Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1903-07-16
Fate Of a Yankee Torpedo Raft.

at UcSta anu yet WAS cOfuiutSSiOHSu
to play among warrior craft at sea,
now rises and falls with the tides
in Dolly's Bay, beneath st. David s
light, Bermuda. When at last the
salt waves have done their work and
the rusted bolts and sodden timbers
part and drift away, a lost torpedo
raft, sent from the North in 1862 to
storm Charleston s harbor, viii be
blotted out of sight as il has been
out OF memory for over forty years.
Captain K. III. Faucon started in
January of 1862 with the ship Erics-
son for Charleston. He had in tow
three RATS, each composed of heavy
pine timbers, sixty feet long. strong
ly riveted and iron bound, and de-
signed to work destruction to the
outer defenses of the Southern har-
Dor. These war weapons were ex-
ceedingly primitive, and proved, in
the end, futile for the undertaking.
The stern was cleft V-shape, while
on either side of the forward end
extended an arm furnished with a
torpedo. 1t was constructed ON the
theory that a monitor with her bow
firmly fitted into the wedge shaped
section could drive the rait ahead
against any obstruction with such
force that the torpedoes would ex-
plode.
This was the result counted on
when the instruments in. question
should be directed against thelchain
which barricaded Charleston harbor;
when the monitor was expected to
recoii, cast of the raft and sail
through the breach to the city.
That this plan did not prove feast
BILE is well known. In every trial
the monitor was unable tocopy with
the tides, and the weight of the raft
invariably dragged her from her
course. So the project was aban-
doned, and the two RATS that re-
mained of Captain Faucon' tow
were soon devoted to other purposes.
1t is not with them that the story
has to do after all these years, but
with the strayaway-the third raft,
that broke her line on the way down
that night off Hatteras and started
out on path of destruction.
No one knows how many of the
gallant ships that were marked
down as missing" during the next
six years were sunk by this Ish-
mael of the deep. Its black hulk,
lifted on mighty wave. was pro-
badly hurled against many q hap
less bark, even as it had been de-
signed to dash itself against the
harbor gates of Charleston.
Six years of outlawry, and then
the derelict drifted intoathe peaceful
harbor where it now lies. What il
was or whence it came no one had
the least idea. But its blunt head
was frizzled like parsley, and the
wise understood that such a condi-
ton was brought about by many
and serious collisions; and it came
to be regarded by the island folk as
a grim and sinister thing.
1t is passing strange that this
craft designed to work havoc on the
South during the Civil War should
have finally drifted into a current
that brought il into Bermuda. which
was a very hotbed of secession,
and beached it in the very place
where the blockade runners put in
from New Orleans with cargoes oi
cotton.
1t was ten years or more before
the origin of the strange craft was
discovered and that is not the least
romantic part of the story.
A sea captain representing Bos-
ton underwriters visited st. George,
and while he was there dined with
Mayor Joseph NJ. Hayward, the
Grand Od Man" of the colony.
Mr. Hayward incidentally referred
to the derelict, and, as seafaring
man, the visitor was interested.
He expressed a wish to examine it,
and few days later they went over
to Dolly's Bay for that purpose.
1t was a bright morning. The
hulk, perforated by torpedoes and
blackened by weather, lay part upon
the water and part upon the land,
but at first sight of her the captain
exclaimed:
"Yonder is the raft lost off Cape
Hatteras in 90, and | can tell you
her government mark from where
we stand !"
1t was Captain Faucon. He had
come long way to identify what
had long been q nameless waifof the
North Atlantic.
No Pity Shown.
For years fate was after me con