The herald., 1895-01-29
SUBMARINE roRDEDo BOATS
Proved to Ba Dangerous to Those Who
Man Them.

Man Them.
The coffin-shsped torpedo boat de-
signed to crawl along the bottom of the
sea, which is building at Atlantic High
lands by Simon Lake and his associates,
and which drifted ashore on Barley
Point, N. j., a few days ago, may prove
a coffin" indeed. as nearly all sub
marine torpedo boats have done. The
fish torpedo boat that destroyed the
union gunboat Housatonic off Charles
ton harbor during the civil war. was
built at Mobile in 1858, by Hundlsy
McCintock. and was arranged with
pair of lateral fins by the use of which
she could be submerged or brought to
the surface.
Her motive power was q hand propel-
Ter worked by eight men. and it was in
tended that she should dive under yes
sci. dragging torpedo after her, which
would explode on contact with the hull
or keel OF the enemy, the fish" max
ing Oft on the other side. She was pros
vided with tanks which could be filed
or emptied of water, to increase or de-
crease her displacement, but there was
no provision for storage of air. DUR
ing an experiment at Mobile abe sank,
and before she could be raised the
whole crew were suffocated. Gen.
Bsauregard in February, 1864. &C.
cepted this boat for use at Charles
ton. Lieut.. Payne Of the confederate
states navy and crew OF eight men
were preparing to take her out tor &C.
ton one night when che was swamped
by the wash of passing steamer and
all hands except Payne were drowned.
Again she was raised, and once more
sunk-this time at Fort Sumter wharf,
when six men were drowned, Payne and
two others escaping. When she was
brought to the surface Hundlsy took
her into the Stone River, where. after
making several successful dives, she
stuck her nose into the mud and every
soul on board persisted by suffocation.
For the fourth time she was raised.
and experiments we're made with her in
Charleston harbDr, She worked bsauti-
fully until che attempted to dive under
the receiving ship Indian Chief, when
she foulsd cable, and once more enc
proved a coffin for every man within
her. Divers brought her up a week
later, and Lieut.. Geo. E. Dixon OF Cap
tain Cothran's company OF the Twenty
first Alabama infantry asked permission
Of General Beauregard to try her against
the Houeatonic, splendid new ship-of-
war. which lay in the north channel, off
Beach inlet, Charleston harbor. Cen
eral Beauregard consented only on the
condition that she should not be used 90
a submarine machine, but operating on
the surface of the water, and with q
spsr torpedo. in the same manner as the
Confederate David.
All the thirty or more men who had
met death in the fish," or "cofin," as
it turned out to be, were volunteers, but
Lieutenant Dixon had no difficulty in
finding another volunteer crew ready to
take the same riks. They were Arnold
Becker, G. Smpkine, James A. Weeks,
F. Collins. and one Ridgway, all OF the
confederate navy, and Capt j. Z. Carl
son OF Capt. Wagoner's company OF
artillery. 1t was little before o'clock
on the evening OF February II, 1864,
when Master j. X. Crosby officer of the
deak of the Housatonic, detected the
torpedo boat scant hundred yards
away from the ship. 1t looked to him,
he said, like plank moving
along the water" and bsiore he
decided to give the alarm he had
lost the seconds in which he might have
nayed HE vesael. When ne did pEss the
WORD, her cable was clipped, her engine
backed, and all hands called to quar-
tors but Dixon had closed on her, and
fred bis torpedo on the starboard side,
just forward of her msinmest. a hole
was knocked in her side, extending be-
low her water line, and she went down
in four minutes. Five OF the Hnuse-
tonic's people were killed by the shock
or drowned; the remainder took refuge
in the rigging, from which they were
rescued by other vessels in the block
aiding feet.
But the victory OF the "6sh'' was
fatal to herself and crew. Whether she
was ewamped by the column OF water
thrown up bv the, explosion, or was
carried down by the suction OF thu sink
ing Housstonic, will never be known,
but che went under, never to rise again,
and the lives OF all on board were sacri-
feed. After the war. when the wrecks
off Charleston were removed, she WAS
discovered lying on the bottom, about
100 feet from the Housatonic. with her
bow pointing TO the latter.
A somewhat similar torpedo boat was
dredged up in July. 1873. in the canal