The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-12
FIRST SUBMARINE.
Was Used in Charleston Har6or Dur.
ing the Civil War.
(New York TImes.l


late about submarines, but IL should
not be forgotten that the first one ever
built and effectively used was the
Hupdley. or Fish, built In Mobile IN
1868 and used effectively in Charleston
harbor in 1864.
In my Life in the Confederate Ar
my" now in the hands of the Neale
Publishing company. l relate what /
recollect of this submarine. as follows:
1T was about this time that / saw
that celebrated torpedo submarine
boat, the Hundley. the first submarine
boat ever built. AS I was standing on
the bank Of the Stone river ! saw the
boat passing along the river, where her
bulden II. L. Hundley. had brought
her for practice. l watched her as she
disappeared around a bend of the river.
and little thought OF the fearful trag-
edy that was Immediately TO ensue.
She made an experimental dive, stcuk
her nose in the mud and drowned her
entire crew. Her career was such an
eventful one that l record what / re-
collect of It.
she was built in Mobile by Humid
ley and brought on TO Charleston in
1863. She was OF iron, about twenty
feet long, four feet wide and five feet
deep-in fact, nor FAR from round, as
have seen il stated, anG equipped with
two fins, by which she could be raised
or lowered in the water. The intention
or her builder was that she should dive
under an enemyS vessel, with a torpe-
do in tow, which would be dragged
against the vessel and exploded, while
the Hundloy, or Fish, as some called
her. rose on the other side. She was
worked by a hand propeller and
equipped with water tanks. which could
be filled or emptied at pleasure, and
thus regulate her sinking or rising. The
first experiment with her was made in
Mobile bay, and she went down all
right with her crew Of seven men, but
did not come up. and every man died,
asphyxiated, as no provision had been
made for storing d supply Of air.
AS soon as she was raised she was
brought 10 Charleston, and a few days
after her acceptance by General
Beauregard, Lieutenant Payne OF the
confederate navy volunteered with q
crew Of six men TO man her and attack
the federal feet Oft Charleston While
he had her az Fort Johnson, on James
island, and was making preparations
Tor the attack, one night as she was
lying at the wharf the swell of a pass
ing steamer filled her, and she went to
the bottom, carrying with her and
drowning the six men. Lieutenant
Payne happened to be near an open
manhole at the moment, and thus he
alone escaped. notwithstanding the
evidently fatal characteristics of this
boat, as soon as she was raised another
crew OF six men volunteered under
Payne and took charge OF her. But
only week afterWard an exactly sim
liar accident happened while she was
alongside the wharf at Fort Sumter,
and only Payne ana two OF his men es-
capped
H. L. Hundley, her builder in Mo
bile, now believed that the crews did
not uT derstand how TO manage the
Fish, and came on to Charleston to see
If he could not show him 1t should be
done. A Lieutenant Dixon Of Alaba-
ma had made several successful expe-
riments with the boat III Mobile bay,
and he also came on and was put in
charge with d volunteer crew, and
made several successful dives in the
harOor. But one day the day on which
| saw the boat Hundley himself took
it into Stono river TO practice her crew.
She Went down all right, but did not
come up, and when she was searched
for. found, and raised TO the surface,
all of her crew were dead, asphyxiated,
as others had been.
After the boat was brought IN TO
Charleston several successful expert
ments were made with her, until she
attempted to dive under the confeder-
ate receiving ship Indian Chief, when
she got entangled with an anchor chain
and went to the bottom, and remained
there until she was raised with every
one of her crew dead, as were their
predecessors.
mo sooner had she been raised than
n number Of men begged To be allowed
10 give her another trial. and Lieuten-
ant Dixon was given permission to use
her in an attack on the United States
ship Housatonic, a new gunboat that
lay off Beach Inlet on the bar on the
condition that she should not be used
as a submarine vessel. but only on the
surface with a spar torpedo. on Feb
II, 1864, Lieutenant Dixon and a crew
or six men made their way with the
boat through the creeks behind Sulli-
van island to the inlet. The night was
not Very dark and the HousatOnic east
ly could be perceived lying at anchor
unmindful of danger. The Fish went
direct for her victim, and her torpedo
striking the side tire a tremendous
hole in the Housatonic, which sank 10
the bottom in about four minutes. But
as the water was not very deep her
masts remained above water, and all Of
her crew, except four or FIVE, saved
themselves by climbing and clinging TO
them. But the Fish was not seen
again. From some unknown cause she
again sank, and all her crew perished
Several years after the war. when the
government was clearing the wrecks
and distractions out OF Charleston har-
Dor, the divers visited the scene of this
attack, ana on the sandy bottom of the
sea found the hulk of the HousatOnic,
and alongside of her the shell of the
Fish. Within the latter We're the skel-
etOHs OF her devoted crew"
A great deal has been said about the
heroism Of Gushing, Hobson. ct al. but
I would be glad to learn wherein their
heroism surpassed the devoted sal
lantry OF the forty-tWO men who VOL
unteered for almost certain death in
this submarine.