Butler's Powder Ship, the USS Louisiana-- Part 5: The Effort to Blow Up

Once off Fort Fisher, the USS Wilderness took up the tow .

Commander Alexander Rhind and a volunteer crew prepared to attack.  The Wilderness towed the Louisiana toward Fort Fisher, but were turned back by heavy swells.  Worsening weather caused the attack fleet to be unable to leave Beaufort so the first attack was called off.

The final attempt was made December 23, 1864, when the Wilderness brought the Louisiana in as close as it could to Fort Fisher late in the evening.  The Louisiana had been set up with a series of fuses to explode her, but, just in case, Rhind and his men set a fire aft, then escaped in small boats to the Wilderness.

Then came an anxious wait until 1:18 24 December, when the fuses were set to blow.  The effort had failed.  But wait!!!  The small fire they had set aft managed to burn its way fore to the powder and the Louisiana finally blew up.

Unfortunately, the whole effort failed.  No damage was done to the fort, where the garrison thought a blockade runner had run aground and blown up.


--A Failure, But a Good Idea.  --Old B-Runner