Page:The Development of Navies During the Last Half-Century.djvu/233



torpedo as a weapon of practical utility first came prominently into notice during the American Civil War. To disable a vessel by exploding underneath her a large mass of gunpowder, contained in a water-tight case, had long been a project of enthusiasts, but the difficulty of obtaining an efficient mechanical arrangement for ignition, and keeping the whole apparatus in order when immersed for any length of time, had, up to the period mentioned, prevented any striking success being achieved by this means. Small submarine mines, with a chemical fuse or some clockwork apparatus for their ignition, were laid down in the Baltic during the Russian War, but were in most cases fished up by our ships without exploding. One, however, did explode on the poop of the flagship, after much handling to ascertain the method of ignition; but as the charge was small few of the spectators were injured. When the Southern Confederacy seceded from the United States in 1861,