The "Fish-Boat" of the Confederate Navy, which exhaustive research
indicates to have been the first submarine vessel to sink an enemy ship
in time of war, was designed by Horace L. Hundley in 1863. This boat was
twenty feet long, three and one-half feet wide, and five feet deep. Her
motive power consisted of eight men whose duty it was to turn the crank
of the propeller shaft by hand until the target had been reached. When
this primitive craft was closed for diving there was only sufficient air
to support life for half an hour. Since the torpedo was attached to the
boat itself there was no chance of escape. The only hope was to reach
and destroy the enemy vessel before the crew were suffocated or drowned.
Five successive volunteer crews died without reaching their objectives.
But the sixth crew was successful in sinking the Federal blockading ship
"Housatonic," their own craft being caught and crushed beneath the
foundering vessel. These crews went to certain death in the night time,
in such secrecy that it was often months before their own families knew
the names of the men. And now, with the lapse of scarcely more than half
a century, it has been possible to find the names of only sixteen of
those who paid the price.
Because no nation of any time can point to a more inspiring example of
self-sacrifice, and because now, in a country reunited and indissoluble,
the traditions of both the North and the South are a common, glorious
heritage, the poem, which presents the final episode in the drama, is
written as a memorial to all who gave their lives in the venture.