REPORT OF THE BOARD OF OFFICERS CONVENED BY AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF NAVY-YARDS.

WASHINGTON, D. C., December 5, 1876.

SIR: We have the honor to inform you that in obedience to the act of Congress directing us to examine fully and determine whether in our opinion any of the navy yards can be dispensed with aud abandoned, &c., and in conformity with the order of the Department, dated September 4, 1876, we have performed the duty intrusted to us, and beg leave to report as follows:

We recommend that the following navy-yards and stations be not abandoned or dispensed with:

Navy-yard at Kittery, Me.

Navy-yard at Boston, Mass.

Navy-yard at Brooklyn, N. Y.

Navy-yard at League Island, Pa.

Navy-yard at Washington, D. C.
Navy-yard at Norfolk, Va.

Navy-yard at Pensacola, Fla.

Navy-yard at Mare Island, Cal.

Naval station at Key West, Fla.

Naval station at Sacket's Harbor, N. Y.

We further recommend that the following places be abandoned and dispensed with:

Navy-yard at New London, Conn.
Naval ground at New Orleans, La.

Naval property at Brunswick, Ga.

Accompanying this report you will find minutes of the proceedings of the board, containing their reasons for coming to the above conclusions, together with such information as they were able to collect.

The board have visited in a public vessel the harbors of Port Royal, S. C., Savannah, Ga., and Brunswick, Ga., and the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, which it was necessary to do to enable them to form a correct judgment in regard to the several positions, as to their capabilities for naval stations.

The board see no propriety at this moment in recommending any per manent naval station at either of these points. Cockspur and Tybee Islands are not at all suited for such a purpose; at Brunswick, Ga., the ground at present belonging to the United States Government is wholly unsuitable for a navy-yard, owing to its being mostly marsh, its difficult approaches, narrow channel, and the distance from shore of the necessary depth of water.

The harbor of Port Royal, S. C., and its tributaries, present great advantages, and offer the necessary depth of water and facilities for entering the port without risk to vessels of war. Port Royal Bay is a noble sheet of water, undoubtedly the finest harbor on our southeru coast. The wonder is that the place was so little known or appreciated prior to 1861.

There are several favorable sites for a naval station at Port Royal, all of which must be carefully studied and compared before the best one can be determined. In the mean time the board recommend that Port Royal be used as a temporary fitting and coaling station for vessels stationed in the West Indies.

This could be established at no great outlay, by keeping here a few

old ships, on board which temporary machinery could be erected for the repair of vessels, engines, and boilers-a store-ship is at present stationed there-a depot for coal on shore or in hulks, and a hospital and ordnance-ship, all of which could be removed at a moment's notice, if the Government did not deem it expedient to continue to occupy this place as a naval station.

We have the honor to remain, very respectfully, yours,

DAVID D. PORTER, Admiral.
S. C. ROWAN, Vice-Admiral.
C. H. DAVIS, Rear-Admiral.
J. W. KING, Chief Engineer.
J. W. EASBY, Naval Constructor.

Proceedings of the board of officers convened by authority of Congress for the examination of navy-yards.

NAVY DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON, D. C., September 4, 1876.

SIR: The following forms a part of the naval appropriation bill:

For the civil establishments of the several navy-yards, $85,000. And the Secretary of the Navy is hereby directed to organize a naval board of five commissioned officers in the Navy, as soon as practicable, three of whom shall be the senior officers on the active list of the Navy, whose duty it shall be to examine fully and determine whether, in their opinion, any of the navy-yards can be dispensed with and abandoned; and, if so, to report the best manner of making disposition of the same, and further to inquire as to the propriety of establishing a naval rendezvous at Tybee Island or at Cockspur Island, in the State of Georgia, or at any other point on the coast of Georgia or South Carolina, and whether any Government property at said islands can be made available and are suitable for such purpose, and said board shall, through the Secretary of the Navy, report to Congress, at the commencement of the next session, the result of their inquiry, and the sum of $2,000 is hereby appropriated to meet the expenses incurred by said board.

In accordance therewith the officers specified therein and those herein selected by the Department, Chief Engineer James W. King and NavalConstructor John W. Easby, will report to you on the 2d October next at any point designated by you, and you will proceed to the execution of the duty as required above, and report with as little delay as may be necessary to make examinations and discuss the subjects proposed.

