Wichita eagle., 1888-01-27
A C0MMODORE'S PERIL.
BLOWN UP BY A TORPEDO BOAT
OFF CHARLESTON.

L .
| The Destruction OF the Heusatonic by the
/ Confederates-A Thrilling Escape from
| Death-An Incident Of the Late Civil
| War.
Commodore c. ". Pickering, of the United
| States navy, now IS years old, was daring
! officer during the civil war, and had one of
| the most thrilling escapes from death re-
| corded in the annals of the navy. In the
| winter he lives at st. Augustine, Fla. It
was while migrating to his winter quarters
that he was met by reporter at the Wind
| sor hotel. The commodore looks like a
| Frenchman OF Napoieon's Old Guard. His
hair and mustache are snow white and in
| strong contrast to his swarthy complexion
| One of his legs is paralyzed and eight or ten
| of his ribs have been broken. His escape
| from death when he was blown up on the
war vessel Housatonic was little short of the
! miraculous. His own account of it is as fol-
! lows:
/ The blockade runners during the war would
| pass almost under the shadow of a war ship,
with the chances of being sunk by few
| shells. had command of the Housatonic,
armed with 2O0poundeIs, smaller cannon and
| howitzers, and was stationed at the mouth of
| Charleston harbor. One night in February,
| 1854, we were on the lookout for blockade
runners. 1t was beautiful night at times,
| the shifting clouds now and then revealing
the stars and the ocean for miles to seward.
/ Fort Sumter was near, black and frowning,
| and Charleston in the distance, with its dim
| lights, made us long to be ashore When the
/ bo,r c,Saw late r Covo Instructions tn tba
/ officers on deck and went below We were
anchored, but had everything ready to get
under way in a few minutes time No
blockade runners were expected that night,
but they were liable to come at any time,
Aence my constant precaution. | was talking
| to my clerk, Charles o. Muzzey, of Boston,
when | heard the alarm gong sounding on
| deck. The gong, instead of a bell or cam
non report, was our signal to prepare for
action at night. Iseized my double barreled
| gun and rushed on deck, my clerk following
me? My idea was to shoot the man at the
wheel on the blockade runner while it was
passing One Of the officers sang out: 1T is
a torpedo boat
But did not hear him. and still thinking
q blockade runner was going by, looked
around. Then the officer in loud tones sang
out again: Torpedo boatr'
DESTRUCTION AWAITED
! 1 gave the order then to slip the chain Of
the anchor, that the vessel might swing
around and possibly escape the torpedo boat.
To my surprise, l did not hear the chains
rattle. asked why and the officer replied:
1.-THE chain is gone" He had cut it on the
instant, and the vessel was swinging around.
Then l saw the torpedo boat, or rather a
small glass roundhouse, large enough for one
man to stick his head in and look over the
surface OF the water. l knew that destruc-
ton awaited us unless could stop that little
submarine monster moving swiftly toward
the stem of the HousatOnic.
aimed at the glass above the water and
fired both barrels of my gun. Then sang
out orders for our vessel to go astern faster.
1t was too late. There was a smothered
sound like howitzer exploding under water,
and felt myself going up into the air. For
at least second or two | was conscious and
then everything grew dark In eight min
utes from tho time Of the explosion | re-
gained consciousness and found myself in the
water, floating on the debris OF the vessel |
was bleeding from several wounds but still
resolved to escape drowning if possible A
small boat showed itself above water, and
scrambled to it, but it rolled and | aban-
doned it. l saw that part Of the HousatOnic
was not gone, and swan for it, catching hold
Of some ropes. An officer and a marine were
in small boat hanging on the davits I
managed to get into the boat with them and
gave orders to cut the ropes The officer had
no knife, and Just at that moment the YES
sci, OF rather that pars OF it left, rolled over
and we fell into the SEE. The officer never
came up again. l sank twice, and finally
caught an oar from the boat and managed TO
reach the wreck again, where the marines in
the fore rigging of the vessel assisted me.
The list of killed and drowned was only six.
When the Housatonc began to settle the
men in the fore rigging rushed to the stern
and aged to save those who were there
struggling TO extricate themselves. Ny
clerk, Mr. Muzzey, who came on deck with
rle, must have been blown all to pieces, for
we never saw his body. l think must have
gone at least thirty feet into the sir, and my
impression is that did not lose consciousness
until reached the point where ] began to
descend What became Of the submarine
torpedo boats l sank it when 1 fired into it,
or a very few minutes afterward. The glass
lookout. you see. was water tight. and my
discharge Of buckshot broke it, and the
water rushing in finally sank it. There were
six in the torpedo boat and all were drowned.
had several ribs broken and was paralyZed.
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