Show built first sea sneak I 1 built the first torpedo boat that ever worl ed said james cousins a kral news dealer to a reporter in discussing the of torpedoes in the russo japanese war says correspondent of the new ork her aid I 1 was a ship carpenter at charles ton S wl en the civil war began and as there were a lot of yankee vessel abo it there gen beauregard e 1 me one day to see what I 1 could do in the way of a torpedo boat I 1 tool some one inch boards and built a cigar shaped boat thirty feet long at the bow e rigged a copper 1 ettle hold ng about seventy five po ands of ponder the kettle was fastened to a pole so that we could it out of the water when the boat was going and then sink it about eight feet inder when we got to close quarters the pole was at an angle of forty five degrees so tha tl e 1 ettle would strike the hull of the enemy 1 elow the water line tl 1 ettle had some per cassion caps on abb top and the force of the collision wo alfi anale them ex blode the powder the boa was made like this sa S mr cousins and pull ing out a I 1 he drew a sketch we rigged the boat in capt james eastman s yard and called it the lit tie david that was in 1862 when it was finished we saw the big yan kae war vessel ironsides just outside t charleston harbor and sent the ll 11 tl david after her the boat was IA charge of mr mills and the aref aure lascene charles hance who acted as pilot and a big irish man I 1 forget his name the little david went straight for the ironsides the torpedo was lowered and exploded against the hull the water washa over the little david and some ot it went down the smokestack and put out the fire lascelle and the irish man jumped overboard but hance and mills managed to get the little david back into the harbor and she often did good work after that the iron sides did not sink but she was so badly damaged that she had to be towed away by two other vessels mr cousins who was born in new castle on tyne england has had a varied career after a trip through the bathe he sailed for years in the mediterranean he worl ed in a shipyard in quebec about aty years ago but becoming tired 01 the job trav aled through the united states after several years in europe he went to charleston S at he opening ot the war and joined the charleston light infantry andr capt G sim mons he spent taur months in gar at fort sumter after the sur render of maj anderaon An derbon and after ward tool part in fourteen engagements |