You will inform the Department where the members of the board will report to you on the 2d of October next, or as soon thereafter as may be convenient to you.

Very respectfully,

GEORGE M. ROBESON,
Secretary of the Navy.

Admiral D. D. PORTER,
Washington D. C.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 3, 1876.

The board met at 2 p. m., agreeably to the above order. Present: Admiral David D. Porter, Vice-Admiral S. C. Rowan, Rear-Admiral C. H. Davis, Chief Engineer J. W. King, Naval-Constructor J. W. Easby.

The subject of the comparative importance was discussed. Admiral Rowan proposed that the navy-yards should be taken up in order, commencing with that at Kittery, Me. This motion having been unau

imously concurred in, the board further decided that it was not neces sary to visit the several yards, with the exception of League Island Adjourned.

The board met at 2 p. m.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 4, 1876. All the members present.

The subject of the Kittery navy-yard was taken up, and, after a full discussion, the board agreed that the navy yard should not be dispensed with or abandoned

First. On account of its value to the Government as a building and equipping station.

Second. Because it is in a harbor where the water is open in the coldest weather and the port is at all times and seasons accessible.

Third. As a refuge for vessels coming from a sickly station with an epidemic on board there is no other harbor where so many facilities are presented, or where the inhabitants have made so little objection to our infected ships occupying the outer harbor.

Fourth. There is a large population in and around Portsmouth, N. H., and Kittery, Me., who have passed their lives in ship-building, and the naval mechanics in that vicinity are esteemed among the best in our country.

While the board are decidedly opposed to abandoning the Kittery yard, it seems to them that some expression of opinion on their part should be recorded in regard to what should be done with the yard in case work there is temporarily suspended. They recommend that the yard should have a sufficient force of officers and employés kept ou duty to maintain it in the most efficient condition aud ready for any emergency. Adjourned.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 5, 1876.

The board met at 2 p. m. All the members present.

The subject of the Boston navy-yard was considered, and, after a full discussion, it was unanimously resolved that the navy yard at Boston, Mass., cannot be dispensed with or abandoned, for the following rea

sons:

First. On account of its great pecuniary value, having cost the Government, up to the present time, for buildings, docks, wharves, machinery, grading, &c., $7,054,782.10, not one-fourth part of which sum would be realized if the yard was sold or abandoned.

Second. Boston is one of the most eligible positions for a naval sta tion on the northeastern coast, giving easy access to our ships in time of war, and capable of affording them and the naval station protection by the military and natural defenses of the harbor.

Third. The navy-yard is in a large city, which enables the Govern ment to collect a suitable force of skilled workmen at short notice in case of emergency.

Fourth. Boston yard contains the only rope-walk for making the iron and hemp cordage used in the Navy. This has been established at great cost, and could not be dispensed with.

Fifth. The workshops, machinery, and buildings in the Boston yard are of the best character, and are the fruit of the patient labor of years. Instead of diminishing the importance of this station, its facili

ties for doing work should be increased; for, although a good establishment, it can scarcely be considered a first-class yard or to have within its borders all the requirements for fitting out fleets in time of war. The board recommend that if, through any unforeseen circumstance, the general work at this yard be temporarily suspended, the rope-walk should be kept in operation and a requisite number of men employed to make the necessary rope for the Navy, and that a sufficient force of officers and employés be kept attached to the station to guard the Government property and preserve from injury the valuable machinery with which the yard is supplied. The board recommend that under no circumsiances shall work be entirely suspended at this navy-yard.

The subject of the naval station at New London, Conn., was then considered, and, after some discussion, the board adjourned.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 6, 1876.

The board met at 2 p. m. All the members present.

