Captain Stockton is
entitled to the credit of being the first naval officer who heard,
understood, and dared to act upon the suggestions of Ericsson, as to
the application of the propeller to ships of war. At the first glance,
he saw the important bearings of the invention; and his acute judgment
enabled him at once to predict that it was destined to work a
revolution in naval warfare. After making a single trip in the
experimental steamboat, from London Bridge to Greenwich, he ordered
the inventor to build for him forthwith two iron boats for the United
States, with steam-machinery and propeller on the plan of this rejected
invention. "I do not want," said Stockton, "the opinions of your
scientific men; what I have seen this day satisfies me." He at once
brought the subject before the Government of the United States, and
caused numerous plans and models to be made, at his own expense,
explaining the peculiar fitness of the invention for ships of war. So
completely persuaded was he of its great importance in this aspect,
and so determined that his views should be carried out, that he boldly
assured the inventor that the Government of the United States would
test the propeller on a large scale; and so confident was Ericsson
that the perseverance and energy of Captain Stockton would sooner or
later accomplish what he promised, that he at once abandoned his
professional engagements in England, and came to the United States,
where he fixed his residence in the city of New York.
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