While shipbuilding concerns and machine works like the Park & Lyons Machine Shop in Mobile, Alabama were busy creating an underwater terror known colloquially as a “fishboat,” there were others whose trip to fame and riches lay along a different path.

One such person was Dr. St. Julien Ravenel of Charleston, SC. Ravenel was a scion of Charleston’s well-known Ravenel family. A physician by avocation, Ravenel also taught at the local medical school, being Demonstrator of Anatomy. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Ravenel enlisted as an Army private, participating as such in the siege of Fort Sumter. Within a year’s time, his skill as a physician found him quickly promoted as an officer. Ravenel was then tapped for  the position as Director of the Confederate Hospital, in the South Carolina state capital of Columbia.

While there, Ravenel was consulted by an engineer acquaintance, Mr. Theodore Stoney. Together, the pair returned to Charleston and started the Southern Torpedo Company, manufacturing their version of Captain Francis Lee’s canister torpedo, and then expanding their designs into models for land and marine use. These last could be either static, (either anchored to the sea floor or affixed to a surface or underwater obstruction) or mobile, either as a towed (or “captive”) mine, or mounted on a spar protruding from the bow of a boat or warship.

Having seen the efforts by others in the building of a reliable torpedo delivery system, Ravenel and Stoney decided that a torpedo manufactured by their company would be delivered by a torpedo boat tht would also be manufactured by their company. The pair determined to construct a small, fast sea-going vessel, custom-designed to sink an enemy warship through rapid, stealthy delivery and use of an explosive torpedo.

At the outset, Ravenel suggested the configuration for their so-called “torpedo boat” be based on an already-tested design; that of inventor Ross Winans’ famed 1858 “cigar boat.”

Winan’s craft was a whopping one hundred eight feet in length and had a beam sixteen feet wide; Winan’s “cigar boat” was designed as a steam-powered surface vessel.

The spindle-shaped boat Ravenel and Stoney designed resembled that of Winan, with a length shortened to fifty feet, and a beam to just 6 feet in width. Its power plant was a compact steam engine that burned smokeless anthracite coal. When underway, it left no telltale smudge of black smoke to mark its position. A drive shaft connected the steam engine via a gearbox to a twin-bladed propeller mounted at the back of the boat’s hull.

Its sole weapon was a spar-mounted 32-inch by 10-inch copper canister torpedo packed tightly with a hundred thirty four pounds of “finely-mealed” rifle gunpowder. With its operational freeboard barely three feet above the waterline, the Ravenel/Stoney boat was almost impossible to see when underway, and especially so in conditions of reduced light or poor weather.

Once completed, Ravenel and Stoney’s creation was taken to Atlantic Wharf on Charleston’s Cooper River, and moored there preparatory to sea trials and crew training. As for the crew, it was decided that the boat’s complement would number no more than four.

Her captain would be the renowned Confederate Navy Lieutenant William T. Glassel. Formerly of the CSS “Chicora” ironclad, Glassel was part of the abortive March 18,1863 attempt to sink the USS “Powhatan” with one of “Chicora’s” oar-powered cutters carrying a fifty-pound, spar-mounted Lee torpedo. When one of his rowers froze, Glassel cut loose the torpedo and was able to get his boat and crew to safety.

This impressed his superior, who promptly posted him to Wilmington, North Carolina as executive officer of the newly-built ironclad CSS “North Carolina.”. Because of his experience with torpedo boat tactics and strategy, Glassel was brought back to Charleston in the autumn of 1863. By this time, Ravenel & Stoney’s torpedo boat had been accepted on the Confederate Navy’s ship rolls as the CSS “David,” a wry poke at the boat’s diminutive size when compared to the prey she and her crew would soon be hunting.

Speaking of that…

Previous attempts to sink the 4,120 ton screw frigate USS “New Ironsides” had met with little luck.

The most noteworthy (some would say “notorious) so far was the attempt by James D. Carlin in his torpedo boat “Torch” that failed when first that boat’s steering mechanism and then its engine malfunctioned, Carlin and his crew were only just able to get away from the “New Ironsides’” thoroughly-roused deck watch.

