The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-11-04
THE HUNDLEY---FRST SUBMARINE,
BOAT TODD ANY REAL EXECUTION
Some Recollections Concerning Her by Colonel W.. B
Fort, of Pikeville-The Details Of the Sinking
of the Federal Gunboat Housatonic.

prisOned BOAT on the bottom. all suf-
focated. The seven brave Lo~uisianians
were buried in the beautiful Magnolia
cemetery on the banks Of Cooper
river overlooking Charleston harbor.
and these were the graves that Sec
rotary Moody, Of the United States
navy, the other day took off his hat
to, In respect to these brave men.
-. Another Crew Volunteers. ....
After Overhauiing the fish boat
again a call for another crew Of men
was made on all the boats in the har-
board to man again the Inflated boat.
To my surprise, James A. Wicks was
one OF the first to volunteer on board
of our ship. He had just returned
with Colonel Woods expedition from
sinking and burning the gunboat Tn
derwriter at Newbern, N. G., which
was one Of the most daring exploits
Of the war.
After drilling with this fish boat
upon S%ullivan's Island about two
weeks, on n beautiful morning as we
cast our eyes seward to scan the
Dlockadlng fleet, we saw the masts of
the Sunken SlOop of war H~OuSatOnic
just out of the water enough to save
her crew fOm drowning that were
not killed Or drowned.
| think this was the first sub
marine IA that did any real execu-
ton and from this fact-the sinking
of the Observation-Disclosures of dollars
have been expended by various gov
ernments without any practical re-
suits, as this particular invention was
lost with the death Of the inventor.
l will state here before giving a
more minute detail of the boat thai
the Confederate government thought
SO much Of this boat that they en-
lployed a private detective to watch
the inventor wherever he went.
Built At Mobile.
The fish OrpedO boat that destroy
ed the Federal gunboat Housatonic
off Charleston harbor was built at
Mobile, Ala, in 1868, by Hundley d.
McC1intOck, and was arranged with a
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
5 eight men, and it was intended that
!, she should dive under a vessel drag
Iging a torpedo after her which would
explode on contact with the hull OIL
keel Of the enemy's, the first boat
making off on the other side. She
: was provided with tanks which could
z be filled or emptied to increase or de
crease her displacement, but there
was no provision for storage of air
t During In experiment at Mobile, she
: sunk and before she could be raised
. that whole crew were suffocated.
e Beauregard in February 1864, &C
: cepted this boa for use at Charleston
: Lieutenant Payne, c. S. n, and a crew
of eight men We're preparing to take
e her out for action one night Whe1
IS she was swamped by the wash of
r passing steamer and all hands excep
: Payne were drowned. Again she wa
S. raised and once more sunk, this tim
st at Fort Sumter wharf, when six me-
l. were drowned. Payne and two other
II escaping. When she was brought t
st the surface, Hundley tool her int
le Stone river, where after making sew
a eral successful dives. she stuck he
n nose in the mud and everybody o.
board persisted by the suffocation. Fo
s. the fourth time she was raised and eS
re perimentS were made with her !
lie charleston harbor She worked beau
te tifully until she attempted 10 div
under the receiving ship Indian Chic
when she fouled a cable and one
3S more she proved a coffin for ever
* man on board.
To Sink Housatonic.
to Lieut.. George E.. Dixon, Of Captai
ne Cothran'S company of the Twenty
err first Alabama infantry, asked peTnls
f. mission Of General Beauregard to IT
mt her against the Housatonic. a spiendl
to new ship Of war. which lay IN tn
ng north channe off Beach inlet. Beal
to regard consented but only on cond
ton tina she should not be uSed as
n Submarine machine, but operating G
the surface OF the water and with
spar torpedo in the same manner
the David. All the thirty or mo-
r. men who had met death in the is
boat were volunteers, but Dixon he
no difficulty in finding another ere
Of volunteers ready to take the san
ew risk. They were Arnold Becker.
ng lSimpkins. James A. Wicks f. Collin
We. lCoble, of Maryland, n Ridgeway. {
ew of h Confederate Navy and Cal
a J.. F. Carlson, of Captain Wasene
on company Of artillery.
in 1t was a little before 9 o'clock
'ge the evening of February 18th. VIII
he Master J. X. Crosby, officer Of t
deck Of the Housatonic deserted t
torpedo boat, a scant hundred var
he away from the ship. 1t looked
ide him. he said, like a plant movi
nly along the water, and before he decid
nly TO give the alarm he had lost I
1