A BURIED TORPEDO BOAT DISCOVERED OFF CHARLESTON.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 778, 18 February 1871, Page 3

A BURIED TORPEDO BOAT DISCOVERED OFF CHARLESTON.

The following description of a torpedo boat employed by the confederates during the American civil war and its history, appeared in the Houston " Telegraph" r. — " She was built of boiler iron, and impervious to water or air. Her extreme length was about thirty feet, •with five or six feet beam, and about live or six feet depth of hold. In general contour she resembled a cigar, sharp at both ends. She was propelled by a screw, the shaft of which ran horisontally along her back from stem to stern, and was turned by the manual force of eight men seated along it on either side. The only hatchway was' circular, about two feet in diameter, with a low combing around it, which was placed well forward, and when desired could be closed by an iron cap working on hinges, and m?de air-tight. In the former part of this cap was inserted a -clear glass bull'seye, through which the pilot could see. She was provided ■with water-tight camparttnents, by filling or emptying which she would sink or rise, and to enable her to rise instantly, her ballasting of railroad bars was placed on her bottom, outside of her hull, which by means of keys accessible to her crew, could be detached in a moment so that she eoutd rise quickly to the surface. To prepare for action a floating i torpedo was secured to her stern by a line more than one hundred feet long, and her crew having embarked, the : water tanks were filled until the boat I was in equilibria, and almost sub- ; merged. The plan of attack proposed by the | inventors was to dive beneath the | keel of an enemy's ship, hauling the ; torpedo after her. Its triggers or senj sitive primers would thus press 1 against the ship's bottom, explode | the torpedo, and inevitably sink the I ship. j General Beauregard's call upon the [ Confederate fleet for volunteers to | man this dangerous craft was promptly j answered by Lieutenant Payne, a Virginian, and eight sailors. They were sooa ready for action ; and on the evening set for their expedition, the last preparation had been made. The torpedo boat was lying alongside the steamer from which the crew had embarked; she waa submerged until tbe combings of her hatch alone were visible above the water. Her commander, Payne, was standing in the hatchway, in the act of ordering her to be cast off, when the swell of a passing steamer rolled 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. In a few days she was raised and again made ready for service. Again Payne volunteered and eight men with him. The embarkation for their second attempt was made from Fort Sumpter, and as before, all having been made ready, Payne standing at his post in the hatchway, ordered the hawser to be cast off—when the boat careened and sank instantly. Payne sprang out; two of the men followed him ; the other six went down in the boat and perished.

Again the boat was raised and made ready for action, and her owner, Captain Hundley, took. her for an experimental trip into the Stoney River, where after going through her usual evolutions, she dived in deep water, and for hours, and for days, the return of poor Hundley and his crew was watched for and looked for in vain. After near a week's search she was found inclining at an augle of forty degrees ; her nozzle was driven deep into the soft mud of the bottom. Her crew of nine dead men were standing, sitting, lying about in her hold asphyxiated. Hundley was standing dead at his post, a candle in one hand, while the other had grown stiff with death in his vaiu efforts to unclamp the hatch. Others had been working at the keys of the ballast, but the inclination at which the boat bad gone down had jammed the keys so that the men could not cast oft' the heavy weight which held them down. Their deaths had been hard and lingering. Again this faithful vessel was made ready for action, and volunteer Dixon, Twenty-first Alabama Volunteers, a native of Mobile, and eight men, volunteered to take her against the enemy. The new and powerful war ship Hcusatonic was selected for attack, and on a quiet night the bravest crew set out from Charleston in that terrible, nameless torpedo boat, that ever manned craft before.

"We all know the fate of the Housatonic. Brave Dixon guided the torpedo fairly against her, tbe explosion tore up the great war ship's sides, so that she went down with nearly all her crew in two minutes.

The torpedo vessel also disappeared as was thought, for ever from mortal view. Whether she went down with her enemy, or whether she drifted out to sea to bury her gallant load, was never known, and their fate was left till the great day when the sea shall give up its dead. But within a few weeks past divers in submarine araior have visited the wreck of the Housatonic, and they found the little torpedo vessel lying by her huge victim, and within her are the bones of the most devoted and daring men who ever went to war.

An officer, on a review day, happened to be thrown from his horse. As he lay sprawling on the ground, he said to a friend who ran to his assistance, " I thought I had improved in my riding, but I find I have fallen off." A youth, asserting in the most positive manner that society was rapidly gaining in morality, was asked to state the grounds of his belief, when he said " I have personal knowledge of three borrowed umbrellas having been returned to their owners."

" Mamma," said an intelligent little girl, " what is the meaning of a book being printed in 12mo ?" " Why, my dear," replied the mother, " it means the book will be published in twelve months."

A gentleman who had a very deaf servant was advised by a friend to discharge her. "No, no," replied the gentleman, with much good feeling; " that poor creature could never hear of another situation."

A dandy, ordering a pair of pantaloons of his tailor, said he wanted them very tight, according to the very latest fashion. " If 1 can get them on," said he " I won't take them."