by Diane Fontaine Maury-Corbin

“ We do not weigh in the same balance the force that I can bring to the work. Therefore, as bright as your picture is, I have my concerns of what there may be on the other side. Still, it’s wise and brave to hope the best, and, bringing willing hearts and ready hands to the work, we’ll try to rub even the dark side bright, should it be turned towards us. ”

“ Thus, the torpedo would be left hanging; thence a cord or wire, some fifty or sixty feet long, with one end attached to the torpedo, the other to the boat, served to explode the charge as soon as the boat got out of the way, and brought it taut; the explosion being effected either by electricity or by the pulling of a trigger.
The war ended before any of these boats were ready. They might answer very well against wooden ships. Another plan I had prepared very early in the war was never tried. ”

“ They knelt down before the Vice-Chancellor one by one, and put up their hands like a child saying its prayers; the Vice-Chancellor put his hands outside theirs and said in Latin, ‘By the right of my office and the power invested in me, I create you Master of Arts or Bachelor of Arts (as the case might be) in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. ”

“ The best torpedo boat, however, that was planned in the Confederacy, was a steam-gig built of steel, light and strong, calculated to hold five men, to go ten knots, and to carry coal enough, without provisions, for a night. ”

“ Passes before an invading army may be mined in advance, and thus, if he cannot be destroyed, his progress may be so retarded by dummies or sham mines as almost literally to compel him to dig his way.
The power to telegraph through those torpedoes is of little consequence, inasmuch as there need be but one station and one operator. Using the testing-fuse manufactured by Abel, and a weak voltaic current, the operator can at any time satisfy himself as to continuity. Thus bridges and gulfs or breaks are not required for the land as they are in sea-mining. ”

“ He took a steamer at Liverpool with his family, and arrived at New York early in July, 1868; but his house at Lexington was not ready for him until the beginning of the following year. Maury went to Richmond in August, and thence, with his daughters, to the White Sulphur Springs, (hot springs healthy resort in Virginia) intending to devote the autumn to a study of the climate and productions of Virginia, with a view to the preparation of a report on its geographical position and commercial advantages. ”

“ The span was connected with a trigger in the head of each barrel, so set and arranged that when the torpedo, being let go in a tideway under the bows and athwart the hawse had fouled, they would be drifted alongside, and in so drifting tauten the span and so set off the fuse, which was driven precisely as a 10 inch shot-fuze, only it was calculated to burn 54 inches, because it could not be known exactly in which part of the sweep along tide the strain would be sufficient to set off the trigger. ”

“ They should be spherical, only, instead of a hole for the fuse, as in a hollow shot, they should have a neck like a bottle, with a cap to screw over - not in the neck. The case should be charged through the neck, and the wires let in through two holes, counter-sunk, diametrically opposite, the counter-sinking being for the purpose of receiving pitch or other resinous matter to keep the water out. The fuse, being adjusted to the wires, should be held in its place by a string through the neck, while the wires are drawn out taut and sealed within and without. ”

“ As they were just ready to put out, the swell of a passing steamer sunk her, and all hands, except Captain Payne, were lost. She was raised, and he volunteered again, when, by another similar mishap, she was swamped again, and all hands except himself and two others were drowned. ”

“ The operator need not be stationed near the scene; he may be at the distance of SEVERAL MILES when he discharges the exploding spark. He can explode by the same touch, and instantaneously, any number that may be required.
He can at any time send a telegraphic message through his wires, and feel that the powder is dry and assure himself that all is well.
I have demonstrated the principals of this new means of defence, to one of the most powerful nations of the world, (FRANCE) and it has been decided to introduce it there. ”

“ The operator may be at any distance from these mines when he explodes them, provided only he has established some mark or point which, on being reached by the enemy, should serve as his signal. The area of destruction of one fugassee, properly constructed, with a charge of twenty or twenty-five pounds of powder, may be assumed to be that of a circle seventy-five or eighty yards in diameter. Twenty mines would therefore serve for a mile. Several miles may be planted in a night, and the assailants may be enticed or invited out in the morning. ”

“ Matthew Fontaine Maury’s arrival in England — Meeting with his family — The Maury Testimonial — Instructing French officers in defensive sea-mining at Paris — Matthew F. Maury’s Electrical Torpedo School — Defence of Wurtemberg by electrical mines — M F Maury’s memorandum on the use of electrical torpedoes — Writing class-books on geography — Visits to Nottingham and to Wrottesley Hall — Arrival of his daughter, Mrs. ”