It was decided that before taking further action on the subject of the New London station the board should visit the place and personally examine it, several of the members never having been there. The subject of the Brooklyn, N. Y., navy-yard was then considered and, after a lengthy discussion, the board unanimously decided that under no circumstances should the navy yard at Brooklyn, N. Y., or any part thereof, be dispensed with or abandoned. In the judgment of the board, this is the most important navy yard in the country, as regards geographical position, accessibility, facilities for performing work and for procuring at short notice any amount of skilled labor, opportunities for purchasing stores and material in the market of the commercial metropolis, the means for docking ships which exist along the water-front of East River, and the proximity to the machine-shops of New York in case of an emergency. Several attempts have been made to transfer the Brooklyn yard from the position it has occupied for nearly three-quarters of a century, but every board that has had this matter under consideration has come to the conclusion that no other site affords the facilities of the present one. The Brooklyn yard has attained its present importance in spite of many obstacles, nothing like the amount of money necessary to make it thoroughly efficient having been appropriated from year to year for general improvement, nor have the public buildings been extended in accordance with the requirements of the service, nor have the low grounds which form a part of the public domain been reclaimed and utilized.

During our civil war a very large amount of work was accomplished at this yard. Since that time facilities have been considerably increased and additional buildings have been erected. Yet, although the necessities of the yard have from time to time been laid before Congress by several Secretaries of the Navy with an earnestness that should have insured success, their representatious have been unheeded.

The present site of the Brooklyn yard was procured about the year 1808 at a reasonable cost, but since that time the land has become so valuable that the city authorities of Brooklyn have endeavored to obtain a cession of the property to that municipality, which would be greatly to the detriment of the Government, as the parties who have the matter in charge desire to obtain the land free of expense, or for a sum greatly below its value. There is a portion of the land between the naval hospital and the navy yard proper at present unoccupied, which is rapidly being graded, without expense to the Government, by

the débris from the city of Brooklyn. This tract the citizens are very anxious the Government should alienate, but upon it have already been designated sites for buildings and docks, the necessity for which was so apparent during the civil war, when the yard was crowded with vessels, and it embraces a most important part of the water-front and channel, which would be made useless for naval purposes if occupied at all by private parties.

However important the possession of this land by the city of Brooklyn may be to its interests, its importance to the United States is much greater, and the necessities of the latter should be paramount to all other considerations. Every foot of land now owned by the Government in Brooklyn will be needed for naval purposes, and to alienate even temporarily any portion would interfere with proposed improvements for a term of years, at the end of which time the Government would find it difficult, if not impossible, to recover possession of its own. Already good privileges have been granted the city by allowing a street for rail travel to be laid out through the navy-yard grounds, thus separating the yard proper from the hospital, and the board is of opin ion that no further indulgence should be granted by the Government in this direction.

Near the navy-yard is a considerable tract, known as "Cob Dock," which was reclaimed from a mud-flat, originally existing on the edge of Wallabout Channel. This land has been gradually formed by mud taken from East River at little expense to the Government, but the tract is too important a position to be left in its present condition. It is proposed to make in the center of it a large basin for ships, at a cost of less than half a million, and this seems, in the opinion of the board, to be a necessity for the preservation of the Government vessels. The Wallabout Channel is narrow and affords no facilities for laying up numbers of ships of war. It is much obstructed when there is an unusual number of vessels at the yard. The board are of opinion that money should be liberally appropriated and judiciously expended on the "Cob Dock," on the navy yard proper, and in reclaiming the adjacent land so as to utilize it without delay. Thus, in a few years, we would have in Brooklyn a complete naval dock-yard. Up to the present time the Brooklyn yard has cost approximately $11,201,430.42, and we might work in vain for the same number of years to accumulate the same facilities in a yard placed elsewhere. Its great importance as one of the defenses of New York, its inaccessibility to an enemy, the facilities for supplying it with coal, iron, and material of all kinds, its proximity to the labor and workshops of the great metropolis, have established its undoubted superiority over all other navy-yards in the United States. Knowing the great advantages possessed by the Brooklyn yard, the board hope that Congress will duly appreciate them and grant from time to time the appropriations necessary to make it perfect in every respect.

After an arrangement to meet at New London, Conn., on the 10th instant, the board adjourned.

WASHINGTON, D. C., October 30, 1876.

The board met at 2 p. m. All the members present.

Having made a careful examination of the site of the naval station at New London, Conn., the board see no sufficient reason for retaining it; on the contrary, it is their opinion that it would be greatly to the advantage of the United States to dispense with and abandon it.