“She was built of boiler iron, about thirty-five feet long, and was manned by a crew of nine men, eight of whom worked the propeller by hand; the ninth steered the boat and regulated her movements below the surface of the water; she could be submerged at pleasure to any desired depth, or could be propelled on the surface. In smooth still water she could be exactly controlled, and her speed was about four knots. It was intended that she should approach any vessel lying at anchor, pass under her keel, and drag a floating torpedo, which would explode on striking the side or bottom of the ship attacked. She could remain submerged for half an hour without inconvenience to her crew.” [Illustration: Sketch Showing Torpedo Boats as Constructed at Charleston, S. C. _From “The Navy in the Civil War.”_] The story of her career in Charleston, as told by Scharf, is one of the most striking in naval warfare, for it shows the quality of the American when fully in earnest: “Lieut. Payne, C. S. N., and a crew of eight men were preparing to take her out for action one night when she was swamped by the wash of a passing steamer and all hands except Payne were drowned. Again she was raised, and once more sunk--this time at Fort Sumter wharf, when six men were drowned, Payne and two others escaping. When she was brought to the surface, Hundley took her into the Stono River, where, after making several successful dives, she stuck her nose into the mud, and every soul on board perished by suffocation. For the fourth time she was raised, and experiments were made with her in Charleston harbor. She worked beautifully until she attempted to dive under the receiving ship _Indian Chief_, when she fouled a cable, and once more she proved a coffin for every man within her. Divers brought her up a week later, and Lieut. George E. Dixon, of Capt. Cothran’s Co. of the 21st Ala. Inf’y, asked permission of Gen. Beauregard to try her against the _Housatonic_, a splendid new ship-of-war, which lay in the North Channel off Beach Inlet. “Beauregard consented, but only on the condition that she should not be used as a submarine machine, but operating on the surface of the water, and with a spar torpedo in the same manner as the _David_. All the thirty or more men who had met death in the ‘fish’ were volunteers, but Dixon had no difficulty in finding another volunteer crew ready to take the same risks. They were Arnold Becker, C. Simpkins, James A. Wicks, F. Collins, and ---- Ridgway, all of the Confederate navy, and Capt. J. F. Carlson, of Captain Wagoner’s company of artillery.