the results were not so pronounced as might have been expected, and while the influence of the idea is seen in the practice of every maritime nation in regard to the construction of its warships, still, for the most part, the leading nations preferred to make application of the idea in their own way rather than order such vessels direct from their original designer.  Yet in not a few cases the original type was faithfully copied, though it is not always clear to what extent Ericsson himself may have had direct contact with their designs.  In 1866 the Swedes were able to test the first of a small fleet of monitors built after Ericsson’s plans.  This was called the “John Ericsson,” and was armed with two 15-inch guns presented to Sweden by Ericsson himself.  Later, in 1868, he designed for Spain and superintended the construction of thirty small gunboats for use in Cuban waters.

For nearly ten years now Ericsson had devoted most of his energies to the art of war.  It was a time of change and unrest.  Heavy guns and armor had brought about a complete break with the past.  The torpedo, which had made its appearance in crude form during the Civil War, was attracting more and more attention, and questions of naval offence and defence and of the best governmental policy were attracting the serious attention of all whose duty led them into relation with such matters.  Into this problem in its broadest aspects Ericsson threw himself in the early ’seventies with all the ardor of his younger days.

It is proper to explain here that there was one feature of the earlier plans which were submitted to Napoleon III. in 1854, which he did not embody in the “Monitor,” and which, indeed, was omitted from all published plans and descriptions of the system given out in former years.  This was a system of submarine or subaqueous attack, which, he states in a letter to John Bourne, had attracted his attention since 1826.  The time now seemed ripe for the presentation and development of this idea, and he accordingly developed his designs for a torpedo, and for a method of firing it under water from a gun carried in the bow of a boat, and suitably opening to allow the discharge of the torpedo projectile.  This was Ericsson’s so-called “Destroyer” system, and was embodied finally in a boat called the “Destroyer,” which he built in company with his friend, Mr. C.H.  Delamater, and with which he carried on numerous experiments.  In the end, however, the system did not commend itself to the naval authorities, and the “Destroyer” was left on her designer’s hands, an instance of difference of opinion between Ericsson and those charged with the duty of naval administration, and with no supreme test of war to provide opportunity for the determination as to which were the more correct in their judgment.  With the “Destroyer,” and his work in connection with her, closes the record of Ericsson’s connection with the advance in naval construction.

During these later years of his life it must not be supposed that he was less busily occupied than in earlier life.  His was a nature which knew no rest, and to the last day of his life he was literally in the harness.  Only brief mention however can be made of some of the more important lines of work which interested the closing years of Ericsson’s life.