To George Washington from Benjamin Pemberton, 26 December 1796
From Benjamin Pemberton
New York 26th Decr 1796
No. 26 Garden Stree⟨t⟩
May it Please your Excellency
The enclosed sent me by a Friend with direction to deliver it myself I received sometime since, but however desireous I might be to avail myself of the Honor it intended me, I cou’d not think of intrudeg, on you when I knew how fully and importantly your time must be engaged, nor should I have troubld you with it now, but that I conceive you may think the following communication of sufficient importance to excuse it.1
The dreadfull Fires that have lately prevaild in several Towns of the United States,2 induced me to turn my thoughts to some more efficacious means of Supplying the Engines with Water, and the Idea of doing it by means of Pipes sugested itself to me, it is extreamly simple and capable of being Universally adopted, by Obligeing every House to be provided with Two Tin Tubes, seven feet long of a competant bore of from three to six Inchs, and All form’d on exactly the same make, haveing one End for about two Inches deep a little Widend, so that the smaller end of the Other cd be admitted into it, the whole to be painted, and the Number of the House to which it belong’d painted on it.
Thus each House wou’d be provided with fourteen feet of Pipe, which with the Opposite House wou’d make a length of twenty Eight feet, equal to the average ⟨pont⟩ or length of each House to the Street, In case of a Fire every house to furnish their Pipes commenceing at the nearest pump that was sufficiently elevated to conveigh the Water towards the fire, and by inserting the smaller end of One into the larger of the Other—with a smart stroke of a light Mattch, wou’d make them Water tight, Observeg that the small end shoud be pointed towards the Fire or decent, by this means a length of Pipes cou’d be laid in a few Minuets to conveigh the Water from the Pump at any distance imediatly to the Fire to supply the Engines, & all the Labor and Confusion that attends handg the Bucketts avoided. This Line of pipe can be continued from Pump to Pump to Any length and in Any direction, by a provision of certain peices of Pipe forming Angles with the Others, so as to be capable of being inserted into the side of the Others, by which the Water from the Crossing streets may be conveighd into the Principle one, water may likewise be brought from a lower situation by Casks on Cariages, or Buckets to the Nearest pipe in a commanding situation, no Matter how distant from the Fire as every house is to be provided.
I shall not take up Your Excellencys time by a minute detail of the construction of certain peices of pipe to be provided by & brought with the Engines to stop or turn the Water at Pleasure in different direction to the several Engines, as likewise Reservoir pipes to receive the Water from the Pumps, Casks, or Bucketts.
I can have no difficulty in confideing to your Honor & Judgement a Plan on which I have built some expectations and that I hope will be found Usefull to the State; shou’d it meet your Approbation and be adopted I have no doubt you will secure an adequate Compensation for your Excellency’s Most Huml. and Most Obedient Servant
Benjn Pemberton
ALS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters. Neither a reply to Pemberton from GW nor any further plan from Pemberton on the extinguishment of fires has been found.
Benjamin Pemberton (1744–1799) was an Irish builder, architect, and property developer in Dublin. He had a son Benjamin (b. 1767), also a builder, who evidently was bankrupt in 1794 and was living in Dublin in the early nineteenth century. The author of this letter was likely the father (Anthologia Hibernica: or Monthly Collections of Science, Belles-Lettres, and History …, 3 [Jan.–June 1794]: 77).
1. Pemberton enclosed a letter to GW from William D. Moore dated 14 Aug. 1796 at “Dukes Row, summerhill Dublin.” The letter reads: “With scarce a Claim to your Remembrance, except that admiration of your Virtues which I possess in common with half Mankind, and apprehensive that even my Name, tho’ once Honored by your Polite attention may now be forgotten—’tis with infinite reluctance, I take the liberty of introduceing to your Notice the bearer of this Benja. Pemberton, my very dear friend and relation, who to a fund of General, Knowledge, extensive Reading, & the strictest integrity, has added no despicable Share of Professional Abilities as a Builder and Architect.
“A Strong disposition to see your great World & of making a more Ample provision for a large Family, have induced him to leave, an Hansome Establishment here, to visit you[r] rising Country—I therefore beg leave to Recommend him to your Notice & protection, which I am Convinced he will neither repay with ingratitude or disgrace by inability” (LS, DNA: RG 59, Miscellaneous Letters).
In 1783, William Duke Moore, a Dublin artist and master builder, had sent GW a seal he had made depicting the general (see William Duke Moore to GW, 15 March 1783, DLC:GW; see also GW to Moore, 3 Dec. 1783, DLC:GW; and , 82).
2. Fires throughout the United States were reported in newspapers from the spring through the late fall of 1796. The Oracle of the Day (Portsmouth, N.H.) for 16 Nov. 1796 reported fires in Massachusetts that consumed a house, printing office, bookshop, and store. The Columbian Museum & Savannah Advertiser for 6 Dec. printed a report, dated 11 Nov. at New York, which described two fires that erupted at a stable and “in an adjoining street,” in which “several buildings were consumed.” A third fire was thought to be a case of arson. A report that several buildings were destroyed by fire on “the east side of Front street” in New York appeared in the Polar Star and Boston Daily Advertiser for 19 December. The Mercury (Boston) for 30 Dec. related an account of “Incendiaries” who “continue their horrid attempts at the Southward.” According to the account, property damage caused by fire in Savannah amounted to $700,000. For accounts of blazes that occurred in Charleston, S.C., in the spring and summer of 1796, see GW to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 8 July (second letter), and n.1 to that document.
For GW’s donations to fire victims in the fall of 1796, see Thomas Peter to GW, 19 Oct., and n.3 to that document; see also GW to George Washington Parke Custis, 15 Nov., and n.6.