Tomb?s first-person narration is interspersed with explanatory comments from the author; the author also fills in Tomb?s life at the memoir?s beginning and end. Three appendices include documents by Tomb: "Submarines and Torpedo Boats, C.S.N.," written in 1914 for the Confederate Veteran Magazine, a private manuscript Tomb wrote for his family describing in detail his experiences with the torpedo boat David and submarine H.L. Hunley, and "Reminiscences of Torpedo Service in Charleston Harbor," published in 1877 in the Southern Historical Society Papers. A bibliography and a wealth of rare photographs complete the work.