or more in diameter, and must carry 
 
 24.000 tons and their own weight, which would probably 
 approximate to the weight carried, or say another 24,000 
 tons, and tlie whole weight would again be 48,000 tons- 
 more or less. The wheels of a loaded freight car, by in- 
 cluding the weight of car, trucks, and wheels, are subjected 
 to a pressure of about 2^ tons each. If the wheels of the 
 turn-table are supposed to take twice as much, that is, 5 tons 
 
7 
 
 pressure each, 9,600 wheels would be required for each one, 
 reduced in number by whatever proportion of the weight is 
 carried upon the pintftl.^ . 
 
 Meeting* Ships. 
 
 What is said of turn-tables can also be said as to sidings 
 to enable meeting ships to pass. Similar weights are to be 
 moved, and upon a like number of wheels. There must 
 also be an extra track to run in for the passing ship to take. 
 Turn-tables might also be resorted to for this purpose. 
 
 It will be seen that these devices involve incredible 
 weights, a vast number of wheels, and very costly construc- 
 tions. In a distance of 160 to 180 miles there must be 
 several sidings for passing ships and many “turn-tables,” 
 besides frequent til ting-tables for changing the inclination 
 of the ship to the horizontal. 
 
 Ships ill Storms. 
 
 A ship in the water is, for its strength, the lightest of 
 structures, while out of the water it is the heaviest of struc- 
 tures for its strength. Resting in water, the ship is sus- 
 tained by a medium entirely surrounding the bottom and 
 pressing in equal force upon every inch of its surface. In a 
 gale of wind the ship offers to the blows and force of seas a 
 curved or semi-cylindrical form, fortified by interior knees, 
 frames, beams, and decks. Floating in a fluid, the vast mass 
 yields to seas by easy movements which involve no injury, 
 because, whether rolling or pitching, the support from the 
 water is uniform at all times and at all points. There is no 
 inequality of pressure from the supporting water. The ship, 
 whatever its momentary position, is sustained in the direc- 
 tion of its gi’avity equally in all the submerged portion, 
 which, in effect, is always the same in amount. When 
 waves toss the ship about, it becomes a falling body re- 
 ceived upon a water cushion^ so to speak, which presses and 
 
8 
 
 yields everywhere in exactly the same degree; hence there 
 is little or no strain in a well-constructed ship when the 
 weight carried is evenly distributed, as seamen take care it 
 shall be. Moreover, there is comparatively little motion in 
 the bottom of the vessel, whatever there mav be 30, 40, or 
 50 feet above it, because motions at sea are from the bottom 
 as the centre. Ships often spring leaks at sea, but those are 
 weak or defective in construction, in bad repair, or badly 
 loaded. When staunch vessels meet with disaster, it is 
 usually through the weight of seas falling upon the decks, 
 or force of blow\s that open seams — not often from longi- 
 tudinal strains. 
 
 Taken out of water and placed upon a platform, the fea- 
 ture of being equally sustained is lost. While at rest there 
 will be strains, because the ship is a rigid structure resting 
 upon a rigid support, which cannot be maintained as a per- 
 fect plane, nor can the ship cradles be so shaped and placed 
 under the ship that all will receive the same degree of pres- 
 sure at all points from the weight carried. Any defect in 
 this respect causes strains upon rivets and bolts in the effort 
 of the supported mass to conform to the supports. If to 
 the weight of the hull is added the pressure of thousands of 
 tons of cargo, the force exerted to destroy fastenings is 
 greatly increased. 
 
 Now, place this ship and platform on wheels, and these 
 upon iron rails subjected, in a length of 500 feet, to the pres- 
 sure of 24,000 tons weight, the whole carried alternately on 
 earth in cuts and fillings exposed to the action of enormous 
 rain-falls, can one doubt that serious inequalities will be met 
 in every section passed over which will subject the hull to 
 severe strains ? The exterior will not show the extent of 
 damage hidden beneath the cargo — damage that will be left 
 to be developed in the first gale encountered. 
 
