The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-27 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S EXPRESS.)

THE ATTACK ON CHARLESTON.
The New York Herald of the 14th contains a
letter from its correspondent on board the iron-clad
fleet, from which the following are extracts :
" The attack would have commenced an hour or
two earlier than it did, had it not been that the
Admiral was advised to wait for the ebb tide, rather
than sail up with the flood tide, as the former would
be more apt to discover the locality of the obstruc-
tions in the channel, and the tide tarned at eleven
o'clock. During these hours of suspense the eye had
an opportunity of taking the features of the scene
on which the great act was to be played. The blae
waters danced in the bright sunshine, and flocks of
sea birds dipped their white wings in the waves
and uttered their shrill cries as they swooped down-
ward after their prey. Over the parapets of Forts Sum-
ter and Moultrie the rebel defenders were watching
our movements and signalising them ; and even on
the roofs and steeples of the distant city we could
see hundreds of spectators. Distinctly in view were
the numerous batteries, extending from the Wappoo
Creek, on the Ashly river, following the contour of
James Island, down to the Lighthouse battery, on
the south point of Morris Island. On the other
side they were more numerous still. Breach inlet
battery, on the lower end of Sullivan's Island ;
Fort Beauregard, and on up to Fort Moultrie;
while in the centre of the picture, rising, as it
were, from the water, stood Fort Sumter, dis-
playing the rebel flag on one angle, and the Pal-
metto flag on the opposite angle ; and beyond, Fort
Ripley and Castle Pinckney, the city filling up
the background.
"Meanwhile the attacking vessels lay at anchor
in the main ship channel, within a mile of the
batteries on Morris Island, without provoking a
hostile shot. The Weehawken was in the van and
the other vessels in the order in which they are named
in the plan of attack. Precisely at half-past 12
o'clock the fleet commenced to move. The distance
to the positions at which they were directed to at-
tack was nearly four miles, and for almost all that
distance they were within range of the enemy's
batteries. But again there is a delay. Grappling
irons attached to the Weehawken have got foul of
her anchor cable, and it takes nearly an hour to set
matters right. At list the difficulty is got over, and
once more the vessels are under weigh. Slowly
tney move up the ship channel. They pass within
easy range of Fort Wagnor on Morris Island, but
not a shot disputes their progress; they pass the
battery at Cumming's Point, named, I believe, Bat-
tery Bee, but still not a discharge from a rebel gun.
And it is not till the vessels have got fairly between
the two upper points of Morris Island and Sullivan's
Island—which are about a mile apart—and are
rounding to make the entrance of the harbour, that
the ominous stillness is broken. Fort Sumter
opens the ball with her barbette guns; Fort Moultrie
takes up the loud refrain. The various batteries
join in the deafening chorus, and the ironclads
find themselves within a circle of fire concentred
from all the rebel guns that can be brought to
bear upon the point. Nor is that all that these
little floating turrets have to contend with. If it
were, they might have held on their way defiantly,
and run the gauntlet of all the batteries that stood
between them and Charleston. The weak side of
Fort Sumter is well known to be its north-west
front. That was the point against which our guns
were ordered to be directed, but that was also the
point which the rebel engineers were determined
that we should not get at. From the north-east
angle of the fort across the channel to Fort
Moultrie were suspended, floating from barrels,
and kept taut by weights, heavy nets and con-
trivances of roping so fixed as to be sure to get
entangled in the propelling apparatus of vesses,
and also connected with torpedoes. Into this net
the Weehawken which led the van fell, and for
a long time her machinery was useless, and she
drifted with the current.

At last, after great exertions, she extricated her-
self. The other vessels sheered off -And avoided the
same peril. There was no getting into the required
position in this way. Any attempt to persevere in
that course would have rendered the fleet unman-
ageable, and exposed it to destruction. Baffled in
the attempt to get round or past Fart Sumter in
that way, the bulldog Monitors sought another
opening, but even the shoal ground between the
fort and Cumming's Point was barred up with
Files. In fact, Fort Sumter was found to be the
.apex of a triangle, the two sides of which were im
penetrable to our vessels, and at the base line of
which they were exposed to a concentric fire from
Forts Sumter and Moultrie, the Redan, Battery Bee,
and Fortßee.uregard. Thus brought to a stand, and
nothing being left but either to batter down Furt
Sumter or retire, the ironclads went resolutely to
their work. Stretching themselves in a line between
Sumter and Moultrie, and only giving an occasional
shot to the latt3r work, they plied their guns upon
the walls of Sumter.

