The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1890-09-19
MlLBANk, s. d., FRIDAY, SEPT. ~. 1890.

'~o"o raTne ana his crew OF eight
men were preparing the boat for an e1pe
dition one night and had her AT the whar,
near Fort johnson when the yava ~
passing steamer washed over her and
s"amped her Payne escaped, bu, the
ere" were all drowned. She was raised
ana G cared OF her dead and Payne secured
announcer crew, and she went down in the
same manner at Fort Sumter wharf. Payne
ana TWO men escaping. 1t was plain tina.
she cigar boat was simply a coffin
The craft had earned such bad odor
In Charleston harbor thnt 1t was decided
70 try her In now waters and she went To
Stone rirer, where several successful dives
were made. AT last however, she went
down aud did not cSme up, and after
search II was found that she had 9ot fast In
the mud at the bottom and all on board
had lerished by sulf0cat!on Once more
abe was raised, the dead remoycd--the
fourth ghastly cargo from her iron bound
huA-and she returned TO the hsrbor.
Every disaster TO the boat had Nd some
thing about 1t that was held to be u warn
ing for the future, and new crew went on
board and resumed experiments. She
,
would carry a torpedo anywhere in the
deep, One more accident led to change
OF plan- For au experiment she dived uu-
der the Confederate receiving ship Indian
Chief, fonled u cable and all of her crew
per1Ahed When she WAS recovered one
Lieut.. George <, Dixon, OF the Twenty first
Alnbana regiment, secured Gen Deaure-
CARDS permission TO try the famous David
against the Housatonic BeauSgam stip-
utated that she should be rugged Us
torpedo boat on the Yurtace OF the water
and not "a a submarine device lie be-
lieycd that the water was too shallow in
tle hRrbor to adm!, OF successful diving
under heavy ship.
a spar was then set on the bow having a
torpedo that would explode by cnncussfnn
with the Obj ect aimed at. The new method
Of operation may have seemed to lessen the
danger, bot III reality the boat had met
disaster rs often when on the surface Us
when submerged. and the chances OF her
riding the conyulsive waves produced by
torpedo were very narrow Yet. although
some thirty men had pcnshed IN her, Lieut..
Dixon found crew ready to volunteer
and destroy the Housatonic. Five Of the
crew were men OF the nary-Arnold Becker,
James A. Wicks, +. Collins, - Ridgway
and c. Simpkins They were Joined by
Capt J. f. Carisen. OF the South Carolina
artillery.
The Housatonic was riding ut anchor on
the evening OF Feb, Il, her officer OF the
deck. Master J T, Crcsby, pacing mechan-
ically to and fro, scanning around rs far as
the darkness-it was 8 o'clock-wouh per-
nit Suddenly he saw about a hundred
yards away what appeared to be plank
moving swiftly toward hi ship. 1t was SO
strange that, anxious though he WAS, he
waited q short time before giving alarm
over SO coatemptuous an object Then he
sounded the CRY, and nh hands were called
to quarters But he was a few seconds too
late. The little boat hal sneahed along
the beach the night before. and been hidden
during the day not far from he doomed
vessel Then In twinRling she had dart
ed out OF hiding, eludcd the lookouts, and
even while the cry was sounding through
the ship Lieut.. Dixon rushed upon her
sides and fired the torpedo.
He struck forward Of the mainrnast. and
the hole extended below the water line,
sinking her in four minutes. Five mS
went down In her the rest clung 10 th
rigging and were rescued. But the
'.plank." rs the Honsatonic's officer called
It, disappeared In the comnotlon or the
waters The fate OF the crew could only