 The hull would tower 50 feet above the platform, while 
 above all still would be masts and yards. The cargo inside, 30 
 
9 
 
 or 40 feet deep, with its vast weight acting outwardly on the 
 weak bottom and sides — weak in construction as against in- 
 terior pressure, and weak out of water because insufficiently 
 supported — would be a potent power for destruction. It 
 becomes a wedge of vast splitting force, increased in its 
 effect by the vibrations transmitted to the mass when in 
 motion over the rails. 
 
 A Ship on Cars in a Oale of Wind. 
 
 The north winds spring up suddenly and frequently at 
 certain seasons, sweeping across the Isthmus of TehuantejDec 
 with great violence, and often are of long duration. Sea 
 captains in passing the Gulf of Tehuantepec keep close 
 under the shore to avoid the heavy sea due to these high 
 winds. The ship, in the highlands especially, would present 
 a hull 50 feet high and 500 feet long to the action of these 
 winds, a surface of 25,000 square feet, besides yards, masts, 
 boats, chimneys, &c. The great wind-force of these gales — 
 12 to 25 pounds or more per square foot — would act upon 
 the side of the car from the wind with a great leverage 
 and with an irresistible power tor destruction to STipports, 
 cradles, and wheels. Ordinary cars, indeed, whole trains, 
 have been blown from tracks in winds no more violent than 
 those at Tehuantepec. Storms always create grave appre- 
 hension for ships in dock. 
 
 / 
 
 General Considerations. 
 
 The distance saved for steamers by way of Tehuantepec 
 between the Atlantic and Pacific ports of our country would 
 be only 510 miles, as compared with the distance via the 
 Nicaragua Canal route, and much of this advantage would 
 be lost in the outward voyages in steaming against the 
 Gulf stream. For sailing craft in outward voyages the 
 Tehuantepec route is farther than via Nicaragua. Be- 
 tween our Gulf ports and the Pacific States the distance 
 
10 
 
 via tlie Canal would be considerably greater, but those are 
 mainly ports of exportation. The future carrying trade be- 
 tween the Atlantic and Pacific ports of the Untited States 
 will, in the westerly voyages, consist mostly of manufac- 
 tured goods and coal. In the easterly voyages freights will 
 be largely exports. Our great interests are therefore be- 
 tween ports favored in small degree in distance via Tehuan- 
 tepec. That route is also a more remote one from all our 
 Atlantic ports to the entire west coasts of Central and South 
 America, where we have an important and growing trade. 
 The Gulf about the mouth of the Coatzacoalcos is a dangerous 
 locality for sailing craft in the norther season, when they 
 would be on a lee shore. • The great ship-canal in Holland 
 has locks 23 feet deep, yet 681 vessels of all classes have 
 passed them in 24 hours. How many sidings and locomo- 
 tives and ship- cars would such a trade across Tehuantepec 
 involve ? 
 
 One lock is as much a measui*e of the capacity of a 
 canal as are 12 locks. What can be done in the Holland 
 Canal can be done in the Nicaragua Canal. Why resort to 
 an experiment of such doubtful character and so vastly ex- 
 pensive as a ship railway when a cheap, safe, and desirable 
 ship canal route offers ? Builders, owners, seamen, and un- 
 derwriters all condemn the railway plan as impracticable, if 
 for no other reason than that ships cannot be taken out of 
 water safely with cargo on board. The canal can be oper- 
 ated and maintained at an expense amounting to less than 
 $1,000,000 per annum The Suez Canal, 100 miles long, 
 costs $800,000 yearly. The Nicaragua Canal proper is 
 53.17 miles long. The railway expenses will be a*t least 
 60 per cent, of its gross receipts, and probably much more. 
 This great difference in cost will be a direct tax upon 
 shipping and upon our coast trade. In other words, such 
 tolls as would pay a handsome return upon the capital in- 
 vested in’ the Nicaragua Canal would hardly pay the run- 
 
11 
 
 ning expenses of a ship railway, even supposing one a pos- 
 sible and practicable undertaking, which it is not. 
 
