564

Torpedoing of the Albemarle

[1864

still at work upon her, she assailed the Northern gunboats off Plymouth, sank one, and drove the others off, when she was able to take the defences of the town in the rear, with the result that the place was recaptured. So dangerous did her presence in these waters become that it was decided to attempt her destruction with torpedoes, as no ironclads could be spared to attack her. Lieutenant Cushing was selected for the difficult and dangerous enterprise, and was placed in command of a small steam-launch, the precursor of the modern torpedo-boat. The torpedo carried was of the spar pattern, and was exploded by the primitive contrivance of pulling a lanyard. One unsuccessful attempt was made on the night of October 26, on which occasion the launch ran aground and so lost the cover of darkness. The following night Cushing ran up to Plymouth once more, and was so fortunate as to be able to approach close to the ironclad without being detected. She was lying moored to the shore; and it was Cushing's design not to use his torpedo unless compelled to do so, but if possible to rush her and carry her out to sea in the confusion of a surprise attack. This part of his plan was only defeated by the barking of a dog; he then drove his launch at the enemy, and, just as she opened fire, exploded his torpedo under her hull, blowing a large hole in her and sinking her. His own launch was disabled by the explosion, but he leapt into the water and swam down stream, regaining safety without a scratch. His loss was two killed and 19 men captured. This was one of the most brilliant and dashing exploits of the war.

The precursor of the modern submarine and the successor of Fulton's Nautilus is to be found in the peculiar variety of craft constructed by the Confederates during the war, and known as Davids. These were double-ended vessels, driven by steam, which lay flush with the surface of the water, showing only their funnel and hatches when in fighting trim. They carried a torpedo fixed upon a long spar. Their defect was that they were liable to be sunk by a heavy wave when their hatches were open; and to close the hatches meant dooming the crew to asphyxia. One of these vessels was built at New Orleans, but, so far as is known, was not employed in the defence of that place. Another was constructed at Charleston, and on October 5, 1863, attacked the Northern ironclad New Ironsides, exploding her torpedo against that ship's side, but without any result beyond shaking the ironclad severely. A subsequent attack delivered by the same boat on the Wabash was not more successful. Another and a different type of submarine was a small vessel constructed of boiler plates at Mobile. She was propelled with hand-power by eight men, revolving a screw, which gave her a speed of four knots. She had arrangements which enabled her to go below the surface for a few minutes. She was a most dangerous craft to those on board her, not only because of her tendency to dive unexpectedly, but also because, when below the surface, the men in charge of her could see

1861-2]

Confederate commerce-destroyers

565

nothing. She sank suddenly when she was first tried at Mobile and drowned eight men. In 1864 she was recovered and moved to Charleston, and on her first trip there sank again, only one officer escaping from her. She was raised to sink once more, this time causing the death of six men. On her next trip she dived suddenly, and stuck in the mud of the bottom, when nine men perished on board her. But the Confederates still persevered; they raised her a fourth time and lost her a fifth time, on this occasion through the fouling of a cable. After so many disastrous experiences, General Beauregard, who was in command at Charleston, refused to allow her to be used further as a submarine, and insisted that she should only be employed on the surface. Running flush with the surface, she attacked the Northern steamer Housatonic, off Charleston, on the night of February 17, 1864, and succeeded in exploding a torpedo under that vessel. The warship sank in four minutes; but the torpedo craft perished with her adversary, whether as the result of the explosion or from becoming entangled in the wreckage of the Housatonic must remain uncertain, as she carried down her crew with her. When the war was over, divers found the boat lying on the bottom, with nine dead men in their places on board her. For heroism and devotion to their cause, it would be difficult in the long annals of war to find superiors to the successive crews who manned this fated vessel.

At the opening of the war the Confederate authorities recognised that the North was specially vulnerable in its commerce, and determined to attack in this quarter, with the object of diverting as large a part of the Northern navy as possible from the military operations on the Confederate coast. The vessels fit for this purpose were not to be had in the Confederacy, but they were obtained by purchase or construction in England, as at that date there was no clear ruling of international law on the question of supplying a combatant with ships, not actually armed but capable of being employed for military purposes. The United States, in the wars between England and France at the beginning of the nineteenth century, had rendered similar assistance to the French. Only one steam cruiser was procured in America, and she was purchased from a Southern firm of ship-owners at New Orleans. She ran the blockade and got to sea in June, 1861, and cruising under Commander Semmes made several prizes on the South American coast; but she was finally driven into Gibraltar early in 1862, where she was watched by three Northern ships. Eventually she was sold, as no further use could be made of her because of her defects and because of this vigilant blockade. The commerce-destroyers bought in England were the famous Alabama, and the less well-known Florida, Georgia, Shenandoah, and Rappahannock, of which the last never got to sea. The Florida cruised between 1862 and 1864, but was only moderately successful, taking 37 vessels, though her tenders accounted for 23. She was seized by a Northern warship,

566

The Alabama and the Kearsarge

[1862-4

in defiance of international law, while lying in the neutral port of Bahia; and, though orders were issued that she was to be returned to Brazil, she was sunk by her captors, it would appear deliberately, while at Hampton Roads.

