Our torpedo boat. [Cleveland plain dealer, August, 1901.]
The original David, constructed for the Confederate Navy.Sold for junk.
Its counterpart sunk the Housatonic off Charleston Harbor in 1864— fatal Experiments with the Queen Craft—How it was submerged.A relic of great historical value was recently allowed to fall to pieces under the junk dealer's hammer and was carted away like so much scrap iron from the old Spanish fort, a few miles back of New Orleans, where it had stood for years a reminder of one of the forlornest hopes upon which man ever ventured. It was the original David, a counterpart of the one that sunk the Housatonic off Charleston harbor February 17, 1864. It was being secretly constructed out at the fort when New Orleans fell, and upon the occupation of the city by the Federal forces, to save the design, it was rolled into a canal near by. There it remained for years after the war, for its builders and all who knew of it went down with its successor. Years after, when the canal was being dredged, the hulk was found, raised, and set upon the fort.
