Coal torpedo 4014984 221620493 2008-06-25T09:32:30Z Giggy 2006904 /* Notes */ {{reflist|2}} [[Image:CoalTorpedo.jpg|right|thumb|200px|A coal torpedo. This example was prepared as a model, with a partial coal dust coating and the plug left out. It was found in [[Jefferson Davis]]' office by Union General Edward Ripley when Union forces captured [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]] in April 1865.]] The '''coal torpedo''' was a hollow iron casting filled with explosives and covered in coal dust, deployed by the [[Confederate Secret Service]] during the [[American Civil War]], and intended for doing harm to [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] steam transportation. When shoveled into the [[Firebox (steam engine)|firebox]] amongst the coal, the resulting explosion would at the very least damage the [[boiler]] and render the engines inoperable. In the worst case scenario (or best case, depending on the [[Perspective (cognitive)|point of view]]) the damaged boiler, under high steam pressure, would explode, injuring the crew and scattering burning coals over the deck to start a fire that would sink the vessel. ==Development== [[Image:Courtenay CSA.jpg|left|150px|thumb|Thomas Courtenay in the uniform of a Confederate Army Captain.]] The coal torpedo was invented by Capt. [[Thomas Edgeworth Courtenay]] of the [[Confederate Secret Service]].<ref name=Perry>Milton F. Perry, ''Infernal Machines.'' New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, pp. 135–138.</ref><ref>''The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion,'' Washington, DC, 1888. Series I, Vol. 22 part 2, pg. 970. Available [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fwaro%2Fwaro0033%2F&tif=00972.TIF online] at Cornell University Library's Making of America collection, link verified [[October 31]], [[2006]].</ref> During the Civil War, the term [[torpedo]] was used to indicate a wide range of explosive devices including what are now called [[land mine]]s, [[naval mine]]s, and [[booby trap]]s. Northern newspapers referred to Courtenay's coal bombs as torpedoes, or sometimes "infernal machines"; Courtenay himself called it his "coal shell".<ref name=Signal>''The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion,'' Washington, DC, 1897. Series I, Vol. 26, pp. 184–187. Available [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fofre%2Fofre0026%2F&tif=00226.TIF online] at Cornell University Library's Making of America collection, link verified [[October 31]], [[2006]].</ref> The torpedoes were manufactured at the 7th Avenue Artillery shop (across the street from [[Tredegar Iron Works]]) in [[Richmond, Virginia]], in January 1864. <ref>''The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion,'' Washington, DC, 1897. Series I, Vol. 5, pg. 395. Available [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fofre%2Fofre0005%2F&tif=00423.TIF online] at Cornell University Library's Making of America collection, link verified [[October 31]], [[2006]].</ref> The manufacturing process was similar to that used for [[Shell (projectile)|artillery shells]], except that actual pieces of coal were used as patterns for iron castings. The walls of the coal shell were about 3/8 inch thick, creating a hollow space inside sufficient to hold 3–4 ounces of gunpowder. After filling, the shell was closed with a threaded plug, then dipped in melted beeswax and rolled in coal dust, creating the appearance of a lump of coal.<ref>"Coal Torpedoes", ''The Times'' (London), [[30 December]] [[1875]], page 4.</ref> Finished coal torpedoes were about 4 inches (10 cm) on a side and weighed 3–4 lb (1.5–2 kg). The size and powder charge of the coal torpedo was similar to a 6 pound [[Shrapnel|Shrapnel shell]] (a hollow, four-inch cannonball containing gunpowder and 24 musket balls as [[shrapnel]]) or the equivalent of three Civil War-era hand grenades. Even so, the explosion of a coal torpedo under a ship's boiler would not by itself be sufficient to sink the vessel. The purpose of the coal torpedo was to burst the pressurized steam [[boiler]], which had the potential to cause a tremendous secondary explosion. Boiler explosions were not uncommon in the early years of steam transportation, and often resulted in the complete destruction of the vessel by fire. In action, the coal torpedo would leave little evidence that a boiler explosion was due to sabotage. ==Deployment== [[Image:Greyhound steamer.