This U. S. Navy pocket knife was recovered from the sunken Union gunboat USS Cairo; one blade is stamped “US Navy”; the corner of the blade is marked “H. K. Taylor, A Brother, Sheffield.”
The USS Cairo, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas O. Selfridge, was sunk by two Confederate torpedoes on the Yazoo River in December 1862 while engaged in operations against Confederate defenses on the Yazoo. The Cairo has the dubious distinction of becoming the first ship sunk by an electrically detonated torpedo.
Image Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30272