 Estimated Cost. 
 
 The estimated cost of the canal is $41,000,000; that of 
 the railway, for which no surveys have been made^ is 
 $75,000,000. Doubling these estimates to cover all kind 
 of contingencies will make the canal cost $82,000,000 and 
 the railway $150,000,000. As projected, the railway scheme 
 involves about as much canal as the Nicaragua route, and 
 will have two lochs. 
 
 Ten millions of dollars gross receipts for the Nicaragua 
 Canal would, after allowing $1,000,000 for all expenses, net 
 $9,000,000, or near 11 per cent, upon outlay. It should be 
 remembered that 120 of the 173 miles across Nicaragua would 
 be wide river or lake navigation, involving no kind of ex- 
 pense, except for towage of sailing vessels. A great increase 
 in canal business would but slightly increase its expenses, 
 and that only for towage. 
 
 Ten millions gross receipts for the railway would, after 
 • deducting 60 per cent, for expenses, leave $4,000,000 net, or 
 2f per cent, on outlay. The average expenses of railways 
 bear a larger ratio to receipts than 60 per cent., and it can- 
 not be doubted that, if in any degree practicable, the ship- 
 railway would be enormously expensive in proportion to 
 gross receipts. 
 
 This difference in the cost of operating the canal and rail- 
 way will become a direct tax upon the industries of our 
 country and the products of the Pacific States, and upon 
 our commerce, for half of the business of the transit will be 
 American. The United States are asked to fasten this need- 
 less tax on the country, and to do it by putting up a vast 
 sum of money to try an experiment for which a favorable 
 result cannot be anticipated. 
 
12 
 
 Welland Canal. 
 
 The Welland & St. Lawrence Canal system has a total 
 length of 71 miles and overcomes an elevation of 549 feet. 
 It has been in operation many years, but is now being en- 
 larged to admit the passage of vessels of 2,500 tons burden 
 from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Superior. The enlarge- 
 ment will be completed in readiness for the coming wheat 
 crop, and the whole cost will then have been ' about 
 $52,000,000. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Capacity of some dry-docks and marine railways in the United States : 
 
 Hailioays. 
 
 Baltimore 
 
 Fair Haven, Conn 
 
 Hunter’s Point 
 
 New London, Conn 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Wilmington, Del 
 
 Wilmington, N. C 
 
 Balance Docks. 
 
 Mobile, Ala 
 
 New York 
 
 capacity. .1,500 tons 
 
 “ .. 450 “ 
 
 “ ..1,600 “ 
 
 . . 500 
 
 “ ..1,500 “ 
 
 “ . . 800 “ 
 
 “ . . 900 “ 
 
 capacity. .3,000 tons 
 “ .. 8,000 “ 
 
 Sectional Docks. 
 
 Jersey City 
 
 Philadelphia 
 
 Mare Island, Cal 
 
 capacity . . 1,800 tons 
 “ .. 2,000 “ 
 
 “ ..5,300 “ 
 
 Dry-Docks. 
 
 Brooklyn and Charlestown capacity, each. .7,000 tons 
 
 Norfolk capacity .. 7,000 “ 
 
 Borland, Me “ ..8,000 » 
 
 It will be seen that railways to take vessels out are for comparatively 
 small craft. The largest found in a table of docks is the one at 
 Hunter’s Point. Where heavier ships are to be handled other docks 
 appear to be preferred as more safe or practicable. Yet none of the dan- 
 gers arising from a carriage overland offer in a marine railway. It is as 
 perfect an incline as can be constructed and upon foundations built at an 
 expense and with a degree of care quite impracticable in a long ship 
 railway, while the steam power is stationary and the movement in taking 
 ships out extremely slow. * 
 
 The grant for a ship railway across Tehuantepec has not been con- 
 firmed by the Mexican Congress and is not valid until confirmed. Some 
 of its features are given in these extracts from the — 
 
 New York Times., Feh'y 3. 
 
