Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1861-09-27


forY" The boatswain's mate was astounded.
He could not speak for moment. As soon
as he recovered he roared out" To 60 on
deck to be sure that's what for!'' The idea
of man asking what for" particularly in
the navy and in crack frigate at that AL
though reused from a sound sleep could
not avoid laughing. y Our Boatswain
is one of the best of en-stout, spectacles,
cane. His part is to walk about in the day,
sleep in the night, and get "a thousand a
year, CATER Green" His mates execute his
orders or see them executed. During the
affair at Hatteras saw one Of the enemy's
shot strike alorgside and right in range Of
the Boatswain, that big gent of two hund-
red and fifty lbs. "Ha that was aimed at
me let me have. shot" said the Boatswain.
He had his shot ard felt relieved. The cap
tains of the guns fire them, though an officer
may do it occasionally..:or his amusement
1t is the duty of the officer of division to
tell what object to fire at, drop word of ad-
vice now and then, &c. We have one
boat manned by contrabands. They arc
called Pelicans from the name of their boat.
Every boat has its name. Here is the work
ing of it:
0ticer.-" Boatswain's mate, call away the
Pelicans" Cro go alongside ship or else
whers.)
Boatswain's mate pipes and then sings out
-" Away, you Pclicans, a-w-a-yr (Away
they 60 into the boat)
There are flying reports that we are to be
off again shortly and suppose we will go
as soon as we get feet enough. The Roa-
noke frigate, Cumberland sloop of war, and
few small craft are now here. We may
give "A trial. If so there will be no play
like that at Hatteras for the -- guns are
equal to ours and can bore us through and
through, j. G. they can drive the shot through
both sides Of the ship. BY the way, have
not told you how felt before they begun the
bombardment at Hatteras We did not doubt
that the enemy had as good guns as our own
since they could bring them from Norfolk
We knew nothing to the contrary for long
time after we had opened upon them. The
first day, after we beat to quarters, we did
not commence until the expiration of about
twenty minutes. During that time silence was
kept, except word now and then from the
officers. Ha,nmocks were placed along abaf,
the guns amidships with two beckets OF
handles in each end. These were for those
of the wounded who might not be able to
walk down to the sick bay, room on the
berth deck and forward of everything in the
bows of the ship. The twenty minutes 81
lence gave time enough for thought. My
feeling was of anxiety. AS to fear, had
nothing of the kind. was anxious to be al
work at them and have the job finished, and
l never felt better in my life than when we
got the order to give it to them. Thence
forth l was calm but mighty tired after We
ceased firing. * * l have spoken of the
injury the - will probably infict if we &C
there, but you must not think that l wish te
hang back or waver. No indeed If there
is any chance Of taking wish to 60 and
could not be hired not to 60. weighed all
this before entered the service. And if We
do engage - and get the worst of it, soon
than sec our colors come down would sec
the ship 60 to the bottom.