"The Keokuk steamed up to within some 300
yards of the fortress, while the other vessels lay
at intermediate distances between that and 600
yards. The Ironsidea—the Admiral's flag-shin----
had become entirely unmanageable, refusing to
answer her helm; so that, with the exception of
one broadside which she poured into Fort Moul-
trie, she took no part in the attack, although
she was herself the target for many of the
enemy's largest guns, and was hit some 60 or 70
tim

es, sustaining, however, no material damage.
For half an hour, while our vessels were in the
position I have described, the cannounding was of
the most awfully grand and terrible character. No
words of mine—no words of any man—can con-
vey a faint idea of it. It was sublimely terrific.
No less than 300 guns of the largest calibre concen-
trated their fire upon the eight ae.aailants, who had
but 16 guna with which to respond. The contest
was too unequal to be persevered in. The
Keokuk was soon badly damaged. The turret
of the Passaic was so indented as to pre-
vent its revolving, The Patapseoe had her
2001 b. Parrot gun disabled, and besides night Was
coming on. The admiral therefore signalised the
fleet to retire, and suddenly they fell back from a
contest in which they were so tremendously over-
matched, not, however, without leaving their mark
behind. The north-east front of Fort Sumter, which
was the only one exposed to our fire, was badly
damaged. No less than 11 holes, some of them 31t.
wide, and two embrasures knocked into one, showed
the effect of the Monitors' guns. But that was all
we effected. That and a dissipation of a popular
error that Charleston could be captured by 9 or 10
ironclads. The signal to cease firing was given
about 5 o'clock. It was obeyed, and the vessels fell
back to the flagship, the parting shot being fired by
the Nantucket as she passed Fort Wagner. And
thus ended the most remarkable conflict that has
ever taken place between war vessels and land for-
ifications—remarkable in this, that the guns of the
forts outnumbered by 10 to 1 those of
the vessels; and yet, after all, to what
is cur failure to be attributed P To
the impregnability of the land batteries or the
weight and nn.mber of their guys ? Only to a slight

degree. The real instruments of our defeat were
the apparently insignificant and contemptible bar-
ricades of ropeworks and netting suspended across
the channel, and which kept our vesels at a point
which the rebel guns had previously been concen-
trated. Forts might have been passed and batteries
silenced; but those twining enemies, which, like
the serpents of Laocoon, coiled themselves around
the motive machinery of our vessels and prevented
the play of their iron arms, were not to be got rid
of by force. In their grasp our vessels were in-
nocuous. And, therefore, the unfavourable result
of the enterprize is not to be accepted as any test
of the relative powers of iron•clands and land
batteries. Without those obstructions, all the forts
that defended Charleston from Lighthouse Point to
Castle Pinckney, would have been insufficient to
stop our Monitors from anchoring off the battery at
Charleston.
It has been calculated that some 3,500 rounds
were fired by the rebels. In one minute there were
one hundred and sixty counted. On our side there
were but one hundred and fifty shots fired in all;
so that the rebels fired over 20 shots to our 1. The
Ironsides fired but one broadside, and that was at
Fort Moultrie. That was her only offensive opera-
tion throughout the day. The Keokuk only fired
3 shots before she received her death wound.
The result of the day's operations may be summed
up thus :—The injury to the rebel fortifications is
not such as will work any great loss to them, as we
cannot renew the attack immediately. On our side
we lost the Keokuk, which sunk this morning, and
which is to be blown up to-day, to prevent her fall-
ing into the hands of the rebels. She was struck
by 96 shots, Of these 19 were on the water line,
15 in the after turret, 12 in the forward turret, and
25 on the sides.
The Cassiac is disabled by having her turret so
injured that it cannot revolve, and she has to be
sent to Port Royal for repairs. She was struck 58
times. The Catapsco was injured by t aving her
200 lb. Parrot gun disabled. She was struck from
40 to 50 times. The Nahaut was struck 80 times,
and had her pilothouse completely shattered,
The Ironsides was hit from 60 to 70 times, re-
ceiving no material damage beyond the knocking
off of her port shutters, thus exposing her gun-
deck. The Weehawken was struck 59 times, and
her funnel deeply indented, so that she worked
with difficulty. The Montauk was hit 20 times.
The Nantucket and Catskill were each hit about
60 times, having their decks considerably torn.
The New York limes of the 14th publishes a
lengthy account from its correspondent on board
the fleet, agreeing in the main with the statements
of the Herald reporter. The injuries received by
the attacking squadron are stated as follows :
" The Nahant received in all 30 wounds, several
of them bad fractures of the deck and sides, below
and above the water line. The most fatal blow,
however, was given by a heavy rifled shot, which
struck the pilot-house and dislodged several of the
bolts, one of which, driven violently inwards,
wounded all the three inmates of the pilot•house

