Confederate Veteran

Torpedo Boat at Louisiana Soldiers' Home

Volume 17, September 1909, page 459

The fullest and most accurate account of the Hunley the Veteran printed: the three builders, the boats at New Orleans and Mobile, the successive drowned crews at Charleston, Alexander and Dixon's two-and-a-half-hour dive, and the sinking of the Housatonic.

Signed “By Gordon S. Levy, New Orleans, La.”

Cite as

Gordon S. Levy, “Torpedo Boat at Louisiana Soldiers' Home,” Confederate Veteran 17, no. 9 (September 1909): 459.

The page in the scanned volumeThe whole volume at the Internet Archive

Published
September 1909
Volume
17, no. 9
Pages
459
Author
Gordon S. Levy

TORPEDO BOAT AT LOUISIANA SOLDIERS' HOME. BY GORDON S. LEVY, NEW ORLEANS, LA.

During the years 1861-62 Captain Hunley, Capt. James McClintock, and Baxton Watson, marine engineers and machinists, built this torpedo boat. About February, 1862, before the boat was completed, the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the Federals and the boat was sunk.

The Confederate engineers went to Mobile, where they offered their plans to the Confederate authorities, and were ordered to build a torpedo boat in the shops of Park & Lyons. The first boat sank while it was being placed in the water for the initial trial. The second boat was built out of an old boiler with both ends tapered. After several successful attempts in Mobile Bay, General Maury ordered the boat sent by rail to Charleston, where it could do more good than in the harbor of Mobile.

The boat was given in charge of Lieut. John Payne, C. S. N., who had volunteered with eight men. Just as they were getting ready to start the boat was swamped and the eight men were drowned. A second crew was secured, and again the boat was swamped. Lieutenant Payne and two of the men escaped, while the other six men were drowned.

The boat was then turned over to a volunteer crew from Mobile in charge of Captain Hunley and Thomas Park, and with a crew of seven men they made several successful trials with the boat, practicing the crew in diving and rising again, until one evening in the presence of a number of people on

im the wharf she sank and remained under water some days, drowning her entire crew of nine men, making a total of

twenty-three fatalities up to that time. Captain Alexander and Lieut. George E. Dixon, both of Alabama, mechanical engineers, after discussing the matter

together, decided to offer their services to General Beauregard to raise the boat and operate it in guarding the harbor. On account of the former misfortunes General Beauregard did not desire to have any further attempts made, but finally yielded to their persuasion, They secured another crew after explaining the former unsuccessful tests, giving all particulars, and the number of men drowned. They managed the boat well, though no decided results were obtained, owing to the bad weather. Captain Alexander and Lieutenant Dixon decided to sink the boat and test how long they could remain under water, stating to the crew that the boat would be raised at will. After they had gone to the bottom, one of the water pipes for discharging water from the ballast became choked with seaweed; and when it had been removed, they managed to bring the boat to the surface. It had been under water for two hours and a half. They were in darkness for one hour and ten minutes. The boat had been given up for lost, and was so reported to General Beauregard.

This torpedo boat sank the Housatanic on February 17, 1864, at 8:45 p.m. It had been sighted by a battle ship, and Lieutenant Dixon sank the boat to avoid being seen. The Housatanic had undoubtedly slipped her chains and was advancing upon the torpedo boat, when the compact from the momentum rammed the torpedo boat, so that her men were unable to extricate themselves, and all the crew were drowned. When the divers were investigating the Housatanic, they found the torpedo boat at the bottom rammed in the wreck, and the battle ship sank five minutes after being struck.

The scan

What the scanner made of this page, and what it is in the printed original.

  • “Baxton Watson” is Baxter Watson; “Housatanic” throughout is Housatonic; “the compact from the momentum” is “the impact.”

Editorial notes

Statements in this article that are wrong, doubtful, or worth setting beside another account. The article’s own text is left as printed.

  1. “About February, 1862, before the boat was completed, the city of New Orleans fell into the hands of the Federals”

    New Orleans fell in late April 1862. The Pioneer was scuttled in Bayou St. John as the city was given up.

  2. “Lieut. John Payne … volunteered with eight men. Just as they were getting ready to start the boat was swamped and the eight men were drowned”

    Five drowned, not eight, in the accident of 29 August 1863; Payne and three others escaped. Levy then describes a second swamping with six lost, which appears to be the same accident counted twice.

  3. “drowning her entire crew of nine men, making a total of twenty-three fatalities up to that time”

    Hunley's own crew numbered eight, himself included, on 15 October 1863. The running total before Dixon's crew was thirteen, not twenty-three.

  4. “It had been under water for two hours and a half. They were in darkness for one hour and ten minutes”

    Correct, and a valuable detail: this is Alexander's own account of the endurance dive, and Levy has it right where he has much else wrong.

  5. “This torpedo boat sank the Housatanic on February 17, 1864, at 8:45 p.m.”

    Correct to the hour.

  6. “When the divers were investigating the Housatanic, they found the torpedo boat at the bottom rammed in the wreck”

    Not so, though it was widely believed. Federal divers did not find the Hunley in 1864. She was located in 1995 about a thousand feet seaward of the wreck and raised in 2000 — nowhere near rammed into her victim.