It’s fascinating how coins and medals can tell a story even beyond the obvious images embossed onto them. A perfect case-in-point is a US $20 gold piece struck in 1860. The coin features the classic profile of allegorical Liberty on the front with a heraldic spread-winged eagle on the back. 160 or so years ago, such coins were commonplace for people of means....
Customary as those gold coins may have been back then, one is now particularly special. The uniquely historic piece is dented and bent –a condition that’s normally highly undesirable for collectors. This particular coin was owned by a Lieutenant George E. Dixon, a Confederate officer in the American Civil War. The $20 piece had been bent by a mini-ball shot at Dixon during the Battle of Shiloh. The bullet hitting the coin is said to have saved Dixon’s life. From then on, he carried the damaged coin as a good luck charm.
Dixon also stood out in history due to his being chosen to pilot a unique weapon the Confederates had concocted. It was an early submarine named the H.L. Hunley. The Hunley was designed to attach an explosive charge underwater to an anchored ship.
With his eight-man crew, in 1864, Dixon did just that to the Union ship Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. The Housatonic sank. Sadly, when the charge detonated, the Hunley had not gotten away to a safe distance. The blast killed all aboard the Hunley which sank at the site in 30 feet of water.
The Hunley wreck was discovered near Charleston and raised in 2000. Inside, the bodies of all the crew were found including that of Dixon still sitting at his Captain’s post. On his body Dixon’s $20 gold piece was recovered. Though not providing the “good luck” that was hoped for, the coin is a haunting tangible reminder of what once was. Both the coin and submarine are now on display at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston, South Carolina.
It’s amazing to have this “living” piece of history help tell the story of a man and a primitive submarine operational 163 years ago. You’d think no underwater vessel could have been made that long ago. It was. Even more incredible, it turns out the Hunley was predated decades earlier by another submersible US “ship” operational exactly 250 years ago now, in 1776.
The earlier submarine “sailed” on September 7, 1776 in New York harbor. Very inventive colonists created and built the underwater craft to attack and sink British ships. The wooden vessel was made of hollowed-out oak staves attached with iron hoops, much like barrels of the day. It was sealed with tar. Because the wooden staves made it look like a turtle, that’s what it was named. The Turtle.
The ship was powered by a human treadle-driven propeller to go backward and forward. It had primitive ballast tanks to move up or down. Air was supplied by a pipe for ventilation (something the Hunley did not have). Finally, a screw-type device would allow the one-man vessel to potentially attach a barrel of explosives to the hull of a ship. A time-delay fuse would allow the vessel time to get away (they hoped). An alternative to explosives was a large drill made to manually bore a hole in a ship to sink it.
Initially designed in 1775 by American inventor David Bushnell, the Turtle holds the distinction of being the world's first submarine ever used in combat. During the Revolutionary War, this pedal- and hand-crank-powered wooden vessel was intended to be an early and inventive attempt to break the British naval blockade of New York Harbor.
That September night, American Sergeant Ezra Lee glided the Turtle into New York Harbor by himself to attack the British flagship, HMS Eagle. Sadly, Sargeant Lee struggled with strong underwater currents. Then, when finally reaching the flagship, the sub’s hand-operated drill wasn’t able to penetrate the ship's metal-reinforced hull.
In the end, Lee was forced to abort the mission. Other underwater efforts ensued but none ended with success. Later in 1776, the Turtle was lost at sea off the coast of Connecticut while being transported aboard a sailing ship sunk by the British. The craft was never recovered.
For the Semiquincentennial, a commemorative medal was created honoring the Turtle and those that made and piloted her. Struck from cold-cast bronze, the medal shows the inside of the Turtle with Lee steering her. The reverse displays the outside of the craft along with the words, “THE TURTLE SUBMERSIBLE WARFARE CRAFT.”
Minted just for this year’s 250th anniversary, only 76 of the large 3-1/2-inch medals are being made and sold. The cost is $117.76 plus $10 for shipping. While they last, orders can be sent to the distributor, Mel Wacks, 5189 Jeffdale Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91364. Phone orders can be made by calling, 818-225-1348.
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