Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

Consequently, the naval authorities came to the conclusion that it would be easier to obstruct the principal channel, and thus get rid of a task which was not only irksome, but uncertain. It was determined to sink a certain number of old ships, loaded with stones, on the bar, which would render the passage absolutely impossible. This was to apply to an enemy's port what the Russians had done for their own defence at Sebastopol; and if the experiment should prove successful, it was proposed to repeat it in front of Savannah and the other Confederate ports. Towards the middle of December twenty-five whaling-ships of from three to five hundred tons each were assembled at Port Royal. They were loaded with large blocks of stone, and their sides pierced with openings which only required to be unstopped to sink them. Sixteen of these set sail. They were escorted by a few steamers, whose purpose was to effect the submersion of these old hulks and to receive their crews. On the 17th of December the fleet appeared before Charleston. A great disaster had just struck that city: more than half of it had been destroyed by fire; and the inhabitants were still wandering among the smoking ruins, when Fort Sumter signalled the approach of the vessels, the destination of which was unknown, and which seemed to be preparing a very determined attack. A different kind of spectacle was in store for them; and during two days they were doomed to witness, from too great a distance to interrupt the process, an operation which threatened to close the entrance of their port to all blockaderunners. The sixteen ships were sunk at certain distances from each other, in two lines, arranged like a chess-board, so as to leave openings for the tide-currents, without, however, allowing a direct passage for vessels which might attempt to steer among those artificial reefs. As soon as the hulks were all submerged their masts were sawed off to the water's edge, and their crews returned to Port Royal, persuaded that they should no longer be put to the trouble of blockading the port which had witnessed the birth of secession. The American journals, by means of bombastic announcements that ‘Charleston had ceased to be a port of entry, and that the bride of the West was henceforth widowed of her husband the Atlantic,’ succeeded in making the public believe that a terrible and irreparable chastisement had been inflicted