Beginning April 16, 1862, the US Navy’s West Gulf Blockading Squadron under Flag Officer David Glasgow Farragut began a thunderous bombardment of the Confederate forts Jackson and St. Philip, guardians of the lower Mississippi River and the approaches to New Orleans, Louisiana. Seven nights later, on April 23, 1862, after a pitched river battle, Farragut‘s West Gulf Squadron steamed past the two forts.
The New Orleans Action Board is the setting for the “brown water” naval battles, fought for control of the Mississippi River during the American Civil War.
Though it is not shown on the Action Board, the key to this conflict is New Orleans, Louisiana. Known as the “Crescent City” for the shape of its “Vieux Carre,” New Orleans grew from the French colonial settlement that today still clings to the north bank of the Mississippi River.
By 1861, New Orleans had grown into one of the largest port cities on the North American continent.
In the 1860’s the River’s main channel at New Orleans reached down over 50 feet (9 fathoms), deep enough that overseas shipping and other commercial traffic could sail up from the Gulf of Mexico to dock almost at the local merchants’ front door.
For the Confederacy, possession of New Orleans and its control of the Mississippi River was essential to the South’s survival as a nation.
After visiting Director Kellen Butler at the Lasch Conservation Center and seen the H.L. Hunley itself being painstakingly and lovingly restored, I needed to learn more about the locations where those involved in unleashing the Hunley upon the Union Navy blockading Charleston Harbor did their good work.
At the opening of the American Civil War, Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his people faced an enemy that had a substantially larger and fully ocean-going navy and was wedded to a strategic “Anaconda Plan” of defeating the Confederacy by economic strangulation through a naval blockading of all of its ports.
Like their forefathers, the Confederates used the technology of the 19th Century’s Industrial Revolution to even the odds by engineering an up-to-date version of a Revolutionary War weapon, the torpedo.
The term “torpedo” here applies to any explosive device triggered either remotely or by its own internal fuse.
With the Civil War entering its second year, the Confederate government set up two separate bureaus in Richmond, VA to expedite development and deployment of the torpedo on land and sea.
The American Civil War lasted from April, 1861 to May, 1865, just over forty eight months.
When I was researching the background information for “Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare” I knew there would have to be some way of showing the influence of the outside world on the Player’s project.
The Player’s role in the game is that of Inventor and entrepreneur.
As such, you must be forever cognizant that, while that team of engineering wizards you’ve hired are busy constructing that underwater terror of yours, there is a Civil War raging across the formerly United States.
Current events generated by that Civil War will occur both near and far in relation to your machine shop’s front door, frequently accompanied by a frisson of dread.
By Ed Ostermeyer, Master Engineer (Grade 2)
Good day to you, young Inventor.
In these chaotic days of this accursed Civil War, it is well that you have all your important papers in order.
Especially important is to have in your possession documents known as “letters patent.”
Today’s session of instruction from the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will discuss the acquisition of two of these letters patent from the War Department.
The first of the letters patent can be useful, though you may not need its help right away.
Of the other letter patent, a young Inventor and his fishboat cannot afford to be without one.
Ah, the budding entrepreneur returns.
Welcome back, young Inventor.
If you will open your copy of the Inventor’s Vade Mecum to the section entitled “Sailors,” we will get started.
You must be mindful that several decisions must be made before you are allowed access to the Navy’s manpower pool.
How will your fishboat be powered?
If your underwater marvel is to rely on muscle power, then a surplus of brawn would be advantageous.
Though the “H.L. Hunley” was the first submarine to sink another vessel in combat, it was by no means the first submarine built by the American Confederacy in the 1860’s.
There were multiple underwater marvels in various stages of completeness at several different locations when war broke out between North and South in April, 1861.
We will concern ourselves with a specific vessel, not just because it was one of the first of a type called a “fishboat” by the popular press of the time, but also for the knowledge it imparted to a team of bright young engineers and mechanics who had a dream of building a craft that would allow them to travel and fight underwater.
A good day to you once more, young Inventor.
In our last look into the Inventor’s Vade Mecum, we learned how to recruit and retain your project’s Mechanics.
In today’s lesson, the Inventor’s Vade Mecum will provide you guidance in choosing and caring for a surprisingly necessary crewmember for your Wonder of the Age, the Journeyman.
The following article is the second in the two part series from Ed recounting his experience visiting the “H.L. Hunley” at Warren Lasch Conservation Center in Charleston, SC. You can read the first article in the series here. In this second article, we will see how the Lasch Center is carefully piecing together the answer to the Hunley’s mysterious demise, as well as the experience of the eight crewmen who perished within her iron hull.
The story told by the exhibits becomes a time machine for any museum attendee, taking them back to the America of the mid-19th century where the knowledge and skills garnered from the first hundred years of the Industrial Revolution were being bent towards what would soon be called the science of warfare. Machine shops peopled by engineers and mechanics familiar with the scientific principles and methods learned from the Industrial Revolution were adding this insight to their mechanical skills and engineering expertise, giving form to the dream of underwater travel and warfare. The museum then moves forward to the present, detailing the “Hunley’s” recovery, restoration and preservation.
While the cleaning and preservation of the “Hunley” itself was proceeding, artifacts from within the submarine were being uncovered, each being assigned a coordinate as to its location within or on the hull or the concretion covering its surfaces inside and out. A major part of the recovery effort was the location of the remains of the eight crewmen of the “Hunley” who perished in mysterious circumstances on that fateful night of February 17, 1864.
There was the gold coin of “Hunley” commander George Dixon, found resting near his left thighbone within the hull.
A brass oilcan, found covered with concretions and the leaching of rusty iron, restored to near-original condition (it even had some of its original oil inside.)
The “Hunley’s” rudder, recovered encased with concretions and sea life, and restored to its proper appearance.
Crewman James Wicks’ silk bandana required the skills of Mary Ballard, Senior Textile Conservator for the Smithsonian Institute for a most painstaking of conservation effort.
Most remarkable are the Lasch Center’s efforts to put faces with the names of the “Hunley’s” eight crewmen. Using the latest skills and techniques of forensic science, the Lasch Museum’s conservators have been able to reconstruct a face from a casting of each crewman’s skull. All eight of the reconstructions are currently on display at the museum, putting a human face upon history.
There is much more of the “Hunley” to be seen at the Lasch Conservation Center; the best way to do so is by taking a tour.
The facility is open to the public Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cost is $18 for adults and $10 for youth, 6 to 12 years of age.
Membership in Friends of the Hunley will lower the adult fee to $12.
The discount for seniors and military is $15 and children 5 and under are admitted free of charge.
Oh, and they have a very good gift shop on site.
Next time: the sixth entry from the Inventor’s Vade Mecum handbook counsels the Young Inventor on the Choosing and Keeping of Journeymen for his Project Team.
(Note: All graphic images of Infernal Machine game materials used in this series of articles are subjective and may change and appear different in their final form. All images show sourcing unless otherwise noted.)
Previous Articles:
Infernal Machine: Dawn of Submarine Warfare — Setting the Stage
Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) – Part 1: Where Do I Start?
Infernal Machine: The Inventor’s Vade Mecum (Nautica ed.) Part 4 — Installing Dread and Destruction
