Civil War drawings collection, approximately 1861-1865.

New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024, 212-873-3400

December 1863

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.'

New-York Historical Society

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Port Royal Sound (S.C.)--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
African Americans
Soldiers
Docks
Divers

Sketches
Drawings (visual works)
Image

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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.'