Glassel saw to it no mechanical issue would mar his attempt to smite the Yankee monster, hiring as his Chief Engineer the brilliant James H. Tomb, who made sure the “David’s” machinery and mechanisms were ready in all respects. Tomb was joined by stoker (fireman) James Sullivan, who Tomb soon made an expert on maintaining the boat’s steam engine while underway. Lastly, Lieutenant Glassel requested Charleston’s best pilot who had the most familiarity of the waters both inside and outside of the harbor. He was rewarded with the addition of veteran Charleston harbor pilot J. Walker Cannon to complete his crew. A period of waiting began, as Glassel and the naval hierarchy of Charleston watched the weather and the tides, checking for the moment when CSS “David” would be able to strike a blow for the Confederacy.

Glassel and the “David” finally got their chance on the night of October 5, 1863. The day had been cloudy and rain-spattered since morning. The rain had tapered off that evening, leaving a gray scudding of low clouds to contest with the late-rising moon. For added stealth, Glassel had the “David” ballasted heavy so that only about three feet of her six-foot diameter hull appeared above the surface of the Cooper River.

Having armed his boat with the latest model spar torpedo from Ravenel & Stoney’s Southern Torpedo Company, and a fresh load of the hard-to-find smokeless anthracite coal for the “David” to turn into steam, Commander Glassel and his crew cast off from Atlantic Wharf, and into the Cooper River. Glassel had the “David” steam across Charleston Harbor to just off Fort Johnson on James Island. After another check on the weather and a final confirmation of the torpedo boat’s location, Glassel ordered engineer Tomb and stoker Sullivan to make steam for ten knots speed. He then ordered helmsman Cannon to set a course of 35 degrees true, straight out to sea.

The “David” responded well, steering through the gap between Cummings Point on Morris Island and the rubbled remains of Fort Sumter, then slipping through the line of Yankee picket boats that guarded the entrance to Charleston harbor.

The “David” then changed course, quietly steaming south past the Morris Island shoreline. She then maneuvered for a good thirty minutes, waiting for the ebb tide to begin. With the Union Navy to port, Glassel and his crew strained to discern a shape or shadow that was darker than the surrounding sea.

Just before 8:45 PM, Glassel spied a large dark shape off to port that could only be the “New Ironsides.”

At 9 PM, Glassel ordered Tomb and Sullivan to make all speed, and Cannon to steer for the shape.

At 300 yards, Glassel took over steering the “David,” handing helmsman Cannon a loaded shotgun and telling him not to fire until he, Glassel, fired his own shotgun.

At just under fifty yards, Glassel was hailed by the deck watch of the “New Ironsides.” He answered with a double load of buckshot, killing the “New Ironsides” deck watch commander.

Glassel ordered Tomb and Sullivan to stop engines. This allowed the “David” to coast, silent and straight into the “New Ironsides,” impacting on the starboard side just aft of the number six gun port.

A moment later, one hundred thirty pounds of Ravenel & Stoney torpedo detonated.

The resulting explosion threw a huge plume of water and debris a hundred feet and more into the air alongside the “New Ironsides,” most of it drenching the “David” and her crew. In a moment, the torpedo boat’s crew compartment was awash knee-deep. With her steam engine’s firebox flooded out, the “David’s” boiler began to quickly lose steam pressure.

On the “New Ironsides,” the blast caused the ship to rock dangerously to port. Rigging and blocks fell from the masts, while cannon, shot and shells rolled here and there on deck.

As the chaos on “New Ironsides” continued, her deck watch recovered enough to grab small arms and begin peppering the object in the water nearby.

Ears ringing from the blast, Glassel hollered at Tomb to reverse engines. Tomb replied that the blast had loosened some of the ship’s ballast, which had jammed into the engine’s machinery; the “David” could not be moved. As the “David” began to drift away from the point of impact, the hail of bullets from the “New Ironsides” grew in volume and deadliness.

Glassel, his boat damaged and immovable, and with Yankee tars on “New Ironsides” beginning to find the range, gave the order to abandon ship. Grabbing a life preserver, Glassel dove into the water and began to swim for shore. Likewise, Tomb also dove overboard and swam for it. Sullivan also jumped overboard, but made for the “New Ironsides” rudder chains nearby, where he was found hours later and taken prisoner. Ironically, veteran pilot Cannon could not swim. He hid under the “David” away from where the shooting was thickest.

Tomb, having swum a considerable distance from the battle, found his clothes becoming heavy and hard to swim in. Turning for a look back, he saw that the “David” was still afloat. Tomb immediately turned and began swimming back to the torpedo boat.

