The Confederate States Submarine H L Hunley
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THE HUNLEY NEWSLETTERS 2002 E-BOOK

 LOOKING FOR THE "DEVIL"
"Ericsson Raft"

On April 7, 1863, the Northern iron clad fleet of nine ships was preparing to attack Charleston and demand its surrender.  Charleston was one of the few ports still open to blockade-runners and was vital to the economy of the Confederacy.

General P.G.T. Beauregard, considered a military genius, devised a plan in the new field of mine warfare. All of the inner reaches of the harbor were sowed with various barrel, boiler and frame type torpedoes. In several areas, barriers were erected of rope netting and empty barrels to give the appearance of contact mines.

The H L Hunley had arrived in Charleston, S.C. on August 15, 1863, a new invention in a new war in a new harbor. While the Southern inventors were developing mines and the new torpedo boats, the Northern inventors were developing ways to countermand these “infernal” machines and obstacles. The North had a fear of mines and only a limited idea of what the South would throw at them.  Capt. John Ericsson designed and built the first armored turret ship, the “Monitor,” launched on January 30, 1862. Ericsson was dedicated to the study of torpedoes and sun motors. He invented the ship propeller and was commissioned to build a minesweeping raft  intended to deal with confederate torpedoes, and the clearing of mine barriers. (See newsletter #18 for more information on Ericsson)
 

Of many inventions the Northern abolitionist developed, this huge and crude minesweeping device was an early development. A raft designed to catch torpedoes was tailored to fit across the bow of the Weehawken, the lead ship of the ironclad squadron and was mounted in preparation of attack. The raft was 50 feet long and 27 feet wide, almost 1300 square feet, the size of a small house, notched out to fit snugly and be held in place with ropes and chains attached on each side of the mother ship.  The raft had chains and grappling hooks hanging from the front and sides designed to explode or move any torpedo obstructions. 

Three of these contraptions were built, two were lost at sea before reaching Charleston, and the third one did more damage than good. One of the “Devils” is reportedly in the Bahamas having been lost at sea.

 
Plan View of the "Devil"

Strapped to its bow the “Devil” continually fouled in the Weehawken’s anchor chain holding up the advancement of the squadron.  It was finally cut loose as the lead ship rounded Cummings Point. When it washed up on the beach after the battle, the Confederates scratched their heads over it nicknaming it “The Devil”. No one has thought much about it since. Mike Kochan, a civil war re-enactor mentioned it to me when I met him at his Torpedo Display at the Hunley site.  He stated that he had talked with contacts at the Charleston Museum who confirmed it was up in the marsh behind Fort Sumter. I researched a number of historical maps and Coastline Surveys none of which mention the exact location.  One map shows a wreck in the area but it was unidentified. As you can imagine there is tons of Civil War debris laying around in the bay and marsh behind Fort Sumter and Morris Island.

Now here is a damn Yankee (mudsill) from Pennsylvania telling me where to look in my backyard to find what?  The “Devil”. That was hilarious and I will never hear the end to it.  I decided that we were interested and arranged an expedition to go out there and find it, get some pictures and possible some verification of its existence.  Mike, the Torpedo Man, Kochan was interested in pictures of the wood or a grappling hook for his display but couldn’t get down here before it got too cold.  He did give me a few ways to positively identify it and good directions; I also found reference to a Merritt Dredge barge lost in the area and wanted to make sure of our identification of the Civil War Raft was not something earlier. It took us most of a day and an ebb tide to get behind Morris Island not counting the time it took to snag a few bass.  I marked the spot on The Charleston Harbor Civil War Battle Map and identified the “Devil” exactly where we found it.

email from Mike:
George

It's on the next creek (Bass Creek) toward the ocean coming down it's on the left at the bend then past the bend is the swamp angle site I’ll get back at ya
mike

After Mike sent us better directions and a hand drawn map from the Charleston Museum, we ventured out to find the “Devil” What’s ironic is the “Devil” was right there amazingly close to the “Marsh Angel” on the South side of Bass Creek We were very surprised to find it so far up a very small creek and can only surmise that it was moved during exceptional high water. You can see from the pictures that there is not really much left of the Devil. I’m thinking we may have to form a private non profit sometimes charitable organization called “Friends of the Devil”

Another irony that I discovered while doing further research appeared when I came across Clive Cussler's notes where he claimed to be the first to identify the "Devil":  This is his description

WEEHAWKEN'S TORPEDO RAFT

During the battle of Charleston between Admiral Dahlgren's monitor fleet and the Confederate forts, the Weehawken led the Union squardron into the harbor with a huge wooden anti-mine raft attached to its bow. The weight and drag made the monitor completely unmanageable and the raft was cast adrift. Although it's been sitting in the reeds along the north bank of Bass Creek all these years, we were the first to identify it.

32 43' 30"
79 53' 25"

First off it was not Admiral Dahlgren's fleet it was S. F. DuPont, Rear-Admiral, Comdg. South Atlantic Blockading Squadron that was in command. Dahlgren replaced DuPont due to the politics of losing this major battle.
Secondly, The "Devil" is on the South Bank of Bass Creek -  there is nothing on the North Bank but pluff mud, oysters, marsh hens, saw grass and fiddlers. Finally, there were numerous people in Charleston who knew of and had identified the "Ericsson Raft" including Dr. E. Lee Spence and the Charleston Museum Staff.

32 43' 40" 
  79 53' 18"   
These coordinates are a little more accurate particularly in a creek that was only 50' wide at high tide.

 
Figure I Section from Charleston Harbor Civil War Map


Aerial View of the "Devil" and the "Swamp Angel"

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