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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # 165-C-750: Enlarged Confederate 'David' type steamship at Charleston, S.C., 1865

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES --

The "Large David" (1865)

In 1864-65, an enlarged version of the torpedo boat David was constructed at Charleston, South Carolina. About 160-feet long, some three times longer than David and the other torpedo boats of her type, this steamship was intended for use as a blockade runner, with a reported capacity of 250-300 cotton bales. She was captured incomplete when Charleston fell to Federal forces in February 1865 and was later taken to Washington, D.C., where she was photographed while tied up with several monitors during 1865-66.

This page features our only views of the enlarged "David" type steamer.


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

Photo #: 165-C-750

Enlarged Confederate "David"-type Steamship


At Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865, after the city's capture by Federal forces.
This vessel, built along the lines of the "David"-type torpedo boats, but over three times as long, was intended for use as a blockade runner.

Photograph from the Collections of the U.S. National Archives.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 540 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 86237

Washington Navy Yard, District of Columbia


View on board ships moored off the yard's western waterfront in 1865-66. Ships in the immediate foreground are monitors. The odd "cigar-shaped" steamer tied up to them appears to be the former Confederate "enlarged David" built at Charleston, South Carolina, late in the Civil War.
The Navy Yard's western shiphouse is visible in the right background, with USS Resaca fitting out at pierside.
Photo mounted on a stereograph card.

Courtesy of the Steamship Historical Society of America, 1952. Collection of Rosmar S. Devereaux.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 600 x 675 pixels

A stereo pair version of this image is available as Photo # NH 86237-A

Online Image of stereo pair: 71KB; 675 x 375 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 57928

Washington Navy Yard, D.C.


View looking eastward along the waterfront from atop the roof of the western shiphouse, June 1866. The 11th Street bridge and the Anacostia shore are in the distance.
Ships in the stream at right include three monitors and a former Confederate torpedo boat of the "large David" type. Monitor to the left in that group is either Chimo or Casco. The other two are Mahopac (center of group) and Saugus (to right). The ex-CSS Stonewall is anchored in the river, in the center of the view.
Half visible on the marine railway (at left) is a "double-ender" gunboat, probably USS Ascutney. Dismasted screw steamer alongside the waterfront in center may be USS Marblehead. Ship in right foreground, alongside the masting sheers, may be USS Resaca.
The experimental firing battery is just beyond the shiphouse, in the left center foreground, flanked by what appears to be a ship's smokestack on one side and a mortar and a shot pile on the other. Photographed by Brady & Company, Washington, D.C.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 134KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


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Page made 4 November 2001