The US Navy Monitors off Charleston in July of 1863
Turret of USS Catskill at Charleston in 1865. Note the 15-Inch Dahlgren which cannot be run out of the gunport and the 11-Inch which can be. Note the two boat howitzers - at least on of which is rifled. Also note the (presumably taken from forts ashore) Confederate projectiles on the deck. I assume the smaller ones are 6.4-inch or 7-inch bolts. Is the enormous one for the 12.75-inch Blakely? (Library of Congress Photo: https://www.loc.gov/item/2018666835/)
128° on the berth deck and 141° in the engine room?!? Those were the highest temperatures recorded aboard the monitor USS Nantucket during her service off of Charleston in July of 1863. (Official Records - Navies. Ser.1. Vol. 14. Pg. 682.)
These photos of USS Catskill depict a world apart from the wooden hulled sailing ships that the US Navy operated before the war. I cannot fathom a more unpleasant way of spending a South Carolina summer than under an iron deck in a poorly ventilated steam-powered ship.
Alvah F. Hunter, then a ships boy aboard USS Nahant, would write of an action firing upon Battery Wagner on July 10th, 1863:
”The four monitors dropped their anchors as near the shore as they could be safely brought (the shallow water along that shore of Morris Island made it very hazardous for us to come close in). It was the desire of Admiral Dahlgren to bring the monitors up within grape-shot range of Fort Wagner, but this could not be done. The Catskill anchored at about 1,200 yards distance, and the Nahant, which was the fourth in line, was anchored about 1,800 yards from the fort.
It was about 9:30 o'clock when we anchored, and a steady fire of shells was kept up till noon. We then withdrew a short distance to give the men a breathing space and time for dinner. After a short rest and eating dinner, we returned to the attack and kept up a steady shelling of the fort until six o'clock, when we drew off for the night. The crews of the monitors had been at work with the guns for about fourteen hours; the day had been extremely hot and the men were thoroughly worn out.
There had been a light breeze from off shore during the day, but this had increased the discomfort of those of us who were below because it had blown the smoke from the guns back into the turret and it was drawn down by the ventilating blowers and distributed through the forward part of the ship. The air on the berth deck was so thick with smoke at times we could scarcely see to do our work, and when we had a few minutes’ leisure we lay prostrate on the deck in order to breathe the fresher air there.” (Hunter, Alvah. A Year on a Monitor. pg. 100.)
Indeed, in this same action, USS Catskill - which was struck by shot and shell 60 times, many of them from Wagner’s two powerful 10-Inch Columbiads - would report as its casualties from the action of July 10th:
John W. Simmons, acting master, concussion of brain, caused by a shot striking the turret.
Sebastian Crolius, acting second assistant engineer, exhaustion from heat of fire room.
Robert Clark, acting third assistant engineer, exhaustion from heat of fire room.
William P. Shandon, carpenter's mate, concussion of brain and rupture of tympanum while repairing a shot hole in the deck; also exhaustion from heat of fire room while repairing a shot hole over the engines.
Robert Potter, officer's steward, contusion of knee by falling through a hatchway into shell room.
Michael Mooney, second-class fireman, exhaustion from heat of fire room.
Owen McArdell, coal heaver, exhaustion from heat of fire room.
James Meehan, boy, wound and contusion of left foot from a fragment of shell which entered the XI-inch porthole.
The detail that Hunter provides of the berth deck being filled with smoke explains how his opposite number Robert Potter aboard Catskill fell through a hatchway.
Commander George Washington Rodgers would write of the damaged sustained by USS Catskill on July 10th
“I enclose herewith a requisition for ordnance stores and ammunition, a request for an assistant engineer to be temporarily detailed for this ship, and for some firemen to take the place of those broken down. I have fired 57 XV-inch shells and 72 of XI-inch at the batteries and Fort Wagner. The vessel was struck 60 times, as follows: Hull, 16 times; turret, 17; pilot house, 3; smokestack, 7; deck, 17; there are other marks upon the hull under water which could not be counted. Some of the effects of the shot are of a serious character; the deck has been entirely broken through in four places, two of these sufficiently large to admit large quantities of water, requiring shot plugs; the pilot house was twice struck, nearly in the same place, by shot from a X-inch Columbiad, which broke off the nuts upon the bolts and forced one of them through the half-inch lining of the pilot house. The hull was struck upon the port quarter, completely shattering all the plates; one X-inch shell landed upon the deck after striking the turret, without fracture.” (See Official Records - Navies. Ser. 1. Vol. 14. pp. 322-325).
The same day, USS Nahant would fire 47 15-Inch Shells, 6 15-Inch Shrapnel, 41 11-Inch Shells, 6 11-Inch Shrapnel. It would only be hit six times.
Alvah Hunter, whose action station was on the berth deck working to pass powder cartridges from the magazine to the turret would be a heat casualty as well. He was excused duty serving officers in the wardroom that night. He would spend the night on top of the turret. On July 12th he would be sent to the steam frigate USS Wabash, just outside Charleston’s bar, to recuperate in the large open decks of that wooden ship.
1898 Photo aboard USS Catskill while the veteran monitor was recommissioned for the Spanish American War. This photo depicts the space directly below the turret. The spindle which lifted the turret off the deck and rotated it is seen with its huge gearing. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-55000/NH-55208.html
The engine room of USS Catskill photographed in 1898. 141 degrees… Naval History and Heritage Command Photo: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-59000/NH-59444.html
Summer 2025 photo taken from Fort Sumter looking out at Morris Island (over a 12-Pounder Mountain Howitzer). It was a 95 degree day in full sun. It was hot!