The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-26

the more marvellous. .
 There was in use during the cfyil
 war c type of vessel known as the
 'Davfd," a small craft floating half-sup-
 merged on the surface of the water,
 and some of the untnformed have rep
 resented the Hundley as of this class.
 The error is inexcusable, for. beside
 the fact that they were both built py
 the Confederates and that they Dotn
 carried torpedoes for the purpose or
 annihilating the vessels of the ene-
 my, they had no points of similarity.
 The Davids were cigar-shaped anairs
 about thirty feet in length and were
 propelled by small steam engines. At
 tached to a long spar at the bow eacn
 of these boats carried torpedo,
 which was exploded upon contact with
 the hulk of the enemys vessels. The Davids were not submersible.
 On the other hand the Hundley, or Fish, could not only dive but could remain under water and continue us progress there. Its one great weak
 ness was that still shared by modern
 submersibles--an uncertainty as to It's
 ability to regain the surface. No less
 than half a dozen crews lost their lives in the Hundley, but in spite or this the boat was In the end success ful to the extent that she destroyed the vessel selected as her victim, though in doing SO she ended her own
  other of her venturesome crews were plotted out.
 The Hundley was a smaller craft than the Davids being but twenty feet long, and having a beam of four feet and depth of five feet. She was constructed of iron, and was provided with two fin-like arrangements at her
 sides by means of which her nose
 could be turned down or up. making descent or ascent possible. There were also tight compartments. which, being filled or emptied of water, pro-
 vided for the sinking or rising of the queer boat. A further most substan- tial difference from the Davids was the manner of propulsion. The Hund- ley was forced forward through the water by a quaint hand-propeller, to which one-half of the crew applied its efforts. Instead of carrying the tor pedo at the bow the Hundley took
 this deadly missile in tow. It was | designed that the submarine should dive beneath a vessel, dragging the torpedo behind it and allowing 1t to come into contact with the bottom of | it's victim, thereupon to explode. The boat carried a crew of six men and a commanding officer.
 After her completion at Mobile by her inventor, H. l.. Hundley, from whom she took her name, 1t was de- 1 experiment was made in Mobile Bay. She went down all right but failed to respond to the efforts of the men aboard to make her ascend and all
 seven of them lost their lives.
 The boat was raised within a few days and taken to Charleston to be used against the blockading squad l ron. General Beauregard formally accepted her for the Confederate | States government and she was placed
 In charge of Lieutenant Payne of the Confederate navy. who volunteered
 with a crew of six men. He pur- | posed to make an immediate attack | upon the fleet then anchored of | Charleston. The Hundley was lowed
 to Fort Johnson on James Island and | preparations made for the movement. | One night as she lay at her wharf waiting for orders to move the swell | from a passing side-wheel steamer filled her, and she went to the bottom, | carrying to death the crew. Lieuten- ant Payne was at the time near the
 manhole of the boat preparing to give | the signal to get under way and he | alone escaped.
 Again the boat was raised and again Payne volunteered to command | her. and again six able-bodied seamen | agreed to go with him. The Hundley
 this time was taken to Fort Sumter l preparatory to it's start. -ss..4.t It was exactly one week after the ratal occurrence at Fort Johnson that | the submarine was again flooded by
 swell and went down at her wharf.
 Payne and two of his crew were saved | The others died inside the boat.
 Hundley the inventor and builder, | had by this time become dissatisfied
 with the management of the vessel | and declared that it was not handled | properly, otherwise there would have | been none of the accidents that had
 converted the craft into a floating | tomb. He went at once from Mobile
 to Charleston, taking with him a Lieu
 tenant Dixon. of Alabama, who was | perfectly familiar with the boat and
 had once made successful experi-
 ment with it. Dixon was put in charge | and in spite of the record of the boat there was no difficulty in geeting a | good volunteer crew. Several days
 were devoted to experimentation and | in that time the Hundley descended
 below the surface of the water and ex- | ecuted various maneuvers a number of
 times, and always without accident One day Hundley himself expressed
 desire to try his boat and took it
 with the thoroughly drilled crew into the Stono River for a final practice
 trip before 1t should sally forth to de-
 molish the blockaders. After proceed ing on the surface for some distance | the boat turned her nose downward | and went straight to the bottom, where she stuck in the mud with the result that had crowned so many for mer efforts-every man aboard per- ished.
 Stil faith in the vessel lived and when 1t was once more b. ought to the surface, there was another crew to | take the place of the men whose
 bodies were lifted out and hauled off
 to th5 burying ground in the neigh bor- | hooG Two or three more successful | trips were made, and then 1t was de-
 cided to make realistic dive beneath | the Confederate receiving ship Indian Chief for the purpose of discovering if | a torpedo could be effectively placed | beneath an enemy. A dummy torpedo | was rigged up and taken in tow and | the Hundley went below the surface
 and made its way under the receiving | ship. There 1t became entangled in an | anchor chain and went to the bottom with the usual result.
 l No sooner had the vesse' been raised | than enough men to have manned her | a dozen times over actually begged to
 be allowed to form the next crew, so general was confidence the ultimate | success of the craft. Lieutenant Dixon | took personal charge this time and l picked out of the list of volunteers, six daring fellows. He announced that if any more lives were to be lost they
 would be surrendered up only in active operation against the enemy. Instead of further experiments she elected to steamer Housatonic, a Lew gunboat hat nff ic caI1