March 6, 1864: Failed torpedo-boat attack on USS Memphis

The success of the H.L. Hunley on February 17, 1864, even if qualified by the loss of the submarine, gave reason for Confederate authorities at Charleston to attempt more torpedo-craft attacks. The next attempt was not in front of Charleston harbor, but rather to the southwest on the North Edisto River.



Federals had not placed obstructions or taken other measures, as done on the Stono River, to deter Confederate attacks. And the USS Memphis, a former blockade runner herself, operated in the North Edisto. Acting Master Robert O. Patterson commanded the Memphis.



With the Hunley gone, the Confederates employed the CSS David torpedo-boat. The David employed a spar torpedo much like that successfully used on the Hunley. But the David could not submerge, and relied on a low profile to avoid detection during an attack.




In late February the David transited the backwaters to reach Church Flats. On the night of March 4, First Assistant Engineer James H. Tomb skippered the David downriver to within sight of the Memphis. But the torpedo-boat's pumps failed and Tomb abandoned the attack. The following night, Tomb again moved the David downriver. And again the pumps failed. But this time the crew managed to resolve the problem. Tomb then proceeded to attack the Memphis:

About 12:30 a.m. [March 6], as we came within hailing distance, they hailed us, but we paid no attention to their hail, and the next moment they opened on us with small arms, the shot striking the steel cover did no harm. The next moment the "David" struck her on the port quarter about 8 feet below the surface. The blow was a good one, but the torpedo failed to explode.

Patterson reported his men first hailed the David around 1 a.m. as it approached, at a distance of fifty yards.

We immediately beat to quarters and slipped the chain; in an instant the torpedo was under our port quarter, and we could not bring a gun to bear on her. The watch being armed at the time, we were enabled to concentrate a rapid fire with muskets, revolvers, and pistols drawn up on her, and into what looked like a hatchway, nearly in the center; the rapid firing seemed to stop her progress....

Tomb then angled for a second attack:

We then made a turn to port and came back at her, striking her on the starboard quarter. At this time the Memphis was going through the water at good speed and the blow was a glancing one, passing under her counter, taking a portion of our stack away, but the torpedo failed again to explode.

Tomb then turned back upriver, with the Memphis firing on, but not hitting, the David.

When we reached Church Flats and made an examination of the torpedo we found the first blow was a good one, as the tube or cap on that side was mashed perfectly flat, and the glass tube containing the acid was broken, but being a defective tube it failed to explode. The second blow as not a good one, as the tube was slightly bent and the glass tube not broken. The expedition was a failure, caused by a defective tube. The torpedo held 95 pounds of rifle powder.

Captain Francis D. Lee, Chief of Engineers at Charleston and designer of the torpedo used, explained this failure:

As this occurrence may disturb the confidence heretofore felt in the torpedoes prepared by me, I deem it due to myself to state that about ten days since I saw Engineer Tomb, and in the presence of Mr. Theodore Stoney distinctly told him that the torpedo then on the "David" could not be relied upon, it having been exposed for the last six months to every vicissitude of weather and climate.

Lee suggested a new torpedo for the David, but Tomb departed without following up. Thus an opportunity to sink a second Federal steamer during the winter of 1864 eluded the Confederates. In response to the attack, Captain Stephen C. Rowan, then acting commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, cautioned Patterson to take measures preventing another attack. Those recommendations indicate, as did the precautions ordered by Rear-Admiral John Dahlgren earlier in January, the Federals were well acquainted to the threat:

You will, if practicable, obtain from the shore suitable spars for outriggers, and take your studding sail booms and other spare spars for that purpose. Having prepared your outriggers with 6 or 7 inch hawser, and nets to hang some 8 feet below the surface of the water, you will be protected from torpedo boats, but you must use great vigilance, row guard, and keep your people at or near their guns, giving them rest during the day.

Those simple practices offered countermeasures against the feared spar torpedo in 1864.

(Citations from ORN, Series I, Volume 15, pages 356-9.)

David Takes On Goliath: 5 October 1863

On the night of 5 October 1863, David faced Goliath. It would not be the epic showdown of biblical times during the American Civil War, but one of explosions, iron, and rushing water under the moonlight of Charleston.

USS New Ironsides, a casemate ironclad steamer boasting fourteen eleven-inch smoothbores, was at the time considered the most formidable warship in the world. It proved to be nearly impenetrable to the Charleston harbor defenses. The Union “Goliath” and its Captain, S.C. Rowan, waited for any answer the Confederates had to test the mighty ship. Little did they know its “Davidian” foe would pack such a punch given its comparable size.

The Confederate semi-submersible ship David did not have rocks and slings. Instead, its armament consisted of a single spar torpedo attached to its bow. As the cigar-shaped vessel was designed to operate in shallow water, its five foot draft allowed her to sneak up on enemies seemingly undetected. Around 9 p.m. on the 5th, CSS David slipped into Charleston Harbor unnoticed, avoiding the blockading monitors as it sailed toward the pride of the Union fleet. It was not until the David was 50 yards from the Union ship that a sailor spotted her. David successfully rammed its spar torpedo into the starboard quarter of the New Ironsides, exploding seven feet below the water line. From the account of New Ironsides Captain S.C. Rowan:

"At 9 p.m. discovered a very peculiar looking steamer which at first appeared like a boat standing toward our starboard beam from seaward; hailed her rapidly four times, and she making no reply, fired into her with musketry; she returned fire, dangerously wounding Ensign C.W. Howard in charge of the deck [. . .] the steamer struck us near No. 6 port, starboard side, exploding a large torpedo, shaking the vessel and throwing up an immense column of water, part of which fell on our decks.”

The blast threw water on the deck and the smokestack of the David, which put out a fire in the engine. The explosion knocked down armory bulkhead and store rooms aboard the New Ironsides in the wake of the torpedo’s explosion. Amidst the confusion, David floated attached by her spar, unable to reverse without steam power. As a result, Union sailors rained down rifle and pistol fire onto their aggressor. The Captain of the David ordered to abandon ship, and the crew set out swimming for nearby Morris Island. As they headed toward the shore, Assistant Engineer J.H. Tomb swam back to the wounded ship and got its engine working again. David limped back to safety in Charleston, picking up her remaining crew along the way.

Although the attack caused a large fissure into the side of the New Ironsides, the damage was superficial. One Union sailor died, and two others suffered minor injuries. Two of David’s crew were captured from the attack. Yet if it wasn’t for the quick thinking of Tomb, David’s story would begin and end in 1863.

Remarkably, New Ironsides remained on duty without repair until May 1864. Its damages were superficial. CSS David went on to unsuccessfully attack USS Memphis in March 1864 in the North Edisto River and the USS Wabash the following month. Although the ultimate fate of the David is uncertain, several similar vessels were captured in Charleston after its capture in February 1865.

Today marks the 147th anniversary of the event.