 Article 17 forbids the company to exercise any power or privileges in relation to 
 the issue of bonds or other guarantees that may be in conflict with the provisions of 
 the laws of Mexico, and the second section of article 25 specifically provides that for 
 granting to the United States those concessions which Capt. Eads has proposed in 
 his bill, the Mexican grant shall be null and void. The section alluded to prescribes, 
 in distinct terms, that for alienating, transferring, or mortgaging this concession or 
 
14 
 
 the rights derived from it, to any foreign State or Government, or for admitting it 
 as a partner, the concession made by Mexico shall be void. Under this section a 
 contract such as Capt. Eads proposes with the United States would make his grant 
 from Mexico absolutely worthless. In order to enforce the abrogation of the con- 
 cession as provided by article 25, it is provided in the succeeding article of the con- 
 cession that “if the voidance should have been caused by alienation, mortgage, or 
 transfer to a foreign government, or because of its becoming a partner, in addition 
 to the working of the nullity of the act or the voidance of the present contract, the 
 Nation shall enter at once into possession of the control of the road, its accessories 
 and lands, without the company having the right of indemnification of any kind.” 
 
 That the Mexican Government in making the concession to Capt. Eads determined 
 to maintain absolute control of the proposed railway is shown by article 28, which 
 reads as follows: “The company shall be Mexican, even though some or all of its 
 shareholders be foreigners, and shall be subject exclusively to the jurisdiction of the 
 tribunals of the Republic in all matters of which the cause of action may take place 
 within its territory. The company itself, as well as all foreigners and their success 
 sors taking part in the enterprise, whether as shareholders, employes, or in any char- 
 acter whatsoever, shall be considered as Mexicans in all things relating to the com- 
 pany ; nor can they even allege with regard to title to property and other matters 
 connected with the company, rights as foreigners under any pretext whatsoever. 
 They shall have those rights and the means of making them valid which the laws of 
 the Republic confer on Mexicans, and consequently not subject to interference on 
 the part of foreign diplomatic agents.” It will thus be seen, by the very terms of 
 the concession made by the Mexican Government, that Capt. Eads is asking the 
 United States to contribute money for an enterprise which, when completed, would 
 be entirely under the control of the Mexican Government, and which could not only 
 be used by that Government against the United States in the event of war between 
 the two countries, but which would become the property absolutely, of Mexico, by 
 reason of the very contribution which Capt. Eads is soliciting from this Government. 
 
 Opinions of Shipbuilders in Relation to Hauling- up or Rocking Ships 
 
 Having Cargoes. 
 
 “ I am in receipt of your communication, and in reply I have to say that in my 
 opinion a ship or steamer of large dimensions cannot in safety be taken out of the 
 water with cargo on board, as there would be great danger of injury to the hull, and 
 consequently cannot be safely transported with cargo on a ship railway. 
 
 “Very respectfully, 
 
 “ JOHN ROACH.” 
 
 Wm. H. Webb, Esq., the celebrated shipbuilder, concurs in this opinion. 
 
 The Harlan & Hollinsworth Company, of Wilmington, Delaware, say : “If the 
 foundations of the railroad, having six tracks, could be made substantial, so as not 
 to yield under the immense weight of a loaded ship, we believe that a cradle could be 
 constructed to .receive the ship and transport it the distance named without injury. 
 But to do so the ship would have to be constructed specially for such service, having 
 such peculiarity of construction as would permit such handling without fear of injury. 
 The ordinary wooden vessel of to-day would hardly venture upon such a journey over- 
 land ; neither would underwriters take the risk of damage unless vessels were pre- 
 pared for sifbh service. 
 
 “ We have read very carefully the letters written by Admiral Ammen to Mr. King. 
 We think he has left very little to be said hereafter, as he has covered the ground 
 fully.” 
 
 The Pusey & Jones Company, of Wilmington, Delaware, say: “ So far as relates 
 to injury resulting to the vessel itself from being raised from the water while loaded 
 opinions will differ. A new, strongly-built iron ship might endure this without dam- 
 age, but in our opinion the element of danger of sustaining serious damage while 
 being transported under such condition would be regarded by the average ships 
 owner as a risk which he would not be warranted in taking, and we are further of 
 opinion that underwriters would share the shipowner’s views, 
 
 “ In so far as the element of danger of sustaining damage relates to wooden ships, 
 or iron ones whose plates have become thinned by age, the carriage proposed would 
 be simply destruction. 
 
