Sinking of the U. S. S. Housatonic by the Confederate States submarine
torpedo boat H. L. Hunley, off Charleston, S. C., February 17, 1864
Report of Captain Green, U. S. Navy, commanding U. S. S.
Canandaigua.
U.S.S. CANANDAIGUA,
Off Charleston, S. C., February 18, 1864.
SECRETARY
OF WAR:
- SIR I have respectfully to report that a boat belonging to the
Housatonic reached this ship last night at about 9:20, giving me
information that that vessel had been sunk at 8:45 p. m. by a rebel torpedo
craft.
- I immediately slipped our cable and started for her anchorage, and on
arriving near it, at 9:35, discovered her sunk with her hammock nettings under
water; dispatched all boats and rescued from the wreck 21 officers and 129
men.
- There are missing, and supposed to be drowned, the following-named
officers and men:
- Ensign Edward C. Hazeltine, Captain’s Clerk Charles O. Muzzey, Quartermaster John Williams, Second-Class Fireman John Walsh, Landsman Theodore Parker.
- Captain Pickering is very much, but not dangerously, bruised, and one
man is slightly bruised.
- I have transferred to the Wabash 8 of her officers and 49 men, on
the account of the limited accommodations on board of this vessel.
-
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
-
J.F. GREEN,
-
Captain
- Commodore S. C. ROWAN,.
- Commanding Officer off Charleston, S. C.
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War
of the Rebellion; Series I - Volume 15: South Atlantic Blockading Squadron
(October 1, 1863 - September 30, 1864), 1902, U.S. Government Printing Office
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05/25/2006