The Hunt for the Alligator part 2

Reprint with permission of the editor of the Sun Journal New Bern, NC

Jump to Part 1 Printed Jan 18, 2004

From an email by Mr. Sandy Wall
January 24,2004   Sun Journal New Bern  NC   by Mr. Sandy Wall

A Craven County man is following the ongoing search for the U.S. Navy's first submarine, which is believed to be somewhere on the ocean floor off North Carolina's coast, a little more closely than most folks.

That's because Charles "Chuck" Havens of Fairfield Harbour is the great-grandson of Samuel Eakins, who served as the ill-fated USS Alligator's acting "master," or commanding officer.

The 65-year-old Havens, who moved with his wife, Gloria, to Craven County from New Jersey in 1999, came forward after reading a recent Sun Journal story about the federal government's renewed interest in the submarine, which was lost during a storm off Cape Hatteras on April 2, 1863.

Havens, who grew up in Stanly County in central North Carolina, can remember his grandfather, the late George Eakins, telling him and his siblings bits and pieces about Samuel Eakins and the Alligator.

"As young kids, we were delighted to hear about that," Havens said. "He'd give us a few details. He didn't elaborate. He'd give you a little bit." Over the years, Havens has collected newspaper stories about his family, and has in his possession an often-copied original photograph of his
great-grandfather that was taken in 1863 -- the same year the USS Alligator was lost.

Obscure boat

The USS Alligator was designed by Frenchman Brutus de Villeroi and was launched by the Union navy in 1862. It was equipped with a diver-lockout chamber and was designed to ferry swimmers to underwater Confederate targets, such as harbor obstructions or ships.

The idea was to have the swimmers plant mines or charges on targets that could be detonated remotely.

Researchers say the vessel was about 47 feet long and could dive to a depth of about 50 feet. It was originally powered by a system of oars, but later was equipped with a propeller, or "screw."

Its first deployment came in June 1862 in the James River area of Virginia, where it was to have swimmers destroy a bridge over the Appomattox River. But the water there was too shallow for the boat to dive, researchers say.

The Alligator's inauspicious demise came on April 2, 1863, as it was being towed by the USS Sumpter from Washington, D.C., to Charleston, S.C. A furious storm overtook the ships, causing one of the two "hawsers," or ropes, securing the Alligator to the Sumpter to break.

In an April 9, 1863, letter to Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, Eakins describes the storm as a "heavy gale."

The officers, fearing for the safety of the Sumpter and its crew, decided to cut the line, which set the unmanned Alligator adrift, researchers say.

It's not clear if the Alligator was taking on water when it was cut loose, so it's not known if the vessel went down quickly or drifted for a while before going under. It's also unclear exactly where the Sumpter was when the Alligator was set adrift.

Samuel Eakins moves on

Samuel Eakins, who had been appointed the Alligator's acting master on March 24, 1863, survived the storm and the Civil War. He later went to Italy to search for oil.

While in Italy, Eakins, at age 60, married a 20-year-old Italian woman named Clelia Lanza. In 1889, the Eakins family returned to the United States and settled in Raleigh.

Samuel Eakins, who died in 1894, had six children by Clelia Lanza. One of them was George Eakins, Havens' grandfather.

After working various jobs in Virginia and New Jersey and operating his own electrical and gas business in New Jersey, George Eakins came to Stanly County in 1950 and settled in New London.

Later, George Eakins' daughter, Mildred Eakins Havens, and her family, including son, Chuck Havens, came to Stanly County to live. Chuck Havens remained there until he joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1956.

He later settled in New Jersey, where he met and married Gloria Havens, a public school music teacher. The couple came south to the New Bern area about five years ago.

Family lore

Havens said the USS Alligator and Samuel Eakins' connection to it have always been a part of his family's lore, as has been the family's connection to noted painter Thomas Eakins.

But Havens said his grandfather never discussed Samuel Eakins or the Alligator in great detail.

"He was a quiet man," he said.

Every little bit of information is bound to help in the hunt for the Alligator's fate, said Mitchiko Martin, national education coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Sanctuary Program.

NOAA, the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) and others have teamed up to learn more about the vessel and the circumstances surrounding its demise.

"We are honestly thinking that more answers to our story might be locked in somebody's attic," Martin said.

On Friday, she said another North Carolina man recently had come forward saying he, too, was a descendent of Samuel Eakins and had a document researchers might like to see.

Havens, too, is willing to share what he knows about his great-grandfather with researchers. Commander Richard Poole of ONR, who helped find Samuel Eakins' 1863 letter in the National Archives describing the Alligator's loss, said it's good that people are coming forward to help.

"It's nice to hear responses like that," Poole said.

As of now, there's no large-scale effort planned to go out and hunt for the wreck. Researchers instead have turned their attention to collecting as much information about the submarine, its designer and its crew, as possible.

Havens has a hunch the Alligator will be found, and he said he hopes to see it someday.

"It's history that you would like to see completed somewhere down the road," Havens said.