I don't know how he found my email address, but I am grateful to him.Many months ago, I was browsing the internet, looking for information about the Stevens' Battery, when I came across your fascinating blog spot on that very subject.
Oddly enough, on my way home from work today, I happened to pop into a second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross Road (London) and found that they had taken in a huge collection of volumes of 'Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects' dating from 1862! As it was the oldest, I picked up the 1862 volume and found in it a paper on the Stevens' Battery given by Norman Scott Russell, son of the famed naval architect (co-builder of Brunel's Great Eastern) John Scott Russell. There followed a transcription of a debate held after the paper was given (which actually didn't have much to do with the Battery but acted mainly as a point-scoring exercise by various British naval figures arguing about ironclads). There was also a set of illustrations of the design. Needless to say, I bought the book.
I plan to scan the article soon, and wondered if you would be interested in it.
The Stevens Battery is still available as a monograph subject, if someone will take it up.
