In an issue of the South Carolina Historical Magazine David Ebaugh tells the story of how the CSS David was built in a letter to Reverend W.H. Campbell. He writes that Dr. St. Julian Ravenel came up to Stoney Landing on the Cooper River near Moncks Corner to meet with him. At the time Ebaugh was the Superintendent of Nitre works at Ravenel & Stevens lime works. Ravenel wanted to build a boat driven by man power with a long pole in its front to carry a torpedo (bomb) that could be exploded under the USS New Ironsides in order to clear the Charleston harbor blockade. The project would be funded by Ravenel, Theodore Stoney, Cap Chevis, Theodore Wagner and several others (calling themselves the Southern Torpedo Company). They were offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who could destroy the New Ironsides. Ravenel wanted to use a steam engine to power a cigar shaped vessel. He agreed to build the boat if Ravenel could help him find an engine. Ebaugh then designed the boat and laid it out at full size under a Nitre shed at Stoney Landing. No one knows the exact location of the shed other than that it was in the vicinity of the Stoney Landing house on the grounds of the Old Santee Canal Park. The house and the area around it are shown below.

The Cooper River is at the base of the hill beyond the trees in the third image of the gallery below.

The Cooper River is shown in the two galleries below.

Ebaugh writes “It was 5 feet in diameter and 48 1/2 feet long, 18 feet of the middle of the boat was same size tapering to a point at each end. The ends were made of large pine logs turned off with a groove to receive the ends of the planking, the timbers were made of 1 and 1/2 inch oak doubled and riveted together, they were placed about 15 inches apart, the planking was the whole length 1 and 1/2 inches thick hollowed on the inside to fit the timbers and rounded on the outside, the planking was riveted to the timbers, the whole was put together at Stoney Landing, corked and launched. It was sent to Charleston to have the machinery put in.”

After arriving in Charleston the boat was inspected by Captains Carlin and Ferguson, Theodore Stoney, Theodore Wagner, Marrion Jones (a ship builder) and others. The men were concerned that the weight of the machinery to be placed inside the boat would cause it to be unstable and capsize in the water. They suggested that Jones be given the machinery and allowed to build a different boat. Ebaugh refused stating that by using 15,000-18,000 pounds of iron as ballast he could stabilize the ship. He went to Charleston the next day to finish the boat himself. He used a boiler from Fort Sumter and 18,000 pounds of ballast to adjust the ship to the proper level in the water. It was taken on a test run from the Southern wharf across the harbor to Fort Johnson without problems and was turned over to the Confederate Navy to place the 70 pound torpedo on the end of an iron pipe about 2 and 1/2 inches in diameter extending 15-20 feet from the vessel and about 6 and 1/2 feet underwater. The top of the boat was covered in plow steel about 1/4 inch thick and 5 or 6 inches wide running below the water line. Ebaugh would subsequently go on to built two additional boats about the size of the David. By September of 1863 the vessel was ready.

Around 9:15 PM on October 5, 1863, the CSS David would explode its torpedo against the hull of the USS New Ironsides. The explosion threw a large column of water over the David putting out its fires in the boiler. Three members of the four man crew abandoned ship and swam away leaving the pilot Walker Cannon, who could not swim, still on board. Two of the crew Lieutenant Glassell and the fireman James Sullivan were captured. Glassell would spend the next year in Union prison camps at Fort LaFayette and Fort Warren. Sullivan was found hanging on the rudder chain of the New Ironsides. The Acting First Engineer James Tomb swam back to the David. He and Cannon were able to restart the boiler and escape back to Charleston. On the New Ironsides Ensign C.W. Howard was killed by a shot fired from the David prior to the explosion. William Knox (ordinary seaman) suffered a broken leg and Thomas Little (master at arms) several contusions. The New Ironsides did not sink and was initially thought not to be severely damaged. However, when coal was removed from the bunkers the damage was extensive according to the report of the ship’s carpenter T.H. Bishop (shown below) and Captain Rowan recommended it be returned home for repairs.

The David was later used to tow the H.L. Hunley to conserve the energy of the manually powered submarine’s crew on its practice runs. A problem occurred during one of the runs leading Tomb to get permission to change the fixed torpedo spar to a retractable one that could be kept above water while the ship was moving. This was actually the original design proposed by Ebaugh but ignored by the Confederate Navy. The David would undertake two more missions in 1864. On March 4th an attempt to destroy the USS Memphis in the North Edisto River failed when the torpedo failed to explode twice on contact, as did an attempt to sink the USS Wabash April 18th but had to turn back due to heavy swells. Both missions were commanded by James Tomb the details of which are reported by him below.

The number of David-type vessels built by the Confederacy is unknown. After Charleston was evacuated and occupied by the Federals Union Chief Engineer B.E. Chassaing found six along the banks of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers.

A replica of the CSS David is present in the Old Santee Canal Park, also in the park is the Berkeley County Museum which has a small display on the CSS David, the interpretive center which has a much larger exhibit on the CSS David, a monument to the vessel, the Stoney Landing house, and Fort Fair Lawn, a completely intact Revolutionary War redoubt!

Trident Technical College students and staff built the replica in 1970 for the South Carolina Tri-centennial. It was modified in 2004 by the United States Submarine Veterans Incorporated, Charleston Base (USSVICB). They sandblasted and repainted the hull, as well as replaced parts of the bottom. Planking and a new cockpit were installed to match existing pictures of the CSS David. Other repairs included replacing the torpedo and the installation of bell housings on the ventilation stacks. An exhibit about the CSS David is present in the Interpretive Center on the property.

Sources

The Saga of the CSS David “Little David” by Robert S. Solomon, M.D.

Reconstructing the Design of the American Civil War Semi-submersible CSS David by John D. Littlefield The Mariner’s Mirror 101: 4 (November 2015) pages 410-423.

David C. Ebaugh on the building of “The David”. The South Carolina Historical Magazine Volume 54: No. 1 (January 1953) pages 32-36.

Middleton Correspondence 1861-1865 (Continued) by Isabella Middleton Leland The South Carolina Historical Magazine Volume 64: No. 4 (October 1963) pages 212-219.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Volume 15, pages 10-21. Torpedo attack on U.S.S. New Ironsides off Charleston, S. C., October 5, 1863.

Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. Volume 15, pages 358-359. Extract from notebook of First Assistant Engineer Tomb, C. S. Navy.