all being immersed.

The officer having thus described his vessel, wished me good-night, and
started on his perilous enterprise. I met him again next evening quietly
smoking his pipe. I eagerly asked him what he had done, when he told me
with the greatest _sang-froid_ that he had gone on board his vessel with
a crew of seven men; that everything for a time had gone like clockwork;
they were all snug below with hatches closed, the vessel was sunk to the
required depth, and was steadily steaming down the harbour, apparently
perfectly water-tight, when suddenly the sea broke through the foremost
hatch and she went to the bottom immediately. He said he did not know
how he escaped. He imagined that after the vessel had filled he had
managed to escape through the aperture by which the water got in; all
the rest of the poor fellows were drowned. Not that my friend seemed to
think anything of that, for human life was very little thought of in
those times. This vessel was afterwards got up, when the bodies of her
crew were still in her hold. I imagined that the vessel contained
sufficient air to enable her to remain under water two or three hours,
or maybe some method was practised by which air could be introduced by
the funnel; at all events, had she been successful on that night, she
would undoubtedly have caused a good deal of damage and loss to the
blockading squadron, who were constantly harassed by all sorts of
infernal machines, torpedoes, fire-vessels, &c., which were sent out
against them by ingenious Southerners, whose fertile imaginations were
constantly conceiving some new invention.

On the next occasion that same enterprising officer was employed on a
similar enterprise, his efforts were crowned with complete success.

He started one dark night, in a submerged vessel of the same kind as
that above described, and exploded the torpedo against the bows of one
of the blockading squadron, doing so much damage that the vessel had to
be run on shore to prevent her sinking.

I must, before finishing my account of what I saw and did in Charleston,
mention a circumstance that showed how little the laws of _meum_ and
_tuum_ are respected during war times. The morning before I left, I had
a fancy for having my coat brushed and my shoes polished. So having
deposited these articles on a chair at the door of my room, I went to
bed again to have another snooze, hoping to find them cleaned when I
awoke. After an hour or so I got