On arrival, he found that the small arms fire from “New Ironsides” had stopped. He also found Cannon, cowering, but otherwise unhurt. Climbing on board the “David”, both Tomb and Cannon freed the engine’s jammed machinery.

Next, Tomb found a lantern on board that was still burning, and used its flame to restart a fire in the engine’s firebox.

After a short time there was enough steam that Tomb and Cannon could coax the “David” into getting under way. At the wheel once again, harbor pilot Cannon spun the “David” around and, to the surprise of the “New Ironsides” deck watch, had the torpedo boat heading back towards Charleston harbor. With Tomb coaxing every last ounce of speed from the boat’s engine, Cannon steered a madcap course through a surprised South Atlantic Blockade Squadron, finally reaching the harbor’s mouth, and safety.

After abandoning ship, Commander Glassel, spent the next hour in the water swimming towards Morris Island. Finally, numb with cold and exhausted form his efforts, Glassel was spotted by the boat of a Union transport schooner and hauled aboard as a prisoner.

After all the ruckus of the night before, the dawn of October 6^th had the Confederates staring dumbfounded at a “New Ironsides” still on station as part of the Blockade Squadron, and apparently none the worse for wear. A damage party of divers sent over her starboard side found only a slight dent in the hull, and some of her copper sheathing was missing. Otherwise, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

However, looks were deceiving. As October turned to November, and the “New Ironsides” continued to burn coal while on station, her coal bunker on the inside of the hull where the blast occurred began to empty. This revealed a considerably greater amount of damage than earlier surmised. The torpedo’s explosion had occurred on a section of hull that adjoined an inside support bulkhead. A large support beam adjoining the bulkhead had a long split in it, while the ship’s engine room framing had a four foot crack showing. Supporting starboard side hull ribs had cracked through at the “knee,” i.e. where the rib joins the keelson.

After reading the damage report, the Squadron’s Admiral John Dahlgren ordered “New Ironsides” towed to the Union Navy repair base at Port Royal, South Carolina for a more detailed damage report. On the results of this new report, she was next towed to the Union Navy Yard at Philadelphia. Rejoining the fleet in early 1865 off Wilmington’s Fort Fisher, the “New Ironsides” never saw Charleston harbor again.    

Engineer Tomb was promoted to Chief Engineer and given command of the CSS “David.” Tomb was instrumental in consulting on the manufacture of additional “David” torpedo boats by Ravenel & Stoney’s Cooper River shipyard. He even found time for another attack mission, this time against the USS “Memphis,” a screw sloop blockading the North Edisto River. A misfire by this “David’s” torpedo was caused by sea water corrosion of its fuses and the mission was a failure.

Two more torpedo boats of the “David” type were constructed in Charleston, both of which enjoyed varying degrees of success in their protection of Charleston harbor and its tributary rivers and creeks.

With the fall of the city in February of 1865, Union troops found five “David” style torpedo boats in or near Charleston Harbor, all in various stages of construction or disrepair.

Also discovered was a sixth and much larger version of the “David,” found unfinished on her stocks, her purpose unknown to this day.     

One of the “Davids” was promptly shipped to the Washington Navy Yard for study by the Navy’s engineers. Afterward, it was docked at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland where it became an exhibit at its armory. During the construction of a new armory building in late 1865, the Naval Academy’s “David” was “mislaid,” and never found again.

A second completed “David,” enrolled by the Confederate Navy and christened CSS “Midge,” was also sent north, winding up at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on New York Harbor.

In 1877, the “Midge” was broken up for scrap, by mistake.

The other three “Davids” were in such sad shape that they were left where they were found.

The fate of one of the three has been lost to history.

The two remaining “Davids” were left, worm-eaten and moldering, on the tidal mud flat of the Cooper River opposite the Tradd Street wharf.

Civic extension of Tradd Street in the late 1800’s caused the two “Davids” to be covered over, both becoming part of the street itself. In 1998, the two wrecks were discovered by Dr. E. Lee Spence of the Sea Research Society. The use of ground penetrating radar showed the two “Davids” were still there under Tradd Street.

From period documents, it is believed that one of these two vessels is the original Ravenel & Stoney “David.”   

Think about that the next time you’re in Charleston and taking a stroll along the waterfront.

Truly, History is just below your feet.

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