The Forrest City times., 1891-04-03
IN THE OLD NAVAL TUBS.
DEAD NEGROES USED FOR TOR
 PEDO FLOATS.
Interesting "Reminiscences of the Life oi Blockader-Howa . British Sloop was Relieved of Its Cargo
 of Drinkables.

served for four years as engineer aboard the blockading squadron in the late war. They seemed to be possessed of high degree of intelligence. and lay about ships like sentinels watching for something to fall overheard.
 Things did fall overheard, too" he continued, ''and not the least juicy morsels snapped up by the grim watch dogs of the sea, were negroes. These negroes were refugees, and if by chance one fell overheard, he seemed to give up all hope immediately. and down he went without even so much as cry. The sharks got colored men invariably. Why. l remember when aboard the New Hampshire receiving ship, where was stationed awhile in charge of the distilling apparatus, that for weeks two sharks lay like sentinels at our stern, one at each side never moving, except 10 snap up some choice morsel that fell overheard. AS they lay about six feet under the water they wore visi- ble, but safe from our guns.
 Il remember once we were detailed to keep the confederates from placing torpedoes in the St. Johns river The ship was surrounded with torpedo netting 10 prevent the enemy slipping up at night and screwing a bomb into us unawares. One placid evening the ships surgeon, thinking the nets a sufficient protection against sharks, went down to take bath in the space between the netting and ships. He splashed about for awhile and then with one shriek he disappeared for ever. A queer thing about his death was that he had received letter that very day from him wife in New York saying that she had dreamed he was in imminent peril of his life and beseech- ing him to be careful what he did.
 The sharks here were tricky. They had n habit of following boat and suddenly catching hold of one of the oars, trying by this means to upset it. l believe they thoroughly understood what the result of an upset would be, but we always fooled them.
 Sharks were not the worst thing we had to contend with on that river though. It was our practice to pick up every dead body that could be seen, as we often by that means secured letters containing valuable information. The confederates got onto this fact and secured the dead bodies of negroes and attaching torpedoes to them, allowed them to drift down toward us in the hope that we would get blown up in catching -sthe bodies. But we dis covered this ruse before any damage was done. They were not sparing of powder in making these internal machines. One day while hunting on the river found four torpedoes and we got 300 pounds of powder from them.
 'I was put down as desertcr once, but it was no disgrace, as it was a con- mon occurrence, and the entry was merely formal. It happened in this way in my case: We were lying at Hilton Head, or Port Royal. and I was given leave of absence for twenty-four hours to visit plantation. This plan tation lay up the creek that was very deep and very narrow. On our return trip we found tbe tide in and the stream away over it's banks. The water ex- tended long distance on both sides as the creek was bordered by low plains. We got out of the center of the stream, and the tide suddenly rushed out, leav- ing us high and dry on shore, and there we sat until the next tide hoated us or. We suffered for our careless ness, for the gallinippers got in their work in great shape. These gallinip- pers. without exaggeration. were an inch in length with bills a half inch long. They could puncture ordinary clothing with ease. Sand tieas were also soursc of terrible torture to us You sec we lay surrounded by swainps. and when the tide went out our deck was brought down below the level of the swamp. and legions of gallinippers and sand ileas boarded us. Many a time l have strapped myself to cross trees of the masts, where the wind blew these pests away, thus letting me have good sleep.
 But as to the manner of our block adc. Take that of Charleston harbor, for instance. There were here Old iiVhoi0So tAS w lsSfiulShOu \OuI slip and about ten others. The vessels were posted about a mile apart and at night each patrolled up and down on its beat. l remem mber one boat that we ran down and sunk. It was about ? o'clock in the morning and we could just see a dark object which we knew to be runner Ee ran across her bows and gave her a shot after which she ran out to sea, but soon came back This time we ran alongside and gave her broadside after broadside until she sank. She went down in shallow water and her deck was left above the sur face, so that n crew was sent aboard to bring on whatever of value she carried She had cargo of fine French wines and the crew brought of an elegant load. In fact they were so heavily loaded that they had to be carried on. A second crew was then sent aboard, but they started with such a load that they also had to be carried of, and be- fore the third crew could get jag day light came, and the guns of the fort drove them off. Just before she was sunk, heard the captain cry that he surrendered and notified our captain, but he was afraid it was only ruse to gain time, and ordered her sunk any how. As our boats were merely tubs, unable to make more than nine knots an hour, as against twelve or fifteen knots of the runners, it was risky busi-