The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-19
The Use of TOrpedOes
I'm Modern Warfare.
First Used During Our Civil War, and They
Have Since Wrought Terrible Destruction.

as II were, in mid air, enveloped by fall
ling spray. mud, water and sand"
The torpedo which destroyed the un-
ion monitor Milwaukee in 1862 eX-
ploded near the stern, and that part of
the ship sank in thre minutes, but
the bow compartments kept the fore
part of the ship afloat for an hour, the
situation being in this respect the re-
verse of the Maine.
When the Brazilian ironclad Rio
Janeiro was destroyed by torpedo in
1866 she suddenly rose up, surrounded
by a column of foaming water, broke
in two, and at once went to the bot
tom,
LEGITIMATE.
Nations have now accepted the tor
pedo as legitimate in warfare, but the
"coal mine" by which some of the
union ships were sunk, and which has
been used in the Ward line in recent
years. has been placed in the category
as individual assassinations. The coal
mine Is a package OF 10 pounds Of
powder done up to loON like a lump of
coal, and either placed in the bunkers
or i'm the supply of coal which ship
is taking on board. BY means of this
the union transport Greyhound was
destroyed in the civil war. and Admiral
Farragut and General Butler narrow
ly escaped death.
One of the finest instances of Ameri-
can heroism occurred when the union
monitor TeCumseh was blown up by
| torpedOes in the bay of Mobile. So
rapid was the sinking of the vessel that
seventy of the crew perished. Captain
| Craven and his pilot were in the pilot
| house. There was not an instant tu
| spare if they wanted to escape. But the
| captain. with fine Chivalry, the story
| of which will never die. drew back, and
| with a courteous wave of the hand
! said, After you, sir The pilot
| climbed the ladder to light and safety
and the captain went down with his
| ship. Captain Craven had not OBJ
served the orders of Admiral Farragut
! to keep in the channel which was be-
! lieved to be free from torpedOes.
"GO AHEAD"
Behind him was the Brooklyn. which
! Immediately preceded the flagship
/ Hartford. The captain of the Brook.
! lyn slackened his speed, fearful of q
! like fate, which made Farragut i'm.
! plIleIlN, anu llt SlSIldltu ilo ldllluus
| order:
Damn the torpedoes! Go ahead"
Still the BROOKLYN was not inclined
to go ahead, and Farragut turned tC
his signal officer and asked:
Can you signal For Gods sake?'"
Yes, sir" was the reply.
"Then signal to the Brooklyn: Fol
Gods sake get out of our way anC
| anchor
The torpedo boats which were EN-
ployed later in the war were 50 indis
! proportion to their antagonists tina
they were nicknamed DaVids and wert
known as such North and South Blu
the byword has gone out of style S,
| completely in the years past that j
would puzzle many people to know
what was meant by speaking of tn
Davids and the monitors.
According II Trumbull Whites his
tory of the China-Japan war, the Jap
1nese sank two Chinese ships by tor
pedoes in the battle of Wei Hal Wei
February and 4, 1895. Only one tor
pedo did thev use in the great battl
of the Yalu in the previous Septembe
and that was at a ship which was al
ready partially destroyed. In the Jul
before the transport Kow Shing wa
sunk by the fire of the Japanese Man
iva Kan, and the one torpedo whiC
the latter sent after the transpOr
proved Intellectual.