"The torpedo-boat Spuyten Duyvil (length 84 feet 2 inches, beam 19 feet; draught 4 feet) designed and constructed in 1865, just before the fall of Richmond was intended for employment during the American Civil War. Owing, however, to the struggle being brought to an end, she was never taken into action, but by her aid the whole of the obstructions in the James River were removed before the passage of the President to Richmond. The torpedo laying machinery was designed by Captain William W. W. Wood, Chief Engineer USN and constructed by Clute Brothers of Schenectady, whilst the hull of the vessel was designed by Samuel H. Pook, naval constructor, and built at Fairhaven, Connecticut in less than three months."