In numerous publications you can find details dealing with the sinking
of old whalers loaded with stone to blockade the entrance to the Confederate harbour of Charleston in December 1862. Frank Moore
in his book The portrait gallery of the war, civil, military, and naval: a
biographical records (New York, 1865) supplied the next details
p. 350: “… Captain Davis was commissioned by his superior to undertake, not exactly the reduction, but the nullification, of a still more formidable rebel port In order to increase the efficiency of the blockade by placing obstructions in the channel-ways leading to the harbor of Charleston, S. C, the most important of the rebel ports, a fleet of some twenty or thirty old whalers and other vessels was purchased and heavily laden with stone, the intention being to sink them at the entrance of the harbor, which it was hoped would effectually keep blockade-runners at a distance. The plan was matured. The vessels were purchased, laden, and the first detachment arrived off Charleston Harbor on the twentieth of December, 1861. As it was considered necessary that the submersion of the "stone fleet," as it was called, should be conducted by one thoroughly acquainted with the intricacies of the harbor channel, and endowed with that ability and skill which should warrant a successful performance of the enterprise, Captain Davis was selected as one perfectly qualified for its superintendence. Happily he had, but a few years before, as already stated, been employed on special duty of a scientific nature, at that very harbor; and singularly enough—retributively, we might almost say—he had been thus engaged at the desire of the authorities of Charleston itself. It may not be altogether well to rejoice at the misfortunes of our enemies, but it does afford a certain complacency at times to see the devil burn himself with his own brimstone. With what different emotions did the Charleston "chivalry" behold approaching their harbor the Yankee sailor whom they had honored in by-gone days! Quitting the Wabash, Captain Davis hoisted his pennant on the Cahawba steamship, and sailed from Port Royal on the seventeenth of December. In two
P. 351: days he arrived off Charleston, and immediately proceeded to place the " tone fleet" in proper position. The channel-buoy had been removed by the rebels, so that a considerable amount of sounding was necessary to determine the position of the channel. This was accordingly done on the following day. The members of the "stone fleet" were then towed to their proper positions. Each vessel was provided with a plug below the water-line, the withdrawal of which would speedily cause her to sink. On the morning of the twentieth of December, every thing was in readiness for the burial. The vessels were already defunct, but the obsequies, if imposing, were brief. The plugs were drawn out, the brine rushed in, and one by one the old hulks crazily settled to slumber in the dock-yard of Davy Jones. At half past ten o'clock in the morning, the last one disappeared, and the funeral was over. A good view of the last hours of the stone fleet was obtained from the deck of the Cahawba, which lay just off the bar; and a correspondent of the New York Tribune gives a description of the ceremony, in probably a fitter spirit than the above. He says: “It was rather melancholy to see old craft, that had weathered so many storms, stripped of their sails, and towed in, one by one, to be sunk. From the position in which the Cahawba lay, there was hardly an opening between the ships. An impassable line of wrecks was drawn for an eighth of a mile between the points indicated. All but two or three were careened. Some were on their beam-ends, some were clown by the head, others by the stern, and masts, spars, and rigging of the thickly crowded ships were mingled and tangled in the greatest confusion." They did not long remain so. Boats were sent to cut away the masts, clear away the sails and gear that floated about, so that nothing might be left of any use to the rebels. For two hours prior to the final sinking of the ships, there was a continual crash of falling masts. Some of the vessels died hard, settling down very slowly. "And," observes the writer already quoted, "it was difficult to believe they were not afloat, and might yet sail away from their dreary fate. I think no one ever before saw the masts of fifteen ships cut away in the morning. When they were gone, the desolation was almost complete. The picture was more utterly ruinous and forlorn than can be conceived."
p. 350: “… Captain Davis was commissioned by his superior to undertake, not exactly the reduction, but the nullification, of a still more formidable rebel port In order to increase the efficiency of the blockade by placing obstructions in the channel-ways leading to the harbor of Charleston, S. C, the most important of the rebel ports, a fleet of some twenty or thirty old whalers and other vessels was purchased and heavily laden with stone, the intention being to sink them at the entrance of the harbor, which it was hoped would effectually keep blockade-runners at a distance. The plan was matured. The vessels were purchased, laden, and the first detachment arrived off Charleston Harbor on the twentieth of December, 1861. As it was considered necessary that the submersion of the "stone fleet," as it was called, should be conducted by one thoroughly acquainted with the intricacies of the harbor channel, and endowed with that ability and skill which should warrant a successful performance of the enterprise, Captain Davis was selected as one perfectly qualified for its superintendence. Happily he had, but a few years before, as already stated, been employed on special duty of a scientific nature, at that very harbor; and singularly enough—retributively, we might almost say—he had been thus engaged at the desire of the authorities of Charleston itself. It may not be altogether well to rejoice at the misfortunes of our enemies, but it does afford a certain complacency at times to see the devil burn himself with his own brimstone. With what different emotions did the Charleston "chivalry" behold approaching their harbor the Yankee sailor whom they had honored in by-gone days! Quitting the Wabash, Captain Davis hoisted his pennant on the Cahawba steamship, and sailed from Port Royal on the seventeenth of December. In two
P. 351: days he arrived off Charleston, and immediately proceeded to place the " tone fleet" in proper position. The channel-buoy had been removed by the rebels, so that a considerable amount of sounding was necessary to determine the position of the channel. This was accordingly done on the following day. The members of the "stone fleet" were then towed to their proper positions. Each vessel was provided with a plug below the water-line, the withdrawal of which would speedily cause her to sink. On the morning of the twentieth of December, every thing was in readiness for the burial. The vessels were already defunct, but the obsequies, if imposing, were brief. The plugs were drawn out, the brine rushed in, and one by one the old hulks crazily settled to slumber in the dock-yard of Davy Jones. At half past ten o'clock in the morning, the last one disappeared, and the funeral was over. A good view of the last hours of the stone fleet was obtained from the deck of the Cahawba, which lay just off the bar; and a correspondent of the New York Tribune gives a description of the ceremony, in probably a fitter spirit than the above. He says: “It was rather melancholy to see old craft, that had weathered so many storms, stripped of their sails, and towed in, one by one, to be sunk. From the position in which the Cahawba lay, there was hardly an opening between the ships. An impassable line of wrecks was drawn for an eighth of a mile between the points indicated. All but two or three were careened. Some were on their beam-ends, some were clown by the head, others by the stern, and masts, spars, and rigging of the thickly crowded ships were mingled and tangled in the greatest confusion." They did not long remain so. Boats were sent to cut away the masts, clear away the sails and gear that floated about, so that nothing might be left of any use to the rebels. For two hours prior to the final sinking of the ships, there was a continual crash of falling masts. Some of the vessels died hard, settling down very slowly. "And," observes the writer already quoted, "it was difficult to believe they were not afloat, and might yet sail away from their dreary fate. I think no one ever before saw the masts of fifteen ships cut away in the morning. When they were gone, the desolation was almost complete. The picture was more utterly ruinous and forlorn than can be conceived."
