George has the cold start right as far as using the boilers. The Federal Navy, with its Ericsson engines and Worthington pumps, used the boiler water level to control feedwater. You'll see a simular setup inside the water chest of your flush toilet. You might also want to, as George suggested, check in with folks with knowledge of period land steam usage. Train parts were in several of the vessels cobbled together in the Confederacy, the C.S.S. David being a notable example of adaptation.

Engineering Precedents for Steam Machinery.---By B. B. Isherwood, Chief Engeneer U.S.N.

Thomas Haines Dudley (1819-1893), U.S. Consul at Liverpool, 1861-1872, reported on 18 July, 1862: "The Lairds have commenced the construction of two steam vessels at their yard at Birkenhead. I am told they are to be iron or ironclad, and are in the nature of rams....They are to be completed with the greatest dispatch."- Dudley to Seward, No. 93, 18 July 1862

Powered initially by secondhand machinery designed for smaller and lighter vessels, perhaps no characteristic of Confederate ironclads was more villified than their universal lack of speed and powerplant reliability. This was not strictly a Southern problem. Even the industrially superior North was initially incapable of producing adequate powerplants for its heavy monitors, as few of the early turreted classes reached their intended service speeds. Despite its obvious requirement for closing with the enemy and when attempting to ram, John L. Porter and many others, North and South, believed that speed was unnecessary for harbor defense and coastal operations. Nevertheless, efforts were made to improve both the power and dependability of steam engines used in Southern ironclads. By 1864, reliable, purpose-built machinery was being manufactured for these warships. The impressive performance of engines produced by the Columbus Naval Iron Works for the Columbia, for example, provoked a rare compliment from one high-ranking Union naval officer.Chapter VII Summary and Conclusions The Evolution of Confederate Ironclad Design A. Robert Holcombe