captain, pilot, and quartermaster.
"The Passaic also received 25 or 30 wounds. The
most extraordinary shot was from a large 10-inch
rifled projectile, which struck the top of the
the turret, scooping out a large portion of the iron,
breaking all of the 11 plates of an inch thickness
each, and spending its forca on the pilot-house
(which is placed on top of the turret). in which it
made a crater three inches deep, and producing such
a shock on the pilot-house as to start its top and
raise it three inches. Had not the force of the
impact been broken on the turret, there can be
little doubt that this shot would have gone clean
through the pilot-house. Another shot hit the
turret, forcing the place struck inwards, and pro-
ducing a big swell on the interior. The same shock
disabled the carriage of the 11-inch gun, while por-
tions of the interior iron casing fell, and lodging in
the groove of the turret stopped its revolution.
" The Nantucket, besides receiving a number of
wounds, had her turret so jarred that the cover of
the port could not be opened, and consequently the
15-inch gun could not be used. These three are all
of the Monitor type.
"In addition, the other Monitors each received
theta more or less, though not disabling them.
'hue the Catskill was hit 20 times. The worst
wound was from a rifled shot, which broke the
deck plating forward, going through i breaking a
beam beneath, and spending its force on an iron
stanc,ion, which it settled half an inch.
" The Ironsides was frequently struck. One of
shots broke off and carried away one of her port
shutters, and her wooden bows were penetrated by
shell, though they were prevented from doing the
damage they otherwise must have done by the ex-
posed part of the vessel having been protected with
sandbags.
" But the poor Keokuk—she of all others, was
the most fearfully maltreated. This vessel was
struck 90 times, and she had 19 holes above an
below the water-line, some of a size through which
a boy might crawl. Her turret (51 inches of iron
in thickness) were fairly riddled, and came out of
the contest mere sieves, During the night her
pumps were kept at work, to throw out the leaks
she was making. The sea had become somewhat
rough, however, and was washing in through the
holes in her bows. By daylight it became obvious
she must sink. Barely time enough was afforded
to get off her wounded and crew, for she had by
this time settled so much that the water waspouring
into her turrets. Two or three of the men, indeed,
and to jump into the sea, and were handed into the
small boats which had come to her assistance.
Suddenly she gave a lurch to one side, then
a lurch to the other, and plunged under. She went
down at eight o'clock at the spot of her original
anchorage, nerr Lighthouse Inlet, and all that is
visible of her is the upper portion of her smoke

stock."
SEMI-OFFICIAL WASHINGTON OPINIONS

OF THE FIGHT.
Upon this subject the Amy York Herald of the
.4th says :

" WASHINGTON, APRIL 13, 11 p.m.
" The Navy Department states that the de-
spatches received on Sunday from Admiral Dupont
are not of so complete and definite a character as to
make their publication expedient, and consequentl3
they will await the receipt of the full reports of the
commanders of the different vessels engaged, Ali
important detaila have already been published.
The Navy Department does not regard the result
of this preliminary bombardment as decisive of
essentially discouraging.