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The sidewheeler ''Greyhound.'']] Courtenay was authorized to form a company of men to infiltrate enemy lines and place coal torpedoes in the coal piles used to fuel Union steam ships.<ref name=Tidwell>William A. Tidwell, ''April '65.'' Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1995, pg. 52.</ref> It was especially intended to be used against ships of the [[Union blockade]], although Courtenay was authorized to act against any Union military or commercial shipping in [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] waters.<ref>Raimondo Luraghi, ''A History of the Confederate Navy.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1996, pp. 243-244.</ref><ref>''The War of the Rebellion. The Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.'' Washington, DC, 1900. Series IV, Vol. 3, pg. 202. Available [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fwaro%2Fwaro0129%2F&tif=00214.TIF online] at Cornell University Library's Making of America collection, link verified [[October 31]], [[2006]]</ref> Although the [[Union blockade]] and other forms of military shipping were Courtenay's primary targets, he also had plans to use the coal torpedo to attack steam [[locomotive]]s, although no confirmed attacks are known. On [[19 March]] [[1864]], a Union gunboat captured a rebel courier crossing the Mississippi, carrying a letter from Courtenay describing the coal torpedo. The correspondence was forwarded to Admiral [[David Dixon Porter|David Porter]], who immediately issued his General Order 184, which began <blockquote> The enemy have adopted new inventions to destroy human life and vessels in the shape of torpedoes, and an article resembling coal, which is to be placed in our coal piles for the purpose of blowing the vessels up, or injuring them. Officers will have to be careful in overlooking coal barges. Guards will be placed over them at all times, and anyone found attempting to place any of these things amongst the coal will be shot on the spot.<ref name=Signal/> </blockquote> In April 1865, most of the official papers of the Confederate Secret Service were burned by Secretary of State [[Judah P. Benjamin]] just before the government evacuated [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], making it impossible to determine with any certainty how many ships were destroyed by Courtenay's shell. Union Admiral [[David Dixon Porter|Porter]] credited the coal torpedo with sinking the ''Greyhound'', a private steamboat that had been commandeered by General [[Benjamin Franklin Butler (politician)|Benjamin F. Butler]] for use as a floating headquarters on the [[James River (Virginia)|James River]].<ref name=Perry/><ref>David D. Porter, "Torpedo Warfare." The North American Review, Vol. 127, No. 264, 1878, pp. 225–227. Available [http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/moa-cgi?notisid=ABQ7578-0127-23 online] at Cornell University Library's Making of America collection, link verified [[October 31]], [[2006]].</ref> Courtenay also took credit for the explosion of the gunboat [[USS Chenango (1863)|USS ''Chenango'']].<ref name=Perry/><ref name=MCH>Thatcher, Joseph M, "The Courtenay Coal Torpedo," in ''Military Collector and Historian'', Vol. XI, Spring 1959.</ref> In the Spring of 1865, Canadian customs raided a house in [[Toronto]] that had been rented by [[Jacob Thompson]], one of the commissioners of the [[Confederate Secret Service]] stationed in Canada. They found coal torpedoes and other incendiary devices hidden under the floorboards.<ref>Adam Mayers, "Spies across the border," in ''Civil War Times Illustrated.'' June 2001, pg. 31.</ref> A former Confederate agent named [[Robert Louden]] claimed on his deathbed that he had used a coal torpedo to sink the [[steamboat]] [[Sultana (steamboat)|''Sultana'']], killing an estimated 1,800 of her 2,400 passengers, many of whom were recently freed Union prisoners of war, on [[April 27]] [[1865]], although this claim is controversial.<ref name=Tidwell/><ref>G.E. and Deb Rule, "The Sultana: A case for sabotage," in ''North and South Magazine'', Vol. 5, issue 1, December 2001.