Sambo's Introduction to a Sub Marine Diver', Port Royal, South Carolina, dated December 1863

: Sambo's Introduction to a Sub Marine Diver', Port Royal, South Carolina.; Drawing: Graphite and brown ink on paper. 4 3/16 x 11 1/4 in. Two African American men fearfully jump from a small boat into the water, and three cower on a dock upon seeing a man in a diving suit. Two white soldiers look on in amusement. Verso is inscribed at center in brown ink: 'An / Amusing Incident in Station Creek Port Royal Harbor S.C. / Sambos Introduction to a / Sub Marine Diver.', An event of December 1863, in which an early sub-marine diver, cleaning oysters off an ironclad 'Monitor' class steam ship at Station Creek, near Port Royal, South Carolina, surfaces near a boat of black watermelon sellers, startling them. The diver humorously absconds with one of the melons, as the frightened vendors flee the scene. The ironclad under repair was likely the U.S.S 'Lehigh' or 'Nahant.'

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