one of the most elaborate plans is sent in by robert chestboro. you may have come in contact with him. he is the inventor of vaseline. i was amused to find one of these letters on how to melt the merrimac is written on a company called the brooklyn fire insurance co. apparently, they knew how to start fires. chestboro says, you put a $5,000 gallon tank on the monitor, use a wore thing ton force pump and you spray the merrimac with this fluid. in 15 minutes, her gun deck will be untenable and in 10, an explosion. it can be readied in three days and costs about $5,000. i am aware the cry of inhumane warfare well be raised. the object is to only induce surrender. as soon as the rebels surrender, the monitor can switch to spraying water and it will wash the flames off. again, you will achieve your ends. if fire couldn't be used, how about live steam. there are several people that suggest if you want a dead iron clad, you inject live steam and do similar, have hoses attached to the monitor steam drum or a special extra boiler and spray live steam throu