15 
 
 “ However well a ship might stand the strain of being quietly docked with a heavy 
 cargo on board, the fact could hardly be used as an argument that she could be safely 
 transported while so raised from the water ; the dynamic etfect of the load and of 
 the boilers and machinery would be an element of danger that only extraordinarily 
 strongly built ships could resist, and very probably even these would not.” 
 
 “As to the uniform solidity of the road-bed necessary to safety of transportation, 
 we are of opinion that in a country so subject to heavy falls of rain as is that of the 
 one on which it is proposed to make the road the problem presented is so difficult 
 as to be scarcely capable of solution.” 
 
 “ Finally, we think the whole question of a ship-railway, as proposed, is so full of 
 grave and scarcely surmountable difficulties that it is scarcely worth consideration.” 
 
 T. F. Rowland, Esq., Continental Works, N. Y., says: “I have some crude 
 notions as to the best method of moving large and heavy bodies, and feel certain 
 that ‘ carriage on wheels ’ cannot be so classified. Although it may be theoretically 
 possible to equally distribute the weight of a moving body upon any desired number 
 of supports, practically it is almost a mechanical impossibility to do so. A four- 
 wheeled vehicle will equally load each, but if another pair of wheels are added they 
 will carry the whole load or no part of it, as the road varies more or less from a per- 
 fect plane. In cars and locomotives eight wheels in place of four are desirable, 
 but experience has proved they must be grouped in trucks or harnessed with 
 springs, equalizing bars, or other devices in order that in effect the load must rest 
 upon/bwr points only. The car and locomotive are strong enough for this treat- 
 ment, but not so the ship, whose shape, strength, and general make-up demand con- 
 ditions of support which can best be obtained by being water-borne, and cannot 
 otherwise without more or less injury to the structui-e. So it happens when it 
 becomes necessary to dry-dock or haul a ship great judgment, care, and labor are 
 demanded to know when and how to tighten or loosen the supports and to perform 
 the operation without seriously injuring the vessel ; so much so is this the case I 
 think it may be safely assumed that few vessels are dry-docked without sustaining 
 more or less permanent injury.” 
 
 The Atlantic Works of Boston say: “Our positive ignorance of this matter 
 throughout forbids our expressing any opinion at length. It does not seem to us a 
 feasible plan, and we do not believe it will ever be accomplished. Were it not that 
 Capt. Eads has already ‘ done wonderful things,’ we should not hesitate to declare 
 this scheme impossible of execution.” 
 
 The above expressions of opinion comprise those of all the firms in our country, 
 except one, which construct large iron ships. 
 
 Opinion of C’ivil Engineers. 
 
 The Honorable John Conness, formerly of the United States Senate, has forwarded 
 the following expression of opinion of an able civil engineer in whom he has great 
 confidence: “Admiral Ammen’s testimony before the select committee, as given in 
 the slips sent me, tells the whole story, and puts Eads’ absurd project in its right light. 
 * * The first thing that must strike any one acquainted with shipping is the 
 
 utter impossibility of transporting a loaded ship of even 1,000 tons capacity, as ships 
 are now constructed, any considerable distance on a railway with safety. I know 
 something of ship construction, have built and operated marine railways, and I have 
 no hesitation in saying that I do not believe one ship in ten of our present commer- 
 cial marine, loaded, can be hauled up with perfect safety^ out of water, on any of our 
 most complete marine railways. It is considered dangerous to allow a loaded vessel 
 to take bottom under the most favorable circumstances. In one word, before Eads’ 
 railway (if built) could be used, we would have to build shijis expressly for it. Now, 
 supposing the railway built, and the ships for it, the real difficulties have just begun. 
 What sort of a car or cradle will he place his ship in ? Will it move on wheels or 
 rollers ? If on rollers, how will he attain any speed ; and if on wheels, how many 
 will his car need to carry a weight of from 3,000 to 5,000 tons? A common freight- 
 car needs eight wheels to carry ten tons. The motive power must be from station- 
 ary engines.” 
 
