The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-02-10
COAL TORPEDOEs.
tEisfOrs. OF the origin and object Of the
Terrible Destructive gent.
Letter to the London Times.


Letter to the London Times.
Perhaps a short account by one who is
acquainted with the origin and object of
the coal torpedo, REFERRED to in The Times
OF Yesterday, may interest some of your
readers.
In lne winter of 1868, a CAPTAIN
Courtenay obtained from the Confeder-
ate war department the facilities for
making some experiments with his coal
castings at Richmond, Va, to be used
for collapsihg the boilers of the enemv's
war vessels and transports by introducing
the sham coal into the government coal
piles at the various United STATES naval
depots along the coast and on the great
rivers In the interior.
The experiments were so successful
that the system was finally adopted. and
operations were commenced shortly after.
The tOrpedOes were irregular iren or
steel castings, three-eighths of an inch
thick, except at the cOre-hoIe, which was
reinforced to allow thread being turned
IN 1t to receive the fuse or plug. The
models were taken from pOlylateral
pieces of coal picked at random from a
pile, not so large as to require "trim-
ming" by the iremen before being SHOW
L
rendered smooth by centrifugal motion
with emery to reduce the risk of explo-
sion by chatting while introducing the
charge. The shell being filled and closed
with brass plug it was dipped by means
of a string into boiling mixture of coal
tar, pUlverized cOal-either anthracite or
bituminOus, whichever was desired to be
epresented-and a small quantity of
resin or beeswax, then plunged instantly
into bucket of iced water, the result
being coating of about three-quarters of
| an inch in thickness, which gave the
| shell, when the surfaGe gloss had been
sCraped of, the exact resemblance of a
lump of cOal-in weight, smell and GEN
craI appearance.
Several of these were drOpped into the
United States government coal depot at
Fortress Monroe, and led to the destruc-
ton of the new sloop-ofwar Cbenango
and also of the splendid steamer Grey
hound, used as the head-quarter boat of
the army of the James, the ilIustrious
commander of which, General B. +.
Butler, and Admiral Porter neatly lost
their lives, having just left the vessel be-
fore her boilers collapsed. Both these
vessels had coaled up from the same pile
at Fort Monroe shortly before
The coal torpedo has, to my knowl-
edge, been seriously examined and con-
sidered by mere than one government
and sums of money have been awarded
by two of them for samples and informa-
ti6h connected with their manufacture.
1t Is very probable that the coal torpedo,
which can be made of less size and there
fore more difficult to detect and more
easily handled and distributed as our
knowledge of Eliminates advances, NAV
play conspicuous part in the next mar
thine war. a few years past the whole
system of torpedo attack or defense was
denounced ns baFbarOus and outside of
the laws of man and common humanity.
Both Admiral S. p. Lee, commanding
the United States squadron on the James
river during Grants Petersburg cam
Paign, and Admiral Dahlgren, command
ing of Charleston, S. c., proclaimed no
quarters to confederate torpedo operators;
and after the destruction of the United
states ship Commodore Jones in the
James river by the submarine torpedocs
at Deep Bottom, in charge of Com
mander Hunter Davidson, Confederate
States navy, who fell in the enemy's
hands, was Immediately put to death in
l764 Now, in 1875, the United States
navy IS ahead of all others in the science
and practice of offensive torpedo war
fare, and maintains an elaborate torpedo
school at Newport, Rhode Island,
through which all officers are obliged to
graduate
During the revolutionary war, and
again as late as the war of 1912, the
British press and public denounced the
use of the rife by the American troops
as 5arbarous, and the picking off of men
at long ranges as murderOuS and inhu-
man. Temporal mUtuntur.
The blowing up of Grants powder
bull at City Point in 1864, was not &C
complished as your correspondent sup
poses, by an internal machine on the
william Thomas model but by volcanic
fuse, with a ''gimlet point, which was
screwed into a barrel Of fixed ammuni-
ton on board, or on its way to the pow
der vessel mOOred off City Point, and
containing nearly four hundred tons of
powder and ammunition, hereserve sup
ply OF the grand army of the Potomac
then investing Petersburg and Rich
mond. 1t was accomplished by a mem
Der of tn secret service CORPS WHO en-
tered the federal lines as a refugee and
obtained employment at CITY Point in
the quartermaster's or ordnance depart
ment until an opportunity offered His
fuse was regulated for three DAYS from
the time he crushed the vial of suIphuric
acid contained in the head of the fuse; it
took that time for the released acid to
eat through the copper plates placed
under it and communicate with the COM
position placed beneath them, when the
fuse exploded. In the meanwhile the
operator made his escape, and having
carried out his desperate enterprise, re-
turned safely to Richmond.
1t is fortunate that Thomas and his
associates were ignorant of the certainty
the McEvoy volcanic fuse and retained
the antiquated and exploded system of
clock-work firing apparatus.
In conclusion, may say that it was
proposed by committee of the Fenian
congress, assembled in New York in
1867, to distribute coal torpedoes in
the coal cellars of her majesty 5 minis
tiers and prominent public men in Lon
don, but was abandoned on suggestion
that many kitchens in London would
have Irish maids connected with the
scullery department.
Railroad vs.. Stage. Coach.