Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-06-26
Sunken IrOn-Clads.


The Charleston News, in giving an account of
the work of wreckers in Charleston harbor,
says that the ironclad HousatOnic lies in thirty
six feet of water, just over the bar, sixteen
miles from the city. She rests on hard shell Dot
tom, and lies northwest and southeast, upright
on her keel. The water out here is beautifully
blue and clear, and the divers prosecute their
work with much less difficulty than at the Wee
hawken. Her decks, masts and rigging have
all been eaten away by the worms, and little
else is now left of her but the huge black hull
Her propeller, shaft, chains and anchors and
large portion of her machinery have been hoist
ed from her by the machine, and also two Of
the smaller guns composing her armament.
The rest of them were taken up by the govern
| ment several years ago. The government has
buoy planted about three hundred yards east
southeast OF this wreck, which enables the
wreckers to guess pretty closely as TO her
whereabouts. To render the matter a certainty,
however, Captain Soames, when he leaves her
to come up to the city, marks her position with
buoy fastened TO the centre OF her hull.
About twenty feet south of the wreck of the
doomed ship lies the hull of her destroyer, the
confederate torpedo boat.
She has been visited by the captain, who re-
| ports her TO be lying bottom upwards, and
seemingly in good preservation. There are no
| holes in her hull, and the wings of her dimin-
utive propeller, now uppermost, seem to be in
| good running order. She did her work effectu-
| ally. In the hull, on the port quarter of the
huge ship, is a jagged hole large enough to
drive a carriage and pair through. The heavy
oaken ribs and thick planks are blown in with
tremendous power, and the Housatonic must
have gone down with but little preparation.
Her diminutive but dangerous foe met with a
similar fate, and the two now rest in silence,
side by side, at the bottom of the sea.
Under the waters the divers see curious things
and make curious acquaintanceS. Near the
surface of the water on his way down, the
diver sees sharks of enormous dimensions,
which seem afraid of the curious monster thus
intruding on their domain. The sharks are
never seen at the bottom; they keep their dis
lance; but the small fry at the bottom are much
more sociable. These swim around the diver in
the most Indifferent manner, and with curl
osity truly feminine, insert their noses in every
orifce in his submarine armor. Their particu-
lar amusement is to pry into the glass eyes, and
at times they are as troublesome as the moSqui-
toes are to us landlubberS All varieties and
immense quantities of these small fish feed
around on the shells, and their curiosity rem
der them easy victims TO the inSinuationS of
hook and bait. AT night the phosphorescent
sparks in the clear blue water out at the Housa-
tonic light up the depths in wonderful man.
ner, and the diver enjoys the illumination,
though he has not much time for admiring the
beauties of nature. He stays down six hours, or
less, as his work renders it necessary; in rum
maging about the ship, the captain discovered
several bottles of Rhine wine and ale. He also
brought up a globular brass lamp and several
metal mountings from officers swords. The cap
tain has also in his possession a massive jaw
bone. 1t is evidently the lower maxillary of a
man but its size and the strength of the teeth
are wonderful.