 Win. J. McAlpine, Esq., second to no civil engineer in this country, wrote that he 
 regarded the Eads scheme quite as visionary as M. de Lesseps’ canal at the ocean 
 level, and that he would discuss the subject without delay. Since that time, illness 
 has confined him to his bed, and so far delayed his expressed intention. His opinion 
 
16 
 
 has special value, as he has full professional knowledge of the ground, having re- 
 cently spent months examining and locating the best lines for railway between the 
 oceans. 
 
 Reg'ardiiig;' Insurance. 
 
 J. Parker, Esq., of New York, writes as follows: “In all my experience dur- 
 ing the last fifteen years as an underwriter’s surveyor, and in my present capacity as 
 a manager of a book of classification, I have never known a vessel to be docked with 
 her cargo in, except for the purpose of raising her slightly in order to reach a leak a 
 little under water. No dock-master would consent to raise a vessel laden with the 
 cargoes that are likely to be sent hence to San Francisco, or thence through a ship- 
 canal, through a railway over the Isthmus of Darien, or Captain Eads’ proposed 
 route ; and I am very decidedly of the opinion that no vessel so laden could safely 
 be taken across such a railway, and then sent upon an ocean voyage. Certainly she 
 could not be, unless a new style of naval construction were first adopted. 
 
 “As to the general subject, I suppose that, in the face of the experience of the Suez 
 Canal, and the vast saving of time and distance worked out by that, no one can doubt 
 that a ship-canal through the Isthmus, or Nicaragua, would be a vast benefit in every 
 way to the commerce Of this country, and to the Nations generally. I do not be- 
 lieve it would revive our commerce, or, rather, our mercantile marine ; that will 
 never be revived until the burdens it has to bear, from which the marine of all 
 other nations are exempt, are taken off, but it will of coiirse give additional advan- 
 tages to the few vessels that now fly our flag, and are confined to the coasting trade. 
 
 “ Yours very truly. 
 
 “J. PARKER, Secretary. '' 
 
 Opinion of C. H. Mallory, Esq., a former shipbuilder, ship captain, and now a 
 large ship-owner : 
 
 “ Your favor of the 20th, asking for an expression of our opinion of the practica- 
 bility of transporting loaded ships over a railroad one hundred miles ‘ without being 
 water-borne ’ is received. * * * We have given some thought to this matter, and 
 
 have believed it impossible to transport a loaded ship over miles of railroad in a cradle 
 without being water-borne without great damage to the ship. 
 
 “ It is considered highly dangerous to take a loaded ship out of water on one of our 
 sectional or balance-docks, and it is the rnle, and is required by underwriters in most 
 instances, that the cargo in whole or part shall be discharged. It appears to me that 
 an iron ship, loaded with heavy cargo, transported on a railroad over one hundred 
 miles (however smooth) without being water-borne or some equivalent, would be 
 very apt to require an entire new fastening of rivets before launching again.” 
 
 Opinion of the Olfieer Who Transported the Ohelish. 
 
 Lieut.-Com’r Gorringe says : “However successful Captain Eads may be in mov- 
 ing a laden ship across such a distance over such varying grades, the ship would not 
 float on reaching the point where the floating would be a matter of some importance. 
 * * * The jarring in motion, no less than the development of strains not provided 
 
 for in ship construction, must inevitably open every seam and cause every rivet to 
 leak.” 
 
 In asking for and presenting information, it is worth while to state that nothing 
 has been suppressed from a divergence or difference of opinion, which might be sup- 
 posed to be the case from the unanimity or concordance of the above opinions. 
 
Kuds’ Plan— Practical Views on the Proposed Isthmus Railway. 
 
 Philadelphia, January 28, 1881. 
 
