Show will t built milt first S sea 3 le sneak e ak 1 I built the first torpedo boat that ever d 11 said james C cogans Cou ou ans sins a local news dealer to a reporter in discussing the of torpedoes in the russo japanese war says the Toronto cel c respondent ot at the new now york her aid 1 I was a ship carpenter at charles ton S C when the civil war began and aa as there were a lot ot of yankee teasel vessels about there gon gen beauregard asked me one onn day to eee see what I 1 could 0 o do in the way of a torpedo beat 1 I took como one inch boards and built a ogar seeped boat thirty feet long at the bow we d a EL copper kettle holding about seventy fhe pounds of powder the kettle was fastened to a prie so that wo we could lift it out of th water when the boat wag going and then ink sink it about eight feet felt andor water when we got to close quarters tho the pole polo was at an angle of at erty fire live degrees so sa that the kettle would strike the hull bull of the enemy below the water line the kettle had some percussion caps on jon the top and anti the force of the colli elon would make them explode the pw peder der the boat was made like this said sald mr ir cousins and pulling out a pencil ho he drew draw a sketch we rigged the boat in capt james East mana ard and called it the little david that wag was in 1862 it was finished we saw the big yan hee vessel ironsides juit outside tit charleston harbor and anti cent sent ho he lit tie david after her the boat was in charge of mr allias and the crew were lascelle charles hanco hance who acted as pilot and a big irish man I 1 forget hn hi name the little david went straight for the ironside s tho the torpedo was lowered and exploded tho the hull the water washed over the little david and some 0 of it went aown the smokestack and put out the fire lascelle and the irish man jumped overboard but fiance hance and mills managed to get the little abid back into the harbor and she often did good work after that th at tho the ironsides did not sink but she was so badly damaged that she had to bo be towed away by two other vessels mr cousins who was born bom in new castie castle on tyne england baa has bad had a varied carreer after a trip through the baclic he sailed for years in the mediterranean he ile worked in a 0 shipyard in quebec about fifty year years wo but becoming tired of at tho the job traveled through the united states after several years in europe ho he went to charleston S C at be he opening of the war and joined the charleston light infantry under capt T a sim mons he ile spent four months in garrison at fort sumter after the bur sur render of at maj anderson and afterward took part in fourteen engagements |