| Show A TORPEDO POAT BOAT TRAGEDY A R rd find d ti 11 of t the daniger or of th elilu Is Ker vloe the union squadron investing charleston C barles ton during the civil war mar waa wa s di awing closer and closer to the doomed place one of the warships that lay closest inshore was waa the housatonic i and that vessel was selected as tile the torpedo boats victim the portland transcript tells tella the tragic story the evening of feb 17 1865 closed in raw and foggy at 8 0 clock capt carlson gave the command ond and the boat dropped down tho the river As the clocks clacks were stil stalking king the halt half hour in the city the little craft pulled over the bar noiselessly she glided through the water guided by the lights on the housatonic tor for which she headed so heavy was the tog that ohe che escaped the notice of the sentries at a quarter to nine she lay directly in front of the housatonic at a distance of five bundled yards she was running faster now and a little farther on she began to submerge two hundred yards more and she rive minutes later there was a dull roar and the water around the housatonic boiled like a caldron the noble ship gave a mighty upward heave and then began to settle ensign hazleton and tour four sailors mho ho were ere below perished but fortunately tor for the rest of the crow crew the water was waa shallow and they saved themselves by climbing into the rit rl ging the vessel was waa a total loss loaa tut the submarine torpedo boat was nowhere to be found two years after tile the war whan the wreckage A was waa being removed from charleston harbor the waa vas raised in her hull bull there was a ghastly wound inflicted by the torpedo and in that hole was the torpedo boat with every roan man on board still at his post where he be had died years before the little boat had torn a big hole in the cruiser through which the water bad poured in such ft a volume that the torpedo boat was drawn into it and there its crew died ot of suffocation Buno in the grasp of the enemy which they hall had destroyed |