 To the Editoi' : 
 
 I notice that Captain Eads has made a proposition to build a ship-railway across 
 the Isthmus, to carry ships loaded with their cargoes, and I beg herewith to say, as 
 a practical ship-builder, that such a proposition is nothing mote than a delusion upon 
 our people. I have built over one hundred ships, some of them the largest sailing- 
 ships in the world, and it is with the greatest care that all ship-builders are compelled 
 to lay the keels and see that the foundations for the launching-ways have the very 
 best possible bearing that can be devised, so that the vessel can be launched with 
 safety, without injury to the hull, when sliding a distance of only one and one-half 
 times its own length. 
 
 I also notice that our Government has been asked, and it is thought that it will 
 endorse the measure by guaranteeing some $50,000,000. Before any enormous ex- 
 penditures are made it would be well to pause and consider what we are to receive 
 for our money after the work is done, and what are the benefits arising from it. Is 
 the scheme a practical or a theoretical one? Speaking for myself — and I claim to 
 speak from a practical stand-point, backed by years of experi^ce in handling ships — 
 I am free to say I believe the enterprise a delusion, and there is not a single naval 
 constructor or engineer in the Government employ, who lays any claim to practica- 
 bility, who would be willing to endorse such a scheme or stake his official reputation 
 upon the success of any scheme requiring the carrying of a vessel, with her cargo, 
 one hundred miles overland, when it is a well-settled rule among them all to prefer 
 to sail a vessel thousands of miles rather than launch her three hundred feet with 
 only her own weight (no cargo) upon the ways. * * * 
 
 Nathaniel McKay. 
 
 The Atlantic Works, 
 
 Builders of Iron and Wooden Steamships, 
 
 East Boston, February 10, 1881. 
 
 Bear-Admiral Daniel Ammen, U. S. N. : 
 
 Dear Sir: Keplying to yours of the 31st ult., in our opinion the railroad project 
 will never be carried out, for the simple reason that it is not practicable and cannot 
 accomplish the results claimed. 
 
 The opinions expressed by Mr. Nath’l McKay, in his article in The American Ship, 
 is just our opinion regarding the railway. 
 
 As to the canal, while we confess ignorance as to details, we have no doubt of the 
 feasibility and the beneficial results of its construction. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 ATLANTIC WOEKS, 
 
 ALFRED E. COX, Jr. 
 
 Office of Delamater Iron Works, 
 
 New York, February 11 , 1881. 
 
 Daniel Ammen, Esq., Bear- Admiral U. S. Navy : 
 
 Dear Sir: Your letter of January 31st was duly received with enclosures. We 
 feel the subject is one that requires more careful investigation than we have 'been 
 able to give the subject. We have read the articles sent us and of course much other 
 matter relating to this subject. We have never believed that the railroad scheme 
 could be brought to an actual issue. We believe no private capital could be had for 
 such a purpose. As large owners of steam vessels, we should not allow a steamer 
 loaded with cargo to be taken out. Of course we recognize that such a feat can be 
 done, as it is only a question of expense ; but the expense would in our minds be 
 entirely prohibitory. We have lately had experience with auxiliary power to sail 
 vessels, fitting out three whalers, all eminently successful. We are led to remark this 
 from a remark in one of your articles relating to sail vessels in canal. We think this 
 subject one to be elaborated on in connection with the canal scheme. We have looked 
 upon the difficulty of building either canal or railroad as so serious as almost to pre- 
 clude the carrying out of either scheme. 
 
 I We decidedly favor the canal over the railroad scheme, and it seems to us that 
 aere can be but one opinion as to the benefits to the commerce of the world and to 
 hat of our own country particularly. 
 
 Yours, very resp’y, 
 
 C. H. DELAMATER & CO. 
 
\\ aeeham. Mass., February IQ , 1881. 
 
