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NOVEMBER 14, 2003 ISSUE #45 PAGE 1 of 2 Click to go to Page 2
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WELCOME TO THE HUNLEY NEWSLETTER >
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VERY LITTLE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE ABOUT SIGNAL LAMPS
There was one signal light found on the Hunley which logic tells us was needed by Lt. Dixon just to be able to see his black ship and to prepare for their final attack. Breech Inlet and Charleston Harbor was so dark at early night fall the crew couldn't see their hands in front of their faces while waiting for the moon rise. This modern "flash light" or bulls eye lantern was vital to navigate around the breakers and narrow channel on their way to meet the USS Housatonic.
This week I received several e-mails from Steven Markhardt based around
his purchase of an antique lantern described to him as a "miner's lamp". I
scrounged around our club files and notes all the while searched the internet
only to find that there is very little information available on "Civil War
lamps". Friends of the Hunley, Inc. responsible for the excavation of the
Confederate Submarine H L Hunley released x-rays of a heavily concreted lantern
that many believed to be the mysterious "Blue light" used to signal the shore
bases at Battery Marshall of a successful mission. About the same time in mid
year 2001 several lamps appeared on EBAY. One of the lamps proclaimed to
be a Hunley type signal lamp but was quickly withdrawn that it was in no way
similar the the Hunley signal lamp but did closely represent the lamps found on
the "Monitor"
[
http://www.mariner.org/monitorcenter/conservation.html ]
Shortly after this another lamp appeared and was purchased by CSS H L Hunley Club member Virgil Robinson who shared his findings and research.
Although the legend of the "Blue Light" as the last contact made with the brave and courageous Hunley crew is probably just that...a legend that we hope will last forever, the purpose of this article is to provide readers with some of the little known information available about Civil War period signal lamps.
Whether the actual "Blue Light" was somehow lost overboard by Hunley Commander Dixon or the only lamp found on board the submarine simply appeared to broadcast blue over several miles of water and mist, we know from witnesses that someone's blue light was seen the night of February 17, 1864.
We know that blue lights were commonly used by the Northern blockaders around Charleston Harbor as a signal and warning of danger and in the heat of battle could easily of been mistaken as the blue light from the Hunley.
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The following are the only pictures released by FOTH showing a positive and negative x-ray view of the Hunley signal lamp |
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. Its seven inches from top to bottom, and the base is slightly more than three inches in diameter. The lens is a clear magnifying glass. Below the lens to the left on the cylindrical lamp body is a wood & metal knob, which can be pulled along a slot running from the left side, to directly below the lens. . Moving the knob towards the lens causes a cylinder
within the lamp to move around blocking the light. The lady from whom I
purchased it called it a miner's lamp, and pointed out the clip on the back
where the miners would hook it to their belt (or carried it by the two loop
handles). That seemed implausible because both the heat The burner, which is flat on top, unlike Mr. Robinson's rounded version, has whale oil wick tubes (two small parallel tubes). The bottom of the lamp doesn't open up like Mr. Robinson's. The burner is placed into four upright tabs at the bottom by opening the lens cover. Because of the sliding lens cover, the lamp appears to be made for signaling, although not in any color, ie. blue. |
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Just this weekend, I was at an antique show in Penn.,
and saw another lamp, identical In one of Catherine M.V. Thuro's three lamp books: "Oil Lamps - The Kerosene Era in North America," page 56 has what is probably a later model of this type of lamp, made by Deitz called a Police Flash Light. On that one, a roller above the handle is pushed down to move the inner lens cover around. It was for signaling, and was also called a Dark Lantern(?). It says they were made to burn either kerosene or whale oil. I'm providing this for your readers' info, and to ask: what are the dimensions of the Hunley's lamp? -does the lens cover have the color inserts, or the cutouts for them? -does anyone know when this lamp design was originally introduced, and for whom? Thanks very much for a great, informative website and newsletter, I look forward to each issue. My wife and I are also looking forward to attending the ceremony next April. Steve Markardt.
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From
Virgil Robinson's site
This Old Ship's Signal Lantern is very similar to the signal lantern found on
the H.L. Hunley Submarine
Lantern is 7 1/2" tall and 2 3/4" in diameter. There are no markings and the
construction seems to be tin with soldered joints and rivets attaching the
flutes.
"William Porter's & Sons,
New York made a lantern like yours in
japanned tin with a 2.75 or 3 inch lens for $7.00 or $7.50
per dozen. Porter started in 1843."
Apparently, there is not a lot of information on ship's
signal lanterns. In Civil War Collector's
Encyclopedia, vol.1, p 157, by Francis A. Lord, there is a
picture of three U.S. tin lanterns using candles for
lighting. They are of similar design, but without a lens. I
suspect that the overall design of the Hunley lantern and
mine were common.
virrobinson Re: Ships Signal lamp: C.T. Ham Mfg. Co.
Many
companies made similar Police, Watchman, Bull's Eye or Dark
lanterns. R. E. Dietz was making a similar lantern in 1864.
The body of this lamp is very similar to the Hunley lamp particularly the hinges and lens mounting. The top vents appear to be slightly higher and more pointed and does not round out where it meets the body. It gives the appearance of being slightly taller and narrower than the Hunley lamp. http://www.virrob.home.dixie-net.com/hunley-type-lantern.html
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