</ref> ==After the Civil War== Courtenay had traveled to England in 1864 and remained there until 1867, trying to sell the "secret" of the coal torpedo to foreign governments. He approached the British [[War Office]], but they turned him down after he wouldn't agree to allow them to examine his invention before purchasing it.<ref name=MCH/> When Courtenay returned to the United States, one or more business partners to whom he had entrusted the secret remained in England. ''[[The Times]]'' in 1873 reported rumors that disreputable ship owners were purchasing coal torpedoes to put in their own ships as a form of insurance fraud, so that over-insured ships and cargo would sink while far out at sea, leaving no evidence.<ref>"Infernal Machines," ''The Times'' (London), 13 June, 1873.</ref><ref>"Sayings and doings at home and abroad," Appleton's Journal. Vol. 10, No. 226, 19 July 1873, pg. 95.</ref> Other reports scoffed at the rumors, suggesting they were false stories planted by supporters of [[Samuel Plimsoll]], a Member of [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] who was trying to pass a bill reforming the shipping industry.<ref>"An infernal engine," ''The Times'' (London), 9 June 1873.</ref> Nothing was ever proven, but the reports stirred up popular interest in various supposed methods of sabotaging ships, and the coal torpedo even made an appearance in the short story, "That Little Square Box," by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], published in a story collection entitled ''[[The Captain of the Polestar, and other tales]]''. Various forms of exploding coal, whether directly descended from Courtenay's original idea or independently developed, have surfaced multiple times throughout history. The [[Fenian Brotherhood]], an Irish nationalist organization operating in the [[United States]] in the late 1860s-1870s, reportedly considered placing coal torpedoes in the furnaces of [[New York City]] hotels as well as English transatlantic steamships.<ref>Foreign Office archives from the Public Records Office, London. Volume F.O. 5, 1777, March to May 1881. Letters from Clipperton, British Consul in Philadelphia, to the Foreign Office.</ref> Both the American [[Office of Strategic Services|OSS]] and the British [[Special Operations Executive|SOE]] used forms of exploding coal in [[World War II]].<ref>H. Keith Melton. ''The Ultimate Spy Book.'' New York:DK Publishing, 1996, pg. 97.</ref> The German commandos who came ashore on Long Island in 1943 as part of [[Operation Pastorius]] carried plastic explosives disguised as coal for use against coal-fired electric generating plants.<ref>Joel Samaha, Sam Root, and Paul Sexton, eds. ''Transcript of Proceedings before the Military Commission to Try Persons Charged with Offenses against the Law of War and the Articles of War, Washington D.C., July 8 to July 31, 1942.'' Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2004, [http://www.soc.umn.edu/~samaha/nazi_saboteurs/nazi02.htm page 210].</ref> [[Stanley Karnow]] hints in his book ''Vietnam: A History'' that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] prepared explosive coal for use against North Vietnamese railways during the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>Stanley Karnow, ''Vietnam: A History.'' New York:The Viking Press, 1983, pg 221.</ref> == Notes == {{reflist|2}} == References == <div class="references-small"> *Ann Larabee, ''The Dynamite Fiend: The Chilling Tale of a Confederate Spy, Con Artist, and Mass Murderer.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 1-4039-6794-6 *Raimondo Luraghi, ''A History of the Confederate Navy.'' Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1996. ISBN 1-55750-527-6 *Milton F. Perry, ''Infernal Machines; the story of Confederate submarine and mine warfare.'' New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1963. *G.E. and Deb Rule, "The Sultana: A case for sabotage." ''North and South Magazine'', Vol. 5, issue 1, December 2001. </div> ==External links== *[http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&cite=&coll=moa&root=%2Fmoa%2Fofre%2Fofre0026%2F&tif=00224.TIF&view=50 General Order 184] *[http://home.rochester.rr.com/thatchertree/torpedohome.htm The Coal Torpedo] [[Category:American Civil War weapons]] [[Category:Bombs]]