The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-02

in the beautiful Magnolia cemetery on
the banks of Cooper river overlooking
Charleston harbor, and these were the
graves that Secretary Moody of the
United States nav the other day took
off his hat to in respect to these brave
men.
After ~overhauling the fish boat again
a call for another crew of men
was made on all the boats in the
harbor to man again the i'll fated boat.
To my surprise, James A. WickS was
!. n of the first to volunteer on board
of our ship. He had just returned with
] Colonel Woods expedition from sink
ing and burning the gunboat Under
writer at New Bern, y. c., which was
one of the most daring exploits of the
war
After drilling with this fish BOA upon
~SulliVan's Island about two weeks, on
one beautiful morning as we cast u
eyes seaward to scan the b~lockading
fleet. we saw the maStS of the Sunken
sloOp of war Housatonic just cut Of
the water enough to save her crew
from drowning that We're not killed or
drowned.
I think this was the first submarine
boat that did any real execution M
from this fact-the sinking of the Hou-
SatOnic-millions of dollars have been
expended by various governments with
lou any practical results, as this par
ticular invention was lost with the
death Of the inventor.
L will state here before giving a more
minute detail of the oat that the con-
federate government thought so much
Of this boat that they employed a ori-
vate detective to watch the inventor
wherever hi went.
The fish torpedo boat that destroyed
the federal gunbOat Housatonic off
Charleston harbor was built at Mobile,
Ala, in 1863 by Hundley D. McClin-
rock, n was arranged with q pair of
internal fins by the use of which she
could be submerged or brought to The
surface. Her motive power was a
hand propeller worked by eight men.
and it was intended that she should
dive under q vessel dragging a torpedo
after her which would explode on con-
tact with the hull or keel Of the enc
my-s, the fish boat making off On the
other side. She was provided with
tanks which could be filled or emptied
to increase or decrease her displace-
ment, but there was no provision for
storage Of air. During an experiment
at Mobile, she sunk and before she
could be raised the whole crew were
suffocated.
~Beauregard in February 1864 accepted
this boat for use at Charleston. Lieu
tenant Payne, c. S. n. and a crew of
eight men were preparing to AXE her
out for action n night when she was
sWamped by the wash of a 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
drt ned. Payne n two others escap-
ing. When she was brought to tbs
surface Hundley took her into Stone
river where after making several sue
cessful dives. she stuck her nose in the
Uud n everybody on board persisted
/ by sutfocation. For the fourth time
: she, was raised and experiments were
made with her in Charleston harbOr
She worked beautifully until she at
tempted to dive under the receivin!
ship indian Chief when she fouled &
: cable and once more she proved a coffr
for every man On board.
Lieut.. Geo. E. Dixon, OF Capt. Goth.
\ rams company of the est Alabama III
2 fantry, asked permission Of :Ienara
Beaureguard to try her against tn,
J Housatonic. a splendid new ship o
war, which lay in the north channel of
Beach inlet. B~eaureguard consented
but only on condition that she SHOULD
: not be used as a submarine machine
{ but operating on the surface of tn,
water and with a spar torpedo in tn,
p Aiii % lie DdNlu. AL III
t thirty or more men who had met dealt
| IN the fish boat were volunteers, blu
Dixon had no difficulty in finding an
other crew of volunteers ready to tax,
the same risks. They were Arnolc
Becker, c. Simpkins. James a. Wicks
: +. Collins COble. of MARYLAND. am
RldgeWay. all of the confederate nav,
e and Captain ]. F. Carlson. of Captain
Nagener's company Of artillery.
!, 1t was q little before 9 o'clock on tn
, evening of February nth. when Maste
= }. h. Crosby. officer of the deck of tn,
H~OuSatOniC. detected the torpedo boat
? a scant hundred yards away from tn
r ship. 1t looked to him. he said. Xix,
I a plank moving along the water. anC
d before he decided to give the alarm h
had lost the seconds in which he Nigh
have saved his vessel. When he di
pass the word. her cable was Slipped
her engine backed and all hands Gale,
TO quarters. but Dixon had closed o
{ her and fired his. torpedo on the star
r board side. just forward of her mai
e mast. A hole was knocked in her sid
o extending below her water line and sh
went down in four minutes. Five c
n the HOusatonic's crew We're killed b
O the shock or drowned. The remainde
took refuge in the rigging from whic
II they We're rescued by other vessels c
the feet.
= But the victory of the fish boat wa
4 fatal % herself and crew. Whether sh
a was swamped by the column OF waite
- thrown up by the explosion or wa
!. carried down by the suction Of tn
sinking HOusatOnic VIII never I
known, but she went under never [
rise again. and the lives of all on boar
We're sacrificed. After the war whe
the wrecks off Charleston were re
moved, she was discovered lying on tn
bottom about one undred feet fror
the Hn1Sa tonic with her how nn;ntin
to the latter.
The only NIGHT I ever Snant in til