 Hon. John Conness ; 
 
 I?’"''?.?'®- ™ Capt. Eads’ project for a ship-railwav 
 
 across the Istlmms, as you thiuk I ought to know something on the sub ect from 
 fl charge of the construction of railways, both marine and others,^ and not 
 
 a little experience in c'anal-building. The first difficulty that presents itself to my 
 mind in the case is the utter impossibility of transporting a loaded sea-going vessil 
 of any considerable size for any distance over land with safety without such an ex- 
 penditure of time and money as would make the operation perfectly useless for prac 
 
 discovered some method hitherto unknown 
 bv^«?l ^ unpublished for overcoming well-known physical laws. It is well understood 
 hiutd ship-masters that a loaded vessel cannot be 
 
 ^ water witli perfect safety on our best-constructed marine railways, even 
 liardly discernible; not one vessel in tei7 of our 
 meichant marine will bear the strain and jar to which they are subjected ; hence it 
 s never done, except in cases of the greatest emergency, and it is always an expen- 
 sive operation. Many instances can be given where unloaded vessels have been 
 seiiously injured from being hauled out on a marine railway, and innumerjible are 
 the instances where the caulking has been started and seams opened from the ine- 
 h^i^ Y ° different parts of the vessel. I once had a small vessel 
 fiom at New Bedford ; on being launched the caulking started 
 
 tioin one of the seams, making it necessary to beach the vessel to keep her from fill- 
 ing with water; and a similar case happened to me in Chesapeake Bay. It is con- 
 sidered dangerous for a loaded vessel to take ground, even under the most favorable 
 circumstances A nearly new and well-built vessel belonging to this town was se 
 riously injured last year from grounding while coal-laden at a Boston wharf, though 
 the whaif had been prepared for the reception of such vessels, and all danger from 
 grounding supposed to be provided against. It is inferred by some, from the fact that 
 loaded small boats are carried with safety on railways over inclined planes, that there- 
 of any size can be transported on a railway, there being merely a dif- 
 fUp ^ charge of the reconstruction of four of 
 
 the inclined planes on the Morris Canal, in New Jersey, and know^ something of their 
 and operation. The canal was used as far as wvas possible, and the in- 
 clined planes put m only when great difim'ences of levels were to be overcome in a 
 St H a vast difference between building a railway for carrying a 
 
 flat-bottomed canal-boat of Iffo tons burden and four feet draught of water and one 
 for a sea-going ship of 2,000 or 3,000 tons burden, with a draught of from 18 feet to 
 -I feet of water. Certainly no comparison favorable to a ship-railway can be made 
 betw^een them ; it might, possibly, suggest the use of inclined planes instead of locks 
 wheie water was scarce, a great saving of distance made, and vessels to be built ex- 
 pressly for the purpose. 
 
 welo}?t^nS'''^/nAo ^ of sufficient strength to sustain the 
 
 Tnr ^ 1 ship must cost more to begin with than a canal of equal 
 
 inE ii keeping it in repair would be far greater than that of keep- 
 
 b perfect in its construction, beyond the possi- 
 
 bility of getting out of order from any cause, even a change of temperature. ^ The 
 car or cradle in which the vessel is carried must be so devised as to give the vessel 
 as perfect bearing as in the water ; all jars must be provided again.st ; the weight must 
 car- wheels that they cannot break, as an accident in 
 pHse ^ broken wheel or derailment would be ruinous to the enter- 
 
 Now when all this is satisfactorily done, the question of the power required to 
 move this greut weight with any considt^rable speed, and how it shall be applied 
 piesents itself, and we are at once confronted with the fact that ships often stick on 
 the ways in launching, and are moved down grade with difficulty, noticeably in the 
 case of the Great Faaer7i wheve every emergency was supposed to be provided for 
 by the best engineering talent. Though there has been no positive limit yet put to 
 the weight that can be moved, it must be done at a very slow rate when more than a 
 comparatively few tons are in one body. 
 
 1 considerations are conclusive to my mind against the economic practica- 
 
 bility of Capt. Eads project, and why the nation should not assist him in its dem- 
 onstration any more than it should any person who should propose to carry a ship 
 across the Isthmus in a balloon, ^ i 
 
 Very truly, yours. 
 
 A. SAVABY, Civil Fjiigr.