FIRST SUBMARINE IN THE CONFEDERATE NAVY. BY W. B, FORT, PIKEVILLE, N. C.
Submarine activity in American waters has revived memories of the first submarine ever employed in real warfare, which was a tiny craft known as the "Fish Boat" and used by the Confederates in the last years of the war between the States. A model of the "Fish Boat" may to-day be seen in the Confederate Museum at Richmond. The boat was invented by Captain Hunley, of Mobile, Ala., who be'came one of the many victims of the treacherous and unmanageable little craft. By a singular coincidence the only Federal ship ever sunk by the "Fish Boat" was the United States sloop of war Housatonic, which was sunk with nearly its eritire crew in Charleston harbor. Its captain died only a few weeks ago. He was saved, with part of the crew, by climbing into the rigging of the sunken ship, which was out of the water. They were taken off by the blockading fleet off the bar. The namesake of the original Housatonic was only recently destroyed by one of the more modern German submarines. C. H. Hasker, of Richmond, Va., formerly of
ond July 8, 1808, was one of the crew of the "Fish Boat." This boat was constructed at Mobile by Hunley & McClinock. Before his death Mr. Hasker gave a description of the "Fish Boat" and told how he himself came near losing his life in the little vessel after having his leg caught and broken in the iron manhole at the top. He says the boat was designed with a pair of wings, or fins, which were con"nected by a bar running through the boat just aft of the forward manhole. The boat was propelled by eight men seated along its bottom. The shaft was fashioned so that the hands of four of the men would be at the top at the same time that the hands of the other four were at the bottom, in this way giving more leverage.
The boat, according to the account left by Mr. Hasker, as from thirty-five to forty feet long, five feet deep, three one-half feet in beam, and with two hatches, or man-
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the business firm of Hasker & Marcuse, who died in Rich-
holes, much the same as a boiler manhole. The boat was designed to dive like a fish, and the fins alluded to were for this purpose. A lever connected with the bar which connected with the fins turned them on an angle of about fifteen degrees. The boat was by this means carried down until it had attained the proper depth, when the fins were readjusted and the "Fish Boat" was supposed to remain stationary. It could remain under the water only one hour. A candle was always lighted when she made a dive, and when the candle grew dim they had to come to the surface for more air. While equipped with no periscope, the "Fish Boat" was, nevertheless, supplied with a ventilator, of which Mr. Hasker
-says: "A pipe about four feet long, worked from the inside,
afforded fresh air when near the surface. The foul air was pumped out through the bottom." Mr. Hasker was anxious to see how the boat worked and volunteered as one of the crew to take a dive in her. "We were lying astern of the steamer Etowah, near Fort Johnson, in Charleston harbor. Lieutenant Payne, who had charge, got fouled in the manhole by the hawser and in trying to clear himself got his foot on the lever which controlled the fins. He had just previously given the order to go ahead. The boat made a dive while the manholes were open and filled rapidly. Payne got out of. the forward hole and two others out of the aft hole. Six of us went down with the boat. I had to get over the bar which connected the fins and through the manhole. This I did by forcing myself through the column of water which was rapidly filling the boat. The manhole plate came down on my back; but I worked my way out until my left leg was caught by the plate, pressing the.calf of my leg in two. Held in this manner, I was carried to the bottom in forty-two feet of water. When the boat touched bottom I felt the pressure relax. Stooping down, I took hold of the manhole plate, drew out my wounded limb, and swam to the surface. Five men were drowned on this occasion. In all, the 'Fish Boat' drowned about. thirty-five members of its several crews. I was the only man that went to the bottom with the 'Fish Boat' and came up to tell the tale."
Charles H. Hasker was a native of England, born in London in 1831. As a youth he served in the British navy. He came to the United States when he was about seventeen years old. Upon reaching America he entered the navy of the United States. When the Confederate States seceded he left New York City and "journeyed to Portsmouth, Va., where he entered the Confederate navy. He served as boatswain on the Merrimac and was later commissioned lieutenant. After the war Mr. Hasker, whose first wife had died, married Mrs. Virginia Creekmore, the ceremony being performed in Richmond in 1872. The second Mrs. Hasker still survives and resides on Church Hill. Mr. Hasker died in Richmond July 8, 1808, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. Five of his grandsons are now in the United States army. One of them, his namesake, is in the Officers' Training Camp at Macon, Ga.
T was at the University of North Carolina and as a member of the junior class would have graduated in 1862; but Marsden Bellamy, of Wilmington, N. C., Sherrard Williams, of Washington, N. C., and I joined the Confederate navy at Charleston, S. C. I was in the Paymaster's Department in the navy and paid the crews of the submarine boat. I was only nineteen years of age when I joined the Confederate navy. In 1011 the University of North Carolina called all the surviving pupils who joined the Confederate service back to the university and gave us our diplomas. President Wilson was present then and handed us our diplomas. "The
Daughters of the Confederacy erected a bronze statue, costing $7,800, to the memory of the students who joined the Confederate service, our class of 1862 giving them $100. In 1913 I witnessed the unveiling of our monument. I was at the evacuation of Charleston, Wilmington, and Richmond, and surrendered with Lee at Appomattox.