Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1917-04-19
DIVER IS NOT new
Crude Undersea Boat Blew Up
Federal Ship So Years Ago.
Submarine Designed by Horace L.
Hundley Had Tragic Career, Car
ryino Three Crews to Death.

On the night of February II, 1854,
the United States steamship of war,
HOusatonic, on blockade duty off
Charleston s. c., was sunk by the first
submarine successfully used in often
slve effort, according to eyewitnesses
and published accounts, observes the
Washington Post
The submarine boat was designed by
Horace L. Hundley and built under his
supervision at Mobile In 1868. She
was built of boiler iron and her ex-
treme length was about thirty feet,
with five or six-foot beam and about
six feet depth of hold. In general con-
tour she resembled cigar sharp ut
both ends. She was propelled by Il
screw, the shaft of which ran horiZOn.
tally along her hold, almost from stem
to stern, and was turned by the man.
ual force of eight men seated along it
on either side working cranks.
The only hatchway was circular
about three feet in diameter, with
low cOmbing around it, which was
placed well forward, and when desired
could be closed by an iron cap working
on hinges and made alright. In the
forward part of the cap was inserted
clear glass bull'seye, through which
the pilot could see.
She was provided with watertight
compartments, by filling or emptying
of which she could sink or rise, and to
enable her to rise instantly her ballast
Ing of railroad bars was placed on her
bottom outside of the hull and by
means of keys accessible to her crew
could be detached in a moment so that
she could rise quickly to the surface.
Not anticipating an early oppOr-
tunity of using the dangerous vessel
against the fleet of Farragut, General
Maury sent her by rail to General Beu-
regard at Charleston, believing the wa
ter of that harbor better suited to her
peculiar construction.
General Beauregard's call for volun-
teers to man this dangerous craft was
promptly answered by Lieutenant
Payne of Virginia and eight sailors.
She was submerged till the cOmbing OF
her hatch alone was visible. Her COM
mander, Payne, was standing In the
hatchway in the act of ordering her to
be cast off, when the swell of passing
steamer rolled her over and sank her
Instantly with her eight men in several
fathoms of water. Lieutenant Payne
sprang out Of the hatchway as the boat
sank from under him, and he alone
was left alive.
Again the boat was raised and made
ready, and her owner, Captain Humid
ley, took her for practice cruise into
Stone river. For days the return OF
Hundley and his crew was watched for
In vain. After weeks search she was
found inclined at an angle Of 40 de-
grees, her nose driven deep into the
soft mud of the bottom. Hundley was
standing dead, at his post, a candle
In one hand, the other stiff, in vain
effort to unclamp the hatch. Lieut..
George e. Dixon of the Twenty-t1rst
Alabama volunteers, finally essayed
with eight men to take her against
the Housatonic.
The fate Of the warship was plain,
but the fate of the submarine remained
q mystery until the wreck Of the for
mer was raised more than eight years
later, in the summer of 1872. Then
she was found hanging to the rudder
chains of the hulk. 1t was made plain
therefore that she had not carried the
torpedo In front, as Beauregard sug-
gested, but had towed it astern, as
Hundley originally devised. She had
actually passed under the Housatonic
and was making her way aft to safety
when her upper works caught in the
rudder chains of the victim. The tor
pedo exploded under the main mast
of the ship and blew great hole IN
her hull