Vice-Admiral Porter, for Secretary of Navy, to Mr. Fish, Secretary of State.
Navy Department,
Washington, May 15, 1869.
Sir: As the inclosed information may be of
use to you, I beg leave to send it.
Very respectfully,
DAVID D. PORTER,
Vice-Admiral, for
Secretary of the Navy.
Hon. Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State.
[Inclosure.]
The Spanish government have contracted for thirty light-draught
boats, about one hundred and sixty tons each, with double
screws, and not to draw over five feet water. Of these, fifteen
to be built in NewYork, by Poillon, Stack, and others; fifteen
to
[Page 733]
be built at Mystic,
Connecticut, by Mallory and others. The engines are to be built
by Delamater, of New York. Dispatch to be used, as they are
wanted *immediately, and are expected to be ready in from sixty
to ninety days. [754]
There is also in New York an admiral or commodore of the Spanish
navy to superintend their construction, and he is waiting orders
from Havana to buy other boats now ready here—old blockaders,
&c.