We have not the history of the Merrimack; but the Essex, a frigate of thirty-two guns, begun in April, was launched in September, 1799, and the best commentary upon the policy of the measure and upon the skill and fidelity of her builders is the fact that she proved the fastest ship in the navy, that she lasted thirty-eight years, namely, till 1837, that she cost for hull, spars, sails, and rigging, when ready to receive her armament and stores, but $75,473.59, and that under the gallant Porter, in the War of 1812, she captured the British corvette Alert, of twenty guns, a transport with one hundred and ninety-seven troops for Canada, and twenty-three other prizes, valued at two millions of dollars; she also broke up the British whale-fishing in the Pacific; and when finally captured at Valparaiso by two ships of superior force, who would not venture within reach of her carronades, she fought a battle of three hours’ duration, which does honor to the country.  While this frigate was building, so fast did the timber come in, that the spirited contractor, Mr. Briggs, was obliged to insert the following notice in the Salem paper to check the supply.

“THE SALEM FRIGATE.

“Through the medium of the Gazette the subscriber pays his acknowledgments to the good people of the County of Essex, for their spirited exertions in bringing down the trees of the Forest for building the Frigate.

“In the short space of four weeks the full complement of timber has been furnished.  Those who have contributed to their country’s defence are invited to come forward and receive the reward of their patriotism.  They are informed that with the permission of a kind Providence who hath hitherto favored the undertaking, that

  “Next September is the time
    When we’ll launch her from the strand,
  And our cannon load and prime
    With tribute due to Talleyrand.”

The promise was fulfilled on September 30th, 1799.  The hills in the vicinity and the rocks upon the shores were covered with people assembled to witness the launch, and the guns of the frigate were planted on an eminence “to speak aloud the joy of the occasion.”

A correspondent of the “Gazette” gave the following jubilant account of the affair.

“And Adams said, Let there be a Navy, and there was a Navy.  To build a navy was the advice of our venerable sage.  How far it has been adhered to is demonstrated by almost every town’ in the United States that is capable of floating a Galley or Gunboat.  Salem has not been backward in this laudable design; impressed with a due sense of the importance of a Navy, the patriotic citizens of this town put out a subscription and thereby obtained an equivalent for building a vessel of force.  Among the foremost in this good work were Messrs. Derby & Gray, who set the example by subscribing ten thousand dollars each,—­but, alas, the former is no more; we trust his good deeds follow him.  Yesterday the stars and stripes were unfurled on board the Frigate Essex, and at twelve o’clock she made a majestic movement into her destined element, there to join her sister-craft in repelling foreign invasion and maintaining the rights and liberties of ’a great, free, peaceful, and independent Republic.’”