The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1898-08-27
The story of the Ensign.

Thousands of people have read of
the blowing up of the battleship Maine
in the harbor of Havana and wondered
that such great ship could be de-
stroyed so quickly. Submarine mines
and torpedoes were freely made use of
during the war of the rebellion, and
the list of federal vessels destroyed
footed up about dozen. These instru-
ments of warfare were experiments
rather than facts when thus made use
of, and where one was a success there
were 80 failures.
AS one of the few survivors of the
Tecumseh and the Sciota l can real
lie something of the horrible work
which took place aboard the Maine
when the explosion came. The Tecum-
sch was one of the fleet making the
attack on the forts in Mobile bay, and
her orders as the line steamed in were
to give all her attention to Fort Nor
gan. We were struck twice by solid
shot from the fort before we could
bring our broadside guns to bear. We
had fired but once, and were not above
500 feet from the beach when the word
was passed aft that half dozen buoys
were dancing on the water right
ahead. These buoys could only mean
torpedoes beneath, but the Tecumseh
had to take chances. To stop would
have been to receive the fire of so
guns and foul the craft behind her.
The word was given to go ahead at full
| speed, and every man aboard stood
by for calamity. The guns which
were Pumping shot and shell into us
from the fort suddenly ceased firing,
and we could see their crews thrusting
their heads out of the embrasures to
watch us.
The pilot headed the Tecumseh at
an opening between two of the buoys,
and we took long breath and clutched
whatever was randy. We had got fair
ly between the buoys when the craft
was lifted bodily out of water. 1t
seemed to us as If she was raised sew
eral feet, and she had fallen back again
before we got the dull rumble of the
explosion. She had struck a contact
torpedo loaded with 500 pounds of
powder, and hole big enough to
roll hogshead through had been torn
out of her bottom. Half the crew must
have been killed as she lifted. Guns
were dismounted, bulkheads tornaway
and everything movable sent flying.
There was one wild yell and then a
rush to escape. In go seconds after
the explosion the Tecumseh was on
her way to the bottom. and such of us
as were saved were floating about when
the boats reached us.
Scores of torpedoes had been planted
in Mobile bay, and the first move OF
the victorious federals was to hunt
them out. In so doing there were
many casualties, but the loss of the
gunboat Sciota came about through
mere chance. was among six of the
Tecumsehs men who had been trans.
ferred to her. 1t was believed that the
last torpedo had been removed and yes.
sells were moving about without fear
but as afterwards appeared, at least
one of these instruments of defense had
broken from its moorings and was
drifting about. 1t was charged with
$50 pounds of powder, and arranged tc
explode by contact. The Sciota start
ed across the bay by short cut ovel
shoal. The deviation of point
would have carried her clear of the tor
pedo lurking there, but she was going
ahead at full speed, ard believing her
self perfectly safe when she struck it