The Alabama, under Captain Semmes, was the most successful of the commerce-destroyers, cruising for two years and making no less than 69 prizes. She visited in succession the Atlantic, north and south, the Indian Ocean, and the China Sea. Semmes' plan was to take up a position on one of the main trade-routes, and there remain two months, which time it took for the news of his exploits to reach the United States and for the vessels sent to capture him to draw near the spot. Then he moved on to a fresh cruising ground. Nearly all his prizes were made between the Azores and the easternmost point of South America. The Alabama coaled repeatedly in neutral ports; but it must be remembered that in 1863-4 there were no precedents to regulate this practice. Finally she entered the port of Cherbourg on June 11, 1864, standing in need of repairs and a refit. Within three days the Northern sloop of war Kearsarge appeared off the port, and was immediately challenged by Captain Semmes to fight. On June 19 the Alabama came out, steamed outside neutral waters, and engaged her antagonist. The issue was quickly decided. The Alabama's crew, owing to the difficulty of obtaining ammunition, had been compelled to husband their supply and had had but little target practice. The Kearsarge had had constant practice, and was besides slightly superior in weight of metal. The following is a comparison of the two ships:

In seventy minutes from the opening of fire, the Alabama lay a sinking wreck upon the surface of the water, and hoisted the white flag. A few minutes later she went down, carrying with her ten of her crew.

The career of the Georgia was unsuccessful, as in a year's cruising she only took nine prizes. Except under steam she was useless; and this militated against her success, for coal was not always easily procured by the cruisers. She was sold in 1864. The Shenandoah, towards the close of the war, proceeded to the whaling ground in the Northern Pacific, there made 36 prizes, and, returning to Europe after the Confederacy had fallen, was handed over to the British government. In all, the commerce-destroyers accounted for 261 Northern vessels, two being steamers. The consequences of these depredations upon the shipping of the North were marked. Many Northern vessels were sold by their owners to neutrals; and the terror inspired by the Confederate cruisers is shown by the fact that these sales, which in 1860, before the war, had amounted to 17,418 tons, rose in 1861 to 26,649 tons; in

1861-5]

The war against commerce.

Its results 567

1862 to 117,756 tons; in 1863 to 222,199 tons; in 1864 to 300,865 tons; and in the first half of 1865 to 133,832 tons. The tonnage of the American deep-sea merchant fleet diminished from 2,496,894 tons in 1861 to 1,387,756 in 1866. The pressure of heavy insurance rates, and the impossibility of obtaining cargo when its delivery was a matter of complete uncertainty, led to this decline. Of the ships which remained on the American register the greater number were laid up in home or neutral ports. Moreover, this trade, once lost, was not recovered; the destruction of the American shipping industry was one of the most permanent effects of the war. For her remissness in permitting the sailing or coaling of the commerce-destroyers Great Britain subsequently paid the sum of £3,100,000 to the United States; and, though this amount much more than covered the direct losses, it gave no compensation for the enormous indirect loss which the warfare. against commerce had inflicted.

The Confederate cruisers were vessels of a type now obsolete, relying mainly upon sails, but with auxiliary steam-power, and had, as we have seen, to deal mainly with sailing ships. They proved extremely difficult to catch, and were almost always able to elude the Northern warships. But with no Confederate ports and coaling stations abroad the Confederate cruisers were bound to be driven, sooner or later, into neutral harbours for want of coal; and then they could only depend on the good-will of neutrals, which was wanting so soon as fortune turned against the Confederacy on land. The measures taken by the Northern government to deal with the commerce-destroyers were defective; yet, as the North was in no sense dependent upon foreign commerce, the government was probably right in refusing to weaken the blockade of the Southern coast by detaching warships to prevent the destruction of commerce.

The main lesson of the war is the importance of preparation and organisation. This was not, it has been justly said, a naval war, as the South did not possess a navy. "There were three or four cruisers at sea, some of which were captured or destroyed after having obliterated Northern commerce, and one of which at least was never captured. There was an extemporised fleet here and there, made up of anything that came to hand." There was a want of skilled direction and unity of control in the actual operations on the part of the North; and, though a fleet was at last created by the Federal government, it was only after great delay and enormous and unnecessary waste of money. For their want of forethought the Northern people had to pay a terrible price both in blood and money; and, if they had had to deal with an adversary better equipped with engineering resources, or if that adversary had been able to obtain the help of a European navy, the Confederacy would probably have survived the conflict.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE NORTH DURING THE WAR

(1) FINANCE

WHILE following the development of the Civil War through the fluctuations of military campaigns, the reader should also note some of the more important events of civil administration. It was an anomalous state of affairs that, prior to the beginning of President Lincoln's term of office, while the public debt was less than $70,000,000, with the business of the country in normal activity, and money abundant in private banks, the national treasury was absolutely empty; and that small government six per cent. loans were with difficulty negotiated at from ten to twelve per cent. discount. The Secessionist movement was of course largely responsible for this depreciation, for upon Lincoln's announcement that he would maintain the Union, Salmon P. Chase, the new Secretary of the Treasury, borrowed his first three millions at 94, and a few days. later five millions at par. But the actual outbreak of hostilities and the Act of the special session of 1861, authorising a loan of $250,000,000, revolutionised the whole financial position. The contrast with what had hitherto existed was almost bewildering. Fortunately the patriotism of the country was by this time fully roused, and the people of the loyal States had reached a determination to make whatever sacrifices were necessary in men and in money to maintain the government and put down rebellion. Congress cheerfully imposed heavy additional taxes, and made ample appropriations for the military service; and Secretary Chase exhibited both great ability and courage in his financial management. For a while, public opinion was sustained by the hope that the war would be short; and before this hope was destroyed by the heavy reverses in McClellan's campaign against Richmond, the people of the North, quick both in perception and intuition, had already begun to take an enlarged view of the great crisis and its needs, and steeled their nerves to the acceptance of financial burdens which a year earlier they would have looked upon as irretrievable ruin.