USS Weehawkwn's "Devil"-- Part 4: Problems With the Raft

And, there were problems with the "Devil."  The Weehawken's chains had gotten fouled on the raft, causing a two-hour delay in the attack.

And then other problems.  One report said the  "sea converted the raft  into a huge battering ram which shook the vessel with every undulation."  Meaning, it was battering the ship it was supposed to be protecting.  The raft would rise when the monitor would be falling and vice versa, causing fears that the raft would end up in the deck or under the overhang.

When the Weehawken withdrew from the action, engineers noticed that several iron plates were damaged from the raft battering.  As a result, Rodgers cut the raft loose.

The next day, Rodgers attempted to use another one of the rafts to destroy the grounded USS Keokuk by using the spar torpedoes, but heavy seas caused the crew to be unable to rig the torpedoes.

After April there was still at least one of the rafts left with the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, but even with a few more attempts there was no success and the whole thing came to naught.

Perhaps If They Arrached the Raft Even More Snugly.  --Old B-Runner