THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



The submarines of the Civil War came to be known 

 by the general name of "Davids," and several of them 

 of different types were built. The only successful 

 attack of any of these Davids, however, was the one 

 which destroyed the Housatonic. In his book, The 

 Naval History of the Civil War, Admiral Porter de- 

 scribed this attack upon the Housatonic as follows: — 



"At about 8.45 P.M. the oflScer of the deck on board 

 the unfortunate vessel discovered something about one 

 hundred yards away, moving along the water. It came 

 directly toward the ship, and within two minutes of the 

 time it was first sighted was alongside. The cable 

 was slipped, the engines backed, and all hands called 

 to quarters. But it was too late — the torpedo struck 

 the Housatonic just forward of the mainmast, on the 

 starboard side, in a line with the magazine. The man 

 who steered her knew where the vulnerable spots of 

 the steamer were, and he did his work well. When 

 the explosion took place the ship trembled all over as 

 if by the shock of an earthquake, and seemed to be 

 lifted out of the water, and then sunk foremost, heeling 

 to port as she went down. 



"Her captain, Pickering, was stunned and some- 

 what bruised by the concussion, and the order of the 

 day was ^Sauve qui pent.' A boat was despatched to 

 the Canandaiguu, not far off, and that vessel at once 

 responded to the request for help, and succeeded in 

 rescuing the greater part of the crew. 



"Strange to say the David was not seen after the 

 explosion, and was supposed to have slipped away in 

 the confusion ; but when the Housatonic was inspected 



[104] 



