Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-03

seem slow. In a twinkiing the launch was
close upon the ram amidships. 10 was done
so quickly that we could not realize what
was really taking place. Down went that
hshpole affair which Cushing had in his
hand, and 1t projected vertically from the
bow OF the launch. We could see a thing like
an oil can on its free end. The pole wac
the torpedo boom, and the can was the
torpedo itself.
Explosion.
"Then there was a deafening crashing and
creaking explosion. l know OF nothing TO
compare with 1t except an awful roaring
earthquake. 1t seemed as IL we had been
struck by lightning and run into by a loco
motive at the same moment, Added to the
roar OF the guns the sensation was most
terrifying. Every one on the ram was
thrown down. The heavy cannon on deck
toppled over and there was a wrenching of
iron supports and armor plate, The
Albemarle rose fully five feet on our side.
Half OF us expected to be anuihilated be-
fore We could stagger to our feet. But some
one did have GOODNESS enough in the unique
experience to know what to do.
"'Get TO the port guns! Every man use
a musket!' shouted q lieutenant,
THE ram was settling then and we ran
and looked over the side OF the Albemarle.
The men in the launch had leaped from it
and were swimming for dear life. The
beacons were too fickerins to be of much
service for our markesmen, but over half
of the Ysnks were shot in the water. A few
got away by pure luck in the shadows of
the piles of cotton bales on the wharf and
shore. Gushing himself escaped in this way.
1t was one of the miracles that do occur
at such times that any one of Cushing's
expedition should have lived to get near the
ram in that hail Of lead and iron missiles,
much more so that any one could have
reached shore in that boiling water.
In three minutes, that seemed an age, we
had to abandon the Albemarle. Water ran
into her like "a sieve. Had W been on the
sea we would have sunk in half the time.
Some Of the boys tried to get below deck
to save personal property, but could not.
Captain Welch sent word to the shore bat
teries to shell the forest and swamp across
the Roanoke, opposite Plymouth, because the
fleeing Yanks might have reached there.
The sentries were urged to be very watch
full fer fugitive Yanks that night.
"All night long hundreds of soldiers and
sailors sat on the coal wharf and talked
about the destruction of our naval pride.
Women and children at Plymouth were ter
ribly frightened at the noise of the explosion
anu inc HluSkSlTy ana CdulOHdulUB ana lieu
to the soldiers protection. They supposed
, of course, that General Sherman, with 90, 900
: men, had com to gather them all in. The
. sorrow of the confeds, when 1t became
known that the ram had been torpedoed and
!, had sunk, was as touching as anything l
| saw in warfare. We knew that the hope
t of our navy was finished then. AS we sat
S there that cold, dark night on the wharf
4 many a grizzled man wept tears of anger
e and sorrow. Naturally we were curious tc
1 know how so powerfully armored a craft
. could have been so easily wounded tc
death. At the first streaks of dawn severa
r of us were down in the water beneath the
wharf examining the hulk as best We could
The craft had settled in about fifteen fee
of water, and as she drew but eight feet ant
{ was built low in the water, it may be real
lied how much water had rushed into her
4 Ripped to Pieces.
= 1.-THE torpedoes had loosened every part o
h the hulk. There were seams about an Incl
e wide, some sixty feet distant from the spo
where Gushing had exploded the torpedo
e There was a rough hole amidships, as larg
d as the head of a hogshead, where the torped
had done its deadly work. Seams half
foot wide and twelve and twenty feet lon
radiated therefrom in every direction. A
l, 100-pound shot from a modern rifle
cannon could not do more damage than tina
fifty pound copper-bound torpedo had done
Armor plates were ripped off, and the bi
timbers were wrenched out Of place. TIL
iron stanchions were twisted, the deck amid
ships was raised, and both the engines wer
irreparably smashed and wrenched. 1t
marvellous that the magazine had not bee
exploded. Half a dozen men who wer
, in their hammocks near the spot where tn
II torpedo exploded were found dead in tn
III water.
" I'VE had heard much and seen nothing {
the torpedoes the Yankees were using. Som
one dived down and brought up the remain
OF Cushipg's torpedo. l believe the remain
H. are now In the naval museum at Washing
ton. The late United States Senator Be
ID Hill Of Georgia had them as a curiosity fc
N some years, and l believe he gave then
the Naval museum. The torpedo was of tt
,a size and shape Of a three gallon oil cal
Ia Fifty POUNDS OF giant powder had bee
n packed in a round wood casing. About tn
was a covering Of thin copper, SO that
in space occupied by air was at the butt of II
torpedo. That was to make the torpedo hoi
with the point downward when it was +,
en- leased from the torpedo boom. There was
er point shaped like the business end of
7 candle. About this were a score of lar,
ed percussion caps, each of which touch,
le. Illuminating powder inside the copper cove
ed ing. The torpedo was exploded on the san
principal as the old-fashioned cap al
powder gun. When Cushing pulled Il
lanyard the springs at the end OF the torpe'
boom were loosened, the deadly mpsseng
~ started from the boom toward our ram, al
~, striking its side with full force the ca
90 went off and ignited the Illuminating powd
which exploded the giant powder.
ho Chief Constructor Porter was Motif
the day following the explosion what h
10 taken place. He sent experts to look ov
,,v the wreck. They said the hulk was usele!
10 Captain WEIGH ordered the machinery to
w. destroyed, so that it might never be lis
~. by the enemy. Several barrels OF powd
,tr were exploded there, and all that remain
70 or the pride of the confederate navy, in III
ho region at least, was blown to pieces and su
" in the Roanoke.
~, The Scene Hcyisited,
at. I'm the summer of 1S72-about two yet
oss before Cushing's death from brain fever
vas was travelling for his health, and he We
down the coast to AIbemarle Sound. He "
IAN curious to see what remained OF the
i'm ram. He spent a day or two about =
an mouth, and | CHANGED to meet him at Han
vas ton Roads a few weeks later, | was resti