"How do the men who operate the machine manage to attach the magazine to the vessel they design to destroy?" asked Mrs. Baker.
"Two or three men, who operate the boat," replied the Captain, "are provided with submarine diving armor, which enables them to work under the water and attach the magazine to the ship intended to be blown up. They then have only to quickly move away to a safe distance, fire their fuse, and the work is done."
The Captain also informed her, that the object was to break the blockade and allow the steamers "Patrick Henry" and "Thomas Jefferson" out to sea, these vessels being loaded with cotton and bound for England.
While they were talking, my operative was closely watching, by the aid of her glass, the movements of the boat, and she now noticed that having approached to within a few rods of the scow, it stopped, and the water "float" which indicated its position remained motionless. After remaining in this position for a few minutes, it slowly began to recede from the scow, in the direction from whence it came.
It moved steadily away some hundreds of yards, and Mrs. Baker was wondering at the seemingly long delay, when suddenly, and without any previous warning whatever, there was a terrific explosion, and the scow seemed lifted bodily out of the water and thrown high into the air. Her destruction was complete, and there was no longer any doubt that the submarine battery could be used with deadly and telling effect on the ships constituting the Federal blockading squadron.
Those who witnessed the experiment were, of course, much elated over the efficient work of destruction which had been accomplished, and even Captain Atwater, in his enthusiasm as a soldier, forgot temporarily his real feelings, in his undisguised admiration of the ingenuity of the invention and the effectiveness of its operation.
Mrs. Baker, however, looked on with a heavy heart as she reflected upon the terrible consequences of the workings of this machine, and at once felt the urgent necessity of taking steps to inform me what she had witnessed. Unless something was done in this direction, she felt confident that the Federal ships would be destroyed, the blockade forever ended, and untold disaster would attend the Union cause.
After their return home that evening, she made copious notes of what she had learned and witnessed, which she safely secreted about her person. The next day, in company with the Captain, she visited the Tredegar Iron Works, and inspected the boat that was being built. It was truly a formidable-looking engine of destruction.
The next day, being Sunday, she remained at the residence of the Captain, and on Monday morning, having procured a pass, she bade farewell to her host and his amiable spouse, and left Richmond for Fredericksburg. From thence she made her way to Washington by the way of Leonardstown, and lost no time in reporting to me the success of her trip. She had made a hasty, though quite comprehensive, sketch of the vessel, which sketch is still in my possession, and which showed the position under the surface of the water, and explained its workings.
I immediately laid my information before General McClellan and the Secretary of the Navy, who at once transmitted the intelligence to the commanders of the squadron, instructing them to keep a sharp lookout for the "water-colored surface float," and to drag the water for the purpose of securing possession of the air tubes connecting the float with the vessel below.