Pictorial history of the war for the Union, volume 1 (of 2)

by Ann S. Stephens

THE STONE FLEET.

Notwithstanding all the activity and watchfulness of the blockading vessels off the Southern coast, many instances were exultingly heralded by the Southern press, as well as in Europe, of the successful running of the blockade by vessels bound both outward and inward. The logic of these occurrences was very simple on the part of the secessionists and their sympathizers. The frequent evasion of the blockade proved that it was “inefficient” on the part of the Federal government, and therefore not only to be disregarded, but officially declared by foreign governments to be incomplete, and practically null and void. This declaration was expected to be sufficient to warrant the free movements of commerce, and any attempt to interfere on the part of the United States would be a challenge for the intervention of England and France.

The repeated instances of vessels escaping rendered it an imperative necessity for the government to adopt some measure that would, if possible, prevent their recurrence at the principal ports of the South. For this purpose it was determined to close several of the harbors by placing obstructions in the channels. Most of the harbors of the Southern coast, in consequence of the deltas, and numerous islands at their entrances, have several channels, through which vessels of light draft may pass, while those of the heaviest draft are confined to one principal channel. This is the case in the approach to both Charleston and Savannah. The obstructing of these two principal channels was therefore assigned for the month of December.

For this purpose a number of old whaling vessels were purchased at New Bedford and New London, freighted with granite from the Bay State, and taken to Port Royal as a rendezvous, whence they were to be convoyed to their destination. The people of Savannah, after the capture of Port Royal and Beaufort, anticipating the approach of the Federal fleet, volunteered the work on their own behalf and blockaded their own port by similar means. The fleet was therefore at liberty to repair to Charleston, and within sight of the walls of Sumter, to shut out the rebellious people of that city from the ocean.

The “Stone Fleet” sailed from Port Royal on the 18th of December, accompanied by the steamers Cahawba, Philadelphia and Ericsson, to tow and assist, the whole convoyed by the Mohican, Captain Gordon, the Ottawa, Captain Stevens, and Pocahontas, Captain Balch.

The fleet arrived off Charleston harbor the next day and preparations were made for sinking them in their places. Each of the weather-beaten and storm-tossed old vessels that had so long borne the stars and stripes in every latitude, were now to make a stubborn protest against treason by keeping watch at the very door of its birth-place. They were furnished with ingenious contrivances and plugs, the withdrawal of which would allow the water to flow in and sink them on the floor of the channel.

The sinking of the fleet was intrusted to Captain Charles H. Davis, formerly on the Coast Survey, and ever since more or less intimately connected with it. It is remarkable that when, in 1851, an appropriation was made by the Federal Government for the improvement of Charleston harbor, and, at the request of South Carolina, a commission of army and navy officers was appointed to superintend the work, Captain Davis was one of the commission, and for three or four years was engaged in these operations. The present attempt was of somewhat different character. The entrance by the main ship channel runs from the bar to Fort Sumter, six miles, nearly south and north. The city is three miles beyond, bearing about N. W. The other channels are Sanford’s, Swash, the North, and Maffit’s, or Sullivan’s Island, which need not to be particularly described. Only the latter is practicable for vessels of any draught, but all serve more or less to empty the waters discharged by the Ashley and Cooper rivers. Over the bar, at the entrance of the main ship channel, is a narrow passage, through which vessels may carry eleven feet at low water; about seventeen at high water. The plan of Captain Davis for closing the harbor proceeded on the following principles:

The obstructions were to be placed on both sides of the crest of the bar, so that the same forces which created the bar might be relied on to keep them in their places.

The bar was not to be obstructed entirely; for natural forces would soon open a new passage, since the rivers must discharge themselves by some outlet; but to be only partially obstructed, so that, while this channel was ruined, no old one, like Swash or Sanford, should be improved, or a new one formed.

The vessels were so placed that on the channel course it would be difficult to draw a line through any part of it that would not be intercepted by one of them. A ship, therefore, endeavoring to make her way out or in could not, by taking the bearings of any point of departure, as she could not sail on any straight line.

The vessels were placed checkerwise, at some distance from each other, so as to create an artificial unevenness of the bottom, remotely resembling Hell Gate and Holmes’s Hole, which unevenness would give rise to eddies, counter-currents and whirlpools, adding so seriously to the difficulties of navigation that it could only be practicable by steamers, or with a very commanding breeze.

The execution of this plan was begun by buoying out the channel and circumscribing within four points the space where the vessels were all to be sunk, as follows:

*

S. W. * THE BAR. * N. E.

*

The distance between the points from S. W. to N. E. is about an eighth of a mile; the breadth perhaps half as much. It was no part of the plan to build a wall of ships across, but to drop them at a little distance from each other, on the principles above stated, closing the channel to navigation, but leaving it open to the water.

Work was resumed on Friday morning, the 20th, the Ottawa and Pocahontas bringing the ships to their stations. The placing of them was an operation of considerable nicety, especially as some of the vessels were so deep as to be with difficulty dragged on the bar, except at high water. A graver hindrance to their exact location was found in the imperfection of the arrangement for sinking, several of the ships remaining afloat so long after the plug was knocked out, that they swung out of position. They were, nevertheless, finally placed very nearly according to the plan. Great credit was earned by Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Godfrey for the successful execution of so difficult an undertaking. The last ship, the Archer, closed the only remaining gap, and the manner in which Mr. Bradbury took her in with the Pocahontas and then extricated the latter from her perilous position, filled the fleet with admiration for his skillful seamanship and cool daring. By half-past ten the last plug was drawn, and every ship of the sixteen was either sunk or sinking.

One of the vessels, the Robin Hood, with upright masts, stood erect, in water too shallow to submerge her. As evening drew near she was set on fire, and in a little time the evening sky was lighted up with the pyrotechnic display, while the inhabitants of Charleston, the garrison of Fort Moultrie, and the surroundings, were compelled to look on and see the temporary completion of the blockade they had so long derided and defied.

This event provoked loud and vindictive complaints and assaults in France and England, and the measure was denounced as an outrage on civilization, and a sufficient warrant for interference in the war. But an examination of the historical precedents afforded by British practice closed the mouths of the declaimers in Parliament as well as through the press, and once more American practice was permitted to pass, justified by the verdict of opinion as well as of illustrious example.