When Civil War admiral David Farragut said “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead,” he was talking about a contraption up for auction Tuesday in New Hampshire.
When Gen. George Custer’s scouts warned him he was headed for more than he could handle at the Little Bighorn, he is said to have looked through a pair of binoculars also on the auction block, and - so the story goes - not recognized the danger.
The two pieces of American history are among millions of dollars worth of military artifacts drawing collectors from around the country to the four-day auction that begins Tuesday at the Faro Gardens banquet hall.
The centerpiece is an extensive collection being sold by Atlanta businessman Michael Adamson. It includes rare Confederate cannon, a vast array of artillery ammunition, enough uniforms and weapons to outfit a small army, artifacts from Adamson’s ancestors who fought for the South, and a torpedo like the ones in Farragut’s path during the battle of Mobile Bay in 1864.
“This is one of only two that exist,” auction official James Julia said of the torpedo. Julia’s Fairfield, Maine, company is handling the auction.
The torpedo, a predecessor to current underwater mines, is a keg dipped in tar to make it watertight, then filled with powder, armed with a detonator and anchored just below the surface where a ship would run into it. It’s the size of a small duffel bag.
Adamson’s collection includes a sword that belonged to Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk, a distant relative. Polk was killed in Georgia before the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Julia called it “the finest known Confederate general’s sword that’s ever come to auction.”
Potential bidders got a chance to look over the goods on Monday.

www.juliaauctions.com

Posted: 10|4|05 at 9:09 am. Filed under: US News.